Mike Montiero, I met several years ago here in Miami, but in San Francisco there is a Creative Mornings series where this video was made. We all need to learn about contracts.
Guidelines for Openings
Somehow, this post had been buried and not posted. We think it has merit and are now doing just that. It’s kind of funny too.
“To celebrate the third printing of I like your work: art and etiquette, now available here, we’ll be posting excerpts from the book during the next two weeks.
1. You must attend openings. When you’re Bruce Nauman, you can be a hermit in New Mexico. Until then however, you have to attend openings. Why? If you’re young, it’s important to find out how things work, to meet your colleagues, to find out what’s out there in the world, and ultimately, perhaps, to learn how to behave at openings. If you’re mid-career, you must go out to support the colleagues you met at the earlier stage of your respective careers. If you’re older, it’s important to support colleagues, still, but now also students, and / or other members of the younger generation who will see you as a mentor. Other slightly noble reasons: if you’re obsessed with art and you have to see things as soon as you’re able, and if you really, honestly, love art—talking about it, interacting with it, talking to people responsible for making, distributing, promoting, and critiquing it. If you love it, then it’s not work. Artists, critics, and curators stay vital when they’re interacting with their peers. If you’re young and you hate openings, there’s a noble history of outsider artists living in insane asylums and working as janitors who are discovered long after they’ve died. If you’re old and you hate openings, it’s likely your best years are behind you, and you think all art but the stuff you and your peers made is shit. I hope your few years of past relevance allow you to retire to your television.
2. You must greet and congratulate the dealer and the artist(s) at the opening. All other greetings are situational: a friendly nod if you catch somebody’s eyes is completely acceptable, as are a passing pat, an air kiss, or any preferred method of casual greeting in a crowded opening where you may know half the crowd.
3. The dealer is required to provide alcohol and non-alcohol to all the guests. This can be as simple as a tub of beer and bottled water. It can be fancy wines and freshly squeezed juices, cheese platters, and a bow-tied bartender. There ought to be alcohol for at least the first two hours of a three-hour opening. The last hour is usually best, but not if there’s no alcohol.
4. If the dealer and/or artist(s) ask you how you like the show during the opening, try to find something polite to say. If they insist on a real opinion, they’ve got whatever you have to say coming.
5. Be briefed on at least three recent things that you can be congratulatory about: recent exhibitions seen and enjoyed, exhibitions you would like to see and enjoy but have not been able to make yet for whatever reason, recent successes by colleagues.
6. If you’re an artist, critic, or curator, someone will inevitably ask you what you’re working on. It’s good to have either two projects that can be mentioned briefly, or one project that can be mentioned in more depth—though still kept within the bounds of appropriate party chatter. In different cities, artists, critics, and curators take different tacks on describing their workload. In Los Angeles, artists must always look like they are rested and fresh. In New York, the more haggard and hardworking you look the better. It’s always appropriate to be on your way to or to have just returned from international travel, e.g., ‘I just got back from being in this biennial in Prague, but I’ve only a couple of weeks to get on my feet before I have to have some meetings in London.’
7. Usually the rapid coming and going of people at an opening allows for quick conversational turnover, but if you get stuck in a bad conversation with someone and you’re outside, say, ‘I’m just going to pop in and look at the show.’ If you’re inside, say, ‘I’m just going to pop out for some air/a cigarette.’ If they’re still following you, go to the bathroom.
8. If you don’t know anyone at an opening, (unlikely after a few years going to openings but nevertheless), then it’s relatively easy to engage with people looking at the work or at the beer bucket. The more people you can attend the opening with, the easier it may be to weave yourself into the social web.
9. Try not to get too drunk on the cheap white wine/cheap beer at the opening: afterwards, at the bar or at dinner, it’s more acceptable. But you still have to be able to walk out of the bar at the end of the evening. Unless, of course, you don’t want to, in which case you can likely get away with being a drunk for many years as long as you don’t punch people too often.
10. The dinner after the opening can only be attended if you’re invited formally, beforehand, or by the dealer or artist during the opening—except if it’s a very wealthy gallery having a very large dinner where no one is sure who’s invited and who isn’t, and you know a few people there. Somebody always doesn’t show, and either way you’re welcome to stay at the bar or smoke outside while things mix up. N.B.: this only works at certain restaurants. In Los Angeles, the best place to crash is Dominic’s.
11. Whoever you sit next to at the dinner determines your rank in the pecking order, according to the gallery. If you sit next to the artist, it’s likely you’re wealthy, the artist’s best friend, or an important curator. If you sit behind the potted plant next to the artist’s third cousin, it’s likely you’re a critic. This can be accepted temporarily—as the dinner breaks up, there is great mobility in seating arrangements. (This is dependent on the size of the dinner and the choreography of the event.)
12. Business can always be discussed at openings and dinners, provided you observe the protocols. Artists can never directly invite dealers to visit their studios, unless a strong rapport has already been established. Artists can, however, talk about what they’re working on, and the excitement that others have for the work, e.g., ‘I just finished the installation about Hekabe with the really ornate collage. Hans Ulrich stopped by on his way through and said it looked like Vito Acconci on acid.’ Curators can corner dealers for specific works. Critics can, and should, get whiskey for free.”
(Via Paper Monument.)
“Dirt Yuta Suelo Udongo Te” : Onajide Shabaka’s Art Exhibit About the Most Primordial of Materials
Press from the exhibition:
“Dirt Yuta Suelo Udongo Tè” : Onajide Shabaka’s Art Exhibit About the Most Primordial of Materials:
“Dirt. God created man from it. We grow our food in it. And it’s where all of us go to rest in the end.
For Broward artist, curator, and writer Onajide Shabaka, the primordial substance is also the inspiration for ‘DIRT Yuta Suelo Udongo Tè,’ a new exhibit opening in Miami’s …”
(Via Broward-Palm Beach New Times | Complete Issue.)
Dirt Art Exhibit at Second Saturday June 8:
“Dirt. God created man from it. We grow our food in it. And it’s where most of us go to rest in the end.
For South Florida artist, curator, and writer Onajide Shabaka, the primordial substance is also the inspiration for ‘DIRT Yuta Suelo Udongo Tè,’ a new exhibit opening in t…”
(Via Miami New Times | Complete Issue.)
DIRT Yuta Suelo Udongo Tè: Art is About:
Exhibition runs: June 1-28, 2013
Exhibition Venue:
Spear Building
3815 NE Miami Court
Miami Design District 33137
Weekdays: Tue, Fri, & Sat 12 noon-6 pm
Miamiartexchange.com & Artlab33.com
(also by appt. editor@miamiartexchange.com)”
(Via Art is About.)
DIRT Yuta Suelo Udongo Tè
DIRT Yuta Suelo Udongo Tè
curated by Onajide Shabaka
[curator’s soundings…] [Exhibition images] [Exhibition Catalogue] [New Times & Video coverage]
Exhibition Venue:
Spear Building
3815 NE Miami Court
Miami Design District 33137
Weekdays: Tue, Fri, & Sat 12 noon-6 pm
(also by appt. editor@miamiartexchange.com)
The participating artists:
Dona Altemus – mixed media
Edouard Duval Carrié – painting
Robert Chambers – mixed media
william cordova – mixed media
Veronica Scharf Garcia – ceramic sculpture, photography
Mark Hahn – photography
Alette Simmons Jimenez – mixed media
Lori Nozick – sculpture
Kim Nicolini – photography, drawing
David Rohn – photography, performance
Onajide Shabaka – mixed media, drawing
Jovan Karlo Villalba – painting, sculpture
Debra Wilk – poetry
Dona Altemus work portrays the constant process of deciphering, while simultaneously sublimating the intellectually intangible action of thinking into form. Jovan Karlo Villalba’s, “The Wake,” comments on the negative effects present-day civilization land as well as the personification of today’s man – worn and fallen. Veronica Scharf Garcia’s Raku Salver, a tray used by a servant to present a letter or card but instead carries a mound of dirt that seems to refer to geophagy. Geophagy is a traditional cultural activity which takes place during pregnancy, religious ceremonies, or as a remedy for disease. Kim Nicolini’s Dirt Yards At Night photographs focus on houses in the very unique landscape of Tucson, Arizona – a town where most of the yards are comprised of dirt and in which there are no streetlights. Nicolini been intrigued by the way these houses look at night, the way small signs of domestic life glow faintly in a sea of darkness and dirt. The photographs are like frames from a film of the domestic unconscious. Also of Arizona, Mark Hahn’s photographs reside between the known, the unknowable, the familiar and the new while focusing on unremarkable objects and the empty spaces between them revealing a fragile compositional and emotional balance. Onajide Shabaka’s art practice makes references to the anthropological, geological, and biological through a visual aesthetic that is challenging and visceral, with a grounding in African Atlantic culture. Alette Simmons Jimenez’s art addresses the significance of human existence with undertones of absurdity that play along as humanity attempts to balance negotiations with nature. Lori Nozick creates environmental installations with architectural and organic structures that refer to social and geological changes, both physically and symbolically, that also function as repositories of individual and collective moments and memory. Edouard Duval Carrié’s art reflects the culture and history of Haiti with references to the Vodou religion. His work is often overtly political, executed in attempts to embody his nation’s spirit and its troubles with an attitude that is neither detached nor ironic. Robert Chambers finds himself constantly toying with visual connections between science and art, forcing them into a realm of senselessness and chaos. This work stimulates viewers into constructing their own understanding of contemporary concerns and questions which may be used as an impetus to encourage associations between disparate entities. william cordova says he has an urgent desire to create alternate perspectives. “Conscious change only occurs when we change our perspective,” he says. As a life long gardener, Debra Wilk finds nothing about dirt derogatory. She wonders how dirt become a lowly condition, and her prose poem DIRT, takes that path. Dirt changes metaphor, from a blessing of sustenance to a lowly human condition. She sees the many layers of perspective about dirt, as metaphor and experience.
“THE BLOOMING”
for Stephen Wright
A giving light
Lends
To the earth
Leaves a winter’s thaw
And weaves
A summer’s sweat
Tends
With touch persistent
Returns
With Colour
The honesty of dirt
“DIRT”
What do you do with a bad mother? A mother so old there’s no way things will turn out different. She dies and it’s official. A mother who knew what she was talking about when she told us we were never wanted. No, that’s not exactly true—what she said was she never wanted children. Not as personal. Hang on to ambiguous details. You love her. She wasn’t evil. Evil doesn’t teach her young not to hate—doesn’t forbid words like nigger and spic. She didn’t beat but she didn’t hug. Her eyes never lit up when her child entered the room. She colored eggs for Easter. Filled baskets full of sweets. Poured Tide in her little girls tub when they played in the mud—soft places numb with pain too at home to invoke an honest scream. Little girls become women; retell their secret stories just between them—they drink. The stories are funny and the bar is noisy. Alone in bed they cry and hate her—wake up filled with guilt and self loathing. One sister stops bathing and the other scrubs every inch—starves herself thin. One sister eats and eats. Sometimes they reverse. Each child holds one secret they never tell. One shovel digs. The other buries.
Debra Wilk
reception images
Historical Information on the specific origin of dirt: Ely (pron.: /ˈiːli/ ee-lee) is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. It was once named “Que Quam Chep”, which means “land of the berries” in the Chippewa language. The population was 3,460 at the 2010 census.[6] It is located in the Vermilion Iron Range, and was historically home to several Iron ore mines.
Chippewa, or the Ojibwe, were the first to inhabit the Ely area. They are believed to have sought refuge with the abundance of blueberries. Trappers and voyageurs made their way to the area in the 18th century in search of new land and furs. Later, in the mid-19th century, while explorers and prospectors were entering the area, the gold rush began. Although no gold was found in the Ely area, large deposits of iron ore were. Iron ore was first discovered in Ely in 1883, near the west end of the flooded, abandoned mine that is now called Miner’s Lake. As the mining of the iron ore began, the population of Ely began to boom.
After the addition of the railroad in 1888, the mines began shipping the iron ore to the docks of Lake Superior in Two Harbors. Originally, the mining was an open pit operation since there was an abundance of iron ore on the surface. Later, deep shafts were made to start mining underground. With the addition of underground mining, support beams made of logs were put in to prevent tunnel collapsing. This in turn started the logging and milling industry for Ely.
——————————
What is Time-Based Art?
Definitions are sometimes a very tricky thing when it comes to art. For instance, what exactly defines “time-based” art? Is it just anything with a beginning and an ending? Does any movie or video qualify? Is there a separation between time-based art and performance art or theater? To further explore this genre, here is our definition of what is considered time-based.
Time based art is a cluster of units dealing with the complex multiplicity of artistic forms which use the passage of and the manipulation of time as the essential element. Time Based Art includes key concepts in time based art with specific reference to experimental film, video art and installation, sound, performance and multimedia computing. Time based art develops critical awareness by close study of histories of the moving image and the expressive use of technology and the human body.
Gathering at the start of the event, “Three-by-Six, 2012.”
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Three-by-Six (“3×6”)
Most recently I picked up the book, “Radical Prototypes, Judith Rodenbeck, [who] argues for a more complex etiology. Allan Kaprow coined the term in 1958 to name a new collage form of performance, calling happenings ‘radical prototypes’ of performance art. ‘Happenings’ have pop connotations that conjure up 1960s youth culture and hippies in public, joyful rebellion. Scholars, meanwhile, locate happenings in a genealogy of avant-garde performance that descends from futurism, surrealism, and Dada through the action painting of the 1950s.”
“Happenings” are a type of time-based art in which the audience is very often a participating component.
One would hope that time-based work in its various forms are alive and well, although it seems I have come into recent contact with artists who have no idea what any type of time-based work is, or could be. Let’s expand our creative horizons!
“The line between the Happening and daily life should be kept as fluid, and perhaps indistinct, as possible.”
Three-by-Six “3×6” – 2012
UPDATED 7 June, 2012: Three-by-Six (“3×6”) is a summer media arts event organized by Artlab33 Art Space; a cross between an art show and a film festival. On each selected evening, six curated short video, film, performance, sound, or other time-based combination works will be presented.
—–
Program #1 – Previous submissions (exhibition of previous projects)
Program #2 – 20 July, 2012 (open theme)
Program #3 – 18 August, 2012 (open theme)
Program #1 : 30 June, 2012 (exhibition of previous projects)
Program #2: 28 July, 2012 (open theme)
Program #3: 25 August, 2012 (open theme)
Your valid Email:
Your phone (if residing in Florida):
• URL (http://…. )
• Email (under 3MB to printcollection@gmail.com)
• CD/DVD (over 3MB through postal mail)
• I grant my permission for these uses.
Mangrove Mud Womp Artist Residency
“Mangrove Mud Womp”
Artist Residency, Performance, Workshop, & Exhibition
[PDF Press Release here.]
Oct., Nov., Dec., 2011-12
(scheduled attendance on various weekends announced on Facebook)
(photo credits: Onajide Shabaka)
“Mangrove Mud Womp”
Combining art and the ecological environment the artist-in-residence will be drawing, painting, and making sculptures of natural and found objects, while investigating the rich mangrove forest’s flora and fauna. This project will be implemented with the input and collaboration of the on-site naturalist at Anne Kolb Nature Center.
The artist, along with kids and adults, will create art works that reflects the ecologically sensitive mangrove forest that is between Hollywood and Dania known as West Lake. This project is to create a learning experience about the natural habitat of the estuary through art.
In addition there will be a panel discussion on urban planning & design, while looking at pushing the envelope of social space, and even technology, to actualize itself in harmony with the urban and natural environment. Art practices that exist outside of the confines of the gallery have a long history that include genres such as land art, eco-art, public art, and social practice art.
“Black Mangroves (video still)”
CALL-TO-ARTISTS – Palm Beach State College
Art & Life: The Spirit of Haiti
In January, 2012, Palm Beach State College will present the exhibition, “Art & Life: The Spirit of Haiti.” This exhibition will show an exciting cross-section of art and craft done by artists of Haitian descent. In the aftermath of the 2009 earthquake, Haiti continues to rebuild, but its people continue to live another day with the hope of a better life. The family and national ties between the Haitian people, both here and elsewhere in the U.S. are strong and resilient. Through artists we can see this strength of character, and love of life. Hence, comes our exhibition title, “Art & Life: The Spirit of Haiti.” Exhibition dates: Jan 5th – February 10th, 2012
CALL-TO-ARTISTS – Art & Life: The Spirit of Haiti – submission deadline: Monday, 21 Nov., 2011
Artlab33 Art Space Temporary Install
We are currently planning a soft reopening for the 9th of October (Sunday). The final push on funding for Mangrove Mud Womp will also take place at that time. Both events will take place unless something unforeseen takes place.
Mangrove Mud Womp Fundraiser on Kickstarter!
Mangrove Mud Womp Fundraiser on Kickstarter launched Tuesday morning lasting 30+ days to help fund the public art residency of Onajide Shabaka. This project will take place from September, 2011 to February, 2012! That includes the fundraising, of course.
Please, help out to make this project a reality! Funding is necessary to produce the art works, and your assistance is key to the success of the project as a whole. You will receive art in exchange for your financial support.
Funded in part by a Creative Investment Grant from Broward Cultural Division
