MAeX Art Blog

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Miami Art Machine?

You must read this entire article. While locally it's not news but, I think it has been explained more robustly here. As long as I'm living in Miami (area) I have a vested interest in what's going on here. This is certainly on the upper end of any existing list(s) floating about town.

Craig Robins with some of his art: Thomas Scheibitz's Eingang and Deborah Thomas chandelier.  

(Photo: Iran Issa Kahn)

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Interview: How Cellphones Change the Way People (students) Learn

Interview: How Cellphones Change the Way People Learn:

"Rich Ling argues that cellphones strengthen ties with users’ close friends and family, but might also narrow people’s understanding of the world by limiting interactions with strangers. Mr. Ling is an adjunct research scientist at the University of Michigan and a research scientist for Telenor, a Norwegian telecommunications company. He’s author of a new book, New Tech, New Ties: How Mobile Communication Is Reshaping Social Cohesion (MIT Press, 2008).

Q. How are cellphones reshaping social connections?

A. If you think about social networks, there can be strong ties and there can be weak ties. The mobile phone is really an instrument for the intimate sphere — your closest family and your closest friends. But weak ties are also extremely important because that’s where you get information about important things. If you only spoke with your strong ties, you just hear the same things being echoed back and forth.

Q. What does that mean for a college setting?

A. It raises questions about emancipation. I grew up in Colorado and went to college in Boulder. It wasn’t that far away from home, but I hardly ever called home. I would come home every other weekend just to do my laundry or something like that. It was only like an hour’s drive. But I understand that college students now call their parents quite often, several times a day. So how is the child’s emancipation from their parents going? Are they establishing themselves as independent individuals that are ready to go out into the world on their own?

Q. Does text messaging have a different impact?

A. It’s sort of under the radar. Quite often when I’m lecturing, halfway through the class I’ll say, ‘How many of you guys have gotten a text message since you’ve been here?’ And a third of the class or something raises their hand. It’s kind of interesting that their social world is going on in the background while they’re more or less paying attention to the lecture.

Q. More or less?

A. Yeah, hopefully more. They kind of sort of zone in and out. And that’s sort of an interesting aspect of it. It’s not very interruptive; it goes on in the background.

Q. Can that be disruptive though?

A: There are all kinds of awkward social dynamics associated with having to deal with the mobile phone."—Jeffrey R. Young

(Via The Chronicle: Wired Campus Blog.)

In my classes students mostly have their phones off and very little disruption takes place. That's because it's a studio/ lab and students can go outside to talk on the phone. We have, at various times, talked about the phone's influence but, I think it's only one of many things that allow the student to be unengaged with the learning process unless, of course, that student is really interested in learning. Just that fact reduces the number of serious students dramatically compared with those who are just floating by.

Free of Charges at Last!

Steven Kurtz Cleared of Charges

04.21.08 - The Associated Press reports that a judge has dismissed charges against Steven Kurtz, a college professor accused of illegally obtaining biological materials for an art exhibit protesting US government food policies. District Judge Richard Arcara ruled that a mail and wire fraud indictment brought nearly four years ago against the University at Buffalo professor, was "insufficient on its face." Kurtz is a founding member of the Critical Art Ensemble, which has used human DNA and other biological materials in works meant to draw attention to political and social issues. His arrest drew international attention, with artists in several countries protesting the charges as an intrusion on artistic freedom. He became the target of a federal terrorism investigation in May 2004 when firefighters found the materials — two kinds of bacteria — and equipment they deemed suspicious after a 911 call to his home. Kurtz had called to report that his wife was dead from an apparent heart attack. Investigators later determined that the lab equipment used for DNA extraction and amplification equipment was part of his artwork and that Hope Kurtz died naturally. But Kurtz was indicted a month later on mail and wire fraud charges that carried a maximum of twenty years in prison.

Kurtz was accused of plotting with Robert Ferrell, the former chairman of the University of Pittsburgh's human genetics department, to improperly obtain potentially harmful organisms. Prosecutors said Ferrell used his university account to order bacteria for Kurtz from a supply lab that does not do business with individuals. In February, Ferrell was fined $500 but escaped a prison sentence after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of mailing an injurious article to Kurtz. Under sentencing guidelines, he could have received up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine if convicted.

This had been going on for years now. And, what a cost to friends and family. Steve Kurtz is a person I respect and, this decision is great news! I tried to work with him one semester during grad school however, I ended up working with Doug Ashford based on the limited number of students each of them had to work with.

On the Lam: Revisiting MAM's tribute to the Cuban master

On the Lam: Revisiting MAM's tribute to the Cuban master:

"With his engrossing Flor luna (Moonflower), artist Wifredo Lam delivers the portrait of a woman with generous breasts, thorns in her hair (or is it a mane?), a Bogeyman face and a horse-like mouth rendered the more grotesque by what appears to be an engorged fang."

Scholars to discuss Lam influence:

"The Miami Art Museum will host a symposium on Cuban artist Wifredo Lam and his contributions to modern and contemporary art on May 17."

(Via MiamiHerald.com: Visual Arts.)

American sculptor Alexander Calder embraces Wifredo Lam in 1965 Sache, France.

Moving

Yesterday was spent removing my final belongings from my residence and into my new residence. Afterward, just before filing taxes I redid them only to find out something was incorrect and I didn't owe a ton of money. Then a project deadline stared me down that needed completion. And before the day ended was hunting down documents from two different computers, several flash drives, two external hdd's and, CD's. I eventually found what I was looking for by 10:30 pm. Then I had to drive home, unload my car with some new needed items: towels and sheets. Sounds like fun doesn't it?

Arts center check isn't in the mail

Arts Center vs. stadium? C'mon. Stop jerking around with public funds.

Arts center check isn't in the mail:

"Miami and Miami-Dade County's mega-deal of major projects hit another snag this week: a $5.3 million check toward performing arts center debt, due to the county March 31, remained in city hands April 1."

(Via Miami Today News.)

Meet & Greet plus a demo

Today was marked with a full day's efforts working on several web projects. Both of them had me searching through code looking for errors. One was eventally found to not be an error but something very simple that I overlooked. The others still have me stumped. I've determined a long while back that I would only ask my friend, who can write code in his sleep, for help right before I actually bang my head against a wall in frustration.

Even though I haven't solved my issues, it's time to move on for now. I have student work to finish grading and, another web site to update.

Thursday evening Miami Art Exchange and friends will gather in Fort Lauderdale to meet and greet after work to find out about being part of a new Print Collection and, for two kewl demos, one by Epson printers and, one by PhaseOne cameras. The event is planned as a demonstration of the capabilities of current gicleé technology and, one attending artist will have his or her work reproduced for review at the end of the evening.

Working in conjunction with South Florida Artist Entreprenurs Group and Miami Art Exchange Newsletter, a number of artists from both Miami-Dade and Broward Counties have been invited. The goal of South Florida Artist Entreprenurs Group is to provide artists with the tools, technology, and knowledge to become successful.

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Location: Creative Response Group offices
1815 Cordova Rd. #203
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
954-462-8600
954-270-7404

RSVP here or, by phone.

Arts, Briefly: Is Photo Old or Oldest?

Photography is still is transition even though it seems to have settled a bit. As we learn more about this new camera tool and how we can harness light through it, we should come up with even more than we thought we knew. Look at some of these archival proccesses and you'll find how we are constantly seeking, exploring the world we live in.

Arts, Briefly: Is Photo Old or Oldest?:

"Sotheby’s said on Wednesday that it would postpone the sale of an early photographic print known as a photogenic drawing because some scholars now believe that the print — an image of a leaf — may have been produced much earlier than previously thought, making it the earliest existing photographic image. For many years the image was attributed to William Henry Fox Talbot, one of the fathers of photography, and was thought to have been made in 1839. But Larry J. Schaaf, an expert on Talbot’s work, questioned that attribution in an essay in the catalog for the photography auction, which will still be held on Monday but without the leaf image, above. Mr. Schaaf wrote that there is evidence to suggest that the work titled ‘Leaf’ — made by placing a leaf on photosensitive paper exposed to light — could have been created by the early photographic experimenters Thomas Wedgwood, James Watt or Humphry Davy. They are known to have produced photogenic drawings, also called photograms, as early as the 1790s, though no examples have ever been found. Denise Bethel, director of Sotheby’s photograph department, said the auction house and the image’s owner, an investment firm called the Quillan Company, had decided to postpone the sale of the print indefinitely until more research could be done."

(Via NYT > Arts.)

'Pivot Points' at MOCA

Oh gawd, I remember some of the first items I saw in MoCA's collection. Some were very nice, others... well, let's say that was in the past. Since Bonnie Clearwater has taken on the curatorial role the collection has become one of the better ones in Florida as a whole. Some pieces are, obviously without equal.

Art Pick | 'Pivot Points' at MOCA:

"Launched in 1995, the permanent collection of works by international contemporary artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami focuses on art thats connected by concepts and methodology. The pieces mark important moments in the development of an artists career, and were turning points as well in the recent history of contemporary art. Starting this week, the museum is exhibiting its collection in two shows Pivot Points I: Defining MOCAs Collection and Part II / New Mythologies."

(Via MiamiHerald.com: Visual Arts.)

I was not able to attend the opening because I had to meet with a client late in the afternoon and then, needed to work on some documentation but, I will make it to this exhibition for sure.

If you have not done so please, start viewing our new blog over at www.miamiartexchange.com. Also check out the South Florida Artist Entrepreneurs blog while you're there.