Minidoka on My Mind, Roger Shimomura’s new exhibition, opens May 8th in New York City at Flomenhaft Gallery. His unparalleled insights into the conditions of life in Japanese internment camps during WW II stunningly blend humor and popular culture styling with an unmistakable– and unforgettable bite.

Now more than half a century old, the bar code has unobtrusively integrated itself into our everyday lives, as it is practically found on almost all purchasable items in the western hemisphere. Department stores, super markets, bookstores, box offices, and local retail stores are all dependent on the little B&W-stripes and number logo, also known as the UPC- the Universal Product Code. The bar code is also widely used for tracking the movement of items from simple mail to airline luggage, nuclear waste and, with the new biometric passports, even ourselves.

With only a few deviations from its original design in the early 70’s, the bar code seems stagnant and timeless. In contemporary art it has been a source for much inspiration as many artists (such as Scott Blake and Banksy below), leverage its uniformity as a powerful tool for social critique.

Others, such as Moscow based design studio Art. Lebedev Studio get a kick out of retrieving the bar code symbol in our everyday environment, which they exhibit on their website.

A different, more commercial take on the bar code design was initiated by the Japaneses design team called Design Barcode in 2005. They began to think about how to revolutionize the bar code and its mundane design by making it more exciting and noticeable. For them, the lack of attention we consumers pay to the bar code is a waste of “valuable product real estate”. Whether or not we agree that this is necessary or a move into the right direction, I nevertheless recommend you to check out their ideas on how to linking a product with functional and innovative bar code design on their gallery.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the World Expo organized in Brussels in 1958. Focusing on internationalism and the brotherhood of men, the Expo expressed unlimited self-consciousness and progressive optimism. Mostly a trade fair and a platform for obvious clichés, it was at the same time a rare occasion were the subversive ideas of the modernist avant-garde and the hopeful beliefs of an open-minded post war generation went hand in hand.

My two all time favorites are the now still standing Atomium and the long gone Philips Pavilion. The Atomium (see image above), designed by Belgian architect André Waterkeyn, is 335-feet tall and consists of nine steel spheres that are connected. It represents the molecule of iron magnified 165 billion times. Being a large-scale mind blowing atom, it has exhibition spaces inside. On my recent trip to Belgium, I was confronted with numerous publications on Expo 58, which inspired me to visit the Atomium and experience its weird architecture once again.

The Philips Pavilion was more than a building at the fair; it was a multimedia experience displaying the technological skills of the Philips Company by combining light, sound and color. Le Corbusier is often credited as the main architect of the building, but his involvement is slightly overestimated. In reality, his collaborator Iannis Xenakis, a Greek architect and experimental music composer was responsible for the design. Le Corbusier, however, commissioned electro-acoustic composer Edgard Varèse to create an immersive sound installation, Le Poème Electronique (The Electronic Poem). Visitors to the Pavilion were treated to an impressive multimedia performance: 400 loudspeakers moving Varèse’s composition through 3D space, projections of images, and text by Le Corbusier.

“Le Poeme Electronique proposes to show, within a distressing tumult, our civilization on her way to conquest modern times”, Le Corbusier would say. Here is the video:

Although the World Expo of 1958 clearly reflected societal and political tensions of its time (Cold War competition and displaced colonial superiority), it is difficult to avoid a feeling of nostalgia when considering the various modernist attitudes that it temporarily materialized.

When I was a teen, I had this perverse fantasy of wanting to break out into musical numbers in stultifying and stupid situations. Did life really have to be this routine? This predictable? This gol-dang sonambulistic?

Not if Improv Everywhere has anything to do with it. Originating in New York City, and now with growing chapters across the world, the group stages elaborate musical numbers in public places, such as this one, done in a mall food court. The group is also involved in the No Pants events, where people agree to ride the subways (of New York, DC, and other cities), on a given day and time, sans pants. The whole thing is coordinated online so that participants get on at different stops, giving the appearance of a spontaneous desire on the part of citizens to drop trou.

There appears to be a growing “movement” of people interested in doing these sorts of playful dada-esque street actions. Zombie walks are another, where groups of seemingly unconnected people show up in an urban area in full Zombie costume and makeup, shuffling along, mewing for brains. All of these types of events use emailing lists, sites and services like Facebook and Twitter, and the supreme tool for so-called “flash mobbing,” the mobile phone/text messaging to organize.

I for one can’t wait to see more of this sort of thing and can’t wait to be on a street corner or in a dreary mall food court when somebody busts out into a showy number, ’cause I’m going to join in. Hell, maybe I won’t even wait. “Springtime for Hitler” in Lafayette Park, anyone?

Here for more about Improv Everywhere.
Here for Improv Everywhere Global.
Here for more on Zombie crawls
(more…)

“My contention is that Orientalism is fundamentally a political doctrine willed over the Orient because the Orient was weaker than the West, which elided the Orient’s difference with its weakness. . . . As a cultural apparatus Orientalism is all aggression, activity, judgment, will-to-truth, and knowledge.” (Edward Said, Orientalism)

Recent political developments have once again shed light on the question of East/West relationships. Framing the Other: 30 Years After Orientalism, is a symposium that looks at the 30th anniversary of Edward Said’s Orientalism as a suitable opportunity to re-examine the impact and currency of Said’s key arguments. Famously suggesting that discourse about other cultures is always inherently ideological, Said developed a highly controversial postcolonial critique of cultural representation. The symposium will focus on his legacy to analyze visual culture and its construction of the ‘Other’.

Organized by the Courtauld Institute of Art in London on April 26, lecture topics will range from 19th Century visual culture to contemporary Islamic art.

Planet of the Arabs is a trailer-esque montage of Hollywood’s relentless vilification and dehumanization of Arabs and Muslims by artist Jacqueline Salloum. Descending from Palestinian immigrants in the US, Salloum felt “forever the foreigner, and with the constant exposure to only negative images of Arabs in the news and Hollywood films, […] grew up feeling ashamed of being an Arab. […] her feelings soon reversed in her teens… with a twist of candy-coated vengeance.” Inspired by the book Reel Bad Arabs by Dr. Jack Shaheen.

Here for Framing the Other: 30 Years After Orientalism.

Here for Jacqueline Sammoun.

African cartoon and comic strips have a long-standing history, which in some countries reaches back for more than 40 years. Drawing upon the rich traditions of storytelling, portraiture, mask-making, pictograms, and ideographic carvings, the cartoonists typically lace these cultural elements with a healthy serving of satirical French journalism. By using caricature as a form of resistance, names such as Messager Popoli and L’Oeil du Sahel have made a deep impact on the African journalistic landscape, blatantly attacking and ridiculing the hierarchies and contradictions of African societies and politics with their work. Considering the political dynamic of the African nations between 1960 -1990, many cartoonists have been threatened, harassed, exiled, kidnapped and some even killed.

Today however, the comic strip is no longer limited to political commentary, but is evolving into a powerful vehicle for education, development, information sharing, and empowerment. Thanks to the internet, artists are able to produce and distribute their comic strips more easily and evade censorship stipulations. Covering problematic and sensitive topics such as human rights violations, HIV, torture in prison, child soldiers, the role of women in society, politics, tribal conflict, and the empowerment of minority groups, the comic strips have become a vital tool in raising awareness, educating the people and promoting social change.

Even though the majority of the comic books tend to be grim and dark they are always vivid and highly expressive. The artistic and thematic diversity is infinite, as books and strips range from political cartoons to pop-cultural formats, may come in color or black and white, can be hand drawn, painted, collaged, or even created on the computer. As some artists are slowly beginning to win international recognition, domestically the comic strips are central in shaping modern African consciousness and culture, as they are able to galvanize, educate and give a voice to the underprivileged.

Although it is hard to come across these comic strips or books on this side of the world, once you do get your hands on one of them, you are guaranteed to be holding a beautiful piece of art in your hands and a unique insight into the mystical world of African modernity.

is love, sweet

-and that you can find plenty of in Time Square. The TSA unveils “LOVE in Times Square” a public art project featuring 15 unique banner designs by 12 top graphic artists ranging from Goodesign, to Rodrigo Corral and James Victoire for the occasion of Valentines’ day. The different typographic treatments of the word “Love” on each banner are reflective of the artist’s personal interpretation of the emotion and are supposed to spread the sentiment.
No, not just for some- but maybe even for everyone.

Musician, writer, artist and deviser of bizarre stunts, Bill Drummond, came up with the idea in 2005. This year marks its third edition. Drummond chose November 21 because it is the day before St Cecilia’s Day, the patron saint of music:

“There seemed a logic that we fast from music on the day before we may traditionally have celebrated and given thanks for music. I decided to have one day without listening to music to give myself some space.”

Here for the website.

Thanks, Mark!

In 2002, internet art pioneers Entropy8Zuper! founded the company Tale of Tales. Their aim is to produce alternative video games for a niche market that does not enjoy the violence and blood-shedding of most mainstream games. They design and develop immersive web sites and multimedia environments with a strong emphasis on narration, play, emotion and sensuality. They engage poetic narratives and simple controls.

The Endless Forest is a multiplayer online game and social screensaver. When your computer goes to sleep you appear as a deer in a magical place. There are no goals to achieve or rules to follow, just run through the forest and see what happens. You are a deer and so are the other players; you meet each other in an endless forest on the internet, a virtual place where you can play with friends. The setting is idyllic, the atmosphere peaceful.

Furtherfield is currently hosting a retrospective of their work.

Here for Tale of Tales.

In her highly entertaining book Unmarketable or Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing and the Erosion of Integrity, Anne Elizabeth Moore depicts the absurdity of “our advertising-saturated, late-capitalist wonderland”. Rooted in the DIY philosophy of the punk underground, Moore describes how it became a part of the logic of mass production and corporate culture it originally opposed. The book offers a critical look at advertising agencies who use DIY techniques to reach a youth market, and at members of the underground who have helped forward corporate agendas through their own artistic, and occasionally activist, projects.

I especially enjoyed Moore’s systematic demystification of concepts we usually take for granted. Early on in the book, there is an interesting section about the use of the word “organic”:

“The definition of organic most of us are accustomed to describes living beings; refers to something that develops gradually and without force; and implies the use of agricultural practices reliant on naturally occurring pesticides, fertilizers, and other growing aids but without the use of synthetic chemicals. We think of “organic” as a synonym for natural, untrammeled, sustainable.
Yet the definition of organic used on food packaging is a technical and tautological one, describing a lack of synthetic fertilizers, toxic pesticides, or herbicides, and an adherence to a set of standards put in place by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to regulate the commercial use of the word “organic”. While the definition has been pared down from its original, the word has also become popular in packaging, advertising, and the media; it’s a promotional tool. (…)
So the schism between what we believe organic means (naturally occurring, created without using damaging substances or force, and eminently reproducible) and what it means in the commercial sphere (grown by aid only of other products also labeled “organic”) is vast. Marketers have done more than take full advantage of this schism. They have created it.”

‘Unmarketable’, Anne Elizabeth Moore, The New Press, New York, 2007

Update: Interview with Anne from Bookslut