#3

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Film Africa 2012, opens tomorrow evening. It has a rich program of films from across the continent that are well worth checking out. Venues include The Ritzy in Brixton, The Hackney Picturehouse, and the Screen on The Green.

For more information check out Film Africa

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Ai Wei Wei, Gangnam Style.  

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Upcoming Issue: The Technologies of Sacred Sound

#3 is excited to announce its fourth curated installation, 'The Technologies of Sacred Sound'.

The multimedia, sound-tracked issue will focus on the roles and relations of changes in digital technology with sacred music from around the world.

Our call for submissions is open now. As always, submissions can include academic or creative collaborations, written essays, interviews, extracts, with audio/visual and multimedia content encouraged.

Take a look at the issue brief below for more information and feel free to get in touch if your idea is particularly complex, and requires a direct collaboration with our team.

above video by Teppei Nogaki

Issue Brief: Music and the technologies of both production and distribution have long been in symbiotic growth. MP3s, streaming services and social media sharing have made the transmission and consumption of music simple, fast and global. The human hunger for access to music has driven technologists and entrepreneurs to push the boundaries of open access, cloud streaming services, and digital media piracy; trends in the use of digital technology that have shaken the traditional music industry to its core, and given rise to a multiplicity of radical new ways for people to listen.

Yet until recently, ritualistic and sacred music has been more or less left in the wake of this digital modernisation. By its very nature rooted in tradition, sacred music has adhered to its rituals, laws and covenants, holding off modernity easier than secular music. However, gradually things have been steadily changing as sacred traditions adapt to life in the modern world – adopting technologies where necessary. By opening a dialogue between musicians, academics, and digital practitioners, this issue of #3 seeks to explore the ways technology and modernity affect sacred music, and how reflects on how these traditions are reaching out to the digital world to survive.

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Friend of #3, and terrific photographer, Isa Sierra has been awarded second prize at the International Photography Awards in the fine art, portraiture category for her series Leviathan. See more here

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IN NUMBERS

from March 2012

The ICA’s exhibition, In Numbers: Serial Publications by Artists Since 1955, is an effective attempt at showcasing a historical gamut of artist serials. The exhibition contains output from close to 30 publications, presented in pedestal cases, spread over the lower gallery. Given their captivity in vitrines the publications that shine the most are the image focused ones and those beautifully printed such as Vigo’s Diagonal Cero. Others such as Art & Language and the associated The Fox, are interesting contextually and important historically but as objects on display they seem lacking in what made them vital documents in the first place. As explorations of theory and conceptual practice they are part of a language beyond looking that is hard to present in an exhibition such as this. The way the artists’ hijacked conventional distribution systems or created their own independent ones based around practical collaboration and community focused working methods is at the forefront of why the publications exhibited here are so compelling. An exemplar of this was Permanent Food, a magazine, edited by Maurizio Cattelan and Paola Manfrin, that cannibalized other magazines and was originally composed of submitted images from a wide network of individuals. Others, informed by the tradition of Mail Art, also co-opt existing structures or systems for independent distribution.  Eleanor Antin’s 100 Boots, sent by post to various destinations created a strange, somewhat disjointed narrative to those on the receiving end. These people caught glimpses of these 100 rubber boots, acting as if they were travellers sharing moments of their journey with those left at home. The boots recall a migration from coast to coast; sometimes lining a road, at other moments set in a field, or even perched in a tree like a murder of crows. The sent images mark how words, pictures, news and narrative are sent and received in an ongoing process of serializaton that is always building on what came before it. The Toronto art scene was well represented as File magazine from the iconic art collective General Idea was on display, and somewhat more contemporaneous to the exhibition were Scott Treleaven’s, “queer/punk/occult” zine, This is The Salvation Army. It marked a line between generationally split art practices dealing with similar issues of queer identity and politics using the outlet of the serial publication. It was an interesting line to follow and a nod to the often underappreciated art scene in southern Ontario. While self-publication is becoming trendy and tantamount to living in a world where everyone blogs and serializes their every thought out into the social networks, it is important to think about the critical ways in which the format and function of serialization have acted as mechanisms for artistic production. In Numbers proved a valuable showcase into the historical practice of artist publications and a testament to that medium’s continuing vibrancy was the wide range of associated events such as Publish and Be Damned and the turnout they received from across London.

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Between 1989 and 1996 the artist William Wegman's dogs appeared on Sesame Street in a number of segments. Wegman directed and narrated the segments which include the above clip "Old McFay Counts to 40" along with a number of others based on nursery rhymes. The videos are hilarious and paired with Wegman's strange narration are a extension of some of his humorous earlier video work. example. example2.

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via the NYT Lens Blog and Kiana Hayeri

Hayeri's Your Veil is a Battleground explores the lives of young Iranian women and recalls the work of #3 contributor Tamineh Monzavi. 

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Ed Burtynsky's Oil at the recently re-opened Photographers Gallery is incredible and should not be missed. Photo via The Photographers Gallery

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In light of the Scream sale

I have recently come across a few Reuters blogger Felix Salmon's pieces regarding the art market. Salmon is an exceptional financial blogger and his insights into the art market are well worth reading.   Here are a few recent ones: http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/05/03/art-valuation-datapoints-of-the-day/  http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/page/3/ http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/05/07/the-business-of-art-fairs/  http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/03/27/how-damien-hirst-recaptured-his-market/ 

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100 Notes - 100 Thoughts, Documenta 13

image via leftLOFT

As a lead up to Documenta 13, which opens next month in Kasell, the organisers have been releasing a series of wonderfully designed and interestingly conceived books in a series called 100 Notes - 100 Thoughts. The books, produced by the Italian design company leftLoft and Hatje Cantz, have been around for close to a year now. They feature artists, academics, curators, critics, and theorists contributing thoughts on a range of issues dealing with the contemporary world and art.  

I remember first seeing them on a shelf in Koenig books and being captivated by their simple design and poignant content. I bought two that day, No.08 Lawrence Weiner: IF IN FACT THERE IS A CONTEXT and No.09 William Kentridge and Peter L. Gallison: The Refusal of Time, with a number of others having been added to a growing stack on my shelf over the following months. These clever little objects, in parts as well as in sum, constitute a well considered prelude to Documenta 13.

 image via leftLOFT

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via ICA

A video production from the Publish and Be Damned event at the ICA. Have a look.

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Image from Julius von Bismarck

Saw an article today about Julius von Bismarck becoming the new artist in residence at CERN and it reminded me about his Public Face projects. von Bismarck is the first artist taking part in the residency as part of the Collide@CERN initiative. Marking the occasion will be a public lecture on the 21st of March at 7:30pm (CET). The lecture will be webcast on CERN's website.

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Thatcher's Warhol via Verso Blog

Nice blog post today by Huw Lemmey about Damian Hirst and his upcoming show at Tate Modern. Also mentions #3 contributor Julian Stallabrass' excellent book High Art Lite, a must read for contextualising the work made by YBA members.

Hirst's show opens in a political, social and economic context far removed from the halycon days of Brit Art. Although we may, once again, be living under a Conservative government, Cameron's administration is not one trapped between tabloid sleaze and stuffy Victorian values. Rather, the values of the YBAs, always a louche cheerleader of Thatcherite meritocracy, have transmogrified into the official, informal culture of Britain's neoliberal political class. 

Read the full post on Verso

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Waiting For Google

I came across this project from Stuart White of the Royal College of Art today.

Waiting For Google is, "inspired by website preloaders , the writings of Samuel Beckett and the time wasted procrastinating on the internet – waiting for something that never arrives."

I think most of us can relate. (if you use the preloaders you can donate at his site)