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1 by Olaf Breuning
'Breuning is known for his absurdist sense of humor (a scene in his 2004 film Home 1 follows a crowd of golf–club–wielding bungling mayhem–makers who tackle an “Amish” man, strip him naked, and force him to wear an E. T. mask). But Breuning, 40, who has dark, lush hair and brown eyes, is surprisingly tame in person. “He is very Swiss and very polite,” says Whitney Museum curator Shamim Momin. “But there is something not quite right. You get the sense that he might be messing with you. His bluntness makes you suspicious and unsure of what position to take.”' -- Kelly Devine Thomas
'Ugly Yelp' (2000)
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3 by Mark Leckey
'Jörg Heiser: For example, Adrian, in your recent review of the Tate Triennial, you wrote: ‘I very much dislike the work of Mark Leckey.’ My criterion in that instance would have been to argue why you didn’t like the work. ** Adrian Searle: There wasn’t space, there wasn’t time. ** Thomas Demand: As an artist – it sounds horribly sentimental, but it’s true – you always remember that very negative review. Artists have elephant memories when it comes to these things. ** Jennifer Higgie: If I was Mark Leckey, I would have wanted you to say why you didn’t like my work. ** AS: I will go down that trail at some point. It was obviously critical in more ways than I intended, but it was meant to be blunt in the way that his work is blunt.' -- Frieze
'Flix' (2008)
'Made in 'Eaven' (2004)
'Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore' (1999)
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1 by Pipilotti Rist
'It is easy to let Pipilotti Rist's charismatic world wash over you. Yet as you leave FACT's (rather crowded for the space) retrospective, you wonder if the clever media mechanisms experienced are all there is to it. This is the happy face of subversion, the skipping anarchist refusing to live in the adult world of three-piece suites and the rubbishing of nature. This is the world of the artist who did not want to grow up as Elisabeth Charlotte Rist but to keep her childhood nickname, Pipilotti. So why don't I like this childlike idyll? Why can't I just let myself be immersed in it? Perhaps I'm just a cynical bastard, but for me the innocence, when put up against the slick advertising-friendly emotive controls, just lacks integrity.' -- Oliver Basciano
'Ever is Over All' (1997)
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2 by Pierre Huyghe
'What is it with French people and penguin movies? Next Friday evening, French video artist Pierre Huyghe will be filming the second part of A Journey That Wasn't, a musical based on a trip to Antarctica. The first part was filmed in June by a crew setting out from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego to an Antarctic island. The performance will be shot after dusk on Friday at Wollman Rink. The work will debut at the 2006 Whitney Biennial, presumably with a new voiceover by Morgan Freeman.' -- greg.org
'I Jedi' (2003)
'No Moment' (2002)
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2 by Martin Creed
'To add insult to injury, Saatchi's assistant (because he himself never shows up, of course) brings Martin Creed with her to have a go at all the artists that they don't do the kind of work that he would do. His advice to them, predictably, is to make things simpler. He slags off one duo's plan to build "ghost houses" next to fishermen's huts, in the space where according to photographic evidence they found there used to be two more of those huts. I thought their idea was very good, but Martin Creed doesn't get it and therefore thinks it's pointless and rubbish. Nobody challenges him on the pointlessness of his own art, which this reviewer finds rather vacuous.' -- thechinchilla
'Sick Film' (2006)
'Gig' (2008)
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1 by Janine Antoni
'From gnawing at sculptures that she made of chocolate and lard to mopping a floor with her Loving Care-dyed hair, Ms. Antoni has explored feminist issues by stressing women's body concerns and rituals. With 2038, from 2000, Antoni is in a tub. Yet a tub that looks like a vessel used as a trough for cows. She lies in it while the bovine creatures drink the water of her bath; is one of them feeding on her breast? Hathor was the goddess of the moon. She shaped into a cow to become the mother and the spouse of the sun. The cow dips to drink, to nurse at her breast? Throughout her career Antoni has repeatedly put herself out there and then taken herself away, provoking the desire that rises from absence, but at the risk of seeming coy.' -- Otino Corsano
'Touch' (2002)
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1 by Philippe Parreno
'Ticket sales are going so badly for the second one day conference about Philippe Parreno on Thursday (no, really) that the Serpentine, who aren’t renowned for their generosity, are giving “a limited number” of complimentary tickets away. Go on – its only 7 hours long and promises to be a barrel of laughs. Okay, not really. But at least its warm and people won’t mind that you smell of piss as it’s in the French Institute.' -- Cathedral of Shit
'The Boy from Mars' (2003)
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3 by Sam Taylor-Wood
'Yesterday we all had a good time discussing whether or not it was gross that 43-year-old artist Sam Taylor-Wood was pregnant by and engaged to a 19-year-old up-and-coming actor, Aaron Johnson. I think she's an a–hole. Is it just me? I get that she’s had cancer - twice - and that she probably has a much different view of mortality and life and love and seizing the day, but still, the dude is 19 years old. I could maybe do some rah-rah-sisterhood stuff if it was just a fling, or just about sex, or just a relationship that was fun for both of them. But to get engaged and pregnant… ugh. Well, I hope she has fun planning that wedding. It won’t be Aaron’s last.' -- Celebitchy
'Still Life' (2001)
'The Last Century' (2006)
'David Beckham Sleeping' (excerpt; 2010)
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2 by Martin Arnold
'When I was invited to the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema at the start of 2001, friends asked me: "What kind of Festival is it?" I was truthfully able to reply: "They're showing Martin Arnold's Deanimated (2002). I think virtually every film reviewer in the mass media voted it among the worst films or videos of the festival, because its frenzied manipulation of found footage, extracted from so-called beloved source films, was so ugly in every way. In fact, I saw a damning Australian review of this video calling it "one of the worst movies ever", with "an audience of zero", a work of art "fit only for Sigmund Freud" and only if "he were extremely bored". I found this violent comment in fact rather poignant.' -- Jean-Jacques Birgé
'Alone life wastes, Andy Hardy' (2001)
'Pièce touchée' (1990)
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1 by Chris Cunningham
'The problem with or perhaps for Chris Cunningham, assuming he wishes to be taken seriously as an artist (and since he has taken to exhibiting his videos in blue chip galleries and at the Venice Biennale, it seems safe to assume that is the case) is that when he is not putting his talent in the service of musicians, or when he puts the musicians' work in the background, as has been frequently the case with his collaborator Aphex Twin, his gift for creating startling imagery begins to look overblown, even pretentious, and quite empty of ideas. He has long since proven to be a very gifted illustrator, but, as yet, I see no evidence that he is able to really contemplate the imagery he uses or create anything more than superficially gutsy and technically accomplished special effects when left to his own devices.' -- cinetrange
'Flex' (2000)
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*
p.s. Hey. So, you can't tell the difference, but I have a new laptop this morning, and it's shockingly faster and more slippery than my old one, although I'm still being kind of clumsy with its more widely spaced keyboard. So, that's good. On the other hand, the 'Dennis Cooper Website' aka denniscooper.net has been hacked, and its content has been replaced with something in German about Deleuze, which is no good at all. The people who run the site are currently trying to rescue and salvage it, and we'll see, but someone out there is a real prick. ** Bollo, Hey. Actually, your question in the comments is what alerted me to website hack. I hadn't looked at it in a while. Ugh. The Orcutt album is really beautiful and odd. Anyway, I'll be able to get to the zip later this morning with no problem then write to you since this new laptop has tons of room. ** David Ehrenstein, Thanks, yeah, there wasn't a hell of a lot going on under all that pomp, apparently, and no surprise at all. ** Bernard Welt, 'Targets' is swell, yeah. Strange how Bogdanovich petered out. I guess you probably know the Tim Dlugos 'Collected' is finally out. Just ordered mine, and I'm putting a post together as we speak. I found a link to your alert, so I'll help pass it on. Everyone, and particularly anyone reading this who works in the medium of video, Bernard Welt has an alert for you, and here he is: 'The Corcoran Gallery of Art/College of Art + Design is looking for artists working in video to exhibit in the college’s Gallery 31 exhibition space during the month of August. The exhibition will showcase talented artists working in this contemporary information-based media. The show is open to all local, national, and international artists 18+ years. International applicants are highly encouraged.' The deadline for submissions is June 6th. If you're interested, all the guidelines and information can be found right here.' ** Sypha, Hey. Hopefully, the college return will at least be really good for your spirits, and that certainly could help. 'The Celestine Prophecy' sounds truly abysmal and hilarious. Crazy that, not so my years ago, people were flocking to it without a trace of irony. ** David, I'm almost tempted to see if Gisele wants to adapt it even though I think Robert Wilson is the man for the job. ** L@rstonovich, You've got the Orcutt? Pretty terrific, right? I wasn't expected that at all. Mego is such a strange and interesting home for it. Maybe you should start a band with that 4 year-old. I can't remember the last time a really good band had a little kid singer. Maybe Old Skull? They weren't that good, though. Tell me you didn't just besmirch the censored Sue De Beer 'MLT' cover. Sad. Anyway, it was just on the dust jacket, so you could have slid it off and had a nice cloth board to look at instead of my worst book cover ever. ** Chris Stamm, Hey. I won't jinx it by inquiring further, but the panic attacks thing sounds super interesting, and it has made my imagination build a castle. Ultra-best of luck and great vibes on that. Yes, please, chime in more often. Excellent idea. Well, as far as Seattle-based locals go, MANCY is probably moving to Seattle soon from his fairly nearby current locale, and I'm pretty sure that Shannon, who's an awesome d.l. who pops in here occasionally, is a Seattle resident. And I'll keep thinking. ** Wolf, There should totally be a lipreader w/ notepad at the Oscarpunk wedding. Talk about scary. I saw an email from you with the word Eurostar in the subject line, and now that the awkward transition from laptop to Laptop is complete, I'll open it and do the right thing, whatever that is. Yeah, let me know about the Turin train, so we can book together if possible, I guess. ** Steevee, Hey I did get all the emails, thank you so much! I'll get to setting up a post with them very soon. If I was in NYC for Migrating Forms, I would so totally go see that film directed by Georges Perec and narrated by Shelley Duvall that's playing on, I think, the 20th? That just sounds like heaven on fucking earth! ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Hey. Thanks, yeah, the new laptop is, if not in my lap precisely, as close as a laptop should rightly be. It's really slippery, though, and that's driving me kind of crazy. My finger -- I only type with one, as you may know -- is like an out of control ice skater with one leg. Dude, big hopes on the guitar and Thursday combo! ** Andrew, Obviously, that is a great idea for a gn, so, obviously, I heavily encourage you to go for it. Do you draw, I forget? Or are you thinking collab? * _Black_Acrylic, Oh, but that was the real thing. What we saw on TV was the raised curtain. ** Chris Cochrane, Is my stuff on Kindle? That's nice. Re: Lynne's new book, you can actually read the whole thing online for free on the Red Lemonade site. RL's honcho Richard Nash is trying out new ways to get the work out via the internet, and maybe he's avoiding Kindle and that sort out outlet. Liner notes, hm, maybe, sure, I don't know. Interesting idea. Let's Skype and talk about it. ** Ken Baumann, Ken! Oh, man, thank you! I'm so, so, so happy to hear that! Man, really, thank you so much! I'm really excited about 'TMS', and, yeah, your good words are so impactful. I can't wait until I get to LA and we can hang out 'cos I want to talk your ear off about the amazingness of 'Solip' as well. Anyway, sorry to gush, but, yeah, that means a lot to me. ** Misanthrope, Hey. I read about Microsoft buying Skype this morning, and my blood ran cold. I guess they'll fill it with bugs and make the interface ridiculously difficult. Why won't Microsoft just accept that their time is over and die? Yeah, Father's Day is going to really suck this year, or I guess it'll make me dwell on my lost father, which is important. Well, I'm glad your grandma has made it home, and I hope everything goes as well as it can. Big love to you, man. And, yea, let's Skype before Skype gets ugly. ** Tender prey, Hi, Marc! The show's pretty solid. I think I'll be hooking you and the other artists up re: logistics and stuff later today or in the morning at the latest. Paragraph and images coming too. ** Schlix, Hey, Uli. Yeah, I don't what is up with that website hack. Whoever did that could have just started his or her own site quite easily. It's a piss off, that's for sure. You good? ** Alter Clef Records, Hi, Nick! Great that you can be there for the Five Years opening! Awesome! And ditto about Paris. I should be here. No, I didn't get 'A Day Without Comfort' yet. Maybe today? I couldn't have played it before anyway because my old laptop was so feeble that an inserted disc would have been a fatal knife wound. Saturation is good, in your case certainly. What's the short film? Love is barreling back to you. ** That was quick. Okay, an early-ish post for you today that is exactly what it says it is, I suppose. Be here now. See you tomorrow.
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