public art - The Art of the Prank

December 24, 2010December 15, 2023

Top 9 Political Art Projects of 2010 from ArtThreat.net

9 amazing political art projects of 2010
by Michael Lithgow
ArtThreat.net
December 10, 2010

Nasty galleries, arrests, fast food, American imperialism, Olympic culture jamming, cyborgs and cute cartoons

The star of “˜engaged art” is on the rise. The number of artists creating, performing, and exploring in the world of social and political reality is mushrooming. Or maybe that”s the way it has always been, and new technologies are allowing us to do end-runs around gate-keeping curators and mainstream media. Either way, we are discovering whole worlds of politically engaged and celebrated artists that not so long ago would just as likely have been escorted from the hallowed houses of high art for disturbing the peace.

Call it what you will “” engaged art, social practice, avant-garde, dialogical aesthetics, community art, public art, activist art, radical art “” audiences for the confounding, beautiful, horrible and hilarious kinds of symbolic dissidence these practices describe are growing. When Art Threat started three years ago there was only a few websites like us. Now there are dozens. This is a very good thing.

A top 10 (or 9) list is a necessarily troubled compromise made up as it is by hierarchy and exclusion. On the up side it”s like a map “” something to help navigate an increasingly complicated and at times overwhelming volume of cultural choices. So here”s my map of people and organizations to watch for, some better known than others, but all involved in making art that gets under the skin and changes “” at least I hope it does “” in some undeniable way those who encounter it.

Read the rest of this article here.

December 4, 2009December 15, 2023

Putz or Schmuck?

Submitted by W.J. Elvin III: Sorry to see where the Washington Times is cutting 40 percent of staff, maybe Rev. Moon needs more imaginative promotion of his product:

Berlin’s History Res-Erected: Giant Penis Sparks Bizarre Media War
by Thomas Hüetlin
Spiegel Online International
December 3, 2009

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Four decades ago, the mass-circulation tabloid Bild did its best to squelch the 1968 student movement in Berlin. This year, the German capital has seen the conflict swell once again. And it has resulted in some rather stiff competition.

The shimmering, gold-colored high-rise building that publisher Axel Springer had built in the 1960s is just a stone’s throw from the offices of Berlin’s legendary left-wing Tageszeitung newspaper, more commonly known simply as the “Taz.” But for someone looking from the 17th floor of the Springer building, where the main editorial offices of the influential tabloid newspaper Bild are located, a few trees block the view of the gray building that houses the editorial offices of the Taz, a publication that appears to believe even today that it has the right to dictate what it means to be left-wing in Germany. Continue reading “Putz or Schmuck?”

August 21, 2009December 15, 2023

Artist Duke Riley & New York Museums Face-Off

In Queens, an Art Exhibition Gone Wild
By Libby Nelson
cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com
August 14, 2009

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Sated with free beer and wine, and plenty of it, the toga-wearing crowd flung microwaved tomatoes and morsels of baguette into the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park reflecting pool in Queens.

“Boats!” they yelled. “Boats! Boats! Boats!”

This was an art exhibition “” a phrase that perhaps conjures a more subdued event. But the art, “Those About to Die Salute You,” involved moving humans, boats on water and those tomatoes. It was the creation of Duke Riley, whose work skews aquatic, fluid and unpredictable: He once built a wooden submarine, floated it too close to the Queen Mary 2, and was arrested. Continue reading “Artist Duke Riley & New York Museums Face-Off”

July 6, 2009December 15, 2023

Antony Gormley”s One & Other

Submitted by W.J. Elvin III:

Watching each other… Live coverage starts Monday on Sky Arts

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From the Sky Arts Web site:

This summer, Antony Gormley”s One & Other takes over London”s Trafalgar Square in one of the biggest public art projects the country has seen. 2400 people will get their chance to make their mark in the glare of the public eye and our cameras. We will be streaming everyone”s hour of fame live on our dedicated One & Other website.

Even the most dedicated would struggle to see every bit of this round the clock, 100 day -project, so to make sure you don”t miss out on the best bits, we”re bringing you a live show from Trafalgar Square every Friday at 7pm. Here”s what”s coming up in the forthcoming shows:

The launch
8:15am, 6 July on Sky Arts 1 / HD

Highlights of the first week
7pm, 10 July on Sky Arts 1 / HD

Tune in for the weekly highlights show with the best plinthers and interviews at 7pm every Friday from 10 July on Sky Arts 1 / HD

New York Street Advertising Takeover

From ARTiFACT Marketing, April 26, 2009:

Something monumental happened this weekend in NYC. A group of people demanded their public space back and they did it with remarkable artistic success. Pissed off and turned off by the force fed obtrusive nature of advertisements in the neighborhood, a group organized by Jordan Seiler took over 120 billboards. The program aptly named “New York Street Advertising Takeover” was 4 months of coordination. All the billboards were white washed by dozens of volunteers wearing orange vests on Saturday the 25th.

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Followed by 40-80 artists (who will be named later…hard to tell who all was involved at this point) who transformed the once ad space into pieces of extraordinary art.

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Continue reading “New York Street Advertising Takeover”