Blogs Centerpoints

20 x 20: Solutions TC launches this Wednesday

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Solutions Twin Cities launches this Wednesday, with an evening filled with what Worldchanging‘s Eric Larson calls “no guff, no fluff” presentations that “showcase, connect, and inspire future-positive creativity” (as the poster at right says). The May 2 event will feature a series of rapid-fire presentations on themes from “solar powered clean water for slums, new [...]

v1poster.jpgSolutions Twin Cities launches this Wednesday, with an evening filled with what Worldchanging‘s Eric Larson calls “no guff, no fluff” presentations that “showcase, connect, and inspire future-positive creativity” (as the poster at right says). The May 2 event will feature a series of rapid-fire presentations on themes from “solar powered clean water for slums, new designs for money, the first urban flower coop, the pre-fab weeHouse, a mobile movie theater for refugees and even blooming roofs.”

Here’s how Larson described the event:

Solutions is an event modeled after Pecha Kucha (which means “ the sound of conversation” in Japanese) a design event “ in which creative work can be easily and informally shown, without having to rent a gallery or chat up a magazine editor.” The format is simple: Find people with the best and brightest design ideas. Put them in front of a live audience. Allow them to present twenty images for twenty seconds each (that’s six minutes and forty seconds per presentation). No guff, no fluff, just the essence of the ideas. To say Pecha Kucha has caught on is an understatement. The event, started in 2003 by two English architects living in Japan, now has manifestations in nearly fifty cities around the globe.

Using the same 20/20 format, Solutions, will expand the focus to include any person or organization with “ future positive” ideas. The first event, billed as “ Solutions Volume I” will be held at the Southern Theater on Wednesday, May 2nd from 8-10pm, has already garnered an impressive list of presenters or “ solutionists,” including local/international magazine NEED, Alchemy Architects, Architecture for Humanity, Studio 4284 at the U of M, Dual Currency Systems, Roof Bloom, Urban Earth Flower and Garden Co-op, Give Us Wings, and mnartists.org.

The 70th Anniversary of “Shock & Awe”

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Seventy years ago today, planes from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy made one of history’s more infamous bombing runs — and its first test of the military strategy now known as “shock and awe.” In wave after wave, their low-flying fighters — acting in service of Fascist Gen. Francisco Franco — dropped a cumulative 30 [...]

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Seventy years ago today, planes from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy made one of history’s more infamous bombing runs — and its first test of the military strategy now known as “shock and awe.” In wave after wave, their low-flying fighters — acting in service of Fascist Gen. Francisco Franco — dropped a cumulative 30 tons of munitions, strafing civilians with machine guns, and setting fire to what remained. By the end of the day, some 2,500 people were dead or injured and three-quarters of the town’s buildings were destroyed, according to the Basque government.

“Guernica, city with 5,000 residents,” wrote the commander of Germany’s Condor Legion in his journal, “has been literally razed to the ground. Bomb craters can be seen in the streets. Simply wonderful.”

The attack, of course, inspired one of Pablo Picasso‘s most celebrated and grisly works, a painting, named after the town, that appeared in the Spanish pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris. As he worked on the 25-foot mural, he reportedly said, “In the panel on which I am working, which I shall call Guernica, and in all my recent works of art, I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death.”

But beyond inspiring one of the world’s most famous pieces of art, the bombing of Guernica sparked a new focus on peace in the town. The Gernika Peace Museum, which was created in part to investigate and present the truth of the attacks (they were first attributed by German soldiers to “the Reds”), is now seen as an international leader in conflict resolution and peace studies. Its mission is to remind and inform visitors about the raid 70 years ago, but also to inspire them to reflect on the nature of peace in the world and our struggles with it today.

“I think Guernica is a good example of not forgetting and trying to go further,” said Iratxe Astorkia, the museum’s director.

Today’s anniversary has renewed calls — so far refused — for Picasso’s Guernica to make its first showing in the town that shares its name.

The 70th Anniversary of “Shock & Awe”

By

Seventy years ago today, planes from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy made one of history’s more infamous bombing runs — and its first test of the military strategy now known as “shock and awe.” In wave after wave, their low-flying fighters — acting in service of Fascist Gen. Francisco Franco — dropped a cumulative 30 [...]

guernica460.jpg

Seventy years ago today, planes from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy made one of history’s more infamous bombing runs — and its first test of the military strategy now known as “shock and awe.” In wave after wave, their low-flying fighters — acting in service of Fascist Gen. Francisco Franco — dropped a cumulative 30 tons of munitions, strafing civilians with machine guns, and setting fire to what remained. By the end of the day, some 2,500 people were dead or injured and three-quarters of the town’s buildings were destroyed, according to the Basque government.

“Guernica, city with 5,000 residents,” wrote the commander of Germany’s Condor Legion in his journal, “has been literally razed to the ground. Bomb craters can be seen in the streets. Simply wonderful.”

The attack, of course, inspired one of Pablo Picasso‘s most celebrated and grisly works, a painting, named after the town, that appeared in the Spanish pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris. As he worked on the 25-foot mural, he reportedly said, “In the panel on which I am working, which I shall call Guernica, and in all my recent works of art, I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death.”

But beyond inspiring one of the world’s most famous pieces of art, the bombing of Guernica sparked a new focus on peace in the town. The Gernika Peace Museum, which was created in part to investigate and present the truth of the attacks (they were first attributed by German soldiers to “the Reds”), is now seen as an international leader in conflict resolution and peace studies. Its mission is to remind and inform visitors about the raid 70 years ago, but also to inspire them to reflect on the nature of peace in the world and our struggles with it today.

“I think Guernica is a good example of not forgetting and trying to go further,” said Iratxe Astorkia, the museum’s director.

Today’s anniversary has renewed calls — so far refused — for Picasso’s Guernica to make its first showing in the town that shares its name.

David Choe’s Facebook murals

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David Choe, who’ll be here May 24 for a free artist talk, just finished painting the offices at Facebook.com, and Wooster Collective has the link to the shots. Update: Feb. 2, 2012: With Facebook announcing its initial public offering, Choe’s murals at the company’s first offices — which he created in trade for Facebook stock [...]

Centerpoints 6.0

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Walker is Twin Cities best: The Walker’s exhibition Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love was named “Best Museum Exhibit” by City Pages in their Best of the Twin Cities issue: “[T]he artist’s slant on racism, sexism, and violence has a relevance that carries over to contemporary experience, such as, say, post-Katrina [...]

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Walker is Twin Cities best: The Walker’s exhibition Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love was named “Best Museum Exhibit” by City Pages in their Best of the Twin Cities issue: “[T]he artist’s slant on racism, sexism, and violence has a relevance that carries over to contemporary experience, such as, say, post-Katrina New Orleans… [T]o say that Walker’s work straddles the line between historical fact and fiction is to miss the point. Walker uses historical narrative as a point of departure into a disturbing world that knows no comforting truth.” The exhibition closes May 13, before setting off on an international tour to ARC/Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris (June 20–September 9), the Whitney (October 11, 2007–February 3, 2008), and the UCLA Hammer Museum (February 7–May 11).

Thumbs up for Ebert: When Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival opens in Champaign, IL, tonight, the famed critic will be there, despite the suggestion from friends that he not go. Ebert is undergoing a series of surgeries related to cancer of the salivary gland that spread to his jaw. Part of his mandible has been removed, he’s had a tracheostomy and can’t yet speak. He quotes Raging Bull to describe his appearance: “I ain’t a pretty boy no more.” But he’s not going to hide in fear of ending up on a tabloid front cover. “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” he wrote. “I have been very sick, am getting better and this is how it looks… We spend too much time hiding illness.” Update: Ebert appeared, and through his wife Chaz, relayed one line, copped from his screenplay for Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls: “It’s my happening, and it freaks me out!”

Museumcasts: MuseRadio, by the Bronx Museum’s teen art council, took top honors in MuseumPods’ top 10 podcasts list for museums and cultural institutions. The Walker’s Art on Call downloadable artist interviews ranked third.

Venice 07: Venice Biennale director Robert Storr talks with Time’s Richard Lacayo about the upcoming edition and what makes it different: “The underlying premise of the show is that there has been a division between the conceptual and the perceptual, between the ‘criticality’ crowd and the beauty crowd. The argument of the show is that first rate work is always both conceptual and perceptual and the artists making art are far less concerned with these divisions than people who write about them.” [Via MAN.]

Helvetica: The Second Coming

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Our first screening of the documentary Helvetica is almost sold out, so we added a second, and it’s selling out quickly: May 31 at 9:30 pm. (A few tickets remain to the 7 pm screening, which is followed by a Q&A with director Gary Hustwit.)

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Our first screening of the documentary Helvetica is almost sold out, so we added a second, and it’s selling out quickly: May 31 at 9:30 pm. (A few tickets remain to the 7 pm screening, which is followed by a Q&A with director Gary Hustwit.)

Pogoshovels and Victory Gardens

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The rhetoric of war loses meaning when the enemy’s “last throes” are announced years before actual victory, and when the citizen “war effort” involves a presidential plea for more shopping. So it’s refreshing to see artists picking up the shells of apparently discarded terminology and refilling them. Case in point, Amy Franceschini’s efforts to revive [...]

The rhetoric of war loses meaning when the enemy’s “last throes” are announced years before actual victory, and when the citizen “war effort” involves a presidential plea for more shopping.

So it’s refreshing to see artists picking up the shells of apparently discarded terminology and refilling them. Case in point, Amy Franceschini’s efforts to revive Victory Gardens, the citizen-maintained gardens of World War I and II that grew some eight billion pounds of food nationwide. On our last day in San Francisco this week, we dropped by Gallery 16 to see a show by Franceschini, a nice counterpoint to her work on view in SFMOMA’s current 2006 SECA Art Award show.

A founding member of Free Soil and Future Farmers (she also contributed interviews to the book Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook and collaborated on the follow-the-money website They Rule), Franceschini’s work melds activism, graphic design and community organizing. And gardening. For her Victory Gardens 2007 project, she created a system for San Franciscans to seed their own gardens in backyards, rooftops, and vacant lots through the help of seed banks, training, materials, and the ancillary publicity her art can bring. (Her pogo shovel, a Duchamp-meets-Beuys symbol of the fun of gardening, could be seen as emblematic of the project’s goal of connecting pragmatism and play.)

Like Beuys or Tiravanija, Franceschini’s work is environmental but also inherently process-based, a fact former (and future?) Green Party mayoral candidate Matt Gonzalez picked up on in a San Francisco Chronicle article (he helped Franceschini get the project off the ground). “Art is not all oil and canvas; it can be about the transformation of an idea,” he said. “An artistic idea, which is like a political act, is now re-characterized as art.”

Her G16 show features used (and restitched) gloves in pristine museum frames, seed bag labels, and a system the artist and Michael Swaine devised to recycle gray water and harvest rainwater for agricultural use (left). Her section of the SFMOMA show included the Bikebarrow, a flat-green bicycle fused with a wheelbarrow front, allegedly to be ridden by “secret gardeners.”

The Victory Garden project has signed up gardeners at plots located in each of San Francisco’s three microclimates (sun belt, fog belt, transition belt). Each garden team leader received a starter kit (delivered by a VG2007 tricycle), plus a lesson and follow-up instruction on harvesting and seed-saving. Three gardens is a great start, but well short of San Francisco’s World War II Victory Garden production, when 200 gardens were maintained in Golden Gate Park alone.

But as VG2007 web site states, victory isn’t about total domination but about connecting communities to each other and to their natural surroundings. It also defines “victory” in terms of “independence from corporate food systems,” a definition of freedom presumably at odds with the one used by those prosecuting the war in Iraq.

Centerpoints 5.9

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Free Thai Cinema: Award-winning director Apitchatpong Weerasethakul (Tropical Malady) has shown his films all over the world, including here in Minneapolis for a 2004 retrospective, but with his latest, he can’t get a showing in his home country. The Thai director submitted Syndromes and a Century (Sang Satawat) to Thailand’s Censorship Board, and was told [...]

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Free Thai Cinema: Award-winning director Apitchatpong Weerasethakul (Tropical Malady) has shown his films all over the world, including here in Minneapolis for a 2004 retrospective, but with his latest, he can’t get a showing in his home country. The Thai director submitted Syndromes and a Century (Sang Satawat) to Thailand’s Censorship Board, and was told four cuts had to be made for the film to be released commercially. Saying he treats his “works as my own sons or my daughters,” Weerasethakul refused to make the cuts. Now the Thai government says they’ll hold onto his film print until the four prescribed deletions are made. Thai artists have begun an online petition — already signed by more than 4,000 people — urging the government to return the film print, but also seeking “a long-needed modernization of Thai legislation concerning movie censorship,” which is based on a law from 1930. Sign the petition here.

Skate Museum: Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore, I Heart Huckabees, Marie Antoinette) recently released his solo album under the name Coconut Records. The first video from the album is a mix of footage from December of 1998 of skate legend Mark Gonzales performing/skateboarding in the Stadtisches Museum in Monchengladbach, Germany. The original footage was shot by filmmaker/photographer Cheryl Dunn for a film called Backworlds for Words. [Submitted by Witt.]

Travels with Chuck: Minnesota Monthly profiles Heather Scanlan of the Walker’s registration department, as she accompanies Chuck Close’s massive painting Big Self Portrait (1968) as it goes out on loan to Madrid’s Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofa for the show Chuck Close: Pinturas 1968–2006. From Minneapolis to Chicago to Paris, Bilbao, and Madrid, she plays bodyguard to the nine-foot Close as it’s transfered from truck to cargo plane to truck and, finally, a new–albeit temporary–home.

GOOD Videos: Good Magazine features a new video interview with artist/activist Natalie Jeremijenko. And Tate Shots runs a vodcast with sculptor Dan Graham, who says 19th-century painter John Martin could’ve been a science-fiction painter.

“Public or Perish”: Brewster Kahle at MW2007

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What would it take to create a free online library of all human knowledge? Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, addressed the question at Museums & the Web yesterday. A “library of everything” — which he likens to a “Library of Alexandria, version two” — is within our grasp he says, but it’ll take [...]

laptop.jpgWhat would it take to create a free online library of all human knowledge? Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, addressed the question at Museums & the Web yesterday. A “library of everything” — which he likens to a “Library of Alexandria, version two” — is within our grasp he says, but it’ll take time, money, and, most important of all, political will to digitize cultural content and make it accessible to all.

Best known for its Wayback Machine, a collection of snapshots of web sites from the last decade, the San Francisco-based Internet Archive was founded in 1996 and has been digitizing material ever since. In that time, Kahle’s come up with some pretty good guesses how much it’d cost to put various types of information online.

In all cases — books, videos, audio recordings, and software — the problem isn’t the cost of storage or digitizing, it’s getting rights from authors or the corporate copyright holders. For instance, to store the entire 28 million volume Library of Congress, it would take about 100 terrabytes of storage space, at a cost of around $150,000. Likewise, to scan and digitize a book would cost around $30 apiece. But legal fees to get a narrow three-year exemption to copyright laws so the Archive could preserve computer software cost $30,000 in legal fees alone.

Books: For starters, Kahle said it would only cost around $150,000 to store digitized versions of the U.S. Library of Congress’s 28 million books (he said it’d take around 100 terrabytes of storage space). But the problem is how to affordably scan such books — or the remaining 70-odd million titles in the world. Kahle bought 100,000 books and shipped them to India to be scanned and shipped back to the US at around $10 apiece. If libraries could scan book pages here in the US, it’d be much cheaper — around a dime a page, using the Scribe, a book-scanning station Internet Archive devised.

He also spoke enthusiastically about accessibility projects, like the Archive’s digital bookmobile that allows individuals to print and bind titles from a list of a million digital books. The cost is a penny a page, or a dollar for a 100-page book. Compare that, Kahle said, to the costs of lending books, which Harvard study put at $3 per book. The Archive had bookmobiles in Uganda (“It was kind of cool to have kids making the first book they’ve ever owned”) and Egypt, near the site of the library of Alexandria.

Kahle showed off one of the first 300 $100 laptops created by MIT through the One Laptop Per Child project. The tiny computers have a swivel screen that turns a traditional laptop to a flat e-book reader, and has access to Archive’s book list.

Audio: As with books, storage of audio is relatively affordable, and the Internet Archive makes a pretty hard-to-refuse deal: they’ll host anyone’s audio online free, forever. Music tapers have jumped at that offer, and Kahle says his site offers free access to more than 36,000 live concerts, all posted with the permission of artists and “including everything the Grateful Dead has ever done.” In its ever-growing colleciton, the Internet Archive has 100,000 audio items online, from Mother Jones Radio to Berkeley Groks Science Radio, the Tse Chen Ling Buddhist Lectures to Free Speech Radio News’ broadcasts.

Moving Images, Software: There are probably as many as 200,000 large-scale movies (of Hollywood/Bollywood type) in the world. Only around 800 public-domain movies are online, plus around 55,000 other videos of user-generated content, political speeches, historic films like those in the Prelinger Archive, etc. Kahle said he’s suirpirsed at the popularity of two items: stop-action videos made using Lego figures, and “speed runs,” videogamers who record themselves playing games as fast as possible and documenting their process (Kahle said the IA server crashed this week because of the popularity of one such video).

The Internet Archive also collects software, retrieving old applications from floppy disks and other old media. With funding and storage space set up, the problem, again, has been rights. Thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Archive had to spend $30,000 in legal fees to get a three-year, “very narrow exemption” that would allow them to archive software. (He described the DMCA as “a sort of Soviet-era law. Everything’s illegal unless we tell you it’s OK.”)

As Kahle linked the discussion to the museum technologists in the room, he pointed out the problem with creating an online Library of Alexandria.

“The Library of Alexandria,” he said, “is best known for, er, burning.”

The lesson: “Don’t just have one copy.” He said the Internet Archive has multiple copies of everything, including a set that was gifted to the Library of Alexandria itself. In exchange, the library traded materials in Arabic.

As he closed, Kahle challenged museums and nonprofits to step up and be more active in the digitization and presentation of materials. If nonprofits don’t, corporations will govern the discussion, likely putting material behind paywalls or making it accessible only through their own proprietary websites.

He summed it up succinctly: “Public or perish.”

“ If we don’t take a strong role in building public services in the public sphere, I think we’ll have a diminishing role in the future except as a physical repository of artifacts,” he said.

Street-Level

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08nwTyfjCrw[/youtube] Very nice use of YouTube by the Nasher for its new show Street-Level: Mark Bradford, William Cordova, and Robin Rhode.

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