The press release from the Whitney Museum arrived two days ago, on Friday morning December 11, 2009, so this information is already a bit old hat. But for those just returning from distant lands, the list for the next Biennial comprises 55 artists, making it one of the smallest in recent memory. By comparison, there were 100 participants in 2006 and 81 in 2008, although that last effort annexed the additional vast space of the Park Avenue Armory.

The pundits have rushed in to label this the Recessional Biennial, but any conscious need to downsize is possibly also based on the Whitney husbanding its resources for the projected expansion to their new downtown branch near the southern terminus of The High Line, with construction scheduled to begin next year. A less sprawling, more pristine and manicured show is just about guaranteed, which seems to reflect the general curatorial preferences of Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari, with each participating artist being allowed just one piece. Less work, fewer mini-retrospectives, greater consideration given to each inclusion, simpler logistics: all givens. And a cursory examination of the list promises more painting than in 2008. Then again, it could hardly have been less.

Find more videos like this on Sharpville

December 13, 2009. Duff Schweninger created the video WILLOUGHBY IN HIS OWN WORDS: A MEMORIAL TRIBUTE for Willoughby Sharp's Memorial at the Guggenheim Museum back in October. For those who did not attend, or who wish to reference the video again, it was just uploaded to Sharpville, and hence posted here. The first anniversary of his passing is this week.

WILLOUGHBY SHARP R.I.P.
January 23, 1936 – December 17, 2008

first day of class at BHQFU

In response to Alan W. Moore's critique of their show at Susan Inglett Gallery and my response to said critique, the Bruce High Quality Foundation sent the following note:

Hey Steve,

Thanks for sending this, and thank Alan too for his criticisms. They are well warranted if one is expecting the exhibition to provide a clear argument for what the school is, why it is, or how it got there. For better or worse, we decided against doing that. The school decided to let the school be the school and let the exhibition take a more tongue in cheek, poetic approach to self-representation.

Whatever one feels about that decision, the university itself is a different animal, one that thrives on the kind of conversation you and Alan seem invested in participating in. We will be having our final BYOU meeting of the semester this coming Tuesday and we'd be happy to see you both there. We start at 7 and stop when it's over.

Best,
BHQF

^ Bruce High Quality Foundation, Bachelors of Avignon ^

Bruce High Quality Foundation University
Susan Inglett Gallery
522 West 24 Street
New York NY 10011
December 8, 2009 - January 23, 2010
www.inglettgallery.com/exhibitions.php?id=93&year=2009

I had to dig up my six gun from the backyard for this. I last used it on Mel Ramos in 1975. But the Bruce High Quality Foundation’s show at Susan Inglett is the worst I’ve seen in many a moon, and that’s why I gotta get on their asses.

Richard Wright no title 2009.

Pop in Crises: Time Has Come Today
A review of 2 London shows: The 2009 Turner Prize winner Richard Wright (Tate Britain) and Pop Life: Art in a Material World (Tate Modern)

Viewing 2009 Turner Prize winner Richard Wright’s pareidolia-laced no title 2009 and Pop Life: Art in a Material World set in motion for me a set of considerations about the contemporary condition of art. Something prime is shifting.

I think I can sum it up by saying that the success of Wright’s large, but delicate, wall mural signaled to me the return of magical immersive thinking into mainstream art. This at the expense of the pop icon/logo celebrated in the Pop Life: Art in a Material World exhibit. Its gold, monochromatic (but kaleidoscopic) ground dominates over configuration. As a consequence, this visionary art produces an exciting all-over full fervor that needs to be interacted with imaginatively.

Thu Dec 10, 7-9pm
White Box, 329 Broome St.

LOVE, PIRACY, AND THE OFFICE OF RELIGIOUS WEBLOG EXPANSION
a participatory installation

On a censor's desk lie stacks of identical books awaiting redaction. In
each book, a provocative text - the transcript of an interview with
Iranian philosopher Ali Alizadeh - is censored by hand. The censorship

James Kalm slips in and records a brief walk-through of this exhibition by Gerhard Richter before he is bounced from the gallery. Richter is undoubtedly one of the most highly regarded painters of his generation and the current Godfather of the German Conceptual painting tradition. This show features works created since 2005 and debuts a series of large near monochromatic light gray paintings that represent an approach to Minimalism that further complicates the artists duel approach to his subjects. A room filling multi-panel piece “Sinbad” uses a technique of poured paint on the back of clear plastic panels and delivers a decorative impact that much previous work avoided.

[I thought post.thing folks would enjoy this review of the project ;-]

A smart phone to help kill American jobs
By Mark Cromer | Published on 12.05.2009

http://www.noozhawk.com/conklin_wayman/article/120509_mark_cromer_an_app...

The music is an excerpt from "viral symphOny : movement 1 : the enthrOning" (28.10 min in total)

Joseph Nechvatal : original concept viral structures
Matthew Underwood : nano, micro, meso and macro structures
Andrew Deutsch : meso and macro structures
Stephane Sikora : C++ programming
Steven Mygind Pedersen : IEA project technician