COMMENT | Take Your Time: notes on current criticism of contemporary art

by Gail Hastings
Source: Sydney Art Seen (weblog)

Hastings addresses the ease with which some critics slip into negative criticism. She says, 'a waste of time you say, as you to turn the page concluding that criticism is just one person's opinion, anyway. Whether positive or negative the work has at least been mentioned. So it is not worth contesting – no matter how savagely the critic's disdainful words have unleashed a gnashing bite upon particular works of contemporary art. Ah! that's better, you think, now safely past the visual art page having nevertheless sniggered, ever so imperceptibly, into your cup of morning coffee at what decency has taught us not to: the relished ridicule of others. Hey come on, you now console yourself, it's just some contemptuous upstart visual artist pulled down a rung or hundred. And it's not as though they didn't deserve it.'

Read the full text online at:
http://sydneyartseen.blog-city.com (scroll down past the intro)

ARTICLE | On the Internet, 2nd (and 3rd and . . . ) Opinions

by Sarah Boxer
29 March 2005
Source: New York Times

The New York Times reports that 'the traditional objects of culture - books, movies, art - are becoming ever more distant. In their place are reviews of reviews, museums of museums and many, many lists.'

Read the full article online at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/arts/29boxe.html?

PUBLICATION | Spike

Spike started in 2004 in Vienna as an artists' initiative. It is a bilingual (German/English) quarterly and is available in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Prague, Budapest, Bratislava at the kiosk and in selected bookshops. And soon in magazine shops near you!

Essay
Each issue is introduced by an internationally known critic's essay on a recent art phenomenon. This time the artist / critic MIKE KELLEY makes an appeal for the artist as critic.

Portraits
It is spike's concept to offer art producers the possibility of not only taking center stage but also getting in a word on their selves and others. Again five striking international artists are portrayed in detail.

TRISHA DONNELLY - In her micro performances, a disturbing counter world suddenly flares in the course of familiar processes. By Daniel Baumann.
JONATHAN MEESE - It would be better if radicality remains in the field of art. A conversation with Rita Vitorelli.
SEJLA KAMERICM - The political videos and actions of this Sarajevo-based artist adress the mechanisms of exclusion and foreign determination. By Anselm Wagner.
FRANZ GERTSCH - The Swiss photorealist, who brought subculture into the sphere of art in 1970s, is still amazingly relevant today. By Philipp Ziegler.
RICHARD HOECK - This Austrian artist deconstructs the myth of the American Way of Life in his works. By Raimar Stange.Art Guide: Kosovo In our editorial focus on Eastern Europe Antje Mayer takes us through the "Land of the Blackbirds", whose art scene is receiving growing international attention. Artist Erzen Shkololli features his colleagues Lulzim Zeqiri, Edi Hilla, Jakup Ferri, Sokol Beqiria and Gentian Shkurti.

Plus ...

FEATURE RAF EXHIBITION - the controversial RAF exhibition at the Kunst-Werke Berlin from the point of view by Oystein Aaasan, Raimar Stange and Andreas Schlaegel.
SIDE STEPS - ARCHITECTURE: Barbara Imhof's space-related architecture. By Manuela Hotzl.
PRINTED MATTER: Barnett Newman's "Stations of the Cross". By Johannes Gachnang.
FASHION: Less Sex - Very Sexy. By Ruth Weismann.
FOCUS: MUSIC: Industrial Fist (Psychosis). By Seth Price. And more ...

SPIKE ART QUARTERLY
Issue 03 out now!
Spike Art Quarterly
Heiligenstadter Lande 291190 Vienna, Austria
Tel: +43/1/360 85 - 201
Fax: +43/1/360 85 - 200
spike@spikeart.at
http://www.spikeart.at

ARTICLE | Connecting the Dots

Wading into recommender applications
by Sarah Lazarovic
Source: CBC.ca

According to this article, describing or categorizing any new cultural product is taxing and time-consuming. There are more media for us to choose from than ever before, and much of it resists easy definition — just try explaining the sound of hot young London singer M.I.A. without falling back on a recipe of influences. It’s no wonder then that the next evolutionary step in a continuum that began with pop culture algebra is “recommender applications.”

Read the full article online at:
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/connectingthedots.html

PUBLISHING | Westspace, Melbourne

West Space is an artist run space in Melbourne and has demonstrated consistent commitment to small-scale specialist arts publishing. Publishing is an important means for artists to extend discussions around their ideas and work.

Publications like Space Traffic (2002), Artists Talk (2000), and Artists/ Artist Run Spaces (1997 and 2003), illuminate and chronicle the political and social dimensions surrounding art practice. Other publications (e.g. Gating CD (2002), Office of Utopic Procedures Book, 2002, OCEM, 2003) are published in tandem with major West Space Projects, providing an ongoing record and widely distributed documents. West Space received two Museums Australia 2003 Publication Design Awards for its publications ‘The Office of Utopic Procedures’ (2002) and ‘Harmonia’ CD publication (2000).

The gallery provides for the display and storage of around 150 different publications. It focusses on independent material produced by artists or artists' organisations and provides an opportunity for artists to present their self-published material whithin a mutually supportive environment. Publications available for sale include books, zines, magazines, CDs, CDRs, CD-Roms, cassettes and records.

Info:
http://www.westspace.org.au

ONLINE | Lessig - the open work of criticism

by Michael Bazeley
Source: San Jose Mercury News

Not exactly arts writing, but worth noting as an approach to writing criticism ...

Further nudging outward the boundaries of online publishing, Stanford University Professor Larry Lessig will put his 1999 book "Code'' online today and invite Internet users to help him write an updated version. A noted copyright expert and proponent of free software, Prof Lessig is putting the 297-page treatise about technology, culture and regulation on the Web in the form of a "wiki", a site that can allow people to freely edit its contents. The law professor will take the contributions at http://codebook.jot.com and edit them into a printed version of the book.

Info:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/
business/technology/11148136.htm

PUBLICATION | Mute Magazine Issue 29

The new Mute magazine is out now. Huge tranches of it are available free online at http://metamute.com

Special Section: (Un)Regenerate Art
Urban renewal conscripts 'creatives' to serve in the neoliberal restructuring of inner cities. These three texts look at some alternative roles for art and artists:
:: Mysteries of the Creative Class - Gregory Sholette on the gentrification of New York and the art collective REPOhistory
:: The Shape of Locative Media - Simon Pope sets some new co-ordinates, and salvages some old ones, for locative art
:: Explaining Urbanism to Wild Animals - Mark Crinson on artists working with collective memory and the post-industrial city

Info:
http://metamute.com

ONLINE | Artforum at Armory

Artforum's online diary takes you behind the scene with day-by-day reporting during New York's busiest art week. Log on at http://www.artforum.com/diary.

Info:
http://www.artforum.com

NEWS | MOMA complaint censors arts report

8 March 2005
Source: Artnet News

Veteran art-news reporter David D'Arcy has been taken off the air by National Public Radio (NPR) after the Museum of Modern Art complained about his report on the long-running controversy over the ownership of Egon Schiele's painting, Portrait of Wally. Though the painting was stolen by the Nazis from Viennese dealer Lea Bondi in 1939, its present owner, the Leopold Foundation in Vienna, refuses to return it to Bondi's heirs, and a contentious court battle has raged ever since the painting turned up in a 1997 MoMA exhibition.

Read the full story online at:
http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/news/artnetnews2/
artnetnews3-8-05.asp

AWARDS | Creative New Zealand recognises arts print journalism

28 May, 2004

Creative New Zealand recognises arts print journalism at Qantas Media Awards 2004Print journalists and photographers were recognised in Auckland tonight for their contribution to New Zealand arts journalism at the Qantas Media Awards.

Creative New Zealand has been sponsoring the arts journalism categories of the Qantas Media Awards since 1996 as part of its arts advocacy work. Peter Biggs, Chair of Creative New Zealand, says the organisation constantly works with the media to encourage increased media commitment to arts coverage.

Info:
http://www.artscalendar.co.nz/article/760/

COMMENT | Tweed Out of the Arts Journalism Wardrobe

by Diane Bacha
Source: Poynter Online

We are here to talk about keeping arts coverage relevant - keeping our wardrobe from getting too musty, if you will. But first, let's get one thing out of the way:

In most newsrooms, the word "art" scares people.

Let's face it, it just does not have enough Y chromosomes for the average newsroom crowd. It is seen as a nice but non-essential part of the daily news report.

The word "culture" is not far behind, but it's OK if you put the word "pop" in front of it. "Culture" is elitist. "Pop" is fizzy and fun and it means you are OK if you watch a lot of TV.

Read the full article online at:
http://www.poynter.org/dg.lts/id.54887/content.content_view.htm

REPORT | Arts Journalism at a Crossroads

by Jeremy Simon
July 2002
National Arts Journalism Program

Coverage of the arts is vital to communities, business, recreation and intellectual development. More than 100 cultural journalists from around the country convened for a reunion and symposium of current and former fellows of the National Arts Journalism Program to discuss the future of arts journalism.

They were joined by arts journalists and news executives from The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, The San Jose Mercury News, The Baltimore Sun, The New York Times, National Public Radio and several alternative-weekly publications, as well as concerned artists, scholars and funders.

These transcripts illuminate the tensions in arts journalism, but also the opportunities for growth and invention.

Info:
http://www.pewtrusts.com/pubs/pubs_item.cfm?
content_item_id=1158&content_type_id=8&page=p3

ORGANISATION | NEA Arts Journalism Institutes

An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, USA, established in 2004. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced it will establish three NEA Arts Journalism Institutes that will focus on improving arts criticism in classical music, opera, theater and dance. The institutes will be designed for journalists who cover the arts for print and broadcast outlets located outside the country's largest media markets, where professional development opportunities are limited. Institutes for dance critics will be hosted by the American Dance Festival at Duke University; for classical music and opera critics at Columbia University; and theater critics at the University of Southern California.

"The vitality of the arts depends more than most people think on lively and informed criticism, especially local reviews and coverage from their own communities. Outside our major cities, journalists who cover the arts often are over extended with multiple beats and assignments that allow few opportunities to concentrate on various artistic disciplines," said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia.

The NEA is providing $1 million for the first two years of the program. Beginning in the summer of 2004, each site will host a two- or three-week institute each year for up to 30 attendees. All of the participants' expenses will be covered including travel, room, board, materials, instruction, and admittance to performances.

The NEA Arts Journalism Institutes will establish the importance of arts journalism through lectures and seminars with leaders in higher education, the arts, and journalism. Participants will acquire basic working knowledge of the relevant art form through pre-institute reading lists; introductory lectures covering basic vocabulary, historical roots, and contemporary trends; and by attending performances. The attendees will work with senior journalists and faculty members to improve their viewing, analytical, and writing skills.

In addition, participants will attend performances that cover a wide variety of genres and styles, as well as rehearsals and behind-the-scenes meetings with artists and administrators. Finally, the journalists will develop a firsthand understanding of artistic creation through a physical learning component, such as a basic lesson on a musical instrument, memorization of a monologue, or a lesson in physical movement.

"Through the NEA Arts Journalism Institutes we'll bring working journalists to great performances, writing workshops led by experienced critics, and even participatory classes to give them hands-on artistic experiences," said Gioia. "We believe these exciting and intensive workshops will enhance and increase local arts coverage across the United States."

Info:
http://www.nea.gov/national/aji/

COMMENT | A critical gap

by Norman Lebrecht
March 31, 2004
Source: La Scena Musicale

Lebrecht reports that there have been few reports of Daily Telegraph readers convulsing over breakfast last week on finding a digest of the New York Times tucked into their papers. Many will hardly have noticed the insertion, for the difference between Anglo and American broadsheet journalism is slight, even between Tory Telegraph and conscience-wringing New York Times. Both favour the free world, the free market and the free expression of honestly-held views.

There is, however, one striking anomaly. Turn to the arts sections and you will find a divergence so extreme in tone and content that you will rub your eyes and wonder whether the two papers are discussing the same subject. Every serious British newspaper carries two, three or more pages of arts commentary and criticism which report, reflect and review a razzle of activity in a style which may be ponderous, or provocative, or purely piss-taking ...

Read the full article online at:
http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/040331-NL-nytimes.html

ESSAY | Art, Multiplicity and Awareness

by Pier Luigi Capucci
Source: Noema

What is often exhibited is not only - and sometimes not at all - the artwork itself, but the communication it evocates and which it is evocated from. We could say that, at least from the rising of the avant gardes in the second half of the 19th Century, the artworld has always worked in such a way. In the end, what are art critics and historians, museums and galleries, press officers, collectionists, amateurs, art events and exhibitions, art magazines, art merchants, academies and universities, if not also a wide, complex and articulated communication system which presents, contextualizes, promotes and possibly sells the artworks?

Read the full essay online at:
http://www.noemalab.org/sections/ideas/ideas_articles/
capucci_art_multiplicity/capucci_art_multiplicity.html

FORUM | Blogging and the Arts

Source: Net Art News

This forum happened last year and no documentation seems to be available.

Has the weblog become the best example of cyber studio? In today's cultural/economic climate blogging offers artists an overhead-free space to create, disseminate and generate dialogue around their work. Rhizome's Director of Technology Francis Hwang wants to address this new phenomenon, so he assembled a panel of four net art experts to talk--not blog--about it. Kabir Carter, creator of the sound-based Walking in the City joins photoblogger David F. Gallagher, arts critic Tom Moody and net artist t.whid of MTAA for 'Blogging and the Arts,' a discussion that will 'address questions such as whether blogs will change the nature of discourse in the fine arts field, and ways that artists and critics are integrating this new form of communications into their own work.' The event is sponsored by Pub Sub Concepts Inc. and takes place at the New Museum of Contemporary Art on Tuesday, 23 November 2004, from 6:00-8:30 p.m. Real people, real place, real time.

Info:
http://rhizome.org/events/blogging_and_the_arts/

PUBLISHER | Revolver: Current Titles

Revolver presents 15 new books and an online project, Black Friday - Exercises in Hermetics. Here's a few of interest ...

MIB - Men in Black
Handbook of Curatorial Practice
Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin;
ed. Ute Tischler & Christoph Tannert, with statements, essays, discussions, interviews by more than 100 international curators (German/English) and the pictorial "Theory of Justice" by Peter Friedl

Now What? Artists write
BAK - basis voor aktuele kunst; eds. Mark Kremer, Maria Hlavajova & Annie Fletcher; with contributions by Pawel Althamer, Tiong Ang, Ansuya Blom, Phil Collins, Flying City (Jeon Yongseok), Liam Gillick, Marina Grzinic, Sigudur Gudmundsson, Thomas Hirschorn, Hans van Houwelingen, Daniel Jewesbury, Job Koelewijn, Boris Ondreicka, Anatoly Osmolovsky, Maria Pask, Jan van de Pavert, Marko Peljhan, Manfred Pernice, Paul Perry, Willem de Rooij, Tino Sehgal, Fiona Tan, Thorvaldur Thorsteinsson and Sarah Tripp (English)

Jens Hoffmann (ed.)
Artists' Favorites
Institute of Contemporary Arts, London: An Exhibition in Two Acts

Spur04 - The Cheap Champagne Issue
Reader, 100+ Contributors: Olav Westphalen, Bettina Funcke, Maurizio Cattelan, Erik Steinbrecher, Claude Closky, Claudia and Julia Muller, Corinna Schnitt, John Miller, Elmgreen & Dragset, Carissa Rodriguez, Peter Piller, Wolfgang Ullrich, Bernhard Martin, Michael S. Riedel, Gelatin, John Bock, Nina Montmann, David Shrigley, Lionel Bovier/Christophe Cherix, Michael Stevenson, The Histrionics, Jens Hoffmann/Tim Lee, Jonathan Monk, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Edward Krasinski, Korpys/Loffler, Noemi Smolik, Raimar Stange/Christian Jankowski, Wilhelm Schurmann, Ludwig Seyfarth, Werner Buttner, Harald Falckenberg, Jonathan Meese, Bettina Steinbrugge, Andreas Neumeister, Marti Guixe, Tobias Rehberger and many others (German/English).

Kirstine Roepstorff
Who Decides Who Decides
with contribution by Nikola Dietrich, Scott Weaver, Dan Smith, Barry Holstun Lopez, Carl Bildt, Sarah Gavlak, Simone de Beauvoir, Harm Lux, Andreas Roepstorff, Solvej H. Ovesen, Gretty Mirdal, Pernille Albrethsen and Douglas Klovedal Lannark (English)

Black Friday: Exercises in Hermectics
What is Black Friday?
Black Friday, Sept. 24, 1869, in U.S. history, day of financial panic. In 1869 a small group of American financial speculators, including Jay Gould and James Fisk, sought the support of federal officials of the Grant administration in a drive to corner the gold market. The attempt failed when government gold was released for sale. The drive culminated on a Friday, when thousands were ruined-the day is popularly called Black Friday. There was great indignation against the perpetrators. Several other days of financial panic have also been occasionally referred to as Black Friday.

What is Black Friday? Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is historically one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year. It marks the official beginning to the Christmas shopping season. The "black" in the name comes from the standard accounting practice of using red ink to denote negative values (in this case, profits) and black ink to denote positive values. Black Friday is the day when retailers traditionally get back "in the black" after operating "in the red" for the previous months.

Contributing artists:
Anton Vidokle (USA), Carey Young (UK), Carol Bove (USA), Cerith Wyn Evans (UK), Christoph Steinegger (A), Claude Closky (F), Daniel Herskovitz (USA), David Hatcher (NZ), Derek Barnett (CA), Edgar Arceneaux (USA), Florian Pumhosl (A), Gardar Eide Einarsson (N), Haegue Yang (Korea), Heiko Karn (D), Helen Mirra (USA), Henrik Olesen (DK), Ibon Aranberri (ES), Jakob Kolding (DK), Jop van Bennekom (NL), Katja Strunz (D), Klaus Weber (D), Kristine Ropstorff (DK), Liam Gillick (UK), Ludovic Burel (F), Manuel Raeder (D), Marianna Deball (MX), Markus Amm (D), Markus Schinwald (A), Markus Weisbeck (D), Martin Boyce (UK), Martin Neumaier (D), Mathias Poledna (A), Michael Hakimi (D), Michael S. Riedel (D), Michael Stevenson (NZ), Norm (CH), Olaf Nicolai (D), Roman Schramm (D), Sebastian Romo (MX), Seth Price (USA), Simon D. Moller (DK), Thomas Bayrle (D), Tim Lee (CAN), Tobias Rehberger (D), Tue Greenfort (DK), Vier5 (F), Will Stuart (NL) / Ausstellungsarchitektur: Tobias und Raphael Danke (D)

Download: http://www.black-friday.org

Info:
REVOLVER
Archiv fur aktuelle Kunst
Christoph Keller
Jacobystrasse 28D - 60385
Frankfurt am Main
Germany
revolver@naiv.de
http://www.revolverlag.de

EDUCATION | Syracuse University establishes first accredited master’s degree program in arts journalism

Syracuse University has announced the establishment of the first master’s degree journalism program at an accredited journalism school to focus exclusively on writing about the arts, to be administered by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in collaboration with The College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Performing and Visual Arts and the School of Architecture.

The Goldring Arts Journalism Program is made possible by a generous gift from arts patron and SU Trustee Lola Goldring and her husband Allen Goldring. Johanna Keller, an arts journalist and Newhouse faculty member, has been appointed director of the program. The program begins in July 2005.

While a few general cultural reporting and some short-term mid-career enhancement programs exist throughout the United States, this is the first program from an accredited university to grant a degree in arts journalism.

The aim of the Goldring Arts Journalism program is to deepen arts journalists’ knowledge of specific art forms and building writing and journalism skills. In addition, students will gain a broad background in the arts. Through the development of research and publication projects, the program also aims to create a locus of investigation into the role of arts journalism in today’s media, as well as the nature of the relationship between the arts and criticism, and the arts and its audience.

In one of the first high-profile events marking the launch of the program, SU hosted a national symposium titled “Writing About the Arts: The Critics, Craft and Education”, with a host of nationally-known writers and artists, and a keynote speech by the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Dana Gioia.

For more information on the Goldring Arts Journalism Program, application information and updates on the symposium, visit http://artsjournalism.syr.edu.

Read the full new story online at:
http://sunews.syr.edu/fullstory.asp?id=7270402

FORUM | Publishing without Limits: New Directions for Art Magazines

This forum was held late last year in cooperation with and supported by e-flux and FACE, the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn)
Saturday, September 18th, 2004 at 5:30 p.m.
Panelists: Mircea Cantor, Power Ekroth, Massimiliano Gioni, Gabriel Kuri and Anton Vidokle

Rattling the chains of art magazine publishing recently has been the advent of a number of new publications whose innovations and experiments are reinventing the idea of the art magazine. Of these new journals, some have been initiated by artists in places with little access to mainstream magazines - Version from Bucharest, for example, while others, such as Charley, digest and process images, artworks, articles and previously published materials, in order to reshuffle and re-interpret information, change content and format at each and every appearance. Still others, resolved not to concern themselves with alienating readers, provide challenging theoretical content - SITE, from Stockholm, is a good example - or deconstruct the magazine format entirely - as it is with Kaspar, from Mexico City.

What all these new ventures have in common is their desire to bypass the limitations of conventional art publishing - distribution, circulation, structure, content complexity and nominal intellectual demands made on the readers, among them - by re-envisioning and reinventing the hidebound practices of the mainstream art magazine. The Publishing Without Limits panel will take a close look at these new publications, and engage their editors in a critical discussion.

Panel participants:
Gabriel Kuri - Kaspar magazine, Mexico DF
Power Ekroth - SITE magazine, Stockholm
Mircea Cantor - Version Magazine, Bucharest
Massimiliano Gioni - Charley, New York/Milan
Anton Vidokle - e-flux, moderator

Could not see any documentation or transcripts from the forum on the website but will follow up.

Info:
Angelika Wieland
ART FORUM BERLIN TALKSE
angelika_wieland@web.de
http://www.art-forum-berlin.de

PUBLICATION | Haiku

Ruark Lewis, editor of the online publication Haiku, describes it as 'trying to gather writers who are somewhat experimental in their approaches to criticism, review, previews. Haiku is somewhat fluid and unorthodox and less formal coections of writings.'

Info:
http://www.haikureview.net

SYMPOSIUM | The Power of Criticism

This Symposium was held late last year at the Institute for Art Criticism, Staedelschule, Frankfurt
http://www.staedelschule.de

The Institute for Art Criticism at Frankfurt's Staedelschule, founded in 2003 by Daniel Birnbaum and Isabelle Graw, has regularly been arranging lectures by leading critics and art historians.

Last year, Michael Fried held three Lectures: "Caravaggio: The Invention of Absorption", "Barthes's 'Punctum' - A Reading of 'Camera Lucida'", "Jeff Wall, Wittgenstein, and the Everyday".

A small conference that focused on the very notion of criticism and on various understandings of criticism, ranging from "cultural critique" to "celebration" was also held. Among the speakers were: Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Helmut Draxler, Tim Griffin.

Titled "The Power of Criticism," the conference sought to challenge the wide-spread verdict on criticism as a more or less obsolete practice, without any real function or impact in a highly commercialized and corporate art world.Throughout the last decades, new theoretical approaches have attempted a fundamental critique of the traditional understanding of Modernism. The prevailing canon of art history and the conventional tools for interpreting art have been put into question. Does such a critique always result in a new consensus, even new hegemonies (a new canon, a new formalism)?

The question of what criticism can do or be when faced with the normative power of the market will be approached not only from a journalistic point of view but also in relation to a model of criticism as "Kulturkritik." For a journalistic model of criticism, it seems necessary to ask, how one can disagree with the value-judgments of the cultural industry while operating from its center? And what notion of criticism would result from claiming a distance whilst acknowledging an essential entanglement? The cultural critical approach often raises another problem: while it insists on the possibility of a fundamental critique of society, it tends to neglect the specificity of its object. How can one reconcile the need for a more general analysis with the necessity of doing justice to one's object? What does criticism mean today? Art historians, practicing critics, editors, artists and academics from other fields were invited to discuss these problems, to re-negotiate the predicaments of a critical approach today.

Could not find any documentation or conference papers on the website - but the event is worth noting.

Info:
Staatliche Hochschule fuer Bildende Kuenste-Staedelschule
Duererstrasse 10D-60596
Frankfurt am Main
Tel +49 (0) 69 60 50 08-0
Fax +49 (0) 69 60 50 08-66
rektor@staedelschule.de
http://www.staedelschule.de/

NEW | S7 Digital Channels

Three New Channels at S7 DIGITAL

SIGNATURE is a new monthly online journal brought to you by Marni Cordell and Eve Vincent, former editors of Spinach7 magazine. We've folded the mag for now, but want to keep bringing you thought-provoking stories from this country's critical new voices. Each month we'll be publishing a range of feature stories: both investigative, topical coverage and quality writing that is personal and reflective. http://s7digital.com/signature/

SoundPlay is an independent online space connecting with people who want to discover and be inspired by stories about sound and music. Dan Rule – who was a regular contributor to SPINACH7 magazine and has diverse background in music writing – will be the driving force behind SoundPlay. He will be editing the channel and inviting like-minded contributors from across Australia to write features, essays and reviews.
http://s7digital.com/soundplay/

mo:life is interested in how inherently global mobile media will be implicated in our daily lives here in Australia and the Asia Pacific. Jointly produced by busa aat and s7-digital, it is a moderated email list focusing on mobile-media culture and technology.To join mo:life - send a blank email to molife-subscribe@lists.s7digital.com or visit http://s7digital.com/molife/

CALL | Mesh 18

Calling for papers from Australian and international writers and artists that explores the meaning of art.

How do interactive media arts transform the familiar reality of our everyday lives? How do they open up imaginative spaces in which we can discover the extraordinary within the ordinary fabric of our lives? How do they invoke that sense of childish wonder and awe that we experience when we are confronted by the mysterious and the magical in the seemingly banal and mundane?

These are the themes Mesh publishers Experimenta - “where creativity and technology meet” - is hoping to hear your informed opinion on. An intimidating mind he may have been, but Albert Einstein’s words could be used as a starting point:

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

There is a persistent sense that media arts, and particularly screen based media arts, can be traced back through the evolution of the cinema and its attendant desire for verisimilitude. However, there exists a somewhat more complex genealogy at work in many 21st century media arts works. This genealogy places media arts along a trajectory that links it to such antecedents as the Phantasmagoria, the hippodromes (or spectacle theatres) and the luna parks of the 18th and 19th centuries. These were places where people went to be engaged, fascinated and confounded by the spectacle of the illusion. It was at these places, alongside the freak shows and carnival rides, that spectators could see such technologically based forms of popular entertainment as the diorama, the stereoscope, the praxiniscope and Pepper's Ghost. Ostensibly scientific devices created to test research into optics and the persistence of vision, they became enormously popular attractions.

These were devices that favoured theatrical display, spectacle and stimulation over narrative absorption. The illusions that they produced were designed not to create immersion but wonder and astonishment in their audiences. These forms were eclipsed by the popularisation of narrative cinema in the 20th century with its heavy reliance on realism, characterisation and immersion. But perhaps the rising popularity of new media arts is signaling a resurgence of interest in spectacle and illusionism.

Experimenta first wishes to receive abstracts of no longer than 500 words, to be sent Lisa Gye: lgye@swin.edu.au
(Editor - Mesh #18) by Friday 18 March.
Deadline for the submission of final papers is Friday 6 May.
Mesh is a partially peer reviewed journal. Authors may opt to have their papers blind peer reviewed in accordance with the DEST guidelines. Please indicate your preference for peer review in your abstract.
Mesh #18 Vanishing Point will be produced online and as a printed publication as part of the Experimenta Vanishing Point catalogue.

EOI | The Program

Australia's online youth arts and culture gateway. Expressions of interest (EOI) are invited from companies and organisations interested in producing THE PROGRAM, a dynamic online gateway connecting young people with the creative industries and arts and cultural activities across Australia. Approaches from prospective partners, including government agencies and departments, with or without production interests, are welcome.
http://www.theprogram.net.au

Please contact the Australia Council for background information and EOI requirements. The Australia Council is the Australian Government's arts funding and advisory body.

Deadline: 5pm, Tuesday 29 March 2005.

Info:
Reed Everingham, Associate Producer, THE PROGRAM
ph: 02 9215 9190 or 1800 226 912
r.everingham@ozco.gov.au

COMMENT | What has happened to art criticism?

Source: Spiked
1 February 2005

According to JJ Charlesworth, the critic is becoming a dandified copywriter, producing 'beautiful writing about beautiful objects and their beautiful makers'. Charlesworth writes: 'It's clear that no one can much agree on any clear mission for "art writing", criticism or the role the critic ... It seems that the intellectual and political conditions in which contemporary art now exists are in danger of making writing about it dysfunctional.'

Read the full article online at:
http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA8AF.htm

NEWS | USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Fellowship Program

New Perspectives for Mid-Career Arts & Culture Journalists
Source: http://ascweb.usc.edu/asc.php?pageID=246

Seven distinguished arts journalists have been selected as 2005 Fellows for the USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program.Funded by a grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust, the USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Fellowship, now in its fourth year, seeks to establish a new standard of excellence in arts and culture coverage. The program's philosophy is guided by a core belief in first-hand encounters with artists, arts administrators and journalism colleagues. The three-week residencies in Los Angeles familiarize the Fellows with the city's vibrant cultural scene as a means to strengthen their intellectual and analytical journalism skills, fill them with new story ideas and make them consider their hometowns in new lights. The program begins 5 May.

The Fellows for 2005 are:
MARY FRANCES EMMONS, Orlando Sentinel, Arts & Entertainment Editor
CATHERINE FOSTER, Boston Globe, Arts Reporter
CLIFF FROEHLICH, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Arts & Entertainment Editor
RICK HOLTER, The Dallas Morning News, Arts Editor
ALISON MacADAM, NPR's All Things Considered, Assistant Producer, Washington, DC
JOYCE MORGAN, The Sydney Morning Herald, Arts Editor
LYNN NEARY, NPR’s Arts Desk, Correspondent, Washington, DC

Lynn Neary has been named the program's first Senior Fellow and she will lead discussions about how radio and television arts reporting impacts America's cultural landscape, drawing from her present experience at NPR’s Cultural Desk.

For the first time, as well, the USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism fellows will generate a position paper about their experiences and views on arts journalism's future, examining issues of diversity, information delivery, and political and economic contexts.

"I want the 2005 USCAnnenberg/Getty Fellowship to focus intently on the impact that arts and arts reporting make on society," said Sasha Anawalt, director. This group of USC/Getty Fellows collectively possesses the experience and the will, discipline and vision that could make a real difference to the field."

The USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program is one of the nation's leading institutions devoted to the study of journalism and communication, and their impact on politics, culture and society. With an enrollment of more than 1,500 graduate and undergraduate students, USC Annenberg prepares students for academic and professional success in these fields.

Info:
http://annenberg.usc.edu/getty

PROJECT | Verve: the other writing

Curated by Teri Hoskin
Telstra Adelaide Festival 2000

Verve: The Other Writing is a chance to experience some of the other forms of inscription that constitute language, the other that shifts, vitalises and generates change. Verve considers the array of effects technologies have on the ways we read, write and generate language. The program operates at the intersections of writing with the visual arts, music, performance and contemporary digital practices.

There is no doubt that western cultures are at the cusp of a massive shift from traditional print publishing to digital and specifically Internet publishing and commerce. Just what is the new and where are the connections with the old? How can and do we negotiate the plethora and the sheer quantity of visual and aural information available now. What other ways are there to read and to write, and how can we best invent ways of writing that operate as living growing instances of cultural specificity and plurality.

Info:
http://ensemble.va.com.au/verve

BOOK | The Writing Experiment

The Writing Experiment demystifies the process of creative writing, showing that successful work does not arise from talent or inspiration alone. Hazel Smith breaks down writing into incremental stages, revealing processes that are often unconscious or unacknowledged, and shows how they can become part of a systematic writing strategy. The book encourages writers to take an explorative and experimental approach to their work. It relates practical strategies for writing to major twentieth century literary and cultural movements, including postmodernism.

Suitable for both beginners and experienced writers, The Writing Experiment covers many genres including fiction, poetry, writing for performance and new media. Each chapter is illustrated with extensive examples of both student work and published writing, and challenging exercises offer writers at all levels opportunities to develop their skills.

Info:
http://www.allen-unwin.com.au/exports/product.asp?ISBN=1741140153

CALL | Papertiger #05

papertiger media's fifth annual sample of new world poetry is coming together fast and hefty, but there's still room for more! Editors B.R. Dionysius and Liam Ferney will consider submissions until May 2005.
Although text poems are welcomed, the editors are particularly interested in considering submissions of multimedia poetry - including Flash, video and audio (in order of preference) - as well as essays on poetry and poetics, and poetry-related visual art and photography.

If you don't create poetry-related multimedia, visual art/photography or essays, but know someone who does, please forward this call for submissions and encourage them to consider papertiger: new world poetry #05 as a venue for their work.

Info:
http://www.papertigermedia.com

EVENT | BOOKS.05, Noosa Regional Gallery

BOOKS.05
works of imagination
image as text as image

A program of events, workshops and residencies will be presented in the lead up to Books.05 at Noosa Regional Gallery in September 2005.

Program

Secrets and Lies
Image and Text in Watermarked Paper
A workshop by Katherine Nix
March 5 and 6, 2005

Books2eat
Make and eat your own book!
Friday April 1, 2 pm to 4 pm

Lake Mungo Revisited
A residency with Ken Orchard
July 2 to July 30, 2005

rewind / forward
An exhibition of jewellery and artists’ books
by Margot Douglas
Access Gallery August 18 to August 31

Interaction
A day of talks exploring the artists’ book
Friday September 9, 9am to 3.30 pm

Books.05 opening
Friday September 9, 6 pm
Noosa Regional Gallery

Yubba Yubba
A paper and text workshop
with Euraba Paper Company

September 10 and 11
workshop with Glen Skien
Wallace house September 9 and 10

Making Tracks
Exploring the line somewhere
Regional book artists share the studio with Wim de Vos
September 23 to 30
Opening The Studio West End September 23, 6 pm

For bookings & information:
contact Maryke Stagg on +61 7 5449 5340 or email maryke.stagg@noosa.qld.gov.au

BOOK | Parkett - 20 Years of Artists' Collaborations

Parkett - 20 Years of Artists' Collaborations portrays and explores the making of Parkett since 1984. Focused particularly on the process leading to the journal's signature artists' collaborations and editions, the book features unpublished artists' documents, interviews with the co-founders, statements, and other background information.

The book includes numerous artists' ephemera and photographs on the making of Parkett's editions and issues with thirty full-page drawings and comments by artists. It also contains a 20 year index of all artists and authors published since 1984 and a fold out poster of all 150 Parkett editions. The publication recieved the 2005 award for the most beautiful Swiss books. It is now also available with a special combined offer, see below.

Contents
•Artists' documents on the making of Parkett's editions and issues with thirty full page drawings and letters by Doug Aitken, Laurie Anderson, Louise Bourgeois, Maurizio Cattelan, Gilbert & George, Roni Horn, Cindy Sherman, Gerhard Richter, Jeff Wall, and others. (view selected book pages at http://www.parkettart.com/20_years/ )
•Interview with Parkett's co-founders: Bice Curiger, Editor-in-Chief, Jacqueline Burckhardt, Senior Editor, Dieter von Graffenried, Publisher (illustrated with photographs, historical material, reproductions of Parkett covers, and editions).
•Statements by thirty artists, curators, and authors including Paolo Colombo, Peter Fischli/David Weiss, Jacques Herzog, Dieter Meier, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Lou Reed, Beatrix Ruff, Harald Szeemann, John Waters, Peter Weibel, Deborah Wye and others.
•Fold out color poster featuring all 150 editions (view poster at http://www.parkettart.com/fold_out_poster/).
•20 Year Index listing all 150 artists and their editions, 700 authors, 60 Parkett inserts, 15 spines, and more.

Edited in English and German by Mirjam Varadinis, Curator, Kunsthaus Zurich. Foreword by Christoph Becker, Director, Kunsthaus Zurich. Published on the occasion of the recent Parkett Exhibition at Kunsthaus Zurich. 248 pages, 9 x 7.4 inches / 23 x 19 cm, paperback with dust jacket, approx. 120 reproductions, 30 in color, designed by Elektrosmog, published by Parkett, distributed in the U.S. by D.A.P, ISBN: 3-907582-24-1.

Special combined 20 Years Offer valid through March 30, 2005, includes:
•New book Parkett - 20 Years of Artists' Collaborations
•Parkett Postcard Set - 146 editions in color and text booklet from MoMA-Show (http://www.parkettart.com/postcard_set/)
•Editions Poster, see picture above, 127 x 90 cm / 50 x 35

To order the book or the special combined offer go to http://www.parkettart.com/20_years/ and click "add to order". For the combined special offer of all three items at a reduction of around 30% just mention "combined offer" in the "comment" box.

For further questions contact Mathias Arnold (m.arnold@parkettart.com) in Zurich or Monika Condrea (m.condrea@parkettart.com) in New York. Visit Parkett at the Armory Show 2005 in New York, Pier 92 (March 10 - 14, 2005).
http://www.parkettart.com

CALL | Books.05, Noosa Regional Gallery

BOOKS.05
works of imagination
Call for an exhibition artists booksTheme: image as text as image
Noosa Regional Gallery

For information contact Maryke Stagg on +61 7 5449 5340 or email maryke.stagg@noosa.qld.gov.au

exhibits:
1. All entries must be the original work of the artist and have been executed within the last 12 months.
2. Entry by preselection only. Please send no later than July 25, 2005. A clear digital image in JPG format of
the work/s, CV and 50 word artist statement
3. Successful applicants will be notified by August 7, 05.
4. Due to customs regulations, only Australian works may be for sale. Commission of 25% is applicable.
5. Each item must be clearly labeled (with separate tag) title, artist’s name and price.
6. Entries limited to 3 works per artist. A fee of $10 is payable for one to three entries (applicable to Australian artists only).
7. ABN or hobbyist declaration is required from Australian artists if item is for sale.
8. All expenses in connection with the transit insurance, forward packing, repacking, and return of entries is the responsibility of the artist.
9. The Gallery will take the greatest care with all exhibits, but accepts no liability for damage or loss incurred to works held after October 22, 2004 All remaining books with no return postage will be sent COD.
10. The Gallery reserves the right to have any work photographically or otherwise reproduced for publicity
purposes or may be shown on the web site
11. All works should reflect this year’s theme: “image as text as image”.