July + Summertime has thus far been a frenzy of family and life-things. @howdiz and I are in the process of buying a house. It takes up a lot of time, so I haven’t spent much on thought and art lately, though there are a few things I’d like to mention:
Theoretically + New Asshole Meetup
Last month Libby & Roberta made an email introduction between Rick Banister, myself, and Manya Scheps of New Asshole - the thought was that we might have some things to talk about as concerns theory around art in Philadelphia. I proposed a meet-up and then ordered a copy of my own New Asshole. The zine came to the haus well before the meet-up came together, giving me plenty of time to traverse, digest, and become thoroughly enamored with the endeavor beforehand. Read More »
So @bethheinly and I did a little ride yesterday, and of course there was chatting and smoking to go along with it. She mentioned an event she’s working to organize in October at Little Berlin, a ‘Bring Your Own Table’ book fair at the gallery where zine authors can bring their books, and set-up a table. The event is a sort-of kick-off to a new ‘Zine Library’ initiative at the collective gallery space - everyone who has a table will be asked to donate a book to the cause. The members of Little Berlin are hoping to grow their collection and preserve these works as part of their permanent collection.
When she was first talking about the idea of a ‘Book Fair’ I got a very vivid recollection of those flimsy news-print ‘Book Club’ flyers we used to receive back in middle school. It was really just a way to get kids to buy books, but I remember getting so goddamn jazzed each month when a new flyer came out. I loved the smell of the printed flyer, and being quite a nerdy youngster, I loved buying books!!
I couldn’t remember the exact way to conjure up an image of this recollection through Google Image Search, but a quick tweet solved that. @KaraLaFleur reminded me that its the ‘Scholastic Book Club‘ I was grappling to remember. Sure enough, Scholastic is still putting out these flyers as part of their program, and the aesthetic is just as i’d remembered:
Read More »
I did a stop-and-chat today over at IndyHall and I finally got the chance to talk to the amazing @dbanana. I love that the lines of tech and art are crossing, intersecting, and energizing left-and-right these days. I’m adding her to my official list of superprofundo potential energy in the form of tech/art chicks including the amazing @Stellargirl and @KaraLaFleur combo.
Anyway, it was my first attempt at talking about the Philly | Art | Web project, and I felt like it went reasonably well. BUT I realized I needed to churn out some content around the idea, as there is not much other than the initial statement at this point. Here is my first shot Read More »
I wrote this review of the happenings over at FLUXspace in Kensington. It was intended for Theoretically, but it didn’t quite make the cut, as its a bit off-focus from ‘the work’ . The focus needs to be shifted before it can be considered, but I didn’t want to loose the thoughts. Here they are.
Something is in flux in Philadelphia, namely the world of Art. A space has emerged in the North of the city called ‘
FLUXspace‘ - it is an artist-community driven gallery, housed in a massive industrial space that is also home to Art Making Machine Studios. This space has developed out of the efforts of a community of artists, all playing their own role in this new Art: one with the vision for the space, others with equipment and energy, some who are very good at communications - all making art and nurturing community around their creative act.
The space is raw in FLUX - the gallery itself presents new challenges to the artwork that enters. There are two white walls, one exposed brick, and the the fourth side of the cube boasts a massive industrial plate-glass window who’s age and history shows through the scattered broken panes. Read More »
