Prayers and Portraits: Unfolding the Netherlandish Diptych

In my opinion, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., has one of the best online archives of past exhibitions. The 'Past Exhibitions' page has links to exhibits back to 1941 with 'Related Online Resources' for exhibits from mid-1997 on.

For this exhibit, on "Netherlandish panel paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries", the Gallery has presented a rich array of resources. There are lists of works by artists represented in the exhibit, and also of images of works by the same artists, both lists including only those artists in the Gallery's collections. The two lists are almost, but not exactly, the same. There are also biographies of each artist.

Paintings listed on the opening page of the exhibit and in the lists of artists usually have a full screen image (not always very big) and detail images which show very good upclose detail. There is not a complete list of the artists and works in the exhibition, that I could find, but there is a very good PDF brochure. Increasing the magnification to 150% allows you to see the images without too much blurring.

Another neat resource is the 'Exhibition Feature'. It is best, I think, to look at each section and then look at the enlarged image and listen to the audio file, and/or read the transcript. Each section has other links, as well. These pages are so well done, and will take some time to explore.

If you have registered for free access, see the New York Times art review, Divine and Devotee Meet Across Hinges, which has a slide show of some of the diptychs.

Quilts of Gee's Bend at Auburn University

The Quilts of Gee's Bend project at Auburn University's Women’s Studies Program has a comprehensive site about this enduring art form. It took me a while to find a slide show of the quilts but once I found it, it is wonderful! My favourite is this one by Nettie Young or maybe this one or this one, both by Lucy T. Pettway. Or it could be one of many others.

Sewing, especially quilting, is one of those arts/crafts that I have very little talent for, so I admire anyone who perseveres like these women did.

Rhizome.org: JiffyLux TV

I'm pretty sure that JiffyLux TV is available only on Rhizome.org so you will likely have to be a member to see the show. The site is a reminder of how propaganda can become part of our lives, so prevalent and sneaky that we hardly even notice.

The site has more info about the artist, Laura Floyd.

Updating and adding labels

Although it may look like I've given up on this blog, I've been revisiting older blogs, adding information, and providing labels. Once that is done, I'll do some more research on the blog entries I have in draft form and publish them.

Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan

Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan, an exhibition at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, NYPL is not listed among the online exhibitions at the New York Public Library. The "Related Online Resources", however, include illustrations from two ehon (picture books) and an exhibition brochure in PDF format. The ehon, especially the book by Kamisaka Sekka, are beautiful and well-reproduced. Both use Flash as the display medium, so that zooming leads to pixilation of the images, but sometimes it's worth it to see smaller details. The PDF brochure is informative, not boring, and, while including references to the display, is complete in itself.

The New York Times exhibition review Centuries of Fleeting Moments, Timeless on the Page by Edward Rothstein is a good critical review.

National Museum of Health and Medicine | n m h m

The newest exhibit at the National Museum of Health and Medicine | n m h m is "Scarred for Life : Monoprints of Surgical Scars" by Ted Meyer. While the webpage for the exhibit has a few images and a good description of the show, what is truly useful is the exibit catalog in PDF format. It is a fairly high quality publication and while the images are the size they would be in a paper catalogue, it is possible to 'zoom' them a bit to see more detail.

The way the museum webpage is set up can be a bit confusing since the catalogue is mentioned on the home page, but not in the exhibit webpage. This is a temporary exhibit but the Museum has listed all of their exhibits so it is possible that the catalogue will remain in their part of cyberspace.

I originally found out about this exhibit through a review in the New York Times. This review, like most (all?) reviews, is available to members of NYTimes.com ( free access through a one-time registration), not just for subscribers to Times Select.

WorldCat Search on sidebar

Any time you want to find books about an artist or a book mentioned in one of my posts, just enter the words in the WorldCat search box. It will locate books near you (probably only in bigger libraries) about the word entered.

I tried it for my post of September 18, 2006. The search found books about Cybernetic Serendipity near me (you have to tell WorldCat where you live), two about Ben Laposky, one published by Bitforms Gallery. It got a bit weird when I tried Atari Archives, but it found lots of stuff about Atari.

bitforms gallery - Scratchcode

This exhibit at the bitforms gallery shows work of some early computer artists. Back in April of 2006, when I first viewed the show, it had its own link. Now you have to click on exhibitions --> past exhibitions and scroll through the list until you find it - stops along the way are encouraged. Screen one of the show description mentions Cybernetic Serendipity. Not all the artists in this show had work in the CS show but one who did is Ben F. Laposky. A short article by him, with pictures, is at atariarchives.org. Another artist from Cybernetic Serendipity I noticed on second viewing is Frieder Nake. The links I found for him in Google and Wikipedia weren't much help in finding other examples of his art.
[edited January 24, 2007]

{Found on the Rhizome News (once known as Net Art News) blog. Available as a RSS feed or email list subscription.

Prime Gallery in Toronto, Canada

This gallery, and its web designers, know how to set up a web site so that the artists it represents are properly displayed. Each artist has an active link which then takes the viewer to thumbnails of artwork. Clicking on a thumbnail leads to an individual picture with a description. Clicking on this picture links to a larger version, and clicking on that takes you back to the smaller picture. Then you have the option of clicking on 'next', 'previous', or 'Test exhibition'. Once you get into the rhythm of the sequence, viewing works really well.

My quibble would be with the phrase 'Test exhibition'. Maybe the designer will go back and name each link individually - Group exhibition 2004, exhibition title 2005, or whatever, but I think that would have been more easily done at the outset. And, some of the links are not to an exhibition that seems relevant to the artist. The size of the larger pictures, as well as the clarity, varies but some of the images offer very good detail.

The exhibitions page has listings from 2004 to 2007. It also has a heading for 1900 but my guess is that this was part of a template that didn't get fixed. The images for 2004 exhibitions are present, as are those for later in 2006. Overall, this is a site which has a very good design, with a few flaws. Since the flaws don't lead to blank pages, and sometimes take the viewer on side trips, they can be overlooked.

An example of a well set up artist's site is that for Robert Archambeau. Watch out for the 'test exhibition' links though. Although I think there is a logic there, I'm not sure what it is. Some of the large images are really large so there's a lot of detail. I did see one that had way too much compression but most are fine.

[Nov. 13/06] The problems with the site seem to be fixed, no more 'test exhibitions' that I saw and 1900 is no longer shown as an exhibition date.]

Monty Python / Sound of Young America

When I first did this blog entry in June of 2006, the Sound of Young America was at a different URL and the Monty Python 1975 PBS interview was linked from their website. Now they have moved to a new website and I couldn't find the video there although it might have been right in front of my nose. So, here are the links as they are in January 2007: the TSOYA blog at maximumfun.org; the TSOYA Monty Python blog entry for an interview with Terry Jones; the video on YouTube, which is credited to maximumfun and where you will find other Monty Python videos, including this Spam video which I first found on Google while trying to relocate the TSOYA blog. If that link doesn't work, just do a Google search on Monty Python 1975 - the link is to a Google Video page.

TSOYA had rediscovered this PBS interview video from 1975 showing early Monty Python actors and skits. The interview in the video is introduced on The Sound of Young America blog at the above link. Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, and Michael Palin are the ‘Pythons’ who are interviewed. Sadly, John Cleese appears only in the background of the skit which features Pythonese (not Canadian) mounties. Since the show took place in 1975, the hairstyles in the audience, especially on the men, are interesting, to say the least. The interview was taped during a PBS pledge drive so there is a lot of phone-ringing in the background.

Link originally found via Computer Arts Daily blog from March 27, 2006.

[Extensively revised January 20/07]

Database of Virtual Art

Once upon a time this blog was called "Learning About Digital Media" and I had planned to locate and discuss websites where you could find information about the history of digital media, computer art, and the people who were part of that history. I still think that one of the better sites to do that is Zakros.com although the last time I looked it was a bit more difficult to find the learning and history parts. The 'teaching' link on Randall Packer's bio page leads to his class notes from five different universities - most of these notes have live links, or a later version of similar material. The website for his book Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality is still online [although now at a new URL - July 29/09]. The book contains many important essays from the history of digital art: the website complements the text and includes many of the essays as well as audio and video material.

Both of the above sites illustrate what I believe is one of the strengths of the Internet - access to complete materials, or at least just enough material to entice you into investigating further. As I've looked for websites to introduce on this blog, I've found that I've strayed from my original intent as I've found, and been delighted by, sites that make a real effort to inform, entice, and provide complete information. The following site does this fairly well, and its interface has improved a bit since I first found it over a year ago.

"The Database of Virtual Art documents the rapidly evolving field of digital installation art." Most of the text that I saw was in German, but with a bit of experimentation I found my way around the site. There didn't seem to be a 'browse artists' feature but I found a list of last names only under the Database/Search tab. Recent works under each 'Search ... ' section have a bit more information but you need to know your artists to find them, or you can browse to find someone you like. I saw [Lev]Manovich, [Roy] Ascott, [Jack] Ox, and [Char] Davies, who I recognized by their last names. The content includes images and video with differing download quality.

I originally found the site via the Feb. 2, 2005 blog on networked_performance from Turbulence.

2006 Tony Awards - New York Times

The New York Times has a wonderful web site. Not only can you read most of their articles with a simple free member signup, but they have excellent slide shows, many with audio.

Today, the Tony Awards were announced and the NYT Tony Awards page has articles about each of the nominated shows, some with slide/audio files.

I didn't look at all of the shows but "The Jersey Boys"caught my eye. No slide show and the review is not exactly favourable but the play was nominated for Best Musical and seven other awards.
Related web sites: Frankie Valli on Wikipedia; Jersey Boys Blog

"Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life" was nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical. Although the review doesn't have a link to it, the Tony Awards page includes an audio slide show narrated by Ms Rivera.

"The Threepenny Opera" has an audio show narrated by the lighting designer, got a terrible review, and was nominated for Best Revival of a Musical. So there!

Hasted Hunt Gallery :: HOME

I found the Hasted Hunt Gallery :: HOME webpage while reading an article in Art Knowledge News about the Erwin Olaf exhibit at the Gallery.

Under the 'Artists' link, the online Gallery offers a slideshow of a dozen or more images for each artist. While the images are clear, no enlarged version is offered for view. The 'Press' link has short descriptive essays/reviews about each artist.

Neil's Garage

I'm sure there are many better, more informed, blogs about Neil Young's Living With War. I'm making this entry because it's the least I can do - add one more voice of support.

As far as web sites go, Neil's Garage is set up very well. The album starts as soon as you enter the site and continues through the songs in order. The New York Times reported that "Mr. Young wants the album heard as a whole." That way, the listener has to progress through the complete work as Neil Young presents it. I must say that hearing the album as a whole builds an emotional connection to the work, with sadness being the predominant feeling, rather than anger.

The one drawback to finding the music through Neil's Garage is that if you click one of the other links, you lose the continuity of the album, and have to start at the beginning. So bring up two versions of the site if you want to read the lyrics as you listen.

The Living With War blog has other links, and lots of comments, especially to the April 28, 2007, entry. Clearly, there is a problem with that blog's dating system or maybe it's intentional, since the misdating keeps the 'Listen to the Album' entry at the top of the blog.

[January 17, 2007 - Deleted part of post leading to a dead URL. The album didn't start playing as soon as I went to Neil's Garage, but I found it (or parts of it,or videos of some of the songs) after clicking around a bit. As usual the NYT article is available only if you've done the free registration process.]

Jean Tinguely

One of the artists shown at Cybernetic Serendipity was Jean Tinguely. You can hear some of his pieces on WPS1's broadcast from the 2005 Armory show. You'll have to search for Tinguely on the page and you can then listen to the whole set which includes three other artists. {January 11/07 - Links to specific artists don't necessarily lead to works by the artists]. There are many other recordings on this page with links provided in the notes to information about the artists, gallery links, etc.

I wasn't able to find a whole lot of information about the artist on the Tinguely Museum web site but searching through the 'exhibitions' links does find some material on other artists. The 'museums' link has a listing for the artist with a point-by-point-biography and some small pictures of some of his works.

The two works he showed at Cybernetic Serendipity (at least the two shown in the book) are Metamatic, 1959 and Metamatic, 1961. One of the other 'Metamatics' - no. 8 - is shown as part of a course on Algorithmic Art at the Institute of Artificial Art in Amsterdam.

Lots of interesting links here, including one for Machines "a group of electric motors who play electric guitars".

Back to Jean Tinguely, Multimedia - From Wagner to Virtual Reality (the website) has a section, written by Billy Klüver, on his Homage to New York with a RealVideo film of the 'destruction' and construction of the piece.

56kTV - BASTARD CHANNEL

56kTV - BASTARD CHANNEL is an "international online art project", based, I think, in Switzerland, although the artists are from many nations. The interface can be confusing, since the small windows (popups?) separate themselves from the main screen. At any time, there are seven programs to choose from and they change a bit during the day. Most programs are somewhat interactive, although the viewer has to explore to find that interactivity.

Kiki Smith on the Walker Channel

The Walker Art Center has many resources for the art student, art lover, and art gallery visitor. One that I just discovered via their New Media Initiatives Blog is the Walker Art Channel. There is a long list of artists who are present on video, including Ang Lee, Merce Cunningham, David Strathairn, Matthew Barney, Chuck Close, and Bruce Stirling.

I've listened to and watched Peter Schjeldahl speaking with Kiki Smith. The hour long conversation covers Smith's approach to her work and provides a good forum for her personality, although I would have preferred more Smith and less Schjeldahl.

There is an excellent online exhibition of Kiki Smith's work at New York's Museum of Modern Art.

The Wand

The Wand is a very neat animated movie short (4.04 min) about "the universal nature of power and greed". It was made by Nick Worthey and won a grand prize in a contest at Atom Films.

The video is from Atom Films which has lots of free videos, including my random giggle-producing choice Otto in 17, created by Bruno Bozzetto. Each video is preceded by an ad but the ones I saw were amusing rather than annoying.

I first found The Wand through a link on the Computer Arts blog. The site for the magazine has tutorials, news, etc. available without a subscription. You can sign up for a free account so you can subscribe to the free newsletter.

The RRS feed for the Computer Arts Daily blog is http://www.computerarts.co.uk/blog.rss If you're not familiar with RSS or you want more info on how to set it up for your newsreader, instructions for the RSS feed are at the bottom of the 'Computer Arts Daily' section.

Note: I decided to do all my blogging from this site, both the short bits and longer pieces. I'm still using Bloglines to keep track of other blogs, so please visit the Digital Stage link to the left if you want to see my blogroll. [Blog entry edited heavily January 14, 2007]

Richard Pettibone: A Retrospective

One of the things I hate about online announcements of art exhibits is that there are often very few examples of the artist's work. I can understand that the art gallery may think that showing the art on the Internet may mean that people won't come see the exhibit in person. I think that this is just plain wrong. Firstly, if I am thousands of miles away from the gallery, I'm not going to be visiting anyway, but I still would like to see some examples of the works. Secondly, if I am considering visiting the gallery, a good online display will encourage me to get on a bus or take my car and pay for admission to the show.

I was not at all familiar with Richard Pettibone's work when I saw a mention of it in the blog for the Art Knowledge News - a good source of art exhibition announcements available either as a newsletter or as a blog - see xml link at the bottom of the left column. The exhibit listed there is at the Laguna Art Museum.

While the Laguna 'current exhibits' page has only a short description of Pettibone's method of working, the exhibit at the Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College has a longer piece, and a slideshow with eleven images.

The Tang also has a slideshow for the Twice Drawn exhibit with better levels of magnification for the images.

A Critical History of Computer Graphics and Animation

Section 9: Computer Artists of the above course from Ohio State University includes references to Cybernetic Serendipity. In particular it provides a link to a speech by Jasia Reichardt in 2004 which discusses the background to the exhibition. According to the text, she must have been referring to slides which were not included on the site. Perhaps some of these are the same slides she presented in Banff.

The complete course, by the way, is still available. It has images and Quicktime movies of early computer art. I will refer to specific sections as I find artists who appeared in Cybernetic Serendipity. In the meantime, Section 9 has art from Lillian Schwartz, David Em, and some marvellous Quicktime movies from Larry Cuba.

Cybernetic Serendipity

Cybernetic Serendipity is both an exhibition held in 1968 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, in London, and a book published to accompany the exhibition [1]. This exhibition brought together many of the artists who were the first to use computers as a tool to produce art. The book is available in many libraries (a search in Google Scholar will find some, but not all, of the copies; you can also search in the WorldCat box to the left) and from booksellers. In this, and subsequent entries, I will list websites where information may be found about the exhibition and the artists who took part.

Jasia Reichardt organized the exhibition and edited the book. She recently appeared at REFRESH! The First International Conference on the Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology at the Banff New Media Institute and, to accompany her speech, presented slides of some of the artwork included in the 1968 exhibit. Her presentation (one of many on this page) gives some idea of the variety of the work but it seemed to me that she downplayed the significance of Cybernetic Serendipity. Perhaps that is because the people attending the conference would have already acknowledged the place that exhibit had in the history of electronic/digital/computer art.

Since the purpose of this blog (when I am thinking seriously about its purpose) is to search the web for memories and evidence, I am going to try to find other websites which present information on the artworks and artists from Cybernetic Serendipity.

The press release for the exhibition, along with a few images, can be found at Medien Kunst Netz/Media Art Net.
[Jan. 3/07 -This link is not working. A Google search should find other useful resources.]

1. Cybernetic Serendipity: the Computer and the Arts. Edited by Jasia Reichardt. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969, p. [3]. The 1968 edition was published in London by Studio International. Any information found in the book which I will refer to is taken from the Praeger edition.