Category Archives for Uncategorized

Today's Autonomedia Jubilee Saint — CESAR CHAVEZ

cesarchaez
April 23 — Cesar Chavez
Hispanic American migrant farm worker organizer.

APRIL 23, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
*Old Swabia: St. George’s Day. Church bells ring all day long to ward off vampires.
*Corinth: “Green George,” man in a cage of branches, dumped into a stream to ensure good pasturage.
*Bulgaria: Ewes Day Milking is done through a round cake with a hole in the center.
*Turkey: Children’s Day: nationally elected students take over all levels of government.

ALSO ON APRIL 23 IN HISTORY…
1564 — Playwright William Shakespeare born, Stratford-on Avon, England.
1616 — Playwright William Shakespeare dies, Stratford-on Avon, England.
1616 — Novelist Miguel de Cervantes dies, Madrid, Spain.
1850 — Brit Romantic poet William Wordsworth dies, Lake District, England.
1892 — Dada poet Richard Huelsenbeck born, Frenkenau, Germany.
1899 — Vladimir Nabokov born, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1992 — Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker dies, Calcutta, India.
1993 — Hispanic American labor leader Cesar Chavez dies, San Luis, Arizona

Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective

April 25th – Reminder: Trinie Dalton's presentation of MIRROR/RROROH at The Observatory in Brooklyn, NY

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY3lcGx3Lz4&feature=player_embedded

Longtime Arthur contributor Trinie Dalton sez:

“I’m giving a little slide talk about the Mirror Horror section in MYTHTYM. Horror films, sexy ladies, mirrors in myth. Should go about 30 minutes, then a cup of wine and hello. Wine-soaked signing to follow event.”

MYTHTYM is a collection of zines that Trinie has produced through the years:

“…I deliberately include not only established artists and writers but also young people who are relatively unknown in their field. The idea of introducing and contextualizing artists by hanging their art on the same wall is a fundamental one in the art world. To me, my zines are literary/art/music history anthologies, following the group-show or salon style. They’re like parties on paper, and I want to be an exquisite host.”

Admission: Free.

When: Saturday, April 25th, 7pm

Where: Observatory (same building as Proteus Gowanus, Cabinet Magazine, &
Morbid Anatomy Library). 543 Union Street (at Nevins), Brooklyn, NY 11215

Subway: R/M to Union Street or F/G to Carroll St.

Directions: http://observatoryroom.org/directions/

Copies of MYTHTYM will be available for $25 cash.


Keeping Up with Chris Marker

still from Chris Marker’s Grin Without a Cat

Just a few years ago, it seemed like the only work by filmmaker, photographer and installation artist Chris Marker you could lay your hands on were VHS tapes of his seminal film La Jetee and, if you were lucky, his equally awesome film essay San Soleil and maybe his film-letter to the late Russian filmmaker Alexander Medvedkin, The Last Bolshevik. The two former films were issued a year or two ago by Criterion as single disc, and then, suddenly, a flood of Marker’s work was become available just as he approaches his 88th birthday. Just in the past few months, the Wexner Center has issued (if I’m counting right) five more DVDs of Marker’s films as well as a several books and a couple of T-shirts (check out the pro-Obama shirt) and a gaggle of other stuff. His CD-ROM for MacIntosh computers, Immemory, has recently been reissued by Exact Change for more recent operating systems. And then, there’s his YouTube channel, demonstrating precisely how economical and direct his work can be. It’s overwhelming. Mercifully, there is a blog dedicated to all things Marker to help you keep tabs on the onslaught of material available by one of the sharpest minds in modern imagery, including the news that on Saturday May 16th, Marker (who does not grant interviews and does not disseminate photographs of him self) will give a live tour via his avatar of his gallery on Second Life and answer questions from two curators from the Harvard Film Archive.

Cataloging and Catagorizing Genetic Modification: the Center for PostNatural History

atlanticsalmon Pittsburgh artist Rich Pell has recently launch a site for his long-running research on genetically-modified cultural organism-material under the banner heading of the Center for PostNatural History. The salmon pictured is typical of an little-known story embedded in our daily lives, a sterile genetic mutant farmed and industrially raised and eaten by many of us. Pell’s site explores the many ways genetic fuckery is scattered around and within us. Eye-popping and antena-stiffening stuff.

It’s well worth mentioning in this context that Pell is also the CEO of Specific Records, a vinyl-only label which has thus far produced exactly three utterly gorgeous object-documents of brainy musical underbelly-popcraft in editions of between 99 and 500 copies only that come highly recommended.

Today's Autonomedia Jubilee Saint — GUILLERMO CABRERA INFANTE


April 22 — Guillermo Cabrera Infante
Biting, innovative Cuban novelist, social critic.

APRIL 22, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
*Earth Day
*U.S.: Secretary Day
*Festival of Fabulous Androgynes

ALSO ON APRIL 22 IN HISTORY…
1526 — First New World slave revolt occurs, Haiti.
1724 — Philosopher Immanuel Kant born, Konigsberg, East Prussia.
1870 — Bolshevik Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin born, Simbirsk, Russia.
1893 — Italian-American anarchist Nicola Sacco born, Tarremaggiore, Italy.
1904 — Nuclear scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer born, New York City.
1922 — Jazz great Charles Mingus born, Nagales, Arizona.
1970 — First Earth Day environmental celebrations observed.
1995 — Gray Panthers founder Maggie Kuhn dies, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective

April 23, Listen to Rhys Chatham and Robert Longo on WNYC Radio

guitar_trio_with_longo_l
No doubt about it. At $40 a ticket, the “Downtown Comes Uptown: The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984” concert showcase at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York this Friday is a little more than most of our bank accounts can handle, even if seeing visual artist Robert Longo‘s “Sound Distance of a Good Man” multi-media piece (1978) and composer Rhys Chatham‘s “Guitar Trio” (1977) is not something that most fans of New York No Wave would want to miss. More than an epic evening of music and visuals, the event is a document of the artists’ storied collaboration, with Longo returning as one of the original guitarists in Chatham’s piece and resurrecting “Pictures for Music”, a slide projection he created for “Guitar Trio” in 1979.

Luckily, people interested in learning more about Longo and Chatham’s work together can do so for free, by listening to a live interview on John Schaefer’s “New Sounds” program on WNYC, this Thursday at 2:30 pm. Even better, people who tune in to the radio interview can get a $15 discount on tickets for the show, by mentioning that they heard Rhys and Robert on the radio when they reserve spots at the Met by phone, online, or at the box office. Students and artists who mention that they are one of these things when they order the tickets are also eligible for a $15 discount.

Rhys Chatham and Robert Longo radio interview
Thursday, April 23, 2:30 pm
FM 93.9, AM 820, or streamed from the WNYC website

Shawn Mortensen

ethiopia-with-teeth-front-final-ready

Above: “Shawn Mortensen visiting Ethiopia, feeding Hyenas, and living life.” (http://blog.fuct.com/?p=2241)

From Chris Mortensen:

“We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for our brother Shawn. We always knew he was a special human being and we loved him dearly. We now know the full impact he had on everyone he met. We are working hard to preserve his legacy and we his siblings, myself, Melissa, and Joe will be dedicated to continuing his humanitarian work. He loved you all, and you all loved him. Please check his website shawnmortensen.org on announcements regarding his celebration of life and other details of his funeral. There will be an open viewing Wednesday 4/22 at 1-8 PM at the McNearney Mortuary, 540 Fifth Street in San Pedro, California. Thank you all again for your love, warm wishes and prayers.”

M.I.A. shout-out to Shawn at close of “Paper Tigers” (around the 3:58 mark) at Coachella last wknd:

More on Shawn:

http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/04/17/rip-shawn-mortensen-1966-2009/