"LIVING ROOMS & LOBBIES" ONLINE CURATION 6.4.2010

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1. Alex Turnbull, / selected from his found photo site "googlesightseeing" 2. Mark Shetabi, Caspian Sea Hilton, oil on linen 3. Ji Lee, Parallel World 4. Helga-Steppan 5. Guatamala Sinkhole 2010

EMPTY SIGNAGE

This most remarkable sign can be seen on Dekalb Ave, near Lenny's. It's an egg that glows at night. . .a profound, cosmic shape, presented publicly in an urban setting. . .not a word on it.

I love art like this.

online curation "FAMILY OF (hu) MAN"

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Today, I found the new york times "lens" project online. It mediates the power of mining photographs online. Like the imagery one can cull from a google image search, the results are charmingly "common denominator," but authorized by a media behemoth.

I like their term: "visual journalism." The premise is that average people around the world post visuals that make up an overall report. What an opportunity. I spent about an hour and a half traveling around the world looking at the collection of cheerful snapshots, in search of real grit, real politics, real photo journalism from the populace. Today's online curation is from this source.

As expected, the usual tropes endure: pets, landmarks (the golden gate bridge is very popular), centered family photos, mother and child sleeping, flowers, cute children, romantic landscapes, spiderwebs wet with dew, church gatherings. Most of it the self-censoring propaganda of world wide happiness. You find a similar ilk of imagery on Facebook.

However, to my surprise, there exists an additional, albeit very thin, layer of political statment. I detected a small current of individuals publishing slightly more realistic snapshots (. . .I mean, there are some pretty serious things going on out there in the world--but by the tone of this imagery is quite romantic). Most notably, I found countless representations of homeless people world wide, some floods and oil rigs. From russia, I found some melancholic statements and moody individual portraits. In no way did I see all images available. . . this is a first impression. enjoy!

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1.laurie Morrison, California 2.Los Gatos, California 3.Maja Hitij, Jordan 4.Dong Kil park 5.Doha-Qatar 6.California 7.Whitebluff,Tennessee 8.Unionville, Indiana 9.Marcus (photographer), OHIO 10.Students-Islamic Universityn of Technology, Gazipu 11.Barbara Jani, Texas 12.Kurt, South Korea 13.Nepal (text says something about it being a very poor country with an SUV fantasy) 14.Gali Tibbon, jeruselum 15.Laith Al Majali, Jordan 16.Marwan (photographer), Bangladesh 17.Moiz Rajkotwala, Dubai 18.MartinAlbrecht, Jakarta, Indonesia

*I tried to take good notes as I did screen captures. . .in some cases there was no name provided or just a penn name. Most photographers wrote captions, some informative, some personal.

Coincidentally, here's the original ad for "Family of Man" 1955 in a vintage magazine. This historic photography exhibition, curated by Edward Steichen, really inspires me. I think this "lens" project is an updated echo of "Family of (Hu)Man."

METEORITE IN WISCONSIN

I feel emotional after seeing this meteorite footage. The video I found online is so pixellated and yet so lovely. Why is seeing this impactful to me?

Perhaps because it was a relatively small and peaceful meteorite cascading across rural Iowa. Randomly it was caught on some lonely security camera. Here is an historic event, soon forgotten, quietly punctuating or perhaps bringing-in a startling series of earth changes world wide. Lot's of people witnessed it. Yet, no one was hurt. It is a sign of wonder and hope, a mini wake-up call or warning. I'll take it as a message to pay attention to the sky.

Just since the new year, there have been a hand full of major earthquakes around the world, and now a volcanic eruption in Iceland, which put European flights out of commission for days.

Just this winter we were in Florida. Unusally, it was too cold to sunbath. . .the local media responded: we read humorous interviews on local media asking Floridians if they believe in global warming? of course, all of them--freezing their asses off--said it's all a load of crap. . .long live capitalism, etc, etc.

Ho hum, many around me are in a daze. I'll go back to Georgia soon, where it is so sleepy and out of touch, hiding under the magnificent dark trees and spirit of Southern denial. There's really so very little analysis on the news at all. . .

GOODBYE GREEN

the neighborhood association of Cabbagetown (intown Atlanta), who refused to allow graffitti to continue on it's lengthy public wall, established a dictatorship of green paint from 2008 to 2010. and now that reign is over. the paint-out color of choice is now back to light gray, to match the wall itself.

ironically, the new color calls attention to the walls' gallery-like quality. . .tantalizing those who would prefer that it allow the tradition of unofficial art. for what is an urban environment without graffiti ? it's a controlled environment, not an organic one. there is a sense of order and authority; its cleanliness broadcasts a message: only approved expressions of aesthetics allowed here. it's funny because Cabbagetown was a place for poor people for many decades. it's squalor and geographical isolation due to the wall actually allowed it's residents the freedom to keep their houses and yards any way they pleased. . .and this led to a certain quirkiness, gave it's New Orleanian shotgun architecture character and ultimately made it desirable as real estate. . .alas, so it is with gentrification.

For two years now, residents who had enjoyed the urban flavor of the ever-morphing graffitic expression, had to endure a sort of oppressive presence of cheerful green paint and gung-ho gentrifiers, smug to win an aesthetic battle over shared space. the 1/2 mile stretch of wall, previously famous for its art, was guarded daily by an aggressive former homeless man; he never let a mark stay for more than a day or two and physically attacked anyone he caught attempting. it is not entirely clear whether neighborhood funds were spent on his employment.

the hallmark green paint-outs migrated to abandoned buildings and even dumpsters nearby. the pollyannas marked the neighborhood in an imperialistic manner not unlike the graffiti they wished to erase. meanwhile, down the street in the next neighborhood over, Reynoldstown encouraged graffiti and now has a most incredible wall of public art. thankfully, that graffiti is not too tight, not overproduced as a lot of prescribed graffiti can be. (some urban places have taken a similar permissive approach to graffiti. . .see article in the New York Times on Caracas, Venuzuela & graffiti.)


(The Renoldstown wall)

(an abanonded house in Reynoldstown that is covered by graffiti. . .pretty awesome public art, if you ask me.)

I do like the whitish gray better than the green. it disappears more. but I also can't wait to see what appears on the fresh walls.

MINERS online curation 4-4-2010

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1. Krysten Cunningham, "RGB fetish" 2. Peggy Honeywell 3. Peggy Honeywell
4. Chris Marker 5. Simon Frost 6. the Underground Coal Miners
7. John Beech "coated drawing" 8. Superstudio (!)

ONLINE CURATION#3: "Chandeliers of Spring"

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1. Sean Abrahams (local) 2. Teresita Ferdandez ("Drawn Waters") 3. Lee Bul
4 &5. Bruno Taut (!) 6. Gregory Euclide
7. amazing italian-science fiction installation 8. Paper Twins (local)

"USA" 1-20-2010 (first online curation)

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1.)NICHOLAS VENAGLIA 2.) COLIN MONTGOMERY 3.)CHRIS ENGMAN 4.suburban bombing (SORRY--DIDN'T GET THE ARTIST NAME!!) 5.) BRENDAN FOWLER