"Gay Batman" Artist Gets "Cease & Desist"

Artnet News

Aug. 18, 2005

"GAY BATMAN" ARTIST GETS "CEASE & DESIST" D.C. Comics has hit a Chelsea art dealer with a "cease & desist" letter for exhibiting Mark Chamberlain’s watercolors on a "gay Batman" theme. The works, which were exhibited at Kathleen Cullen Fine Art this spring (where they found ready buyers at prices starting at $200), include images of Batman and Robin exchanging a kiss, a watercolor titled Robin’s Baby Pictures depicting the Boy Wonder’s cute rear end, and a rendering of the Caped Crusader, sans shirt but otherwise in costume, striking a languorous pose. "D.C. Comics wants me to hand over all unsold work and invoices for the sold work," exclaimed dealer Kathleen Cullen (the gallery was formerly named Artek Contemporaries). "I’ve spent the last two weeks of my life consulting lawyers!" (Some works are also posted on Artnet, which has received a similar letter.)

Linking Struggles Against The Border: A Call to Come to San Diego and Strategize Against Borders and The Minutemen

deletetheborder.org - august 27-28th, san diego

Schedule of Events

LINK

Hola todos. Crazy times we find ourselves in. Millions of people forced to live underground, more than 3200 dead and tens of thousands more incapacitated crossing the border. Communities and families split by the wall. As if the border and its myriad forms of violence were not enough, racist paramilitaries are openly organizing across the US and finding enthusiastic partners in politicians and corporate press outlets alike. And then there are the numerous Neo-nazi groups crawling out from beneath their rocks, thrilled with the “Trojan Horse” of growing anti-migrant sentiment.

Last evening I was walking back from the store down 20th Street by the Theological Seminary when someone said Hi as he passed. It was someone I hadn't seen in at least ten years or more but he started talking as if we'd seen each other yesterday while I struggled to remember his name, which I finally did later that night.

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION ISEA2006
THEME: TRANSVERGENCE http://isea2006.sjsu.edu/transvergence/index.html
Deadline October 3, 2006

This is an invitation by the ISEA2006 Symposium and ZeroOne San Jose: A Global Festival of Art on the Edge to groups and individuals to submit proposals for exhibition of interactive art work and projects reflecting on the thematic of the transvergence.

Call for Work: THOUGHT THIEVE$ short film showcase

LINK

THOUGHT THIEVE$ is a short film showcase about corporate appropriation of knowledge, culture, and creativity. It is a grassroots response to the Micro$oft propaganda competition of the same name [see http://www.msn.co.uk/thoughtthieves/Default.asp].

Sunday, August 7, 2005

LINK

Jon Lebkowsky says,

Not long ago, CNN's Miles O'Brien tossed off a comment implying that where Al Qaeda is concerned, the Internet may be the problem. Today the Washington post is running a longer piece (requires free registration) that says:
"al Qaeda has become the first guerrilla movement in history to migrate from physical space to cyberspace. With laptops and DVDs, in secret hideouts and at neighborhood Internet cafes, young code-writing jihadists have sought to replicate the training, communication, planning and preaching facilities they lost in Afghanistan with countless new locations on the Internet."

August 7, 2005

When Pigs Wi-Fi

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

HERMISTON, Ore.

This is cowboy country, where the rodeo is coming to town, the high school's "kiss the pig" contest involves a genuine hog, and life seems about as high-tech as the local calf-dressing competition, when teams race to wrestle protesting calves into T-shirts.

But Hermiston is actually a global leader of our Internet future. Today, this chunk of arid farm country appears to be the largest Wi-Fi hot spot in the world, with wireless high-speed Internet access available free for some 600 square miles. Most of that is in eastern Oregon, with some just across the border in southern Washington.

August 3, 2005

Calling All Luddites

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

I've been thinking of running for high office on a one-issue platform: I promise, if elected, that within four years America will have cellphone service as good as Ghana's. If re-elected, I promise that in eight years America will have cellphone service as good as Japan's, provided Japan agrees not to forge ahead on wireless technology. My campaign bumper sticker: "Can You Hear Me Now?"

BEING IS DIFFERENCE
pixellated portraits
from the digital edge

Joseph Nechvatal

left, Wolfgang Staehle

Go to the site

Donald Kuspit on Joseph Nechvatal and New Media Art

Art Dirt Redux is gaining some traction. Here's a sampling of reviews from the web.

Imperica (UK)Art Dirt Redux ADR is a series of interesting podwalks from G.H. Hovagimyan and Robbin Murphy. Varying exhibitions and installations taking place in New York City are covered by the duo and their guests. Their opinions are well-informed and unquestionably knowledgable, and somewhat forthright. The series is fun, and very informal; every now and then, they bump into friends and the conversation changes from an appreciation of the piece to catching up socially.
Technology is covered heavily; subjects in varying podcasts include iPods, RSS, Linux, and blogs, with happenings including Eyebeam and Dorkbot. (I had an idea a while ago to cover Dorkbot; I might try to cover the UK events.)
It took me a while to get into, but it's certainly interesting to listen to, and is a very atmospheric
podwalk.