tom moody

Liz Henry on twitter poetics.

Afterthought to afterthought re: Marcin Ramocki's surf club analysis:

Some 20th Century writers complained that reality (in a hypercharged mediated environment) was outstripping their ability to spin fiction.

Artists, too, have to compete with real world content far more captivating than anything they could come up with, which the Internet effectively gathers all in one place (sneezing Pandas, etc). Two possible responses are (1) to continually rise above it through aesthetic and conceptual framing and posturing or (2) to disappear into it and trust the viewer to ultimately sort out what's going on. The Web is a consumer's medium, not a producer's, so the artist is inexorably led to consumption as a "practice." The degree of criticality can only be inferred, not implied.

Related, twitter-like statement:

"Vvork proves the futility of originality; it is the artistic equivalent of waterboarding"

Some discussion of the above and another Vvork quip at Paddy's.

Made some comments over at Paddy's regarding Marcin Ramocki's notes on internet surf "clubs." (Scare quotes used lest some think they are actually clubs, with dues, special beanies, secret handshakes, etc.)

Ramocki's notes were for a recent talk he gave on the topic, and can be read here: [4.5 MB .pdf]

copied and pasted:

18-wheel truck behind billboard-like structure of colored Plexiglas in outdoor installation
laboratory mouse hutch and illegible placard in Plexi vitrine
house key transformed into "phat" surrealistic object through nickel-brass galvanization
photo of about 40 ornate "keys to the city" of various municipalities (supposedly)
five cast alloy keys from New York art gallery made using FBI key duplication method (supposedly)
ring of keys hanging on nail on white wall give access into every room of unidentified building (supposedly)
indoor grove of potted trees blocks doorway
fluorescent lights in clear plastic bags of water hang from ceiling in dark room
seminal art photos (Klein's window leap, Burden shooting at plane) made into fictional movie posters
staged photos of various home fires (radiator, cig, etc) with fairly realistic CGI flames
link to essay analyzing post-Fordist economic production as "the communism of capital"
young woman fellates microphone, which makes feedback sounds (Quicktime)
photo of peeling ad poster re: men's shirt sleeve lengths
banyan tree sculpture with back story about Bangladesh "elite" family
patterns on tv monitors are generated by sound pulses; tvs are faced to wall and you only see reflections of the patterns as aura around tv
LCD screen generates numbered sentences which you "own" as art for as long as you remember them
algorithm creates picture frames for world leaders based on how evil they are (supposedly)
sculpture based on 1905 radio transmitter emits distorted sounds from old radio
examples of revolutionary vocabulary ("radical," rebel," revolution," etc) found in commercial contexts--grid of digital images
attempt to track down and photograph all 312 people mentioned by name in the 28 February '07 edition of a small local newspaper in Hamburg
the movie Blow Up blown up much larger than your browser
reduced front pages of all printed national newspapers from around the world on one web page, aggregated daily (supposedly)
photo of potted plant with white paint spattered on leaves; photo of folded leathery (paper?) surface
long list on non-functional drop down menu of items the artist wants to know
video/sound art collaboration with white screens and speakers--patterns on vids are "concrete visual representations of sound"
funeral-wreath-cum-chocolate-box, on tripod
parade float bric-a-brac on pedestals surrounded by oversized drawings (whale, cowboy boots, etc)