Missed Connections — by Cristobal Mendoza — is a 2-channel Internet-aware software piece that continuously fetches the latest posts in the “missed connections” section of Craigslist.org. Each post is presented one at a time, and is filtered by looking for so-called stopwords. Computer Scientists define stopwords as those words that do not convey the meaning of a message. In essence, they are considered signal noise in the stream of potential information. Continue reading

International Guerrilla Video Festival :: Milan :: July 12-14, 2008 :: Open Call - Deadline: June 9, 2008.

The International Guerrilla Video Festival (IGVFest) is a mobile festival integrating video art with the urban and social environment. The festival removes the technologically complex medium of video out of the institutional situation re-positioning it as open and reflexive in the public domain. The artworks have site-specific thematic relations to the space where they are shown, engaging and reflecting upon the unique architectural, historical, and interpersonal context of each area the festival travels to. Continue reading

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

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“It’s the Transmediale at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. Somewhere, something in this cavernous Marshall Plan edifice is flickering. Closer at hand in the exhibition hall, half-tilted black boxes on the floor solicit you to crawl under them and encounter others of your kind watching videos. The fauna underneath are warm and resistant, though you would expect to encounter something rather more cold and slimy when lifting a rock, which is what the black-box bivouac viewing situation feels like. Continue reading

Brentford Biopsy :: April 5- June 15, 2008 :: :: Watermans Gallery, 40 High Street, Brentford, London.

Watermans gallery will be converted into a live design / mapping studio where investigatory, locative media artist Christian Nold together with the designer Daniela Boraschi will be working with local residents to gather information for digital and physical visualizations of the ecological, cultural and economic ‘health’ of Brentford. Continue reading

Eva and Franco Mattes continue their investigations into power, authorship and identity with The Surrogates a new performance based video project. Combining elements of theater, video, surveillance, and social interaction, The Surrogates transforms Over The Opening (OTO) into an experimental social space questioning the distinction between the viewer and the viewed :: April 11, 2008; 7 - 10 pm :: Over The Opening (MTAA’s Studio), N6th St., Brooklyn, NY [map and directions].

Cleotronica: Festival for Media, Art, and Socio-Culture :: Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF), 10 Hussein Hassab Street, Flat 6, Azarita, Alexandria, Egypt.

Cleotronica 08 is the inaugural version of Cleotronica a festival for media, art, and socio-culture organized by Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF) an alternative initiative for art and culture based in Egypt’s second largest city. Cleotronica 08 is planned as a monthly series of public art projects, workshops, lectures, performances, and exhibitions that commenced in January 2008 gradually building up to an international symposium in May. The festival presents a diverse set of projects, mediums, and issues, ranging from net art to tactical media and from public intervention to design. Continue reading

Last summer, Cati Vaucelle at Architectradure tipped me off about Meta-Markets, a project which created a means to buy and sell units of social media. I penned an enthusiastic review of the project in the fall and continue to be engaged by this ongoing thought-experiment. Meta-Markets was authored by Burak Arikan, a graduate of the MIT Media Lab who is currently based in Brooklyn. This Friday, Burak will be taking part in a panel discussion entitled Real World Implications of Virtual Economies at the Turbulence Mixed Realities Exhibition and Symposium in Boston (and streaming live in Second Life). Continue reading

Fritz Haeg: Attack on the Front Lawn :: January 26 - March 16, 2008 :: Arthouse at the Jones Center, 700 Congress Ave., Austin, Texas :: In conjunction with The Sundown Schoolhouse: How to Eat Austin and Edible Estates Regional Prototype Garden #5. This is the first major exhibition of Haeg’s work.

Fritz Haeg: Attack on the Front Lawn surveys recent ecological initiatives completed by the artist and architect known for his socially-responsive and community-oriented practice. Working at the intersection of art and social activism, Haeg engages audiences in collaborative encounters that often take place outside of the institutional confines of a museum or gallery. Continue reading