A very meta group show organised by Constant Dullaart, opening Friday 13th February. I’m playing some digital music files through fx units at midnight – hyped party mix for the kunst lovers and culture mongers…

Contemporary Semantics Beta delicious show
Friday, February 13, 2009 at 8:00pm

Arti et Amicitiae
Street:
Rokin 112

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Rokin+112%2C+Amsterdam%2C+Netherlands

Lets do a show in which, like is possible on del.icio.us, the inspiration that leads up to an art work is visable, but now physical, not only existing as a jpeg or url (it can be a poster reproduction of a Malevich, a remake of a sculpture, a print out etc etc). And show this together with the final work that this inspiration led to. A show in which it is clear that del.icio.us influences the participating artists by sharing their references, thereby aiding their research. A show that discusses the development of contemperary semantics in net-art 2 point oooh, by showing different aproaches of artists dealing with the vast information flow of the internet, its dialectics and developing anthropological values. The fact that these mostly young artists are dealing with an abundance of visual representations of previous non net art, and the flirtation with kitch, trash and popculture which dominates the internets will play a big part in the show.

participating artists:

Ola Vasiljeva
Harm van Den dorpel
Pascual Sisto
Martijn Hendriks
Ryan Barone
Guthrie Lonergan
Jan Robert Leegte
Constant Dullaart
Frank Koolen
Jon Rafman
Chris Coy
Ellis McDonald

Opening Friday the thirteenth of Februari from 8 pm till 00.00 am, with automated d.j.-ing.
EMILE ZILE WILL PERFORM FROM 00:00 TILL 01:00

In November UNICEF and The One Minutes Foundation Amsterdam invited me to Nigeria to run a video workshop with local high-schoolers, together with Karen, a UNICEF facilitator from New York and Floor, a video artist from Rotterdam. One week of intensity. One minute video workshop. The kids brought their ideas. We helped them plan, shoot and edit their concepts into 60 second videos. Machine gun escort from the airport. Food highlights: Moin moin, Joelof rice, Fried plantain. Searching the local food market in 35 degree heat. Sampling spices and curry powder. Screen culture highlights: raiding the local VCD seller for new ‘Nollywood’ releases, music video compilations and vintage evergreen songwriters. Plane highlights: Lufthansa pilots avoiding a tropical storm over Malabo, Equitorial Guinea, landing back in Lagos, refuelling and then flying on to Frankfurt.

Nasty Nets http://www.nastynets.com/dvd.html

a compilation of found files, internet readymades and home-made animations. nasty nets internet surfing club’s collection of stoner net.art, primitive 8bit animations, nostalgia for the dawn of personal computing, LOL CATS, midi files and compression artifacts. disc is dvd-rom with many of the original files included as data. self-aware amateurism as defense against the unrelenting speed of technological change. dvd production funded by rhizome.

Cyclus http://cyclus.park.nl

compilation of video art on reproduction included in an issue of the ‘mister motley’ nederlands art mag, disc is authored to loop constantly, eject and re-insert for a new artwork, nice idea. much less A.D.D. than nasty nets, longer sequences of classical vid art + animation + performances. some very fine works on this disc. yet i am suprised by the silence. if there is an audio track present it is only the registration of the performance on video. maybe this is by design, slow moving looping visions for your plasma, but it feels like occular bias. where is the soundtrack? produced by park 4dtv.

666 http://nigeriamovies.net/starprofiles/k_okonkwo.php

acquired from an african supermarket in dapperplein, east of amsterdam – 666 is a tale of retribution, salvation, devilish posession and good vs evil. this nollywood disc has fine villains, doing their best to act menacing and creepy in front of badly lit bluescreens. persevere through the good guy Pastor Lazarus trying to convert the sinners at the bar and then relish in the balding pot bellied beelzebub acquiring souls for the pit of eternal infernal darkness. awesome nigerian video-cinema. produced by the don of nollywood kenneth okonkwo, directed by ugoo ugbor.

two audiovisual works caught my eye:

A short documentary by SINA KHANI, an Iranian-born German living in Amsterdam. First he exalts the power of cinema and television, then releases air captured from a Mosque into a Church in a sequence titled EXHALAL, finds a field to recreate a scene from THE SOUND OF MUSIC, meditates on the power of cinematography and celebrates the day’s shooting with a KEBAB and a COFFEE. He is a very comfortable comic performer, openly asking the cameraman if he is overacting or not. The video was installed on a flimsy table next to a plastic DONER KEBAB takeaway sign. A very free and activated use of sound. Interuptions and cuts. Non-diegetic sound and crash endings.

SINA KHANI

A song by Mr. Khani “Let’s not hate the Americans”

May 28, Rode Bioscoop Amsterdam

Danish photographer EVA MARIE RODBRO‘s video ‘FUCK YOU KISS ME’ presents the lives of a group of teenagers living in a snowed-in, northern community, it could be LAPPLAND or ICELAND or NORWAY, i dont know. Black and white DV footage that is about to fracture with iced-out beauty and banality. A scandanavian KIDS with no Harmony K in sight. Mundane activities documented in cabins. Kids trying out new crunk dance moves. Slicing open a polar bear’s chest cavity. Slam dunks on a snow covered court. An observational doco with minimal dialogue, superbly controlled timing and a whole SLAB of atmosphere. i need to see her next work in a cinema not on a stool.

EVA MARIE RODBRO

the most impressive video installation i have seen in a long time, currently on at STEDELIJK museum POSTCS amsterdam.

two large 16:9 screens facing eachother, a line of seating along one wall.

screen A: interviews with members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) a guerilla group committed to the redistribution of wealth in their local communities, namely by the sabotage of ROYAL DUTCH SHELL oil wells on their land. mostly handheld shots, interviews, a threatening encounter with local hunter, a euphoric ‘miami vice’-like ride through the river with MEND warriors toting guns, wearing colourful woolen balaclavas encrusted with talismanic protectors.

screen B: scenes from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, traders screaming and selling, trading futures with hand gestures and noise, their own physical signifiers, coloured suits and flags, talismanic toys on their desks, interspersed with shots of the exchange, cold surfaces, the clean edges of capital, the ‘death from above’ of international trading, the detached forces that very directly change peoples lives around the world. mainly tripod shots, close-ups on abstract decimals.

groups of men, men fighting, trading, arguing, clusters of men on missions.

forcing the audience to see one or the other is a bold decision, the audience is on the equator looking left into the southern hemisphere or right into the north. i’m a sucker for these fuzzy binaries, this simple and powerful conceit to symmetry.

this work is at 16th SYDNEY biennale, go see it if you’re in sin city.

stedelijk museum interview with M.BOULOS

you are now about to witness the strength of GUUS knowledge.

holland were unimaginative and paralysed by russia, uselessly attacking through the centre repeatedly and being stopped by russias stonewall defense. very classy performance by the ruskis. lovely second goal, tap off the ankle from an extreme cross.

after helping S.KOREA, AUTRALIA and now RUSSIA perform beyond the sum of their parts in big tournaments, GUUS HIDDINK deserves a CUP OF BEER and a VEGEMITE SANDWICH. when will he assist LATVIA to win the world cup ?

now all i want to see is a RUSSIA v. TURKEY final, two non-EU countries in the euro cup final.

i watched the match on a plasma through the window of an 18century pub in amsterdam, sitting in the street while the orange facepaint slowly dripped off the supporters faces, and their plastic hats got crumpled and stained. very sad last drinks.

‘carn the cossacks…

tokyo stop start technical grind screamo viruosity.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=H5D8L7Fqt3Q

she channels john lydon pistols-era effortlessly. the demeanor. the stances. the vaguely straight jacket looking white top. the side-long stares to the audience.

tight songs and brutally extreme swoops and pans from a sampler. jumbo jet take off or being stuck in a mobile telephone for a ten minute ring cycle. affecting and exhilirating. concise and brutal.