Tjorg Douglas Beer
Salonu Istambul/Observation Deck
Produzentengalerie Hamburg

While Tjorg Douglas Beer’s works previously collaged disparate iconography, confuting the viewer with abstracted associations of power versus the everyday, in the Salonu there is a distinct predominance of Islamic characters and militaristic residue. Of course, the artist might contend that as his studio was located in a Muslim region of Hamburg, Shemaghs and Hijabs (head scarves) are fashion and religion alike. And there is an interesting sensitivity in this; that in order for iconography to denude itself, to exist in its most malleable state, it must shift in context to cultural characteristics.

The great collage artist and accidental avant-garde father of found-footage, Bruce Conner died July 7th 2008. His legacy in Library of Congress and in collections among major art institution the world over. But long before he certainly had been immortalized on YouTube, and that of course bears an amusing double-irony. Some might interpret it as "giving back" others as "stealing from a thief".

summer exhibition at Brooke Alexander Gallery
http://www.baeditions.com/Installation%20Views/Colab%20Redux/Colab%20Red...

Colab (officially Collaborative Projects, Inc., founded 1977) was one in a string of New York City artists’ groups that started most strongly in the 1960s. Artists’ groups have had an escalating impact on the conventional art world. Today a number have roughly equal status with prominent individuals.

[Note of disclosure: I was a member of Colab, and have published on the group’s activities.]

"The joy of the Postmodern, and as we go into the next period at the moment (name TBA), is that immaterial culture's association with the material (expand at will) is that the antagonism between the art market and the avant is diffused by allowing for localized discourse. Since the "ism" was destroyed, art atomized into very local threads of genre, into small groups, and even imploded to the individual.

Gustave Courbet (portrait by Nadar; public domain)

glorious ninth new work:
invisibility phial, dead scene scrollworks #1 [sound on]

http://www.gloriousninth.net/invisibility_phial/

Sleep Dealer
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2008/01/sleep_dealer

facebook
With friends like these ...
Facebook has 59 million users - and 2 million new ones join each week. But
you won't catch Tom Hodgkinson volunteering his personal information - not now that he knows the politics of the people behind the social networking
site

Tom Hodgkinson
The Guardian,