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In your article, Jen, you have surrendered to the wrong reality: "We already know that surveillance is disturbing for its two entwined failures: Its vision for us is violently reductive, More …

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

No More Affairs at the City

Posted by on Wed, May 22, 2013 at 8:41 AM

What was the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs has become Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. I might even argue to remove "Office of," too. Officiousness begone! (It is also possible that I have been driven to a mad desire for minimalism by lo those many years of Affairs. AbsurD with a capital D.)

A new logo comes with. It was designed by the Seattle crew Civilization, and it's this:

OAC_logo_med_blue_.jpg

Says the press release:
The new logo features the clean lines of "A & C" for Arts and Culture with an embossed "C" evoking forward movement. The logo is frequently presented at small dimensions on partner-produced collateral, so a mark that is easy to recognize at small scale was essential. Reducing the elements of the previous logo to the basic A & C makes the new logo simple, efficient and elevated.

Old logo:
color.jpg

There's a new tagline, too: "Making Art Work." There was no old tagline.

It's all part of there being a new sheriff in town: Randy Engstrom, who took over a few months ago and was recently formalized in the position of director of the Office (where there are no Affairs).

Says Fidelma McGinn, Seattle Arts Commission co-chair, this is "a new era for the arts office in our city. Seattleites can expect many exciting developments in the future."

A new logo does not exactly rise to the level of exciting development, but the new logo is certainly better than the old logo. As you were.

Ai Weiwei Has Made a Metalish Music Video About Prison

Posted by on Wed, May 22, 2013 at 7:23 AM

On the second anniversary of his time spent in prison, the Chinese artist parades around a foggy jail cell with two oversexed young guards, and even does a little drag.

Watch it here.

The subtle lyrics, which can be published by few news organizations, are:

Dumbass (Explicit)

When you're ready to strike, he mumbles about non-violence.
When you pinch his ear, he says it's no cure for diarrhea.
You say you're a mother-fucker, he claims he's invincible.
You say you're a mother-fucker, he claims he's invincible.
Fuck forgiveness, tolerance be damned, to hell with manners, the low-life's invincible.
Fuck forgiveness, tolerance be damned, to hell with manners, the low-life's invincible.
Oh dumbass, oh such dumbass! Oh dumbass, oh such dumbass!
Oh dumbass, oh such dumbass! Oh dumbass, oh such dumbass!
Lalalalala, lalalalala Lalalalala, lalalalala
Lalalalala, lalalalala Lalalalala, lalalalala

Stand on the frontline like a dumbass, in a country that puts out like a hooker.
The field's full of fuckers, dumbasses are everywhere.
The field's full of fuckers, dumbasses are everywhere.
Fuck forgiveness, tolerance be damned, to hell with manners, the low-life's invincible.
You say you're a mother-fucker, he claims he's invincible.
You say you're a mother-fucker, he claims he's invincible.
The field is full of fuckers, dumbasses are everywhere.
The field's full of fuckers, dumbasses are everywhere.

Twitter is already calling it the most dangerous music video ever made, and Ai the greatest punk dissident in history. And what do we think of Ai Weiwei's debut as a music video star?

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Currently Hanging: Warning Sign

Posted by on Tue, May 21, 2013 at 1:09 PM

BY LEMUEL CHARLEY At Wing Luke Museum.
  • BY LEMUEL CHARLEY At Wing Luke Museum.
This is Lemuel Charley's version of the yellow-and-black school-crossing sign you see on American streets, with little children holding the hand of an adult. Drivers are warned to be careful. Charley's warning Native Americans.

Charley, as you'll see in the video below, grew up on a Navajo reservation during a time of land disputes between the Hopi and the Navajo. He became an Army paratrooper and heavy equipment engineer serving in the first Gulf War, Bosnia, and Haiti. Now he's an artist.

Scroll to 1:20 to hear how Charley learned that a gun barrel gets hot:

Charley's road sign is part of Under My Skin: Artists Explore Race in the 21st Century at the Wing Luke Museum.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Is It Safe? Art That Profiles You

Posted by on Mon, May 20, 2013 at 11:36 AM

Sanctum is reading his soft biometrics right there.
  • Courtesy of Henry Art Gallery
  • Sanctum is reading his "soft biometrics" right there.

Before the Boston bombing—before surveillance first saved the day and then re-terrified us when a phone conversation between the bomber and his wife was revealed to have been recorded because every phone call period is being recorded by the government now—two technology artists at the University of Washington created an artwork that profiles people who walk by it 24 hours a day. The art piece, called Sanctum, is as innocent as warm pie compared to the National Security Agency. It opened May 4, projected on the facade of the Henry Art Gallery. The museum commissioned it; it will run for two and a half years. Before that, it spent two years in development, artists James Coupe and Juan Pampin not only building and programming its system, but consulting with lawyers and UW's Office of Risk Management to make sure Sanctum wasn't violating whatever remaining privacy we have in public places.

You activate Sanctum.

Keep reading >>

Friday, May 17, 2013

No Rain for You

Posted by on Fri, May 17, 2013 at 11:09 AM

In the new Rain Room installation at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, there's a room where a big pretend storm is dumping hundreds of gallons of water per minute. None of this water will fall on you as you walk through it because sensors detect human bodies and give each one a 5-foot berth. Unless, that is, you wear a raincoat:

In order for the technology to work most effectively, visitors are discouraged from wearing dark, shiny, reflective fabrics, fabrics made of raincoat material, or skinny high heels.

I don't think I'd be able to go in there without hoping for a malfunction.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

MIRROR's Other Face

Posted by on Thu, May 16, 2013 at 10:47 AM

Ginny Ruffners painted glass sculpture of a water cycle on display inside Traver Gallery, with the rainy bars of Doug Aitkens video installation MIRROR running on the northern facade of Seattle Art Museum across the street.
  • Ginny Ruffner's painted glass sculpture of a water cycle on display inside Traver Gallery, with the rainy bars of Doug Aitken's video installation MIRROR running on the northern facade of Seattle Art Museum across the street.

I've been vocally unmoved by Doug Aitken's big new video installation on the facade of Seattle Art Museum, called MIRROR.

But yesterday the rain was coming down outside, and I was visiting the new exhibition at Traver Gallery by Ginny Ruffner, the most exuberant and kindly artist who ever graced the grounds of this rainy city, and what you see above appeared before my eyes, and I was glad. I had forgotten that MIRROR is not limited to its more narrative/decorative/flashy displays on the western facade of SAM—it also turns the corner and extends into these skinny little rain bars best seen up inside Traver Gallery. It was a good moment.

Bea Arthur Nude

Posted by on Thu, May 16, 2013 at 10:04 AM

All I can say is that Bea Arthur deserved better.

(h/t Todd)

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

We Do Not Trust Photos Anymore

Posted by on Tue, May 14, 2013 at 4:13 PM

Nina Frazier at Mashable says that a controversy erupted over the Photo of the Year winner from the World Press Photo Foundation:

World Press Photo submitted the files for forensic review following controversy that spiraled from a blog post by image analyst Neal Krawetz, who alleged that the photo was actually a composite of three separate images. The story was later picked up by tech blog ExtremeTech.

However, after carrying out its own investigation, World Press Photo said Krawetz's analysis is "deeply flawed."

"It is clear that the published photo was retouched with respect to both global and local color and tone. Beyond this, however, we find no evidence of significant photo manipulation or compositing," two photo experts said in a World Press Photo statement released Tuesday.

Experts said that no pixel in the image, which is really quite striking, was moved out of place, though the image did go through considerable lightening and darkening. It's getting easier and easier to manipulate photographs, and soon we'll be able to manipulate them on a granular level as soon as we take them—this product was a real eye-opener for me. So at what point do photos become as untrustworthy as drawings? Are we ever going to reach that point? Are we already there?

Monday, May 13, 2013

If You Meet the Buddha on the Road

Posted by on Mon, May 13, 2013 at 12:59 PM

I don't know who's painting these portraits on the Burke-Gilman Trail, but I kind of like them.

IMAG3162.jpg

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Art in a Van, Man

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