art as criticism

To: NEW INC Review Committee, New York, NY
From: Tom Moody
Re: Proposal for NEW INC incubator project
Date: March 10, 2014

Artist and earthworks pioneer Robert Smithson provided the original conceptual framework for the appreciation of "place" as art. In a "site specific" location, the art remains in situ and is visited by gallerygoers. In a "non-site," the artist collects artifacts from the site such as rocks or machinery and transports them into the gallery for display. My proposed SSLAPP app (Site-Specific Locator App) updates Smithson's ideas for the digital age, through the use of mobile devices and harnessing the power of social.

Informally, the SSLAPP app could be described as "Airbnb for Non-Sites." Your incubation funds will enable me to develop this smartphone app, which identifies potential "sites" and "non-sites" for artists, assists in the logistics of documenting these locations (including local procurement of materials, food, and lodging), and provides end-user logistical support for placement and display of the documentation in art spaces.

While SSLAPP's main function is the development of gallery non-sites, its algorithms can also be used to identify heretofore unknown "sites" and accommodate visitors. The app will be a valuable tool for artists but also the lay person interested in seeing the world as an artist does. It's hoped that the app will also have spin-off benefits, such as scouting locations for the tourist, entertainment, and advertising industries, and, ultimately, the revival of local economies.

I am asking for $50,000 to implement this project, in accordance with the attached budget.

To: Tom
From: NEW INC Review Committee
Re: SLAPP Proposal
Date: March 11, 2014

We are thrilled by your SSLAPP proposal and have fast-tracked it for immediate approval. We look forward to working with you, and seeing this wonderful idea enter the incubation process.

One of the GIFs in this Stage/Agathe André collaboration from the Mutations project made me think of a Monet cathedral. Stage found a Monet and I put it up next to the GIF. Amirite? as they say. Their collaborative GIF had nothing to do with Monet, it's just one of those random intriguing linkages.

Wading into the shallows of media coverage of a recent Shia LaBeouf performance art piece, Kenneth Goldsmith makes a clever pastiche of the cliched writing in an authorless, Kathy Acker-style mock-review for Rhizome.org, with links back to the original sentences Goldsmith cobbled together. Can airheaded writing about airheaded work be redeemed as "surf art"? Probably not. Will this earnest reply to "Kenneth" refocus our values? Probably not:

Dear Kenneth,
Your report gives few details about this performance so I had to resort to USA Today:

The exhibit is a collaborative project between LaBeouf, Finnish performance artist Nastja Säde Rönkkö and British artist Luke Turner, according to a press release sent to Time.

It took place at The Cohen Gallery, which USA informs us is "is across the street from BuzzFeed's L.A. offices," adding parenthetically, "Probably just a coincidence, right?"

Like you, the Daily Beast's Andrew Romano was oddly moved by the whole spectacle. "I actually felt something real. Something strange and complex. Something like sympathy. ..."

This is probably more of a USA Today-type story, and USA Today-type performance art, but it's always interesting to see what you're interested in.

Personally I'd like more sociology on how porous the gallery world and the film biz are in LA. I got messages yesterday that Parker Ito had sold a painting at auction for $93,000 USD, which is pretty good for a n00b, and one of the reasons for the high price tag is that film director Harmony Korine is a collector of his art. Maybe as a cross-NY-LA correspondent and assiduous documenter of the avant garde through ubuweb, WFMU, etc, you can help us understand the interrelationship of art and pure promo hype in the tinseltown art scene.

Best, Tom

I confess when I wrote the above I just skimmed the Goldsmith and thought, instead of "this isn't worth your time," that he had simply lost his mind. This will teach me not to skim and troll (or at least, mouse-over), but would still like to see the convo diverted to more new-media-relevant topics, such as the role of LA collectors in market-making for YIBA (or YIBI) art.