Christina Stahr In Prague : LABYRINTH [91]

Christina Stahr, a New York based artist with Czech and German roots and a major supporter in the A Book About Death project, exhibits L A B Y R I N T H, a solo exhibition at the Brooks Gallery, Naplavni 3 Prague 2, Czech Republic.

RAY JOHNSON & A BOOK ABOUT DEATH: CW POST EXHIBITION [90]

 An Open Call to Artists to Contribute to RAY JOHNSON & A BOOK ABOUT DEATH (ABAD)
This new ABAD show will open in the SAL Art Gallery at the CW Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville, NY, and run October 31 to November 4, 2010. Submit one 4"x 6" artwork in any media on the theme of death/life. 

Please include the words “A BOOK ABOUT DEATH” on the front and your name and your e-mail address/website URL on the back. The work may be sent in an envelope for protection or mailed as a postcard. All submitted work will become part of a permanent Ray Johnson ABAD Archive. It will not be returned.

You must submit both a physical work and a virtual one to be part of the project. Every submitted piece will be posted to theexhibition blog.

Submission Deadline: October 15, 2010

Mail 4" x 6" artwork/card to:
Prof. Joan Harrison
Art Department
C.W. Post Campus, LIU
720 Northern Boulevard
Brookville, NY 11548
United States of America

Submit a 4x6 jpg of the image with your name and e-mail and or web URL to: LuAnn Palazzo at DesignDivaNY@gmail.com

“A BOOK ABOUT DEATH” (ABAD) is an unbound, un-paginated book produced by artists worldwide. The original project was conceived by Matthew Rose who invited artists to contribute 500 identical postcards on any aspect of the theme of death. That show took place at the Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery in NYC in September 2009. The exhibition was a tremendous success, attracting hundreds of visitors to the Soho gallery.

Since then, the ABAD project has taken on a remarkable life. It continues to travel the world, appearing in museums and galleries across the US and in Brazil, Belgium, Croatia, Italy, Sarajevo, and the United Kingdom. A set of cards is also in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, the MoMA Wales and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 

The project includes work from artists as famous as Yoko Ono as well as lesser known talents. The pages are of every kind of design imaginable, from personal and metaphysical to conceptual and abstract. The ABAD project has forged many new friendships among artists across the globe and has even spawned a handmade artists' magazine named Abalcabal.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS SHOW?
“RAY JOHNSON AND A BOOK ABOUT DEATH” is a new exhibition that will, for the first time, feature a copy of the original 1955 ABAD project by American artist Ray Johnson (1927-1995)–the inspiration for this entire series of exhibitions. It will set the stage for all 480 cards from the original Emily Harvey Gallery exhibit together with new submissions created especially for this show.

Ray Johnson’s unbound book of the same title was mailed to his New York Correspondence School students and included pages in his idiosyncratic style that were funny, sad and ironic “one-page essays” on death.

WHY IS THIS EXHIBIT HAPPENING AT C.W. POST CAMPUS of LIU?
Ray Johnson lived nearby in Locust Valley and was a frequent visitor to Hillwood Art Museum. He was a good friend of many artists who teach and work here and did several performance works on campus.

Several art alumni of Long Island University were contributors to the original New York ABAD project and would like other artists to become part of the rich worldwide art community that has grown up around the project.

RAY JOHNSON & A BOOK ABOUT DEATH: CW POST EXHIBITION ARTIST CALL.

Sigmar Polke 1941-2010 [89]

Sigmar Polke (February 13, 1941 – June 10, 2010).  CLICK TO VIEW NYT Slide Show.

PHOTO : Angelika Platen

Sigmar Polke (mitten in der Luft), Düsseldorf, 1971
Silbergelatineabzug auf Barytpapier auf Aluminium aufgezogen
Rückseitig signiert, datiert beschriftet und nummeriert
120 x 80cm  Exemplar 1/5  Galerie Haasag.

Anki King: Figment, Governor's Island [88]

Anki King, ABAD artist, exhibits at Figment at Governors Island, New York, June 11-13, 2010. Pictured here is her piece, Cradle of War, (H 55" x L 36" x W 30"). 

Cradle of War will be located in Nolan Galleries, Building 10b, 1st floor.  See the map of all FIGMENT events.

FIGMENT is an explosion of creative energy. It’s a free, annual celebration of participatory art and culture where everything is possible. For one weekend each summer, it transforms Governors Island into a large-scale collaborative artwork… and then it’s gone.

Details & Directions

The closest subway stations to the Battery Maritime Building (next to Staten Island Ferry) are as follows:
1 to South Ferry Station
4/5 to Bowling Green Station
W to (weekdays only) Whitehall St. Station; R to Whitehall St. Station

Ferry Schedule to Governors Island: Friday
From Manhattan: First ferry at 10 AM, hourly until 3 PM
From GI: First ferry at 10:30 AM, hourly until 5:30 PM

Saturday/Sunday : From Manhattan: First ferry at 10 AM, every half hour until 5:30 PM
From GI: First ferry at 10:30 AM, hourly until 7:00 PM

Ferry from Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park
Saturday/Sunday:  From Brooklyn: First ferry at 11 AM, runs continously until 5:20 PM
From GI: First ferry at 11:10 AM, runs continously until 7:00 PM

Website for Figment

The Hankie Project [87]

Six months ago artist and art dealer Julie Barratt invited artists to submit a work on a handkerchief that responded in some way to death and grief.  This soon became known as The Hankie Project, a kind of sister project to A Book About Death.  More than 100 works were submitted from over a dozen countries.  Each work is an actual handkerchief, and often a text travels alongside the submitted piece.  The exhibition opens at Barratt Galleries in Alstonville Australia on June 18.

Many artists who submitted works to A Book About Death (and its subsequent exhibitions), also contributed to Barratt's project. (The project's web site links ABAD's exhibitions).

Katka Adams, a local Australian artist, says about the project, "Grief can often be a very private lonely place, but by  inviting every one in to share their stories and experiences, a common art work is produced; and a healing community is created. I have often felt that our culture and society is now missing a process or way of dealing with our grief. Every one is sort of left to do what ever they feel is right for them, but this can be confusing and difficult. Other cultures have strong traditions and customs which people follow and they feel they have dealt with the death of a loved one honorably and in the right way."

The cover work for the invitation features the work of the youngest participant – four-year old Olli Shearman. (Top image).

To view the online catalog of works as well as accompanying texts, please visit the exhibition blog: http://objectsofthedead.blogspot.com/

ANGELA FERRARA POSTER : A BOOK ABOUT DEATH OMAHA [86]

Angela Ferrara, artist and curator of Um Livro Sobre A Morte, produced this 1930 Soviet-style poster for ABAD Omaha.  Download the poster on the Omaha site.

Louise Bourgeois 1911 - 2010 [85]

PHOTO: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/arts/design/01bourgeois.html

VIV MAUDLIN'S ABAD OMAHA POSTER [84]

The project in Omaha is taking off...New poster by YouTube personality, suburban home-maker and Kitsch Queen, Viv Maudlin.

More ABAD OMAH posters and the current catalog of new works here: http://abookaboutdeathomaha.blogspot.com/

A Book About Death Omaha

Mail your SINGLE 4 x 6 postcard to: RNG Gallery 1915 Leavenworth Street Omaha, Nebraska 68102 USA. The deadline is July 20, 2010. 

Send a jpeg of your work to VIVMAUDLIN@YAHOO.COM so it can be added to the online catalog.

A Book About Death: Curated by Gianfranco Maletti, Vimodrone, Villa Torri, Italy [83]

Vimodrone, 8 Maggio 2010
Mostra realizzata durante la Festa di Vimodrone "Santa Croce"
A BOOK ABOUT DEATH.

Curated by Gianfranco Maletti, 150 immagini da tutto il mondo sul modo di considerare la morte e celebrarne la memoria…

Villa Torri: Villa del '700, in fase di ristrutturazione.

More photos: Click here.

Gianfranco Maletti website.

Open Art Call For A BOOK ABOUT DEATH : RNG Gallery, Omaha, NE [82]

OPEN CALL FOR A BOOK ABOUT DEATH POST CARD RNG Gallery, Omaha, Nebraska

Single Postcard Work
Size : 4 x 6 inches (10 x 15 cm)
Theme: “A Book About Death”
Deadline: July 19, 2010
Exhibition: Opens July 31, 2010

Mail your postcard to: RNG Gallery
1915 Leavenworth Street
Omaha, Nebraska  68102 USA

Artists Robert Gilmer and Louise Millmann will feature a new exhibition of A Book About Death from the Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery in New York City, along with these new works.

It will be featured as part of their upcoming exhibition entitled "Til’ Death Due Us Part" at the RNG Gallery in Omaha, Nebraska. The exhibition opening will be July 31.

IMPORTANT: Once you've sent your 4 x 6 inch (10 x 15 cm) postcard to the RNG Gallery, please SEND YOUR IMAGES TO vivmaudlin@yahoo.com IN JPEG FORMAT APPROX 900 x 600 PIXELS – OR around 200K. They will be posted on the A Book About Death, OMAHA BLOG http://abookaboutdeathomaha.blogspot.com/

NOTE: The only requirement is the text "A BOOK ABOUT DEATH" must be seen/present somewhere on the postcard. (Any language). All postcards will be exhibited in the RNG Gallery, Omaha Nebraska along with the complete original set of cards from the NYC “A Book About Death" exhibition, curated by Matthew Rose

DEADLINE for submissions: JULY 19, 2010

Postcards will not be returned. They will become part of the "A Book About Death" collection at the RNG Gallery in Omaha, Nebraska.

History of the project so far :
http://abookaboutdeath.blogspot.com/
http://abookaboutdeatharchive.blogspot.com/
http://abookaboutdeath.net/

“A Book About Death” is a collaborative project conceived by American artist Matthew Rose for the Emily Harvey Foundation in New York City, where the original exhibition took place from September 10 – 22, 2009. The Omaha Exhibition is curated by Robert Gilmer and Louise Millmann and assisted by: Honey Millmann and Viv Maudlin. Info: vivmaudlin@yahoo.com

Please spread the word across the planet. Thank you...

Also, exhibitions are in the works for Montreal, Beijing and other cities. If you are an artist involved in this project, or a curator interested in putting together and exhibition, please get in touch.

Exit11 Belgium ABAD Installation [81]

Exit11 Installation of A Book About Death.  See Veronica Bellei's photo album.

MoMA WALES A BOOK ABOUT DEATH [80]

Article, above, from the Cambrian News, Wales, UK. April, 2010.

The launch of A Book About Death at MoMA Wales is a continuing success.  Sonja Benskin Mesher's curatorial stunner, brought together nearly all aspects of previous exhibitions and added several chapters to the "book."

Among other aspects, Sonja installed her late husband's chair in the gallery space and opened the box of cards from the original exhibition at the Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery in a quiet, almost ceremonial fashion.  Then, each artist was listed in a "Book of the Living," which became part of the exhibition. Along with a full installation of the works from the New York exhibition, MoMA Wales included nearly all the posters from previous shows, and several hundred new works sent especially to the exhibition in Wales.  Films are planned, as are discussions through out the exhibition.

See 50-plus installation photos on the FaceBook Group page and Sonja's album here.

A view of the exhibition is also here.

Sonja recounts the opening of the works from New York and the installation of the pieces on one of her blogs: "After 6 months of work, and 5 months of having the box unopened in the house, on that empty chair, the time had come.

Some arrived early, before 10 am needing coffee, duly supplied by MOMA.

By 10 am a group gathered, quiet and waiting. Slowly without direction, friends started to hang the postcards from the new call for work. The staff at MOMA watched in respectful silence.

At about 10.20, I decided time it was to open the box, so I sent a whisper around the room.

Again a gathering, this time by the cabinet where the box had been waiting in the Gallery for two weeks.  After months in the house, the chair looking like an art installation, I had decided it was time for it to go into MOMA's keeping. They installed it on the landing, framed posters of the global exhibitions lining the stair way.

A brief introduction and I turned the key, and took out the parcel. Very emotional I was by then.

The silence was broken by Wilfred, my grandson asking ’What’s inside’ over and over. He and I carried it through into the Gallery space...."   Click here to read the full post.

The exhibition at MoMA Wales continues through 8 May 2010.  For more information on the show, please see: MoMA Wales.  

Sol Lang : ABAD MoMA Wales UK [79]

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

American Jihadist : The Film [78]

Writer, journalist, artist Jody Jenkins and his partner Mark Claywell, produced American Jihadist, a 68-minute documentary about the life of Isa Abdulla Ali, an American Jihadist.  Shown at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah this past January (2010), the film earned the top prize for Best Documentary.

Jody and Mark contributed a piece for A Book About Death, and they say that in many ways, "the film is about death. The film is about someone who fought  and died – Isa was declared clinically dead – for his religion." This phenomenon – an American Jihadist – is placed directly in the face of the viewer.  Web site: http://www.americanjihadist.com/

Kim Triedman: Accomodations [77]

Kim Triedman, a novelist, poet and artist in the project, A Book About Death, will read from her new collection Accomodations on May 20 at The Atomic Bean Cafe in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The reading is part of the well-attended Text-in-Between series. Admission is free.

Triedman's most recent book is bathe in it or sleep, published by Main Street Rag (2009). Kim won the 2008 Main Street Rag Chapbook Contest.

Accomodations is the name of her newest collection which she describes as "a sharp slice at the domestic front."

The author also recently organized and read at Poets For Haiti, a collaborative reading to benefit the Partners in Health organization and the people of Haiti that took place on February 23, 2010 in Boston. (Link to the Forum reading here).

Visual art by Matthew Rose and Sophie Oldsman will accompany Triedman's reading at The Atomic Bean Cafe.  If you are in the Boston-Cambridge area in May, please attend and/or send this link to others who would be interested.

Amy Bassin : The Queen's Sky [76]

Amy Bassin, an artist based in Long Island City, Queens, New York, writes that the work she prepared for the exhibition at The Emily Harvey Foundation was never sent because she was overcome with the emotions surrounding the loss of her father.  However, she did contribute the piece to the exhibition at MuBE in São Paulo, Um Livro Sobre A Morte and sent this note to explain the work and its genesis.

The death of a parent is a major, life-altering event for most of us – no matter what age we are and no matter what age the parent is, we are changed.

After I lost my dad, about an year ago, I found our culture intolerant of grief, after the one week period allotted for it. I discovered the New York City rat race has little or no time for death, and your loss beyond the circle of family and friends is too often slighted, ignored and quickly forgotten. "Life goes on," I was told again and again, but my dad was no longer around for me to spend time with and it seemed as if life wasn't moving for me and my confusion mounted.

Confronted with questions – "What is death? Where do we go when we die? Where is his body, his soul....Where is my dad and when is he coming home?" – I found no satisfactory answers, and perhaps never will.

I made a 'postcard' for him and was going to send it to "The Book About Death" show sponsored by the Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery in NYC, 2009. I didn't send it as my emotions were still so raw.  And my postcard was just for him, I wasn't sure I wanted to share it.

But as the project continued to move around the world, my thinking evolved. I decided to send it to "Um Livro Sobre A Morte" at MuBe, in São Paulo, Brazil and then to the exhibition at MoMA Wales. I take some solace to know my small work in the form of a postcard is traveling the world, and that that wherever my dad may be, perhaps he will see it.

My "Book About Death" postcard,  conceptual in nature, is titled: "The Queen's Sky."  I live in Long Island City, Queens, and my dad had his office in Queens.  "The Queen's Sky" is a series of digitally altered photos of the sky in this borough of New York, taken through a hole in a roof of a building near me.  The blue geometric shapes are "the sky," and the brown geometric shapes, "the roof."  I took the geometric art and placed it in a photo of a billboard, with a glaring ray of sunlight shining off the metal structure. To me the work is essentially "a ray of hope!"

This project has warranted so much attention and participation because we don't know how to deal with our grief, and across the world, artists and viewers have found a way to confront themselves and the subject of death in many different ways for many different reasons. It is nearly a year since my father died and I'm slowly beginning to see the sky again – his sky.

Amy Bassin Website.

Francesco Conz (1935 - 2010) [75]

Francesco Conz (1935 - 2010)

Visit Archivio Francesco Conz.

Sarajevo: A Book About Death [74]

Artist Ivana Rezek organized a second exhibition in the old Yugoslavia, this one in Sarajevo, a city that has known an enormous amount of death over the last few decades.  Below is the text in Serbo-Croatian about the exhibition from a local magazine.

Svjetska izložba razglednica

U sarajevskoj ASA Art galeriji preksinoć je otvorena svjetska izložba razglednica "A book about death."

U sarajevskoj ASA Art galeriji preksinoć je otvorena svjetska izložba razglednica "A book about death" vlasnika Fondacije "Emily Harvey".

Izložbu, na kojoj se nalazi 500 razglednica iz cijeloga svijeta s temom smrti, otvorile su koordinatorice Ivana Režak i Nataša Stanišić.

- Takozvani mail art je specifičan po tome što obezbjeđuje neposredan kontakt između publike, umjetnika i kritičara. Tema mi je zanimljiva jer autori na razglednice stavljaju svoj stav i viđenje smrti - istakla je Stanišić.

Kolaže, koji se nalaze na razglednicama, potpisuju i poznati svjetski umjetnici, među kojima su i Kit Buholc (Keith Buchholz), Metju Rouz (Matthew Rose), Reed Altemus (Reed Altemus), Mark Bloh (Mark Bloch) i Joko Ono (Yoko).

The link: http://www.dnevniavaz.ba/dogadjaji/kultura/svjetska-izlozba-razglednica

Nataša Stanišić is the main organizer for the project in Sarajevo (see her mail-art blog Universal Language http://universalartlanguage.blogspot.com/.

Ivana Rezek and everyone involved in the project A Book About Death would also like to thank the ASA Gallery for letting us use their space for the exhibition.

EXIT 11 Belgium : The Installation [73]

EXIT11 Contemporary art : Château de Petit-Leez. Rue de Petit-Leez, 129. B-5031 Grand-Leez. Belgium  T +32(0)81 64 08 66  F +32(0)81 64 06 72 Information: benoit.piret@exit11.be  Web site: http://www.exit11.be

A Book About Death: Exit11 Belgium [72]

LUC FIERENS & Reseau / Rete  11.04.2010 > 27.06.2010 at Exit 11 : Featuring


SARENCO, LINDA PELATI, SARA GIORDANI, VERONICA BELLEI, ANGELO RICCIARDI, EMANUELE BENEDETTI & A BOOK ABOUT DEATH


Elisabeth Bernard-Dieleman a le plaisir de vous inviter au vernissage le dimanche 11 avril à partir de 15h00. Exposition accessible le samedi et le dimanche de 10h à 18h ou sur rendez-vous du lundi au vendredi.


EXIT11 > Château de Petit-Leez > rue de Petit-Leez 129 > B-5031 Grand-Leez
T+32(0)81 640 866 > F+32(0)81 640 672 > info@exit11.be > www.exit11.be


“Featuring” est un nouveau cycle d’expositions de la galerie exit11 qui donnera la possibilité à un artiste d’en inviter d’autres, choisis dans son réseau suivant des critères plastiques, philosophiques ou autres. C’est Luc Fierens qui débutera ce cycle avec, pour invités, 6 artistes italiens affichants tous une certaine affinité pour la communication et le rapport entre le mot et l’image dans l’art contemporain.

LUC FIERENS / Mechelen, Belgium (1961)
Fait partie depuis 1984 de la grande toile artistique de la communication. Ses poèmes visuels / collages sont exposés à travers le monde et aussi reproduits  dans A Point of View, Visual Poetry: the 90s, par D. Bulatov (Russia, 1998) e Zieteratuur (Uitgeverij Passage, Nederland,2010). Créateur de « Postfluxpost », il est présent dans de nombreuses archives (o.a. Fondazione Berardelli, Brescia (I))  et musées (o.a. Centre de la Gravure, La Louvière, MaRT Trento Rovereto) en Belgique comme à l’étranger.


A BOOK ABOUT DEATH
“A Book About Death” est un projet de collaboration de l’artiste américain Matthew Rose pour la fondation Emily Harvey à New York où l’exposition originale a eu lieu en septembre 2009. Environ 500 artistes ont envoyés 500 travaux sous forme de cartes postales afin de créer un livre « non relié » sur le thème de la mort. Ce projet est avant tout un hommage à Ray Johnson, père spirituel du mail-art, qui mis fin à sa vie en 1995 et à Emily Harvey, légendaire galeriste défendant le mouvement fluxus à New York et Venise décédée en 2004. Ce projet collectif est une exposition itinérante, sans cesse nourri par ses participants. L’exposition était récemment visible au Mube de Sao Paolo (Brésil) et la collection complète des cartes postales fait partie de la collection permanente du MoMa à New York.

EXIT11 Contemporary art : Château de Petit-Leez. Rue de Petit-Leez, 129. B-5031 Grand-Leez. Belgium  T +32(0)81 64 08 66  F +32(0)81 64 06 72 Information: benoit.piret@exit11.be  Web site: http://www.exit11.be

Imperial Valley Press On ABAD Mexicali [71]

More information and photos of the installation and opening here:

http://ivpressonline.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=960408&CategoryID=54418

ABAD MEXICALI : SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY [70]

A Book About Death will open in Mexicali at San Diego State University's Steppling Art Gallery on March 10. Curated by artist Bibiana Padilla Maltos & Sheila Dollente, the exhibition combines the archival works from the original exhibition at The Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery in New York with new works sent in by mail in the form of 4 x 6 inch postcards...on the theme of death.

Bibiana Padilla Maltos is one of the original artists involved in the project that launched in New York.  She previously organized an exhibition of the work in Tiajuana Mexico.  She notes that she is currently planning a larger exhibition for a museum yet to be determined in Mexico City, Mexico later on in 2010.  Bibiana is both artist and curator; her work focuses on a wide range of post-Fluxus concepts.

You can download this poster by clicking on it and saving it to your hard disk. 

For all additional information on the artist call and to connect with the curators and contribute to the Mexicali exhibition, please see the web site created specificall for the exhibition: http://abookaboutdeathmexicaliimperialvalley.blogspot.com/ .

The exhibition will be held at San Diego State University, Steppling Art Gallery, 720 Heber Avenue, Calexico, California 92231. 

Mary Bogdan Poster: MoMA Wales UK [69]

Artist Mary Bogdan created this poster for the exhibition at MoMA Wales UK.  Mary is an artist who participated in the Emily Harvey Foundation exhibition for A Book About Death.  The exhibition in Wales is being organized by Sonja Benskin Mesher.  The exhibition runs from 27 April through 8 May 2010.

Visit the FaceBook Group for the MoMA Wales A Book About Death Project.

You can download this poster for free (and print it out) by clicking here: MARY BOGDAN POSTER.

Call for ArtWorks: MoMA Wales 27 APRIL – 8 MAY 2010 [68]

Artist Sonja Benskin Mesher has organized a new exhibition of A Book About Death with the original works from the Emily Harvey Foundation show in New York and a new call for works.

The exhibition at MoMA Wales will take place at THE TABERNACLE MoMA WALES, MACHYLLETH, Wales, UK.

Dates: 27 APRIL – 8 MAY 2010.

MoMA Wales website: http://www.momawales.org.uk/

See more details on the event page Sonja Benskin Mesher has set up on FaceBook: MoMA WALES Exhibition.

Here is her call for artwork:

CALL FOR WORK ON PAPER A BOOK ABOUT DEATH
Size: POSTCARDS - Approximately: 4 X 6 INCHES

Works should be based on the theme of death.

SEND SMALL JPEGS TO : sonja@sonja-benskin-mesher.com

Deadline for jpegs is 16 March 2010.

Applicants will be expected to have their cards sent to Sonja by 13 April 2010

Work sent will not be returned, as it will become part of the "A Book About Death" collection held @ MOMA, Wales.  Image at right is MoMA Wales at night.

The exhibition in Wales is not the only one being organized for the spring.  Other exhibitions are being planned for Belgium, Croatia and San Diego.  Several inquiries have been made from Chile, Montreal and Beijing.

As of yet, no mainstream press has touched upon this exhibition.  If you are a journalist or know of one who would be interested in writing about this global exhibition that is exclusively artist-driven, please get in contact.

Video : Opening Um Livro Sobre A Morte [67]

Video from the opening of Um Livro Sobre A Morte, curated by Angela Ferrara. Video By Dacio Bicudo.

UOL Mais › Exposição convida artistas para falar sobre a morte [66]

UOL Mais › Exposição convida artistas para falar sobre a morte

LACMA [65]

Thanks to artist Mara Thompson for getting the collection of the works of A Book About Death into the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Rob White Poster For MUBE [64]

British artist Rob White designed this poster for the exhibition Um Livro Sobre A Morte at MUBE, opening February 3, 2010 in São Paulo, Brazil.  For more details see: http://umlivrosobreamorte.blogspot.com/

Click to download a high-resolution, printable version of Rob White's poster.

Viral Venture : Joseph Nechvatal Film To Be Screened At MUBE [63]

This digital video is an extract from Viral Venture - a digital art projection (and/or ongoing installation) by the artist Joseph Nechvatal with a musical score by the composer Rhys Chatham.  The film will join several others in an evening of film for Um Livro Sobre A Morte at MUBE, São Paulo, Brazil.

The Viral Venture projection consists of Nechvatals most recent artificial-life computer virus attacking his digital images. It acts in real time as modeled on the biological viral mode as programmed by Stephane Sikora in C++.

Rhys Chathams score consists of his 2005 composition for 400 electric guitars entitled A Crimson Grail, commissioned by Nuit Blanche. It was performed and recorded at the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Paris.

Dates for the film screening, and other films, are to be announced shortly.

LACMA Balch Library Gets The ABAD Archives, Bookstore Gets A Free Gift [62]

Artist Mara Thompson, who organized the Otis College of Art and Design exhibition of A Book About Death, brought an archive set of of the project to the LACMA Balch Research Library in Los Angeles, on December 28, 2009.

Mara writes: "After leaving the works with the curators, I viewed a number of publications about and by Ray Johnson. To view both, one need only call ahead of time to to make a reservation."

The archive set was delivered in a box and contained copies of the original The Emily Harvey Foundation program, the New York press release, a complete list of artists and the Otis press release.

During the visit Mara also installed a small sampling of the cards at the LACMA book store. In the spirit of the project, Mara stamped each "free" card with a  text: Do Not Bend Free Art.

"My fervent wish is the exposure brings the artist an unexpected boon or the viewer an unexpected thrill. I grew up with LACMA in my backyard, and would often skip high school to take the bus and kick about the collections.  The experience molded much of my future."

Writer's Voice : The Book As Art [61]

Listen to the radio interview by Writer's Voice Francesca Rheannon on A Book About Death, "The Book As Art." The interview was broadcast on a number of public radio stations and Pacifica, the national radio network.


Link for page and podcast of the interview: http://www.writersvoice.net/2009/12/the-book-as-art/#more-2269

Direct link for podcast: http://www.writersvoice.net/?powerpress_pinw=2269-podcast

The interview lasts for 30 minutes and covers the inception of the exhibition, Fluxus, Ray Johnson, George Maciunas, the installation itself and what the future of the works.  Read more about Francesca Rheannon here.

Um Livro Sobre A Morte [60]

http://umlivrosobreamorte.blogspot.com/

Um Livro Sobre A Morte [59]

http://umlivrosobreamorte.blogspot.com/

MONOSPACE AT THE EHF : INSIDE [58]

Performed live at the opening of the exhibition "A Book About Death." Thursday September 10, 2009, at The Emily Harvey Foundation in New York City. More monospace: http://www.monospace.com/

MONOSPACE AT THE EHF: BEYOND A SHADOW OF DOUBT [57]

Performed live at the opening of the exhibition "A Book About Death." Thursday September 10, 2009, at The Emily Harvey Foundation in New York City. More monospace: http://www.monospace.com/

MONOSPACE AT THE EHF : I HAVE A CAR [56]

Performed live at the opening of the exhibition "A Book About Death." Thursday September 10, 2009, at The Emily Harvey Foundation in New York City.  More monospace: http://www.monospace.com/

Angela Ferrara Poster For MUBE [55]

Download Angela Ferrara's poster for the exhibition Um Livro Sobre A Morte, to open at MUBE in São Paulo, Brazil February 1, 2010. Click here to download a high res version: ANGELA FERRARA POSTER FOR MUBE.

Information about the art call, click here.

Michael Andre: ANOTHER 40 MINUTES AND 33 SECONDS rewritten [54]

Of the many performers and artists at A Book About Death, only a handful expressed a view about the take down of The World Trade Center towers.  Michael Andre, poet, publisher, writer and contributor to theartblog.org, took up the subject with his piece ANOTHER 40 MINUTES AND 33 SECONDS rewritten.  Here it is: 

As Allen Ginsberg was known as the Beat poet, John Cage was the Silent composer. His most famous work is 4’ 33” of Silence.

I published a lot of Cage’s writing. On the morning of 11 September 2001, I had it all in the Kinko’s on Reade Street, and was determined to make it into a book. But the building shook. I said to myself, “Gas explosion. Someone’s been careless.” I looked out the window. There were flames a couple blocks south. Damn careless!  I resumed my work with greater care. Eventually there was another explosion. Parts of the World Trade Center bounced off the window. People outside were running.  Only the cashier and I remained in Kinko’s. “Oh my God,” she said on her cell. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.”

I danced the John Cage Waltz starting precisely at 3:00 pm 10 September  2009 at the southern foot of Trinity Place and then concluding north of there in the middle of James Street at 3:40.33pm. I walked silently past the site of the WTC. It was a mediation and a mourning. I mourn John Cage and Emily Harvey and my mother who died March 6 and the victims of 9/11 and the many more victims of miasmal America’s horrible revenge.

I walked to a waltz composed by Elodie Lauten. It was a mournful procession. I entered St James Church at the last second.

Michael Andre's website: http://johncageshoes.blogspot.com/

Photo of Michael Andre at The Emily Harvey Foundation by Jennifer Zoellner.

Ripe Art Gallery, Greenlawn, NY [53]

Louise Honey Millman sent these images from the October 2009 exhibition of the ABAD project at the Ripe Art Gallery in Greenlawn, Long Island, New York.

Photos: Owner Cherie in front of the gallery and artist Honey Millman checking out the installation during the opening.

Alix Lambert : The Body Farm [52]

Photographer and author, Alix Lambert contributed a work to the exhibition in New York City, but the postal gods had other plans when the cards were mailed to the gallery. We've tried to rectify that by featuring her work and the story behind it, a fascinating investigation into The Body Farm, located in a dead corner of the state, a no man's land of a completely different sort.  Alix writes ...

Beyond a sign that states in simple, unadorned fashion – Anthropology Research Facility State Forensic Anthropologist – are barren acres of fenced-in land. Unremarkable at best.  There is a shed, an abandoned trailer, some trees, dirt paths that lead nowhere it seems.

Walking through this nothingness towards its center in the cold autumn air, one discerns rows of dark green garbage bags, laying side by side. You can laugh, almost; if you had to guess, they might be covering bodies. Twenty yards closer and you see yellow sashes wrapping around one tree trunk and running to the next. The unmistakable words CRIME SCENE are written in black.

And then you see, as if for the first time, what's really here: Skulls and an assortment of femur bones among the leaves, and bodies in varying states of decay. If you look very closely, that movement that you thought was a trick of the eye turns out to be swarms of maggots gnawing on the human remains.

The Facility, or The Body Farm, as it has been nicknamed much to the chagrin of some who work here, is dedicated to the study of the rate of human decomposition, a key understanding needed in murder trials.

The Facility was founded by Dr. Bill Bass and is affiliated with The University of Tennessee.  Although other “body farms” have been planned in the US, this one remains the only one of its kind in the world.

For a man who oversees the very end of the end, Dr. Bill Bass is all charm and smiles. Twice my age, he seems to have twice my energy. He's almost gleeful for someone who works all day with corpses. Standing on the Tennessee soil, bodies in varying states of decay all around us, he happily answered questions he's answered thousands of times over the past years.

"We are not a culture of death," he says about how we as people tend to hide from view all that happens after we die. "Let’s say for example there were a body out on the road; someone was killed and thrown out on the edge of the road. The police are called. They come and they hold up a sheet so that no one can see what’s going on and everybody drives by looking and looking but they can’t see anything. Then the body gets put in a black disaster bag, again no one can see what they are doing. The body bag goes to the morgue; well they don’t give tours of the morgue, so no one knows what goes on in a morgue and if they ever do see that individual again it might be at the funeral - if they have an open coffin. But if they don’t then the person is buried and nobody ever sees it."

"There are so many things that happen after people die that we have closed off in our culture, and essentially said, ‘you can’t look at that.’ Bass goes on: "I think people wonder ‘what goes on behind those closed doors?’ I don’t know why we cover it up. Of course, there are certain cases in which you don’t want to let everybody know what happened. I don’t think you ought to let key evidence out, but I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t go into great depth about what goes on.”

Dr. Bass allowed me to photograph the Body Farm, and the results have taken me on a very strange and sometimes beautiful journey, regardless of morbidity of the subject.

Conversations with some of the researchers at the body farm revealed narratives that one might only find in Hollywood.  One researcher, Joanna Hughes, recalls: "When I was in third or fourth grade, I remember, there was a person found somewhere in my home-town in a refrigerator in the woods, and somebody had done a facial reconstruction and that just kind of stuck with me. Then in the seventh grade, one of my science teachers asked what do we want to do when we grow up? And I said, 'I want to put faces on skulls.' I didn’t know what it was called. I didn’t know if it was a real job, I just knew that that’s what I wanted to do. So, here I am."

Joanna Hughes was adopted as a baby as was her brother; she grew up in Alabama, in the South. Her parents were very religious; she knew from the day her parents picked her brother up that he was evil, she said. During the course of our conversation, she went on to discuss the murder of her parents by her brother, who was sentenced to death in 2005, and killed himself in 2006.

"As my brother’s last surviving family member, I made the decision to donate my brother’s body here to the facility. He did no good in life and if he’s just buried in a hole he won’t do any good in death. If he’s here he can do good for however long they have his bones. A lot of people don’t understand. They were asking ‘When’s the funeral? Are you going to bury him next to your parents?’ I don’t think they’re thinking it through. I really don’t care what they think. This is the best thing that he could possibly do. He’s doing it and I don’t have a problem with it."

I come to realize that we are interested in – or sometimes obsessed with – our own humanity, and the “vessel” that contains whatever we deem ourselves to be. The recognition, as I look at the bodies around me that, yes – this is my vessel, too.

The work I presented for the project, A Book About Death, comes from this series of photographs.  And, as fate had it, the photo post cards were either lost or destroyed in the mail, never making it to the exhibition. So, in a bit of black humor, I've exhumed them here, and would be more than happy to send a card to anyone who is missing one in their collection.  The remaining cards will be going to MUBE in São Paulo, in February, for the next chapter in this itinerant book about death.


Please contact Alix Lambert if you would like to have one of these cards for your collection from the exhibition.  Her e mail: lixilamb@gmail.com. Alix has a full text on her investigation of the body farm, and you will find it on her site. You will also discover her photographs and her book, CRIME. Click here: http://pinkghettoproductions.com/

Ryosuke Cohen's Brain Cell [51]

The Japanese artist Ryosuke Cohen, who for decades has been sending out waves of his Brain Cell sheets of rubber stamp images across the planet, picked up on Peter Dowker's mailing (below) in his edition No. 752. The sheets are typically A3 size and something of a magazine of the various logos and phrases and images in rubber stamps that pour into the artist's studio.

Writes Peter in explaining why Ryosuke didn't directly contribute to the project: "I think he has a mission to produce 150 copies of these rubber stamp prints every 10 days and he doesn't stray too far from that. But the fact that he chose this to include over anything else on the card shows that it didn't go unnoticed."  [See Peter Dowker's website, FLIP FLOP MAIL ART].

Peter sent a detail of the Cohen piece: "It's strategically located next to a great OH BOY Ray Johnson stamp "Eating Toejam."

Ryosuke Cohen is something of a mirror of global mail art activities.  See his web site and blog here: http://www.ryosukecohen.com/

Cohen writes on his site: "Recently, I have observed many signs that make me feel as if Mail Art is drawing to a close, and that there are many past publications that could be seen as 'compilations' of Mail Art. Quite a few predecessors of Mail Art have passed away, including Ray Johnson (USA), the Father of Mail Art, G.A.Cavellini (ITALY), Robin Croziel (ENGLAND), Robert Rehfeldt (GERMANY), G.Deisler (GERMANY), Carlo Pittore (USA) and others. This is probably also because exchange by mail in the age of computers is considered primitive, and after the end of the COLD WAR between the East and the West, the necessity of correspondence between those two different worlds has been lost. On the other hand, I have been regularly receiving mail art by mail and fax, in response to my BRAIN CELL PROJECT dating from the year 1985, which has been numbered issue No. 652, as of June 2006.


Every time I receive mail art, I am pleased to see more and more new participants. After making them a collage of their drawings, designs, logos, seals, stickers and the like, I make it a rule to send the finished project back to each participant.

Mail Art is far from finishing. I appreciate the role of collaboration in Mail Art. It is important to have new participants each time, but it is more important to be evoked by other mail artists' ideas from within the large and deep Network with a diverse range of expressions and concept. I can make mail artists' ideas more interesting by actively availing myself of seals and stamps and other materials sent from others and through my own printed matter. What is more, I can give other mail artists the feeling that they can utilise other's art and collaborate their ideas."

MUBE - São Paulo, Brazil : Call For Works. Exhibition Februrary 2010 [50]

MUBE: Museu Brasileiro da Escultura, opens a new chapter in A Book About Death with a new call for art works for exhibition February 6 - 28, 2010.  http://mube.art.br/

A website set up specially for the exhibition by organizer Angela Ferrara will document the show as it happens. http://umlivrosobreamorte.blogspot.com/

PLEASE SEND:

SINGLE WORKS: Approx. 6" x 9" 
MEDIUM: Open; all works accepted
THEME: A Book About Death
DEADLINE: January 30, 2010

MUBE – Museu Brasileiro da Escultura is asking for submissions from artists throughout the world as a critical part and new chapter in the exhibition of the “A Book About Death” collaborative project. This exhibition at MUBE opens on February 6, 2010 and runs through February 28.

“A Book About Death” is a collaborative project conceived by American artist Matthew Rose for the Emily Harvey Foundation in New York City, where the original exhibition took place from September 10 - 22, 2009. Approximately 500 artists contributed 500 artworks in the form of post cards of varying sizes each created from works made especially to create an unbound book about death.

The exhibition paid special homage to Ray Johnson (1927-1995), a highly influential figure in contemporary American art, a formidable collage artist and long acknowledged as the "Father of Mail Art" with his creation of a network, The New York Correspondence School. The exhibition also paid homage and celebrated the life of Emily Harvey (1941-2004), the late art dealer who tirelessly promoted Fluxus artists and whose Foundation generously supported the project.

The exhibition opened with a packed house, and a line snaking up Broadway more than 500 people long waiting to get in the doors to make their own book. Since then, the exhibition has traveled to the Otis College of Art and Design in LA, The River Mill Art Gallery in New Jersey, The Mobius Gallery in Boston, MA, The Queens Museum in Queens, NY, The Sexta Literary Arts Festival in Tijuana in Mexico, as well as smaller galleries and schools in Louisiana, Wisconsin and Long Island. Complete sets of "A Book About Death have entered into the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (Library), and the LA County Museum of Art Research Library.

The project, in its sprawling, global reach explored how we celebrate memory and consider death. The only requirement to participate in the project was to include the words “A Book About Death” somewhere on the card.

ART CALL: SEND WORKS TO MUBE, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL. DEADLINE JAN 30, 2010

We are also asking individual artists to submit works, either a single card or a group of cards for exhibition at MUBE.

Ideal dimensions are approximately 6" x 4" either horizontal or vertical orientation, but variations in size are permissible. We would like to ask all artists to be aware that we need to easily install works on the wall, so consider this aspect of the exhibition.  Artworks can be handmade or printed commercially. You can mail the card by itself or in an envelope. (Please make a digital capture of the works for your records).

A deadline of January 30, 2010 has been set for reception of all submissions, although we
will install any cards received after that date. Digital works are not accepted, sorry. To be included in this exhibition, make a postcard on the theme of death and send it to:

MUBE – Museu Brasileiro da Escultura
Avenida Europa, 218 – Jardim Europa
CEP 01449 000 - São Paulo - Brasil

All works submitted to MUBE will become a part of the permanent collection of the Museum, and will not be returned.

Documentation online of all new works will be made over the course of the next few months.

http://mube.art.br
http://umlivrosobreamorte.blogspot.com/
http://abookaboutdeath.blogspot.com/
http://abookaboutdeatharchive.blogspot.com/

FOR INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT :  Angela Ferrara (atelierferrara@gmail.com)
http://angelaferrara.com/ or http://blog.angelaferrara.com/

Matthew Rose :  http://abookaboutdeath.blogspot.com/

Carta Aberta

MUBE - Museu Brasileiro da Escultura aceita artistas de todo o mundo para apresentar seus trabalhos como parte de um novo capítulo na exposição "Um livro sobre a Morte”, que acontecerá de  6 a 28 de
fevereiro de 2010.

"Um livro sobre a morte" é um projeto colaborativo concebido pelo artista norte-americano Matthew Rose na Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery, em Nova York. A exposição original ocorreu durante o período de 10 a 22 de setembro de 2009. Cerca de 500 artistas participaram, cada um deles contribuiu com uma série de 500 obras de arte sob a forma de cartão  postal, obras de tamanhos variados criadas especialmente para compor páginas desacopladas de um possível livro sobre a morte.

A exposição fez uma homenagem especial ao artista  Ray Johnson (1927-1995), uma figura influente na arte contemporânea norte-americana, consagrado como o "Pai do Mail Art", e como criador do The New York Correspondence School. A exposição também homenageou e consagrou a vida de Emily Harvey (1941-2004), que com a sua fundação apoiou e promoveu generosamente projetos de artistas Fluxus.

A bem sucedida mostra em Nova York, recebeu um sua primeira noite mais de 500 pessoas. Desde então, a exposição já viajou para o Otis College of Art and Design em Los Angeles, The River Mill Art Gallery in Nova Jersey, The Mobius Gallery em Boston, MA, The Queens Museum in Queens, NY, The Sexta Literary Arts Festival em Tijuana, México, assim como galerias e escolas em Louisiana, Wisconsin e Long Island. Coleções completas de "Um livro sobre a morte” foram adquiridas para o acervo permanente do MOMA – The Museum of Modern Art, e para o acervo do LA County Museum of Art Research Library em Los Angeles.

Um projeto de extenso alcance global explora as diversas maneiras de como nós celebramos a memória e a morte. O principal requisito para participar deste projeto é a inclusão da expressão "Um livro sobre a Morte" em qualquer parte do cartão. As obras tem como base as dimensões 10 x 15 cm, em orientação horizontal ou vertical, mas variações de tamanho, formatos e materiais são admissíveis. Podendo ser feito manualmente, impresso ou a combinação de ambos. Desde que os artistas estejam conscientes de que precisamos instalar as obras facilmente na parede.

Os artistas poderão enviar um trabalho único ou um conjunto de obras. O prazo de recebimento se encerrará no dia 31 de janeiro de 2010. Desculpem-nos mas obras digitais não serão aceitas. Para que os artistas sejam incluídos nesta exposição, fazer um cartão postal sobre o tema da morte e envie para:

MUBE - Museu Brasileiro da Escultura
Avenida Europa, 218 - Jardim Europa
CEP 01449 000 - São Paulo – Brasil

Todos os novos trabalhos apresentados ao MUBE passarão a fazer parte da coleção permanente do Museu, e não serão devolvidos. Documentação on-line de será feita ao longo dos próximos meses.

http://mube.art.br/
http://umlivrosobreamorte.blogspot.com/
http://abookaboutdeath.blogspot.com/
http://abookaboutdeatharchive.blogspot.com/

Obrigada,

Angela Ferrara (atelierferrara@gmail.com)  http://angelaferrara.com/   http://blog.angelaferrara.com/