Artnet News
Oct. 19, 2010

SWEDISH BRILLOS ARE BUNK: WARHOL AUTHENTICATION BOARD

It’s one of the most famous arguments in all of art theory: Arthur Danto’s claim that Andy Warhol’s Brillo Box sculptures represent the "end of art," because they don’t have any distinguishing features -- it’s just art because the artist says it is. Well, the Andy Warhol Authentication Board begs to differ. In a 27-page encyclical (available for perusal courtesy the L.A. Times’ Christopher Knight), the board rules that a slew of more than 100 boxes are of dubious authenticity, essentially fabrications by free-wheeling Swedish curator and sometime Warhol collaborator Pontus Hulten (1924-2006). The board also lays out precise formal guidelines designed to separate the real Brillos from the clones.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2010

Massive Chevron Ad Campaign Derailed, Media Slapstick Follows
News outlets, citizens duped by web of deceit - but whose?

A day-long comedy of errors began Monday morning when the Yes Men, supported by Rainforest Action Network and Amazon Watch, pre-empted Chevron's enormous new “We Agree” ad campaign with a satirical version of their own. The activists' version highlights Chevron's environmental and social abuses - the same abuses they say Chevron is attempting to “greenwash.”

“Chevron's super-expensive fake street art is a cynical attempt to gloss over the human rights abuses and environmental degradation that is the legacy of Chevron's operations in Ecuador, Nigeria, Burma and throughout the world,” said Ginger Cassady, a campaigner at Rainforest Action Network. “They must think we're stupid.”

contributions to the "What is a Metaphor?" BHQFU chair at Collective Show

COLLECTIVE SHOW NYC 2010
Participant Inc, 253 East Houston Street, ground floor between Norfolk and Suffolk Streets on the Lower East Side
participant@participantinc.org
T: 212-254-4334 F: 212-254-4141
September 15-26, 2010
Reception, Sunday, September 19, 7-9 pm

COLLECTIVE SHOW LAUNCHES NEW YORK EXHIBITION

Collective Show is pleased to present “Collective Show New York 2010,” an artist-organized exhibition of contemporary collaborative art groups recently established in New York. This collaboratively curated “group show of group shows” features DIY artist-run spaces and projects, emerging curatorial initiatives and local independent publications.

Occupying a growing space between established non-profit organizations and commercial galleries, groups in this show are working within fluid definitions – in flexible and adaptive conditions that are fundamental to their working models.

Thirty art groups will exhibit their work during this show at PARTICIPANT INC, a not-for-profit gallery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Artworks, posters and publications will be on display. Screenings and performances will also take place during the exhibition.

OUT OF THE BOX

Olivier Babin & Harold Ancart, Peter Coffin, Amy Granat, Heather Guertin, Matt Keegan, George Maciunas, Alexandre Singh

Curated by Liutauras Psibilskis

Emily Harvey Foundation
537 Broadway, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012

September 15–30 (for appointments, call 917.319.0614)

Opening: Wednesday, September 15, 6–8 pm

The point of departure for the exhibition is a box that George Maciunas left at his death to Jonas Mekas. Its uncatalogued contents include
numerous slides that document works by Maciunas, many of which have never been exhibited: his cross-dressing performances at private parties;
photographs of Ginger Island in the Caribbean, which the artist hoped to buy and develop into a Fluxus colony; and Twelve Big Names, 1973, a
sequence of just that (“YOKO ONO” and “ANDY WARHOL,” among them).

“MYSTERY TOUR” Group Exhibition Explores the Worlds of 11 New York Artists
Tompkins Square Library Gallery
September 11-September 29, 2010
Opening reception Saturday, September 11th, 2-4:30 p.m.

...“Mystery Tour,” a group exhibition that explores the worlds of 11 New York artists, will be on view at the Tompkins Square Library Gallery, 331 East 10th Street, from September 11 through September 29.
http://mysterytourartshow.blogspot.com/

The exhibition, curated by Linda DiGusta will open at noon, with a reception from 2-4:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 11th.

Featuring artists are:
Kristin Anderson & Danny Licul
Aida Ben
Ryan Bradley
Robert G. Edelman
Adam Miller
Catalin Moldoveanu
Rosalie Stone Morris
Alexandra Pacula
Fedele Spadafora
Mark Wiener

August 30, 2010. I've had the new issue of Artforum for a couple of days, but haven't thumbed through it yet. So thanks to greg.org for noticing this first.

The back cover of the magazine, since time immemorial, has been devoted to an advertisement for Bruno Bischofberger Gallery from Zurich, generally depicting a folky or bucolic scene from Switzerland in full four color bleed - and the current issue is no exception. Picking up on this art world axiom, conceptual prankster Rob Pruitt presents this as September 2010's penultimate page.

It seems Greg Allen "art directed" his presentation of RIP OFF THE BACK COVER TO MAKE THIS THE COVER by photographing it against a tabletop with a blue, green and lavender floral pattern that complements the colors of the ARTFORUM logo.

Reception at the Armory Art Exhibit

Saturday August 28th: Sapporo Sponsors CONVERGENCE NYC http://convergencenyc.wordpress.com/

Taiwanese TV broadcasts often contain digitally animated re-stagings that summarize events from around the world. Are they attempting to gestate a new art form? Possibly. But more likely it's cheaper to have a computer geek create the images rather than shooting and/or editing actual footage from the scene, or paying for the feed of an international news service (China vs. that nagging intellectual property issue again!). Previous coverage has run the gamut from political demagogues (Sarah Palin) to celebrity culture (Lindsay Lohan), as well as British budget worries (the Queen sells her swans for meat) and the Philippine hostage crisis.

Here is their take on the "Ground Zero mosque" controversy, which combines certain clueless errors (is that REALLY where New York City is - right in the center of the state?) with weird cultural mash-ups conflating campy 1960s beach bunny films and fundamentalist Islamic dress codes for women ("Burkini Blanket Bingo"). The risibly expedient shop names - "Greg's Ground Zero Gay Bar", "Ground Zero Starbucks", "Ground Zero Deli" - lampoon (perhaps unintentionally) the reductive "hallowed ground" blinders of the anti-Muslim fear mongers.

"DON'T THESE NEW YORKERS UNDERSTAND WHAT GROUND ZERO MEANS TO REAL AMERICANS?"