Bunker Projects & Mr Roboto Host First Penn Ave, Performance Art Festival Tomorrow

Sorry, or the late heads up. This festival including performance artists from NYC, Philly, Chicago, DC, Virginia and The Burgh is right up m alley.

4-11 PM
5106 Penn Ave.

2012 Whitney Biennial List Released: Includes Former Braddock Native LaToya Ruby Frazier

I still can never get, why this single show, in a moderately sized NY museum is still considered the standard survey of the new, cutting edge and important in what is now such a vast interconnected world.

"The Whitney Biennial is an exhibition held every two years in which the Museum gauges the current state of contemporary art in America." Fat chance. At best it' gives some insight into what the small clique of curators feel is hot.

Even so, here is the list of 2012 Biennial artists.

Kai Althoff
Thom Andersen
Charles Atlas
Lutz Bacher
Forrest Bess
(by Robert Gober)
Michael Clark
Dennis Cooper and
Gisèle Vienne
Cameron Crawford
Moyra Davey
Liz Deschenes
Nathaniel Dorsky
Nicole Eisenman
Kevin Jerome
Everson
Vincent Fecteau
Andrea Fraser
LaToya Ruby
Frazier
Vincent Gallo
K8 Hardy
Richard Hawkins
Werner Herzog
Jerome Hiler
Matt Hoyt
Dawn Kasper
Mike Kelley
John Kelsey
John Knight
Jutta Koether
George Kuchar
Laida Lertxundi
Kate Levant
Sam Lewitt
Joanna Malinowska
Andrew Masullo
Nick Mauss
Richard Maxwell
Sarah Michelson
Alicia Hall Moran and
Jason Moran
Laura Poitras
Matt Porterfield
Luther Price
Lucy Raven
The Red Krayola
Kelly Reichardt
Elaine Reichek
Michael Robinson
Georgia Sagri
Michael E. Smith
Tom Thayer
Wu Tsang
Oscar Tuazon
Frederick Wiseman

As usual, a few like Robert Gober, Mike Kelly and Nicole Eisenman are very established artists. The general flavor from what I have read and the few names, I recognize is a strong tilt towards work that blurs categories-lots of performance, film (Werner Herzog), photography, protest, etc...

LaToya Ruby Frazier, who for the last three years or so has lived in the NY area is on the list. It will be interesting to see what she does.

Pittsburgh Artist, Kim Beck Skywriting Project Over NY's High Line Tomorrow

Local artist, Kim Beck currently has three related creative projects going on in Chelsea-A solo show, at Mixed Greens Gallery, three site specific sculptures visible from the High Line and tomorrow, her skywriting project.

"The Sky Is the Limit/NYC consists of fleeting messages from advertising billboards and storefront signage written by a skywriting plane. Phrases like “Last Chance” or “Now Open” will gradually unfold, and then fade back into the air, inviting viewers to interpret the language in their own unique way. With the current uncertainty in the economy, The Sky Is the Limit/NYC is intended to play upon universal longings for hope and change by engaging the most potent symbol of longing in the landscape: the sky."

Sunday, Oct 9, between 4-7PM over the High Line

Latest "Art Project", To Gain National Buzz: The Milk Truck

Jill Miller

Many doubt these "projects", often created by artists connected to CMU, which combine aspects of performance, propaganda and open ended invitations for interaction are "art" at all.

First there was the Waffle Shop, part eatery, part broadcasting facility and talk show, recently called one of the world's weirdest restaurants.

Soon, came Conflict Kitchen a take out place which only served food from countries America was in some type of political or social conflict.

Now comes an idea to create a funny, on call food-(or feeding truck) intended to help nursing mothers who feel embarased or socially harassed in public places that discourage or ban breast feeding.

From Ivillage

"Enter the Milk Truck. The “mobile breastfeeding unit” is artist and mom Jill Miller’s idea for really raising the profile of nursing mothers’ right to breastfeed in public. If you think a nursing mama catches some attention, wait til a giant, nipple-topped van cruises your ’hood. There’s not a nursing cover in town big enough to hide a boob like that!"

The Milk truck will debut outside the Warhol as part of The Pittsburgh Biennial.

The Milk Truck's Kickstarter

On CNET

On Boing Boing

On CBS News

GA/GI Festival Anchors Huge Pittsburgh Arts Weekend

Fresh Baked Goods PERFORMANCE NIGHT: Friday, April 1, 5-8pm

While Fresh Baked Goods is not officially part of GA/GI this show is all about multimedia, mad science and technology.



Dance Alloy Improv Jam @GA/GI


I'm doing a rare weekend events post myself to make sure people know about this Weekend's GA/GI (Green Arts + Geek Innovators) Festival.

The intention of this festival is to highlight locally grown art,technology,ecology and innovation with the galleries, glass center and other spaces along Penn Ave hosting related shows. Last years festival also included many demonstrations and tables by many local Sprout Fund projects, projection art; a peak into a mobile science lab and an Eco Art Fashion show.

Best to check out the GA/GI sight for all details. Here's the general schedule--which involve many events off the main Penn Ave drag. This year promises projects from 9 area colleges.



Friday Night GA/GI
Mostly centered on normal "Unblurred Penn Ave Corridor"

GA/GI NIGHT
Friday, April 1
“Unblurred” on Penn
@4900-5740 Penn Avenue
(Between Negley Avenue and Mathilda St.)

50+ Businesses and Galleries
100+ Artists
9 Universities and Schools
Showcasing:
Eco-Friendly Events,
Technology Demos,
Scientific Displays,
Art/Glass Exhibitions,
Eco Workshops,
And other mind-bending Sport

The Union Project has jumped on the bandwagon in a big way this year by hosting a dance party friday night, GA/GI events on Saturday and an open house all weekend.

See more about the Union Project below.

Union Project Documentary from Alex Lake on Vimeo.

Day Two GA/GI Events

Saturday April 2
GA/GI Day
Two Locations!

@ The Union Project 801 N. Negley
"Bird, Trees and Robots" Eco/Tech Fun for Kids 10 am-Noon
UP Open House until 5 pm

@ Penn Ave Arts District (Negley to Mathilda)

Pittsburgh Glass Center 10 am- 4 pm
GAGIPAN/Gigopanorama Project
Meet "Fuzion" Fashion Designers Noon-3 pm

I MADE IT MARKET /"I re-Made it SMART" Noon-5pm
Eco/Tech Art Exhibitions
Lofts Open House
Meet Penn Avenue's SALT Restaurant @ the Lofts
Spoken Dreams Concert w/ Joy Ike and Speaklife

Don't try to figure it all out--Just show up around Penn Ave and search for maps. Accept that you may miss a few things.

GA/GI Festival Website and Blog

See The POP City Feature

Look Up: Look Out For Kim Beck's SKYWRITING Project

More than a few of you will doubt hiring a plane to print out huge mysterious sentences over the city of Pittsburgh qualifies as art. If you were looking for a way to take a huge number of people out of their normal comfort zone, this might be a good plan.

Kim sent me the messages, most of which seem related to a giant sales pitch of some kind but are loaded with enough double meanings to leave a lot of questions. I like that it's not just targeted to the normal art world/ museum crowd.

When/Where: Friday Oct. 1 at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 2 at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Skywriting will last from 30-60 minutes depending on wind and air quality. The plane will fly over downtown Pittsburgh, the North Side and Oakland. Each letter will be one mile high and will be visible throughout the area. Follow http://www.twitter.com/idealcities for updates!

Going Places (Doing Stuff III) :Call For Proposals

I know, this isn't a Pittsburgh regional thing but it's just the kind of thing that interests me. More info on the site--My guess is that they take proposals from people anywhere as long as they can be in the NYC area to do the event. It probably will help if you know the city well but who knows, perhaps the opposite is true.

"Flux Factory is calling all artists, urban explorers, rogue historians, tour guides, academics, and anyone interested to pitch tours for Going Places (Doing Stuff) III, a social practice oriented show taking place this summer.
Going Places (Doing Stuff) — you get on a bus, you don’t know where you’re going, and then something happens. Flux Factory invites artists to lead a bus-full of people on an adventure around the greater New York (or even Tri-State area) carte blanche. The content of the tours is entirely up to you, though the itinerary is kept secret from participants. Tours can range from a single afternoon to three days, and will take place from late June through August.

Each touree is given only the following information: artist, title, duration, and a list of needed supplies. In other words, when someone signs up for a tour, they know what to bring and how long they will be gone, but they will have no idea where they are actually going or what they will experience. All tours will be first-come first-serve.

There is always mystery in traveling, even if you know where you are headed. Going Places (Doing Stuff) is all about this mystery, asking the general public to give themselves over to our artists. The excitement of simply stepping on a bus to who-knows-where becomes a metaphor and catalyst for the leap of faith inherent to aesthetic experience in general.

Scribble Fest Video

Connie Cantor and some freinds did a great job of documenting the extreme drawing event at the close of her Moxie Dadda show.

Drawing as contact sport-Scribblers Vs. Erasers

Drawing as Dance Form

Drawing as Fashion Show

Connie will be behind some more scribbling and art events around town in the future.

Missed this event too cause of an allergy attack.

Installation Olympic Theatre At The Mattress Factory

Installation Olympic Theatre at The Mattress Factory!

Artist Tom Sarver of The Tom Museum, along with the Mattress Factory Museum of Art present Pittsburgh's newest art event, Installation Olympic Theatre. This event features three teams of Pittsburgh artists competing over 2.5 hours to build winning sculptural installations. The night will also feature food, beverages, audience participation games, music by Totten (member of The Great Ants) and DJ Sarver Express.

Installation Olympic Theatre takes place, Saturday, March 17th from 7pm to 10:30pm at the Mattress Factory. Tickets are $9.00 and $6.00 for students. (Available at the door)

Conceived by Tom Sarver, Installation Olympic Theatre brings the drama and excitement of reality TV straight to the art museum. The idea is closely connected to The Tom Museum's "Art For Everyone"
mission. It also attempts to bring people who are drawn to the action and excitement of sports into the arts.
Three teams of artists will be competing in the event for the title of "Masters of Installation Olympic Theatre." Each team will be provided with a mystery pile of building materials that will be unveiled at the opening ceremony of the event. Teams will also be allowed to bring in one suitcase of their own tools and materials to use in the competition. Only raw materials and tools will be allowed in the team suitcases. Judging criteria will include aesthetic value of the final product, entertainment value of performance element and creative use of materials provided. Seating for the event will be minimal. Audience members will be able to walk around during the event to watch the installations in progress.
Tom Sarver, Mike Cuccaro and Liz Hammond will host the event.
Judges for the event will include Heather Pesanti, Assistant Curator at The Carnegie Museum of Art, John Morris, Owner of Digging Pitt Gallery, and Owen Smith, Assistant Curator of the Mattress Factory.
Three teams of diverse backgrounds will be competing in the competition. Team Leader Tavia La Follette (Founder and Executive Director of Artists Upstairs) is an artist, director, set designer, performer and puppeteer. She will be working with Atticus Adams, (sculptor and installation artist) Stephanie Mayer-Staley, (Head of Design, Conservatory of Performing Arts, Point Park University) and Larry Bogad. (Professor of Performance Studies a UC Davis)
Ben Kinsley, M.F.A. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University, will lead a second team. When asked to provide information on his team, Ben responded, "I play people like musical instruments." Ben's teammates include Kazuki Eguchi (who wrestles giant balls of dough) and John Peña (who races clouds).
The third team includes some of Pittsburgh's most prolific multimedia artists led by T. Foley. Her team includes Jesse McLean, Carolyn Lambert and Thad Kellstadt. Installation Olympic Theatre may be the first of a series of art theatre events. Plans are in the works for a series including sculpture, painting and drawing Olympic Theatre events.

Sponsors for the event include Pittsburgh City Paper, Whole Foods, The East End Food Co-op, Construction Junction, Trader Joes, Penn Brewery, Breadworks and Artists and Craftsman' Supply. The Tom Museum is a project of the Mattress Factory, supported by The Creative Heights initiative of The Heinz Endowments.

Contact:

Tom Sarver, Event Organizer & Director of The Tom Museum tomsarver@gmail.com www.tommuseum.com

The Mattress Factory
500 Sampsonia Way
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Phone: 412-322-2231