Meeting minutes 06.23.09
In attendance Michael Clemow, Olga Lysenko, Mayuko Nakatsuka, G.H. Hovagimyan
Michael demonstrated a working prototype for the Art ists Meeting-Art Machine [AM-AM] drawing dispenser module. This consisted of a DIY hacked together automatic paper towel dispenser and an automatic coin counter. Nice work Michael! Michael wired up a couple of micro controllers to the coin counter and the towel dispenser. This module now needs drawings to dispense. There are several ways to create drawings on continuous rolls of paper. The rolls of paper are 8 inches wide by 425 feet long. Each time the dispenser is triggered it puts out a one foot piece of paper that can be torn off. If a person puts in another quarter and doesn’t tear off the paper the drawing is 2 feet x 8 inches.
We have 8 rolls of paper towels. One possibility is to feed the roll through a regular printer and print images on it. I will experiment with this on my printer.
We could give AM members the chance to create their own drawing/roll/prints individually. We could also collect jpegs from everyone and print a collective roll of paper. The other thing to consider is the notion of rolling/unrolling as the basis for any drawing. This might involve the creation of a frieze motif. GH suggested that we have a drawing/painting session for the next meeting. Perhaps we can do this at Raphaele’s studio when she returns or maybe we can use a space at SVA or Parsons. GH suggested that we use paint rollers that we cut up to create a rolling repetitive motif. We could all buy or bring ink, paint, rollers etc.. for a painting party!
Michael says that if we use one coin drop interface we can plug in 12 separate art modules. One suggestion was to have a wall of drawing dispensers. Michael tought it would be amusing to do a curated show of artists giving each artist a drawing dispenser. The group talked about other types of AM art that could be dispensed. The proposal was to create a module that could be installed in Art Fair booths. We would have a false wall built in a booth behind which we could install various coin operated art dispensers. This is the proposal that GH will develop for LMCC/Art Cologne/kickstarter. Olga and Michael then began to design further modules. They quickly came up with the idea that a flat piece would be the easiest to dispense various art worls. This would be a DVD case approx. 5inx8in and perhaps a cardboard sandwich with shrink wrap or taped together pieces that would hold, underwear or maybe a pack of Joao’s pleasant places post cards etc.. So far we have suggestions for using/dispensing what we have already produced such as SBOW videos in a DVD or the AM triptych posters or AM chefs shirts or dispensing lengths of Barricade tape. GH says that a preliminary search shows that the standard Art Fair booth is around 12 ft by 9ft tall. The group thought that six dispensers could be fitted into this wall controlled by one coin operated interface. Michael say we can have a button panel that would select each one of the modules or we could also have a random choice.
Michael and Olga will research standardized packages and also begin to design/fabricate another trough dispenser for the other artworks in the card board packages.
GH said he will approach Postmasters to ask if we could install an Art Machine in the foyer of the Gallery.
The next meeting is scheduled for July 14th. Perhaps we can have a painting session before then when Raphaele returns.
In attendance – Leesa Abahuni, Daniel Blochwitz, Michael Clemow, G.H. Hovagimyan, Olga Lysenko, Joao Salema
The group has two deadlines. June 8th for all materials for the Berlin Metro proposal and August for Art Cologne proposal. The group has a new member Michael Clemow a recent graduate from the ITP at NYU. He’s interested in helping AM to design the interfaces and hacks for the Art Vending Machines.
GH passed out copies of the NGBK -- Berlin Metro call for project proposals and also had scrap paper on hand for drawing and doodling. You can get the call and application form here -- http://ngbk.de/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39&Itemid=40
Proposals for metro discussion; Leesa suggested a bench with a sound art work triggered by people sitting on it. GH said maybe this should be like a movie vignette where a light flickers overhead, a video goes on when the person sits, maybe a vending machine dispenses something etc. Michael suggested a performance in front of the security cameras. GH thought it might be interesting to have video monitors with images of East German (communist) guards walking the platform. The initial call for proposals talks about several abandoned and/or unused stations. Daniel suggested that we propose to do a recreation of a New York City Subway station. The group liked that idea and decided to go with that. Some stations proposed were, Times Square, Utica Ave, Jamaica, Canal St, Coney Island, Wall St, East Broadway. No decision on which is best. Group decided we all should collect as much material as we can and bring it to a special meeting next Wednesday.
It was decided to collect as much materials for the proposal and then meet and see what we have. From there we will put together a proposal and decide the best Station Name to use. Olga says she can set up an indesign template that we can all download and scan, plug-in our images and proposal ideas. The parameters are to use an unused station on the Berlin Metro an fit it out to look like a New York subway station. Trains passing through would see this. There is also the idea of having a performance in the transformed station. Maybe a tableau vivant or any other type of performance. Other inspiriations or themes might be Germans in New York. Leesa suggested to take photos of some of our favorite or noticed details in New York Subway stations. These can be used in the proposal and may be anything as for example a water stain seeping down a steel column or a bit of old fashioned tile work. Everyone should do research by snapping some pix of stations. Also we need people to go to the New York Transit Museum and do some research take photos etc.. or we can all go as a field trip together. There is a website that also has a bunch of images we can grab for the proposal -- http://www.nycsubway.org/cars/nytm.html
There is potential for getting NYC transit involved if our proposal is accepted from Berlin. There is an agency called MTA arts in transit that could help us if we get further along. This means that if we propose replica subways signs or want to ship a portion of a NYC subway car, we might be able to enlist their help.
Daniel says there are video displays in the Berlin trains. GH proposed to do a video montage of old film sequences that have the interior of Subway cars. There is also a proposal to do projections that are timed to coincide with the trains entering the station so it looks like a motion trigger. Daniel also suggested that in our Faux New York station we can have all the billboards display images/prints/artworks that can be changed periodically.
The parameters of the piece;
The selected projects should be realized between Autumn 2009 and December 2010.
A total budget of 60.000 Euro for artist’s fees, production, travel and
accommodation costs will be available (subject to grants from the Berlin Senate’s Department for Culture).
NOTE: I don’t think this means 60,000 for each project, I think it means they have 60,000 to divide among 8 projects. I think this means, 7.500 euros is our target budget Which is around $10,000.
When designing your proposal try to figure a rough cost for what you intend to do.
It is important to have all your materials ready to bring to the next meeting on Wednesday June 3rd at 11 Harrison Street.
Artists Meeting Art Machine [AMAM]
The other main topic of discussion was the art vending machine project. GH has suggested that each member suggest a vending machine and be responsible for overseeing the design and fabrication of their part. The suggestions so far are, an automatic paper towel dispenser that can have a continouos drawing scroll created by the group that can be torn off in pieces. Each drawing piece will be dispensed by a coin-operated interface. Michael will research how to hack an existing dispenser and main a coin interface. Project can be proposed to Postmasters Gallery for their foyer and later be integrated into a larger project of Art Cologne. GH also is exploring other possible venues for presenting project such as Northern Lights in Minneapolis. Olga has proposed an AM underwear dispenser titled Artists Meeting Panty Raid. Discussion is to have Artists Meeting Contact info silk-screened on both panties and boxer shorts. GH envisions a wall with several dispensers of AM art objects such as barricade tape, drawings, CD’s or DVD’s
Olga suggested an interactive display that created art as people put money into the machine to cause it to make a design on a screen. Joao has the idea of dispensing her Pleasant places post cards.
Meeting Minutes March 3, 2009
In attendance, James Andrews, Olga Lysenko, Maria Joao Salema, Raphaele Shirley (via phone) Edita Zulic, G.H. Hovagimyan
James presented the proposal/structure for the next youTube party that he and Lee had worked on. James is supposed to forward the full proposal to the list. The idea is to focus on youTube celebrities. The discussion was also about the idea of creating an “opera” the characters would be the youTube celebrities. It was suggested that all members start researching youTube celebrities. GH mentioned twitter whore as a likely candidate as well as any of a number of bounty hunter guys with ferocious dogs. James suggests getting a Live DJ and also have forty dancers jumper out at an appropriate moment in the event and start dancing. The group discussed tentative dates for the next youTube party which were Mid May and june 20 – 21st. The discussion of the opera also involved the idea of the structure or the Libretto. GH suggested that Steve Strouse from you3B might be able to do an annotation hack on the youTube code so that you tube videos assembled by members could jump by link from one video to another. (gh notes: there’s a video in the first youTube party that does just that see-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovmge_z4mFA&feature=PlayList&p=F9F7BE6269863505&index=0&playnext=1 ) .
Raphaele talked about the soapbox opera video piece she want to do for the MTAA space, April 17th. She has 2-3 actors that will act/interpret text. She’s asking members to submit text for acting. The initial thought was some sort of theory text.
GH suggested for a publication that the AM group take up where the Bad Santa collaboration stopped and create a Graphic Novel or comic book that we can print.
(gh notes – we could have each person do a panel and have them follow the narrative from a cue in the previous person’s panel..)
Edita and Joao talked about Emile Zola’s novel The Masterpiece and discussion continued on how to do the As the ArtWorld Turns Project.
The youTube Party has to take into account the Venice Biennial and the Basel art fair June 1-14th .
GH suggested that we contact the Whitney education dept about doing a youTube party as a performance event. Anyone want to start that ball rolling?
Meeting Minute Dec. 9, 2008
In Attendance – James Andrews, Daniel Blochwitz, G.H. Hovagimyan, Thomas Hutchison, Mayuko Nakatsuka, Maria Joao Salema.
Group talked about next YouTube Slam. Tentative date Friday Jan.9 or
Saturday Jan. 10th. GH will talk to Magda to confirm date. Next Slam
to be organized by Maria Joao, James and Thomas. James will be liason
to Magda and consult on video curating.Thomas will doing physical set
up and organize sponsorship (six points beer). Joao will work on
playlist and curating. Maria Joao, James and Thomas are the steering
committee for the youTube Slam. GH says that Joyce will also kick in
for the booze. The group decided to use you3.com triptychs for the
next interface. James set-up an artists meeting account on you3b.com
id:artistsmeeting, pswd:same as our youTube account. Joao says the new
playlists need names and also tags. Discussion on how to proceed needs
to be fleshed out. GH suggested that we work on a third slam for the
springtime that uses youTube hacks maybe something like plug in a
poetry generator to the youTube search engine to create random
playlists or some other hack that can be an AM special project.
Next publication: Steering committee Thomas and Daniel. Thomas says he
has a top-notch graphic designer he wants to work with to design the
publication. Target is to have it ready for the armory show and all
the Spring art fairs March 4 –8th. Daniel has suggested sending out a
questionnaires or 3 questions that he will formulate to AM friends.
Questions will be what they think are viable alternative models for art
production. James says he will chat up some alt curators he’s seeing
tomorrow evening. The idea is to get some models or text that can be
used as content for the publication. GH says that Alan Moore has scored
a swing space for a Colab project and invited AM to do a meeting at the
space. GH suggests that maybe we should continue the alternative models
discussion at the meeting and invite all the responders to engage in a
discussion than document the event to add as content to the
publication. James says there is a model people are talking about now
called payforward. He also says there are interesting models to view
on websites greenmuseum.org and charityfocus.org.
GH says that plazaville is picking up steam and he will be shooting 10
scenes once a week starting January 2009. He’s getting a response from
a casting call he put out through an actress friend of Raphaele’s. The
actors are excited about the project and are willing to work with AM on
it. The final presentation of Plazaville will be at Pace Digital
gallery in the month of April and the separate episodes will be
available on the turbulence site as they are produced.
In attendance – Leesa Abahuni, G.H. Hovagimyan, Thomas Hutchison, Mayuko Nakatsuka, Maria-Joao Salema, Raphaele Shirley
Leesa says that she got Inocente Tequila to sponsor the youTube Slam
and give us five bottles of Inocente Tequila. The group then talked
about the youTube slma scheduled for Nov.8th. The set-up at
Postmasters is a large projector in the main gallery. The gallery is
carpeted. Magda asks that we set up a bar either in the front foyer or
in the back gallery.
GH says he will check out the gallery today. Tech questions are where
to put the computer for the slam and can you have two computers one of
which plays the playlists while the other may be used for participants
add their own playlists. Raphaele say that we should have the computer
in the main gallery so that the VJ can interact with the crowd.
Leesa thought that if food (tostidos) and booze were in the back no one
would be in the gallery. She suggested to do a performance piece where
she and other AM members carry shot trays around in the main gallery.
She suggested a costume. GH said like a marching band. Leesa said she
was in a marching band in HS. Joao said that we should all wear the AM
shirts for the party making it a “performance.” GH said that he wants
to video the party as a part of the Plazaville project. He referred to
the cocktail party/execution scene in Alpahville. He said that we could
play the execution scene from youTube and have some of the actors watch
it while mixing with the crowd.
Thomas asked how the Vjing was structured – the consensus was to play
it by ear and see how the situation is on the day of the event. Joao
said that based on her experience with Lee doing YouTube parties at
Monkeytown the AM group should prepare the material beforehand and not
rely on the crowd to participate. We need to confirm who is doing the
event and what the division of labor will be. So far we have
confirmed for the event – Leesa & Nicole, Mayuko, Naho, GH, Thomas,
Maria-Joao. Of course we all miss Lee and wish he wash here with his
expertise in the video area.
There was some discussion about using deezer.com as a DJ combat event
in the back room. Two questions are whether this will distract from the
main room and how complicated it will be to add another layer to the
event. Thomas & Maria-Joao said we need a backup plan in case
youTube freezes or something. Thomas said he will bring his iPod as
back up. GH said he wants to shoot video of the event and then upload
it to youTube.
The group decided to meet once more before the event to edit the
playlists and view all the content thus far. The meeting is scheduled
for Tuesday October-29th at 8pm at GH’s place. The group will look at
all the videos to get a sense of the event. GH said he put the
playlists up on the AM site.
The group talked about Plazaville as a group project. GH said he is
pursuing grants and venues for doing an installation of a projection
piece. He felt that VIDEO DUMBO would be easy because everyone knows
Casper Straecke.
He said he is also proposing to Centre Pompidou and Museo Reina Sofia.
GH Said he still has a lot of material that was shot by Christina
McPhee that needs to be edited. Thomas and Raphaele said they would
help with the editing. The discussion went for a while on how to create
various scenes for Plazaville. Raphaele said she wanted to use Zircotti
Park and put up a temporary Sunken city with a smoke Machine and
incorporate that into Palzaville. GH said there is a part in the script
of Alphaville that has the scientists talking about the plans of
Alpha-60 computer. He also talked about doing a hotel scene at the
Tribeca Grand. Raphaele.
The group said they liked Lee’s idea to do a newsprint paper like the
one we did for Conflux. GH had suggested twice a year. Fall and Spring.
No ideas on content or theme yet.
Meeting Minutes – 8.12.08
In attendance – Leesa & Nicole Abahuni, James Andrews, Noah Apple, Thomas Hutchison, G.H. Hovagimyan, William Meyer, Mayuko Nakatsu, Maria Joao Salema, Rapahele Shirley, Lee Wells.
Noah Apple talked about his plan to do a “Pillow Man” man performance for the conflux festival. This would involve using a leather jacket and attaching as many of our brown vinyl pillows as he could. They would be detachable and he would distribute them downtown as he walked around.
The pillow sewing started. The consensus was that 16” x 16” was the best size. Raphaele asks that anyone who can come and cut out vinyl for pillows and do sewing to contact her. 1-917-805-6320 She wants people to come over on Saturday and Sunday to do sewing. This is very crucial. We need a lot of labor to get this done.
Thomas said he could burn some silkscreens and screen print on the pillows. We also have a number of white chefs shirts that could function as A.M. uniforms/costumes. The consensus was to do two screens one with the letters AM and the other with the POPS logo. James Andrews set to work subverting the logo and came up with several variations.
The logos are also ideal as mini icons that the group can use on the Psycho-Geo Map. The group picked up the idea of using the logos for a rating system for the POPS plazas. This was discussed at a previous meeting. The notion was to make up icons that had arbitrary meanings such as “DEAD TREE PLAZA” and so on.
GH brought a print out of the most recent psycho-geo map. Lee talked about different ways we could get the printing costs down to something we could all kick in for. We have a deadline to submit all the final images and text for the map/newspaper. This should be the end of this week and the beginning of next week. The map/paper needs images expressing each persons project and/or images that express a psycho-geo sense of the plazas.
Each person discussed their projects, what, when and where they would do them. GH is trying to gather all the info so that he and Lee can make a good design for the final map/ newspaper.
Leesa & Nicole looked through the AM site conflux walkaround and were fascinated by the the colorful metal conversation seats in front of 200 Water street . They proposed to do a sound art piece that would interact with people who sit in the seats.
Raphaele has proposed to do a melted cityscape & laser closing party at the 60 Wall Street Plaza. This would be Sunday Sept.14th, 7pm-10 pm.
GH remarked that Artists Meeting already getting feedback and attention on the conflux site. See links –
Maria Joao presented her piece for the festival – the piece is titled Pleasant Places. She will copy a series of Dutch fantasy landscapes from the 16th century onto postcards and give them out to people. This was inspired by the idea of lower Manhattan as a Dutch colony and also as the Netherlands being the beginning of the sort of free market trading capitalism that Lower Manhattan stands for now. GH remarked that 85 Broad St has a number of vitrines embed in the sidewalk that reveals the ruins of the original Dutch Colony of New York.
Joao thought that would be a very good place to hand out the postcards.
GH also brought his barricade tape with the words printed; unknown unmade unseen undone. He discussed the performance using the tape. This would involve two people unfurling the tape while walking away from each other. He thought that this would have particular impact if done on Sept. 11th across from the WTC site.
Eliza Fernbach has conveyed to GH her desire to do a sticker piece that related to her “Driving to Your Death” billboard.
Lee Wells proposed to do a sticker piece that is a white smiley face on a black background with the word warning above the head.
GH said that there are a number of other projects that were proposed for conflux such as doing a walking tour of Psycho-Geo plazas. Leesa & Nicole said they still have the amplifiers from last years DUMBO performance that the group could use. This needs to be organized properly.
GH talked about shooting video in the Plazas during the festival as a part of a work that is a loosely inspired by the Godard film Alphaville. He said the psycho-geography fits with the corporate plaza sterility.
Lee had suggested that everyone give a 50 word CV for the map. The group later decided that it wasn’t necessary because the website has all the CV’s and the url is printed on the front of the psycho-geo map.
The group decided to meet every Tuesday evening until the festival to get the projects organized properly. The next meeting is Tuesday August 20th at Raphaeles place at 7pm.
James Andrews talked about his cubicle person sympathy piece. He said the piece has to be anonymous and under the radar. GH read the text James had prepared for the performance.
Here’s the list of projects – confirmed for the psycho –geo map
Leesa & Nicole – sound piece using metal benches –
Friday Evening Sept.12 & Saturday Sept. 13 Sunday
Noah Apple – Pillow Man - Walks around and distributes pillows -Sept. 11-14
Maria Joao Salema – Pleasant Places – gives out 16th cent. Dutch print postcards- Friday- Sept.11 to Sept.14 – 55 Broad St.
Artists Meeting – pillows for benches- Sept. 11th to 14th , various locations
Raphaele Shirley - Melted City – Sept. 14th, 7pm-10pm 60 Wall St. plaza.
Lee Wells – psycho-geo map design & smiley face sticker
GH – Tape Piece – Sept. 11th - Millenium hotel & wtc site.
GH – Plazaville video shoot, Sat. Sept.13 & Sun.Sept. 14. Various times & Locations.
James Andrews - (temp workers angst relief) – Friday Sept.12 and Sat. Sept.13 – 10 state street plaza.
Artists Meeting Minutes 07.22.08
In attendance: James Andrews, Daniel Blochwitz, G.H. Hovagimyan, Marie-Joao Salema, Raphaele Shirley
The group came to the idea that the “psycho-geographical” map should be
the main focal point for the group. Raphaele talked about Steven
Parrino’s conceptual project that was a brochure handout and felt that
was an elegant way to tie all the disparate projects and ideas for the
group together.
Raphaele has put up a website for the map and gh + raphaele will try to
build it so that everyone can add content to the map. The idea is that
the map will be the product as well as any actions we do or propose.
The suggestions are to collate as much psycho-geographical material for
the 44 sites and have that be the lasting residue. We are looking at
printing out a one-color newsprint map.
Everyone should suggest what they want to include in this map. This
came was inspired by two alternative arts catalogs that Lee had sent
with Joao for the group to look at.
The group should make their own psycho-geographical maps and send them
to the artistmeeeting email list for everyone to look at. Good formats
are photo & text in pdf or odt or msword doc.
If you add anything alert the group via email. GH needs to make your post visible after you submit it.
GH says that the conflux people are not really responding to any
questions and that we need to proceed without any support from them.
The material for the arts was a question because he group needed to get
a letter of intent from conflux. Raphaele suggested we call up and make
and appointment with material for the arts and see how far we get.
(note: I just called MFTA and spoke with a person who will hopefully
get in touch with Christina @ conflux)
The signs for the various plazas were discussed. GH says that the
plastic laminate signs 8’ x 10” cost $45 each. Daniel suggested
pursuing a corporate critique theme. Lee had suggested small message
readers that can be had for $10.00 a piece on ebay. Everyone likes the
message readers but felt they would probably be stolen and the battery
only lasts 24 hours. Daniel suggested putting a lot of them in a line
and have them synced in some way. Raphaele said it would be cool to
stick a bunch of them up on a plaza wall in a random pattern.
There’s many other suggestion for ways to produce signage. The problem
is that many of the corporate plaza don’t have the privately owned
public signs up.
Daniel has suggested superimposing the private/public logo on the map of lower manhattan as a psycho-geo map.
The group looked at images taken by Raphaele during the first walk
around to view the plazas. James said that we should paint smiley faces
on the awful Plexiglas circles that are “sculptures in one of the
plazas. GH said we can do it with electricians black tape.
One of the psycho-geo maps suggestion was to make a scale of
measurements, a rubric, for all the plazas on the map. At first the
group thught of practical measures such as tables, benches etc.. but
then GH said it should be personal and aesthetic maybe even a
non-sensical rating code such as friendly to clowns, good place of fire
hydrants, best audio echos, Most number of ugly planter boxes, etc..
Each person could pick any number of plazas and rate them according to
their personal system. These could be overlayed onto the pycho-map on
the web and included in the newsprint out.
The newsprint out map should also have locations and times for any
events we are actually producing. One of the suggestions was to
conduct Psycho-geo tours. We could take turns walking around and
pointing out really absurd things in our walk.
One of the interesting psycho-geo intersections occurred as Raphaele,
James & GH were at the Herman Mellville wall plaque. Right
underneath was a homeless man doing Moslem prayers on a plastic garbage
bag.
Other quicky psycho-geo takes – Daniel suggested to pill a bunch of
stuffed teddy bears around the bronze bull at the end of broadway. This
is a pretty terrific idea. Anyone know where to get a hundred teddy
bears?
Security was discussed as was the potential to be arrested. James
suggested we make up some letters from Artists Meeting that a person
can carry saying they are part of the group and part of Conflux
Festival. They other ting is to print up business cards for Artists
Meeting. GH say’s he has the card stock and can print up the cards.
Raphaele is pursuing having a closing party event that features a
melting city that relates to the psycho-geo idea. Part of the
discussion was the 60 wall street plaza and how to get that closed off
for an event. LMCC may be able to help with this.
GH also remarked that Christina McPhee will be coming in from
California to do some pieces for conflux as part of the Artists Meeting
umbrella. Christina is pursuing the possibility of inclusion the center
for Architecture through a connection there. She is talking about doing
layered c-prints. She has invited everyone in the group to work with
her to incorporate content into the layers. This is a really cool
collaborative idea. Contact Christina
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or
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Finally, Many people in the group are out of town or can only
partially commit to this festival and can devote their time to making
this work.
Here’s the list thus far for Sept. 11-14
In town and able to work – gh, maria-joao, james, lee, Eliza, Christina, Thomas
Maybe can work or part time – Daniel & Raphaele
The jobs walking tours, putting up signs, taping up benches, sewing
cushions, Distributing brochures, Photo documentation, Video
documentation,
Gluing message readers etc.. Also finding a printer, laying out the
psycho geo map, taking the art work to the printer, picking ou the art
work etc..
James Says that he is begining to organize the office temp events and
will have a first get together this Thursday at Raphaele’s loft.
Finally we are meeting again for a walkaround at 60 wall Street in the
esplanade at 6:30 on Tuesday Jul.29th. We will continue to look at all
the plazas on the map. Come if you can. If you cannot please take the
privately owned public space map and look at the sites on your own. It
is very important to see them and add your psycho-geo takes.
In attendance – James Andrews, G.H. Hovagimyan, ThomasHutchison, Raphaele Shirley, Edita Zulic
Conflux festival has accepted our proposal for theirfestival Sept.11th-14th the proposal is on the A.M.Website http://artistsmeeting.orgunder the link Public Exhibition Space.James
says that we should try and have some presence at the Center
forArchitecture that will be the main meeting point for the exhibition.
Part of the proposal was to create a psycho-geographical
mapsuperimposed on the map of publicly owned private spaces. Raphaele
suggestedthat we select sites from the NYC gov map http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/priv/mndist1.shtml
And create placards that go next to the placards that are already on the site.
She suggested printing on silver paper and laminating tofoamcore and then attaching to the wall.The new placards would have phrases or sayings from the Artists Meetinggroup.The
psycho-geographical mapwould then be placed at the festival galley
space for people to look at and/orfollow to see the interventions we
plan to do.The content of the placards can be stream of thought,psycho-geographical statements from the group.Here’s debords statement on psychogeography http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/urbgeog.htm
The brochure placed in the Center for Architecture can becalled a “library of concepts”
Division of Labor –
Since this is a large project we need to have severaldifferent people
responsible for different sections of the project. If you wantto be
involved in the projectplease sign up for a specific task and assume some responsibility.
printing
barricade tape and taping up areas- The suggestion is to print the phrase
“Public Exhibition Space and document via photo and video
produce
placards (conceptual psycogeographical statements)
office
temp interventions
Documentation
videos (shoot, burn dvd and take to Center for Architecture) set up tv
& player at architecture center, do daily “rushes”
Manufacture
of seating cushions
Raphaele
Finale “Melting City”
Do
psycho-geographical video interviews with people on the street in front of
chosen map places.
Since there is no money for thisproject we suggest that each member contribute $50.00 for materials.
GH says he will try and find outabout the materials for the arts to get some for the cushions.
Sign-up thus far.
Item 1.G.H.
Item 2. Raphaele
Item 3. James
Item 4.Raphaele
Item 5. Thomas
Item 6.Raphaele
Item 7.
It is important to have more than one person involved in each of these
projects because they are each separate art works that should
bearticulated as fully as possible.Also in the collaborative more than one person makes for better art !
In order to focus and facilitate the project we’ve decide toorganize a walkaround to the sites on Sunday July 13th.It’s
probably best to meet at 11Harrison and plot our walking tour from
there. Let’s meet at 11 am and perhapshave a brunch after a couple of
hours someplace like the south street seaport.
Meeting Minutes – July 1, 2008
In attendance – James Andrews, G.H. Hovagimyan, ThomasHutchison, Raphaele Shirley, Edita Zulic
Conflux festival has accepted our proposal for theirfestival Sept.11th-14th the proposal is on the A.M.Website http://artistsmeeting.orgunder the link Public Exhibition Space.James
says that we should try and have some presence at the Center
forArchitecture that will be the main meeting point for the exhibition.
Part of the proposal was to create a psycho-geographical
mapsuperimposed on the map of publicly owned private spaces. Raphaele
suggestedthat we select sites from the NYC gov map http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/priv/mndist1.shtml
And createplacards that go next to the placards that are already on the site.
She suggested printing on silver paper and laminating tofoamcore and then attaching to the wall.The new placards would have phrases or sayings from the Artists Meetinggroup.The
psycho-geographical mapwould then be placed at the festival galley
space for people to look at and/orfollow to see the interventions we
plan to do.The content of the placards can be stream of thought,psycho-geographical statements from the group.Here’s debords statement on psychogeography http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/urbgeog.htm
Also check google image search -> situationist maps
The brochure placed in the Center for Architecture can becalled a “library of concepts”
Division of Labor –
Since this is a large project we need to have severaldifferent people
responsible for different sections of the project. If you wantto be
involved in the projectplease sign up for a specific task and assume some responsibility.
printing
barricade tape and taping up areas- The suggestion is to print the phrase
“Public Exhibition Space and document via photo and video
produce
placards (conceptual psycogeographical statements)
office
temp interventions
Documentation
videos (shoot, burn dvd and take to Center for Architecture) set up tv
& player at architecture center, do daily “rushes”
Manufacture
of seating cushions
Raphaele
Finale “Melting City”
Do
psycho-geographical video interviews with people on the street in front of
chosen map places.
Since there is no money for thisproject we suggest that each member contribute $50.00 for materials.
GH says he will try and find outabout the materials for the arts to get some for the cushions.
Sign-up thus far.
Item 1.G.H.
Item 2. Raphaele
Item 3. James
Item 4.Raphaele
Item 5. Thomas
Item 6.Raphaele
Item 7.
It is important to have more than one person involved ineach of these
projects because they are each separate art works that should
bearticulated as fully as possible.Also in the collaborative more than one person makes for better art !
In order to focus and facilitate the project we’ve decide toorganize a walkaround to the sites on Sunday July 13th.It’s
probably best to meet at 11Harrison and plot our walking tour from
there. Let’s meet at 11 am and perhapshave a brunch after a couple of
hours someplace like the south street seaport.
In attendance, Daniel Blochwitz, Thomas Hutchison, G.H.
GH says that he has a streaming video server that can offer different
playlists of videos. The playlists can be set to random play so that
a piece such as the gumbo@dumbo can be streamed and all the separate
video will shuffle. He proposed that the group use his video server
in some project. One suggestion was to do the day in the life as a
video project. Each person can shoot video in short clips of say,
10sec, - 1min and put the on the video server. If this is random
select it would create interesting narratives.
Daniel had suggested a video exquisite corps. He proposed to have
each person shoot some video and then hand the camera to the next
person telling them only what the last shot was. This would create
the video equivalent of the exquisite corps. G.H. says he just got an
HD video camera and was willing to let the group use it to produce
this video project.
GH says that the group can exhibit a streamed video piece as an
installation in the Split Festival of New Film in Split, Croatia http://www.splitfilmfestival.hr/eng.htm
Sept.13th – 21st 2008.
The meeting then turned to discussing the LMCC Swing Space.
The group thought it would be good to ask for a Presentation Space
and write a proposal that would call for a series of artists meetings
that had 2 components, first, a private meeting for the group and
then later a public meeting/ presentation for other artists to
presents their work on a open call/ demo format.
The notion is a potluck artists’ presentation for one hour or so.
LMCC has some equipment such as data projectors that could make this
possible. The group would use the space as an ongoing workspace to
put up, drawings, photos, brainstorming, etc..
Daniel said that we could put up a notice/ open call on the NYFFA
list. GH said that this would attract a bunch of careerist painters
looking to plug into the art market and would be the opposite of the
groups intention.
The group then thought that organizing nights according to a theme
might be better such as:
Theoretical presentations, Performance art, software Demo party, Food
Event.
Daniel suggested we ask for 8 weeks for this and have a party/
exhibition at the end of the residency. Part of the proposal is to
create a pdf document/ catalog that can be online and also printed
out for the final exhibition. GH says that he has some sound
equipment, and speakers that can be used for [presentations as well
as an old laptop. The idea is to limit the presentations to CD slide
show, powerpoint presentation or dvd. If we have internet access we
can also do such things as a youTube jam or a mySpace jam session/party.
The proposal to LMCC is due by June 27th. The group should add
recommendations now so that GH can write the proposal.
In attendance - James Andrews, Daniel Blochwitz, G.H. Hovagimyan, Alan Moore
We continued the discussion of what to propose for the conflux festival. James said that he looked at the online form for conflux and that it asked for 250 word proposal and a website for the actual proposed work. (I just checked this and it's true)
We took up the proposal by Daniel to do something with the public/ private spaces downtown. Daniel said he had spoken with some city officials who were interested in a map of all the public spaces in New York.
G.H. noted that the conflux festival - (http://confluxfestival.org/conflux2008/ ) was focused on lower manhattan.
Discussion continued on the idea of public/ private ownership and maintenance of parks and public spaces and the what that means for public spaces in the city in general. The discussion shifted to the homeless who use the public spaces. Obviously there are efforts by private managers of public spaces to ban the homeless from using public spaces. Alan said that there is an organization called Picture the Homeless that tries to clean-up the homeless, give them clean clothing etc.. He also said that this organization works with artists to change the perception of homeless people. James talked about the traffic barriers in the meatpacking district to create pedestrian space and the proposal to put a restaurant on union square park parade ground.
The discussion continued with the idea of Psychogeography. The call from Conflux for proposals specifically asked for works to reflect the idea of psychogeography -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychogeography
There was a wide reaching discussion on types of art works that focus on real estate and critiqued usage and psychogeography. G.H. talked about Hans Haacke slumlords piece. Daniel & James talked about Ester Partegas. She did a series of performances about trying to eat on the street such as sitting on a fireplug with a plate of spaghetti in her lap.
It was agreed that the park tape up was not the direction for the group to pursue for the conflux festival. G.H. said that based on the number of public/ private spaces and the number of days for the conflux festival, it should be possible to do a number of different projects engaging each of the spaces on the map.
James talked about working downtown during his LMCC residency. G.H. Talked about living on Fulton Street. After the workday the area shuts down. It's actually a depressed neighborhood. Alan said that Lower Manhattan is a world Heritage Site.
The group decided to create a proposal for multiple perfomance/ intervention in the public/ private spaces of lower manhattan. G.H. said that this needs to be done in the next two days because he is traveling for the next two weeks and the deadline is May 31st.
Here's the suggestions for interventions at the public/ private spaces.
1. Tape up benches with tape that says "closed to the public"
2. Go to each space wit ha group & a video camera and start critiquing the architecture or simply start laughing at the space and encourage passersby to join in the laughter.
3. make additional benches to put downtown for people to sit.
4. do special actions for the office temps who may also be artists such as;
a. office temp yoga
b. capitalism de-programming session
c. office temp lunch time hook-up
d. temp T.A.Z.
e. interview temps and podcast the videos
5. Make pillow cushions for public benches that have reproductions of the commemorative plaques for each of the public/ private spaces. These would be used to make people (especially homeless) feel more comfortable.
James suggested wording of the proposal would include - "each project will engage specific micro-communities from downtown such as office temps, homeless, immigrants, DMV clients, 9/11 tourists, Stone Street restaurant patrons etc..
Because to time constraints it is important to create the proposal and website within the next few days before the deadline.
Artists Meeting – minutes April, 8, 2008
In attendance –James Andrews, Daniel Blochwitz, Eliza Fernbach, G.H. Hovagimyan, Thomas Hutchison,
The group discusses moving ahead with the project of putting warning tape across the entrances of Madison Square Park (23rd & Madison Ave). Thomas had visited the site as had Eliza Fernbach. Thomas had drawn a map of the park and counted eight entrances.
The discussion was the sequencing – Each taper gets 2 entrances, one to tape up and then walk to the another entrance and take down the tape. There was another level of philosophical discussion about public space/ private space. Also the notion of Dérive , a situationist technique, originally conceived to disrupt the flow of consumerism. Daniel talked about the idea of free cities in Germany and G.H. talked about Hakim Bey’s book T.A.Z
(temporary autonomous zone as being inspired by the idea of pirate democracies in the Caribbean in the 18th century.
The discussion of how to proceed with the Madison Square Park was discussed. Thomas said there is an arts organization. He had researched getting a film permit but thought it was too costly. He said a parks permit was much easier and more appropriate. GH said when they met the British guy doing the gorilla projections on Union Square Park, didn’t even have a parks department permit. The park manager told him he couldn’t have loudspeakers but he could project on the facades of the buildings.
Eliza Fernbach talked about her project Rushing to Your Death? And there was some free association on the idea of pausing or reflecting. The discussion was about what to print on the warning tape and also the title of the project.
Some suggestions were;
Special Bulletin
Pause
Faire La Pause
Piano Piano
Fünfzehm
Break time
Closed for Surveillance
The idea of pausing the park was proposed and the idea of having various languages on the tapes was discussed.
James said we should have a “fake construction” billboard that said “future site of “ and have a picture of the park cover by a mammoth skyscraper with the park on the top!
Tomas said he would meet with the Madison Square Arts committee and propose our project.
Artists Meeting minutes -- Sunday March 30th, 2008
The Meeting took place at the SCOPE Art Fair at the [PAM] installation and VIP lounge.
In attendance were Lee Wells, Raphaele Shirley, Chris Borkowski, Edita Zulic, Thomas Hutchison, James Andrews, Bethany Fancher, G.H. Hovagimyan.
The meeting had two parts, one was a walk through the art fair by GH, James, & Bethany critiquing and discussing the art fair. the second part was a group discussion. Both parts were documented with video and still images. The video camera was passed around so that various people took turns as cameraperson.
The group agreed to pursue the project proposed by Thomas involving taping off the entrances to a park. GH suggested Madison Square Park and thought that getting a film permit would keep police from being to aggressive towards the project. Thomas said he would try and get a permit for May 1st.
The meeting discussion was rather lively. Part of the realization was that simply meeting and talking was quite a creative event. Raphaele and James decided that a large scale artwork/theme park was the next step past the art fairs.
GH said he will digitize the videos shot at SCOPE. The group decided to have a formal meeting on April 8th at GH's
Artists Meeting at SCOPE Art Fair [PAM] installation March, 2008
