Subversive Complicity: Critical Conversations in a Limo - created by Holly Crawford :: May 1, 2008; 5, 6, 7, and 8 pm :: The LAB, 16th and Capp St., San Francisco :: The limo will leave from and return to The LAB. Reserve your free space by calling the gallery at (415) 864-8855 :: Exhibition runs May 1-24, 2008 :: Opening Reception: May 1, 6-9 pm.

Hop into a white limousine with eight strangers to converse about anything in art for one hour. Hosts, who are critics and curators, will guide conversations and offer refreshments. Continue reading

Pat Kane wrote: A general, not-too-technical review for mainstream paper in the UK of Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody, and Leadbeater’s We-Think, but it may be a departure point for the IDC community. One thing I would add: the tension between these books’ approach to the same phenomenon - what Shirky calls ’social tools’, what Leadbeater calls ‘mass collaboration’ - lies in the role of the state as having an input into internet governance.

Shirky takes a largely hands-off line - these are historical rapids, made turbulent by a Gutenberg-level of social transformation, in which the best we can do is to ’stay upright on our kayak’. Leadbeater believes that there are elements of mass collaboration - open source biology? ‘we-think’ between terrorists or criminal networks? - that politicians and citizens need to try and police, through some intervention in the enabling network infrastructures. Continue reading

Cesare Pietroiusti and Juraj Carný - Evolution De l’Art :: April 2, 2008; 7:00 pm :: 16 Beaver Group, 16 Beaver Street, 4th / 5th fl., New York, NY :: Free and Open to all.

This Wednesday night you are all invited to join us for an evening with Cesare Pietroiusti, Juraj Carný, Shelly Silver, Alex Villar to discuss and think together Evolution De L’Art. What is Evolution De L’Art? An idea, a gallery that Cesare and Juraj will talk about how it started; the kind of art projects that it presents and its relation with the artists. Continue reading

[Image: “Sentimental Objects In Attempt to befriend a Virus” by Caitlin Berrigan] ” … I have been in the midst of a serious battle with my university over a censorship case and issues of freedom of speech (not “bioart” related). An exhibition, “Virutal Jihadi,” by an Iraqi / U.S. artist Wafaa Bilal was closed because the university did not think the content was appropriate. Then this same exhibition was moved to a non-profit art space in the city of Troy, and the day after the exhibition opened the city closed that art space down claiming their building had code violations. So needless to say it is all a mess and has been taking up much of my time. The university is now proposing to set up a committee to review all exhibition proposals. For further details please go to www.wafaabilal.com. Continue reading

Candy + Code - Rachel Beth Egenhoefer, Barbara Rauch, Nicola Naismith :: March 17, 2008; 6:30 pm :: Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Mall, London.

Rachel Beth Egenhoefer considers her Commodore 64 computer and Fisher Price loom to be defining objects of her childhood. Using knitting and sweets she creates physical representations of digital information and computation and is currently researching the intersection of textiles, technology, and the body. Egenhoefer is supported by the Textile Futures Research Group at the University of the Arts as part of the Distributed South initiative. Continue reading

“Video games are the first stage in a plan for machines to help the human race, the only plan that offers a future for intelligence. For the moment, the insufferable philosophy of our time is contained in the Pac-Man. I didn’t know, when I was sacrificing all my coins to him, that he was going to conquer the world. Perhaps because he is the most graphic metaphor of Man’s Fate. He puts into true perspective the balance of power between the individual and the environment, and he tells us soberly that though there may be honor in carrying out the greatest number of victorious attacks, it always comes a cropper.” - Chris Marker, ‘Sunless’

Truncated, repetitive, coin-operated nihilism. To a point. The ‘insufferable philosophy of our time’ is not a single object or symbol, but the array of signs and symbols placed at odds with each other, made to wage a type of war we aren’t told how to engage with. Continue reading

Synapse: Collaboration between the arts and sciences has the potential to create new knowledge, ideas and processes beneficial to both fields. Artists and scientists approach creativity, exploration and research in different ways and from different perspectives; when working together they open up new ways of seeing, experiencing and interpreting the world around us. For the past decade, the Australian Network for Art & Technology (ANAT) has provided opportunities for artists and scientists to work together. Through Synapse, and in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts, ANAT offers residencies, the Synapse Database and now ANAT is pleased to announce its latest initiative: a moderated elist discussion on contemporary art and science collaborations in fields including bioart, artificial intelligence, robotics, climate change and space, amongst others. You can subscribe here. Continue reading

State of Art - A Conversation Between G.H. Hovagimyan and Mark Cooley, conducted through electronic mail - January 2008.

MC: Over the years, you’ve had experiences with various authorities that have tried in one way or another to censor your work. I’m interested if you could identify and comment on particular sites of censorship that exist in and around Art institutions and identify some the taboos that tend to generate negative responses from potential censors (curators, board members, sponsors, politicians, and other interested parties). Continue reading

Continental Drift - with Brian Holmes, Neil Brenner, Jamie Peck, Nik Theodore, Andy Bichlbaum, Claire Pentecost, Neil Smith, Hakan Topal, Marty Lucas, Jeff Halper, Scott Berzofsky, Dane Nester, Nicholas Wisniewski :: February 15-17, 2008 :: 16 Beaver Group, 16 Beaver Street, 4th / 5th fl., New York, NY :: Free and Open to all.

In 1845, Karl Marx, in his short fragments published posthumously as the “Theses on Feuerbach,” wrote the following oft quoted statement: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.” Continue reading

Tina Gonsalves’ Chameleon Project :: February 13, 2008; 7 - 8:30 pm :: The Dana Centre, 165 Queen’s Gate, South Kensington, London.

Are emotions infectious? Why can one person make a previously upbeat group feel glum? How does empathy work? Experience emotional contagion yourselves and chat to artist, Tina Gonsalves and the neuroscientists behind the interactive video and sound art installation Chameleon. Physiologist Harry Witchell, (commentator for “On the Couch With Big Brother”) will reveal the elements of non- verbal communication as the audience take part in a live art event that demonstrates emotional contagion. Neuroscientist, Neil Harrison will discuss the biological mechanisms of how we infect each other with our emotions. Continue reading