Monthly Archives for March 2009

CELEBRATION, profiled by Ian Svenonius (Arthur, 2007)

cover photography by Stacy Kranitz; cover design by Molly Frances & Mark Frohman

With all the hubbub around Celebration this week (see their exciting new future-vision here; check out the crystal-manifesting video for “Evergreen” here), we thought it’d be a good time to re-post frequent Arthur contributor Ian Svenonius’s cover feature profile/interview of the band published in Arthur No. 27 in late 2007. You know, we thought we’d posted it online already but boy were we wrong. Today, we make amends.

ians

Sidenote: the ever brilliant Svenonius, pictured above and on track for a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in 2011, has a new rock n roll band—Chain and the Gang— and a new record, Down With Liberty … Up With Chains, out this spring. He’ll be co-headlining a two-month tour with the sainted Calvin Johnson and the Hive Dwellers band starting April 8. Details on all of this activity at the Chain and the Gang’s myface page.

Okay, here’s the story after the jump…

Not All Humans Are Bad
Field notes on the rock ‘n’ roll band Celebration by Ian Svenonius
Photography by Stacy Kranitz

Continue reading →

April 4th – Wild Garden – Group art show opening in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Let us consider the man who fried roses for his dinner, whose kitchen smelled like a burning rose garden; or the man who disguised himself as a moth and ate his overcoat, and for dessert served himself a chilled fedora… – Russell Edson

Wild Garden is a self-organized event held in celebration of spring’s arrival. Over 27 artists of diverse backgrounds will be involved, together creating a space to channel the frenetic energy of the season…

Special guest DJ Bad Wolf Farkas, with visuals by Dani Quilez

Date & Time: Opening Saturday, April 4th, 8pm – onwards
(Also on view April 5th, Noon – 11pm, Closing April 6th, 7 – 10pm)
Location: 184 West St. #2 / Brooklyn, NY 11222 (Here’s a map.)
Price: F-r-e-e entry, with recession-priced drinks, hand-crafted merchandise and a medley of snacks

LOOKING for a MIAMI family who wants to start a SALON at home…

(Above: Sundown Salon #11, A hand-made garment/knitting/crochet gathering)

For almost six years, Fritz Haeg hosted a series of self-organized gatherings called Sundown Salon in his Los Angeles home, which features a geodesic dome, grounds with many garden spaces, and a subterranean cave. Past events  included everything from crafting circles, gardening and cooking workshops, to live music and “pageantry, performances, shows, stunts and spectacles.” According to Haeg, “The salons provided an alternative model to the isolated solitary creator in the pure hermetic white box. Instead, the salon celebrated the truly engaged human, responding to their time, environment, community, friends, neighbors, weather, history, place.”

In 2006, he branched out to hosting these events in other like-minded venues around the world through his new project Sundown Schoolhouse [including an all-day indoor tent/workshop at Arthur Nights in October, 2006 —ed.]. He is now working with the Miami MOCA to find a household that would be equally excited host gatherings in their home as part of an exhibit, thereby helping to develop the project on a broader scale. If you live in the Miami area, this is your chance to become a part of the movement. Read on:

OPEN CALL: LOOKING FOR AN ADVENTUROUS MIAMI FAMILY EAGER TO START A SERIES OF SALON GATHERINGS AT THEIR HOME

For a project at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), North Miami, I am seeking the collaboration of an adventurous local family. They will organize and host a regular series of salon gatherings at their home during the run of the exhibition from May 21 – September 13, 2009. I will work with the family to strategize their new salon series, but the events will be entirely self-organized with guests of their choosing.
Continue reading →

Today's Autonomedia Jubilee Saint – EMMANUEL SWEDENBORG

mar29th_swed

MARCH 29 — EMMANUEL SWEDENBORG
Swedish religious mystic, inspirer of utopianists worldwide.

March 29 Holidays/Festivals:
“BORROWED DAYS” begin. In calendar lore March is said to have stolen its last three days from April.
FESTIVAL OF SMOKE AND MIRRORS.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:
1772 — Swedish mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg dies, London, England.
1790 — Marquis de Sade freed by “demand of the people,” France.
1957 — British novelist Joyce Cary dies, Oxford, England.
1982 — Modernist composer Carl Orff dies, Munich, Germany.

All info courtesy The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective

Today's Autonomedia Jubilee Saint — JOHN BERESFORD

mar28th_bresford

MARCH 28 — JOHN BERESFORD
Canadian-based psychedelics researcher, drug-law reformer.

March 28 holidays:
EARTH HOUR: Turn off your lights.
STANK DANCING DAY.

Also on this date:
1515 — St. Theresa of Ávila born, Ávila, Spain.
1881 — Barnum and Bailey’s Circus formed.
1924 — Canadian based psychedelics researcher John Beresford born, England.
1939 — Spanish fascists under Generalissimo Francisco Franco take Madrid.
1941 — Virginia Woolf commits suicide, walking into the River Ouse.
1979 — Three Mile Island nuclear “accident,” near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
1985 — Russian born muralist Marc Chagall dies, Saint Paul de Vence, France.

All info courtesy The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective

Announcement: March 28, Earth: RECLAIM THE STARS

Last May, Arthur published the Endarkenment Manifesto, Peter Lamborn Wilson’s “half-serious proposal for a political movement to uphold and propagate the ideals of Green Hermeticism.” So naturally we’re pleased to hear of the WWF’s new Earth Hour campaign…

World Wildlife Fund is asking individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour – March 28, 2009, 8:30 pm local time—to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.

Lights out means a lot less light pollution, which means many of us will get to experience real darkness, and see the stars, for the first time in ages from our own homes. In other words, we’ll get to experience the night as it has been routinely experienced by homo sapiens for 99 percent of the time that they’ve been roaming the planet. Should be a real (cosmic) eye opener: the heavens, unveiled.

Continuing on the theme: how ’bout, say, a day without driving?

Reclaim the stars, reclaim the streets…

GAME OVER CONTINUE? – Giant Robot SF, Friday Mar. 27

hellvin01

There’s an art opening at Giant Robot SF (618 Shrader Street) tonite from 6:30 – 10pm.  Video game inspired artwork by APAK, Matt Furie, Jeremyville, Kaz Strzepek, Albert Reyes and dozens more.  The show runs through April 15th.  And coolest of all, in store playable video games by ARTXGAME Collective.  The following artists collaborated to make four unique video games incorporating comic style artwork:

Hellen Jo and Derek Yu (pictured above)
Saelee Oh and Anna Anthropy
Souther Salazar and Petri Purho
Deth P. Sun and Jonatan “Cactus” Soderstrom

(via Hellen Jo)

March 28: A Day of Peace, Love, and Chaos

skateblastazpx091

For the past three years I’ve been blessed to travel to the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona to partake in an inspiring and heartfelt expression of skateboard/punk/diy love. The event is the Apache Skate Blast, organized by artist and father Doug Miles, and centers around a skate contest and concert that takes place on family land in the heart of the Reservation.

This year marks the fourth anniversary of the Skate Blast, and as Doug says, “This is going to be special… # “4” is a very sacred number to Apaches.” If you are anywhere near Arizona (or not, people come from across the country) I strongly suggest you come out for the day and see what it’s all about. A lot of young skaters coming up, good music (JFA has headlined every year), and immersion in a community that just keeps getting stronger and stronger. It’s truly a beautiful thing.

You can see more flyers and get info at myspace.com/apacheskateblast

See you there, warriors