Toward the intersections of art, space and structure, and new media:

1) “Beyond the obsolete models of artist or author as genius and their fetish objects, what collective and collaborative practices are inventing new terrains and flows?”

In Autonomedia’s new book Critical Strategies in Art and Media: Perspectives in New Cultural Practices Ted Byfield, Steve Kurtz, Amanda McDonald Crowley, Claire Pentecost, and Peter Lamborn Wilson with the likes of Franco (Bifo) Berardi, Marco Deseriis, Rene Gabri, Brian Holmes, McKenzie Wark, Felix Stalder, and others gather to explore such questions.

2) “It was John Ruskin who claimed that the ‘measure of a city’s greatness is to be found in the quality of its public spaces.’ Looking around the London landscape – the 200-strong herd of fibreglass elephants currently roaming the streets, Banksy’s signature graffiti, the production line of fourth plinth sculptures – it’s hard to imagine the city even registering on Ruskin’s fastidious scale of “greatness’.”

In, State of the Art/Art of the State: Public Art in the UK Alexandra Coghlan explores the role of public art in a cities image and reputation.

3) “Two recently published books – Louis Moreno and John Alderson’s The Architecture and Urban Culture of Financial Crisis and Sarah Glynn’s Where the Other Half Lives – assess the damaging impact of financialisation on built environments and urban housing. In his double review, Owen Hatherley identifies architecture as a prime casualty of neoliberalism’s de facto Non-Plan.”

*Above Image: photo by Albert Renger Patzsch

Owning land in Detroit just got even ‘cheaper’–increasing plausibility of a new commons therein.

“You’re invited to buy land and ‘move’ to Detroit,” says Loveland, a project which developed in the summer of 2009, “with a vision for combining the social fun of online games with the creative development of real land, and an open ‘let’s figure things out as we go along’ attitude.”

Combining both the fantastic and the real, part Farmville, part real life commune, Loveland allows individuals to purchase land in Detroit for $1 per inch along side other purchasers or, better, investors. The objective: to provide  access to land and space wherein the purpose of that space is  determined by the common; intent can span from conceptual project to tangible actual urban renewal.

Wrap your head around it all this Tuesday by tuning into Basekamp’s weekly Skype ‘potluck’ discussion on Plausible Artworlds wherein they will be conversing with the creators of Loveland and others who care to join in the discussion.

Here’s a video from Jerry, Loveland mastermind

*Above: Inchy, Official Mascot and spokesperson of Loveland

On April 8th & 9th, Chicago’s Columbia College presents a free summit looking at shifts in policies relating to art, media, and technology that threaten the future of democracy in America specifically relating to access to a free and open Internet.

Read an interview with Malkia Cyril, Executive Director for the Center for Media Justice about her efforts to ensure that people of color’s rights are defended as regulations are passed determining how much power and control corporations have over the Internet.

This, and events like it around the country, aim to organize responses against the recent circuit court ruling that could cripple Internet neutrality.

Sunday 8th November 2009 11 am – 4 pm
The Star and Shadow Cinema
Make and Mend Market
Stepney Bank
Ouseburn, Newcastle Upon Tyne England NE1 2NP

The Make and Mend Market is the 1st monthly craft, art & flea market in Newcastle. The event showcases new creative talent in the area and gives people the chance to recycle quality items no longer in use & help keep them out of landfill. The market alternates between the Grainger Arcade in Newcastle City Centre and the Star and Shadow Cinema in Ouseburn, Newcastle which was built and is run entirely by volunteers. It has been running for almost 2 years now and is a great alternative to High Street shopping.

At this event we will have 20 stalls from local traders, new designers and artists offering clothing, jewellery, homewares, art and more.

Some of the goodies we’ll have on offer:

Handmade retro jewellery from Candy Doll Couture
Vintage & 2nd hand homewares from Louise Bradley
Karon from Calmic Therapies giving mini reiki sessions & massage
Beautiful prints & wall hangings from Doris Illustrated
Lovingly handcrafted instruments by Mike Smith
Recycled vintage accessories from Make Do & Mend Arts
+ loads more.

MySpace

[Text and graphic from Cinema website. Cross-posted to The Data Stream.]

Wunderbar Festival
“Housewarming”
138 St. Lawrence Square
Newcastle England NE6 1SU

“Jorn Ebner and Monica Ross cordially invite you to a housewarming in reverse.

On this site a row of council flats was demolished in 2008 to make way for the Byker South Redevelopment plan. The scheme has recently been shelved due to the current economic crisis – a situation that reflects the fragility of the social housing sector within society.

Housewarming will take place in open space, unsheltered and probably cold. No house stands here and another may or may not again: the artists imply the history of their private occupation of a flat on this site as the basis to host the sharing of social space. Tea, coffee, drinks and snacks will be provided by the artists, but guests are also welcome to contribute refreshments to be shared by all.

Housewarming is produced by Michelle Hirschhorn and supported by Wunderbar Festival, Newcastle City Council, ISIS Arts and the Friends of St. Lawrence Park.”

more on Byker and The Byker Wall:

• BBC on the original Byker Development
• City of Newcastle > Environment and Planning > Regeneration > Ouseburn Byker Sites >St. Lawrence Square

Wunderbar Festival Schedule

[text and graphic from Housewarming Facebook Event page. Cross-posted to The Data Stream.]

Bijou Theater
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa

October 25 – 7 pm
COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS
Directed by Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McCleod

Produced by University of Iowa professorKembrew McCleod, Copyright Criminals is a documentary that poses the question: Can you own a sound? The film traces the history of sampling in the music industry and the increasing government regulation on the practice, featuring interviews from music legends like Chuck D, George Clinton, and Clyde Stubblefield.

Q&A session with producer Kembrew McCleod following the free screening.
Also showing in DC at the JCC.  More here.

[text from Bijou mailing. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Vancouver Art Gallery
750 Hornby Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada V6Z 2H7

Stan Douglas
Klatsassin
through November 8

Klatsassin takes its title from a Tsilhqot’in chief (the Tsilhqot’in are Athapascan-speaking Aboriginal people in British Columbia) and will include two series of photographs and a high-definition video projection. The video, set in 1864 in the forests of Canada’s Cariboo Mountains, focuses on the hostility between the Tsilhqot’in tribe and encroaching settlers seeking gold on the Chilcotin Plateau. Klatsassin led an insurgency but at first evaded capture. He was eventually lured with the gift of tobacco, taken prisoner, tried for murder, and hanged.

[text and graphic from google search for 'Klatsassin'. Caption: "Stan Douglas. still from Klatsassin (the prospector). 2006." Cross-posted to The Data Stream.]

ISIS Arts
5 Charlotte Square
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Thursday, October 1 6 – 8pm
Maia Urstad

“Maia Urstad works at the intersection of audio and visual art. Maia’s work involves integrating sound into specific locations. Recent practice includes outdoor and indoor sound installations and performances, using CD and cassette-radios for both sound transmission and as sculptural objects, commenting on the temporary nature of present technology. The sound-textures for these projects are made from found/concrete sound sources, particularly signals from radio broadcast and telecommunication. At present she is investigating multi-channel FM transmissions sent to multiple radios as sound installations and performances.”

[text and graphic from Facebook event page. Cross-posted to The Data Stream.]

[FYA, celebrity and parody in the service of advocacy from the aptly dubbed "Funny or Die" site and MoveOn.org. Featuring Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, Thomas Lennon, Donald Faison, Linda Cardellini, Masi Oka, Ben Garant, Jordana Spiro, Lauren, Drew, and Chad Carter. Cross-posted to The Data Stream.]