NYC Art On The Streets and In The Galleries

Art everywhere...the election campaign has been going on long enough that this Obama poster has become part of a street art collage.

While shooting photos for a project in the oldest part of Manhattan's Chinatown, I happened to come upon one of The New York City Waterfalls by Olafur Eliasson. This is one of 4 in the city, the works are monumental in scale, and stunning. For more images see http://www.nycwaterfalls.org/#/about_the_waterfalls/Waterfall_Images

And of course this experience sums up what is so great about NYC...you never know what interesting thing you will find. It's one gigantic visual treasure hunt.

While the bloated and extravagant feel of the Chelsea Galleries can sometimes remind one of the excesses of Wall Street.......there are plenty of interesting exhibits there. My personal favorites (of those I saw...missed many) starting with those closing soonest.

Mark Wagner "My Portfolio" http://www.pavelzoubok.com/node/mark-wagner-my-portfolio

Collages made out of money. Sounds trite. Isn't. Unfortunately, the photos don't really give a sense of the 3 dimensional quality of the work.

Amy Ellingson "Recursions" http://www.cowlesgallery.com/artists/ellingson/092008/092008.html

Again, I'm afraid, the 3 dimensional aspect of the work doesn't come through. These pieces were really breathtaking....most of them are quite large. They have an all encompassing you are there in the work quality.....like "The Falls" pieces above, or the wonderful JMW Turner paintings that were on view until recently at the Met.

Jay Kelly: Sculptures & Drawings Sep 13 - Oct 25, 2008

http://www.jimkempnerfineart.com/

Beautiful, small and intense works.

Cecily Brown at Gagosian: 9/28/08

Abstract expressionism, this time mixed with images from lanscapes.

http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/24th-street-2008-09-cecily-brown/

Jean McClung

(occasional contributor)

Pittsburgh Neighborhood Narratives ...

You missed the opening screening, but had you gone, you'd have been SOL. The Regent was packed last Thursday for the first viewing of Pittsburgh Neighborhood Narratives film festival.

Showing again tonight at the Brillobox, and in other venues throughout the city through early November, the 90-minute film is a composite of short narrative films created by filmmakers for distinct neighborhoods within the city. Its well worth the measly $5 door at each show, if you can get in.

Project coordinators Andrew Halasz and Kristen Lauth Shaeffer solicited filmmakers from all over Pittsburgh to make the film shorts they stitched into one piece. "Inspired by the way the neighborhoods of Paris were celebrated in the film Paris Je T'Aime, we thought it would be really cool to see the diverse neighborhoods of Pittsburgh celebrated in the same way."

Nine films quilted together. My favorite was the short produced for The Hill District by Timothy Hall & Marc Neison. Breaking away from the narrative storytelling style of most of the other films, Mr. Hall's photographs were presented photo-roman style. His narrative, an intimate story told like he was sitting on my porch telling me himself, puts the viewer squarely into the protagonists experience growing up in the Hill, departing for greener suburbs, and being called back to the home he grew up in later in life.

Themes of departure, return, reunion, and reconciliation spread across many of the pieces. Justin Crimone's piece for Downtown, Bus Stop, weaves together narratives of 'never left' with 'coming back to care for family'. Downtown becomes the seductive backdrop inviting change into the storyline.

Means of production even echoed the neighborhood identities. The hippest of genres (the zombie flick) was applied to our hip Lawrenceville, wisely poking fun at the fear of a future mommy-hood with Mombie.

Catch it if you can, screening in the neighborhoods they were made in through mid-November. But get there early. Judging from the packed house's enthusiastic response, this show should be standing room every night it screens.

http://www.pghneighborhoodnarratives.com for a nicely-dressed flash website with screening schedule.

Voyeuristic Intentions by Sam Thorp at the Wizard of Oddities

Works from Sam Thorp'sVoyeuristic Intentions series are on exhibit at Wixard of Oddities. The gallery does short shows, so try to get there soon!

Several of the pieces are framed with reclaimed windows, playing up the sense of watching a private moment. The palette that Ms. Thorp uses is sweet and pale. The subject matter addresses starkly intimate moments, which creates enough tension to intrigue.





Wizard of Oddities
4314 Butler Street
Pittsburgh PA 15201
412-325-4144

Celebrate Zombie Media Awareness Week

I think I'm a week late but today might be a good day to celebrate our Zombie Media.

"Tikkun" means "to mend" : Suzanne Slavic at the PCA

Star lilies often decorate viewings of bodies before funerals, as their heavy sweet scent covers that of the body. I didn't notice the bouquet of star lilies gracing Suzanne Slavic (PCA's Artist of the Year) opening Friday night until I was making my second tour of the work.



It is a mixed symbol, a gorgeous flower that hides the smell of death. How appropriate to artwork in which Slavic applies a screen of beauty to photographs of human-wrought destruction.

I may be able to describe the physicality of the work with that single sentence, but the complexity and depth of experience provided by viewing it shows the artist's genius in her exploration of that single decision's possibility.

She has appropriated the visual language of disaster photography (the illusion of a represented reality) and applied another language, that of Islamic painting techniques to both the physical and illusive surface of the image.

Each still image contains competing narratives, the photographed 'reality' of destruction underneath the painted image. At times the photograph was printed in a way that points to it having been manipulated in some way, a manipulation that further indicates the illusion-atop-illusion parameters set up by Slavic.

Her painting technique echoes Islamic miniaturist tradition, and speaks to a vocabulary of inner reality referenced in Sufi poetry. I walked room to room recognizing scenes and passages from a variety of Arabic story-sources and comparing them to the contents in the photography. I considered the tension between 'real' and 'imagined' - photo referencing our belief in 'reality', and painting speaking to our 'imagined' re-creation of reality ...

And in the images wherein she overlays imagined repairs to a 'reality' destroyed by war or natural disaster? While in this room, the phrase "tikkun" means "to mend" insistantly ran through my mind. It made sense to me, looking at images of the middle east reconstructed with a Western hand in an Islamic gesture, that I would think of a phrase that comes from Kabbalah (another Middle-Eastern practice, although Jewish) - that the highest calling of a spiritual practitioner is to work to repair reality and the connections we have to, in, and with reality.

Slavic's work may not pull at those strings of those viewers who are not interested in those ideas, but instead it will challenge those who have a hard time looking at the consequences of human misbehavior. Its one of our oldest problems: Humans destroy things, nature destroys things, how do we look at the brokenness we make? How do we respond? Do we numb ourselves in order to tend to life's mundane necesseties? How can we maintain awareness of our ruined world?

My favorite response from a viewer was, "I feel guilty liking this work, because it gives me that silly childlike hope that we can deal with things." Perhaps it invokes the child's wish to bandage the world's wounds so the sounds of those wounds festering do not intrude on the child's experience of the world.

Suzanne Slavic has provided us with complex art for a complex time, the best food for thought. Check out the second floor of the PCA until the show comes down.

Sacred Art @BoxHeart

Sherry Rusinack - Keeper of Sacred Things

This is the thirteenth edition of the Sacred Art exhibit at BoxHeart Gallery. As in shows in the past, it represents a range of expressions not only in medium but also in interpretation. The gallery's statement for the exhibit is admirable --

The Sacred Art Exhibition is an Annual Event in the Bloomfield Community. The arts enable contact with The Sacred on an intimate level. By creating, The Sacred is manifested by the hands and a new life is brought into existence. Selection for this exhibition requires that artists submit pieces that explore their personal interpretation of The Sacred. All interpretations, both traditional and nontraditional, are considered. This exhibition does not recognize any difference of authority between the traditions of the God-knowing and the artistic cultures that surround them.

This year, I was particularly struck by the starkness of several of the works. It is almost a reflection on how spirituality has ceased to be a comfort in this day and age. Not all of the works, really. But enough of them that I was left with a sense of mourning. It is, I think, a fitting statement for the times in which we find ourselves. Definitely a show the offers more questions than answers.



Diane Fleisch Hughes - Incubus

The exhibit continues through September 12. Please make an effort to get there.

Box Heart Gallery
Exhibition Dates: August 18 - September 12, 2009
4523 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
P. 412 687 8858

It's (still) the economy, stupid*

Oh man.

Recently, the Pittsburgh art scene lost yet another gallery. LaVie was in operation for about two years. Their emphasis was on young and emerging artists. LaVie built a lot of credibility on its exhibits but it was also a lifestyle shop that offered arty products and graphic as well as event design services. Even with the wide range of endeavors that they were covering they still weren't able to keep the boat floating. It hasn't been that long, less than nine months, since Digging Pitt closed its doors; another monumental effort that fell by the wayside. But there are always others to take up the gauntlet, as was pointed out by Kurt Shaw in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review --

Still, there seems to be no end to new galleries opening up in Lawrenceville, with the latest, Luke & Eloy Gallery, planning to open Sept. 27 at 5169 Butler St. (Details: www.lukeandeloy.ning.com) ...

For whatever reason, opening an art gallery seems to be an attractive idea for many, regardless of the outcome; even in a place that clearly doesn't have a public that will support it. Such is life, or should I say c'est la vie? Read the article

In addition to the opening of Luke and Eloy Gallery, Zombo Gallery opened fairly recently in Larryville. So, for every closure, another gallery crops up to take its place. There is also the revolving venues along Penn Avenue, but with only one night each month to view the exhibits, it is difficult to build a meaningful presence. It's no wonder that so many of the visual arts venues in Pittsburgh resort to non-profit status, even though that isn't a guarantee of keeping the doors open.

Oh man, it just gets worse. It was announced today that the Carnegie Museum is taking over the day to day operations of the Three Rivers Arts Festival. The festival budget, even with its shrinking and scattered footprint, is over $1million for the seventeen-day festival. CMoA has already released the festival's executive and associate directors. I am sure that there are other things in the works as they prioritize the budget. From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette --

"By taking this step now, we have an opportunity to not only better assess the organization's finances, but also re-evaluate its operations and its mission. An important first step -- and the responsible thing to do -- was to put a halt on most expenses until we complete that assessment," David Hillenbrand, president of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, said in a prepared statement yesterday. Read the article

So, what will happen to the 2009 festival is anyone's guess. There is some question about whether or not the festival will ever regain its home in Point Park or if it will be relegated to scrambling for exhibit space as it has done for the last few years.

Finally, the trend that has been making itself felt in the rest of the country is making itself felt here. I'm not talking about short pants for men, I'm talking about falling home prices. Do you realize how bad things have to be to impact an already depressed market? Western Pennsylvania home prices have been well below the national median for a long time. Currently prices here aren't falling at the same rate as they are in the rest of the world, but really, if they were any lower you could put them on your credit card.

Of course, if you are coming in from outside of the region, Pittsburgh is a property buyer's wet dream. But the low purchase prices are still out of reach for a lot of the residents. The region is also below the national and state average median income. The following figures are from 2005. What's really scary is the 23% living below the poverty level.

Estimated median household income in 2005: $30,278 (it was $28,588 in 2000)
Pittsburgh $30,278
Pennsylvania: $44,537

Estimated median house/condo value in 2005: $74,000 (it was $59,700 in 2000)
Pittsburgh $74,000
Pennsylvania: $131,900

Median gross rent in 2005: $648.
Percentage of residents living in poverty in 2005: 23.2%
(16.3% for White Non-Hispanic residents, 38.6% for Black residents)

Ah, that explains so much. Purchasing art is something that you do when you have a generous amount of disposable income. In this region, the collectors suffer right alongside the artists.

*Attributed to Bill Clinton

September Unblurred

Another Unblurred has come and gone. Penn Avenue was sparsely attend last night. I admit, I had a truncated evening myself, leaving at about 8:30. At any rate, I went to just a couple venues. First up was a new venue, as yet unnamed, at 5110 Penn Ave. It is the brainchild of Passports, those wonderful folks that brought us Artinin just a few months ago. The venue has a lot to offer, combining art and collectibles. Last night was their first official exhibit.



Lots of appealing stuff, here! Passports is in the process of finalizing the name of the venue. They will be establishing hours shortly, too. So stay-tuned! more to follow.

Across the street at the Clay Penn, you can see that Laura Jean McLaughlin has been very busy! Some new works were on display and the space has been re-organized and freshened over the summer months. I didn't get the title of these pieces, I'm afraid. But aren't they wonderful?





Schedules for events and exhibits taking place for Unblurred are available here. Just remember to block First Fridays on your calendar!

Pittsburgh Art Events: 9/5-6/08

We've officially entered into the election season, and people all over the nation are amped up about their favorite candidates. I can definitely be accused of being a bit obsessed myself, but I'm finally starting to run out of steam. So this weeekend should be a good opportunity for me to relax and take in some decent art and conversation with friends. Sorry this is coming a bit late; I just couldn't keep myself from being distracted.

Friday:

September Unblurred is here. The leaves on the few trees along Penn Avenue will begin to carpet the sidewalks, and it should be comfortable both inside and out. This month sees the re-opening of the Clay Penn (5111 Penn Avenue) after an extended hiatus. Laura Jean will be presenting Mish Mash A Go Go, with the work of various artists including ceramics by Tom Binger and Louise Radochonski. Modern Formations (4919 Penn Ave.) will also be featuring several creators in a show called Of Beasts. "Jason Rosemeyer, Christian Breitkreutz, Bethany Chiarizio, and Michael Ninehouser collectively convey a sense of warning while maintaining a subtle sense of wit as they visually dictate the daunting pleasures and splendid anxieties of modern day living. " Hey, who doesn't have a penchant for modern beasts?

IMAGEBOX (4933 Penn Ave.) is exhibiting the work of a group of emerging photographers from Pittsburgh Filmmakers (Sally Bozzuto, Matthew Robison, and Vanna Weaver) and Jason Sauer is celebrating the one-year anniversary of his Most Wanted Fine Art Gallery with help from Jon Howe from the United Kingdom. Howe is inspired by Picasso's Cubist period, and Sauer calls his assemblages "Neo Classical appropriation with Rauschenberg assemblage".

Unblurred events generally run from 7-10PM.

Friday and Saturday

If you find the time to break away from Penn Avenue between 6 and 11 PM on Friday, you'll be able to see a performance by Andrew the Impaled at the Zombo Gallery (4900 Hatfield Street) in Lawrenceville. I've known him long before his days in real estate, and I can assure you that he is well worth seeing. Have you ever seen a man sew his own mouth shut? This trick would have been especially appropriate for some of the speakers in Minneapolis last night, but they are much more adept at putting their collective foot in their mouth. We'll just have to leave it for the expert. Andrew's appearing in conjunction with Nat the Signgrrrl's exhibition of paintings. Zombo himself promises "Tikis! HotRods! Pinups! and handpainted car hoods!"

In the event that you can't make it, the show will be up for viewing on Saturday as well (sans Andrew, I'm afraid). Michael Devine (aka Zombo) is filling out his monthly schedule with a series of two-night shows on the first weekend of every month. Apparently there are just that many folks around town who would like to show their "lowbrow" work. That's what I'll be doing in December, as it's a nice oportrunity to try and sell art without any commission. And that means that stuff is priced cheap!

Saturday

Moxie Dada (1416 Arch Street in the North Side) has a reception (6-9PM) for Philadelphia-born painter Maria Napoli. Pieces of the Puzzle draws on the artist's "emotional journey and allows us to see glimpses of her spiritual awakenings and understandings." But I'll probably go anyway. I like the gallery and its curators.

Back in Lawrenceville, The Framery (4735 Butler) offers up There are No Birthdays in Hell (5-8PM), by Satan's Camaro (apparently a collaboration between Justin Strom and Lenore Thomas). The artists themselves claim that their nom de plume represents "the lovechild of eighties rocker Nikki Sixx and teen pop star Tiffany." You can hold them responsible for this at their blog. And while you're at it, drop by the Trinity Gallery (4747 Hatfield St.- right down the block from Zombo) for Anne Lee's paintings of the neighborhood (reception starts at 7PM).

Pittsburgh Art Events: 8/29-31/08.

With Rick over at Pittsburgh Art and Gallery Blog following his bliss in the great outdoors (and therefore on official hiatus until the end of September), I'm sure to miss out on a few of the wonderful art events happening around the 'Burgh this weekend. But I do know of several things worth attending, and if I have any sort of energy by tomorrow I should be able to get out to enjoy them.

Friday

If you have been meaning to check out the La Vie Gallery in Lawrenceville (3609 Butler Street), but have never made it a priority- tomorrow night (7-10PM) is your last chance... forever! That's right kids, yet another great gallery has come to its unfortunate end. Thommy Conroy and Bronwyn Loughren have made a mark on the local scene that will leave its afterimage for years. Somehow they have been able to corral some of the best young artists in town, and show their best work consistently, month-after-month. The receptions have been well attended and elegantly provisioned, and the prices have always been affordable. Often the best art venues come and go quickly in this town, and leave folks reminiscing about them for a long time afterwards. Don't you want to say that you were there?

Fortunately this weekend isn't just about "farewells". It appears that Syracuse's loss is our gain. Maverick art curator Astria Suparak has hit town. She's rolling out her first locally-curated show at the Regina Miller Gallery at CMU. The NYC Pratt-institute grad has made a lot of waves over the last few years (read Bill O'Driscoll's City Paper profile of her here). Anyway, for her inaugural exhibition she has chosen to bring us Julie Christensen's Your Town, Inc. It will include 80 photos from an upcoming book documenting the reuse of properties once housing "Big Box" stores. While you can officially see the work on Friday during normal gallery hours (12-6PM), the big reception (apparently a "Hometown BBQ") isn't until September 19th.

If you are downtown, you can stop by Future Tenant for an installation by "street artist" Danny Devine. Ain't too Proud to Beg will have a "Kickass opening with food, drinks, movies, art for sale & more" from 6-9pm (or so the website says).

Saturday

I'm really not in the business of making music suggestions, but I'm going to make an exception for this weekend. David Berman's Silver Jews are making their very first appearance (ever) in Pittsburgh, at the William Pitt Union Assembly Hall at 8PM. Berman is a poet and songwriter who attended college with former Pavement front-man Stephen Malkmus. For awhile he enlisted his more famous friend to play in his band. Together they made American Water, which I consider one of the best and most literate rock albums ever. For years you couldn't see the Silver Jews live because Berman's social anxiety wouldn't allow him to perform on-stage. But a few years ago he met the love of his life, and has since experienced a vivid resurgence. Don't miss this performance.

ETC

I know that I've already mentioned the Zombo events that are happening this weekend. Still I feel that they are worth another mention. "Lucky the Painproof Man" will be at the Gallery on 49th and Hatfield on Saturday from 6-9PM. He's actually looking to sell off some of his memorabilia this time around. And on Monday (September 1st) you can celebrate Labor Day at Arsenal Lanes. Art Goes Bowling is having its closing party from 6-11PM. Local band The Whips will be making their debut. If you can't make it, have a look here to see what you are missing.

Naming Rights

The ideas presented here are loosely organized, to say the least. Consider them reference points to ideas about place names and their connection to history, regional trauma, and Pittsburgh's public identity.



UPMC became the largest employer in the greater Pittsburgh region. With such a large economic footprint comes the right to buy naming rights, and UPMC went for the tower that historically represents economic power in Pittsburgh: the former US Steel Building.

Steel's symbology, steel's branding of the region. So common & familiar, we tune them out, these symbols, place-names, and people connected to a lost industry. I wonder, are they just names to the college kids streaming to CMU and Pitt from out of state this fall?

The Carnegie Library system. Fricke Park. Place-names resonant with the past direct traffic all over the city. The Hot Metal Bridge was once part of the steelmaking process itself.

Do I really need to reiterate this obviousness?

Those familiar place names may be integrated into our inner maps of Pittsburgh, but there is a necessary silence between past and present.

There's long slow loss of the steel industry, there's the population's attrition. The silence a friend of mine refers to as 'the puffy silence', the holding patterns she sees amongst men and women in their 40's and older on the bus, at her job.

The community-endured pain of family after family split by economic opportunity elsewhere, of grandparents stuck in devalued houses while the grandkids grow up in Oregon or Chicago.

Under those place names I see the long slow bruising that the region walked through during the ongoing 'layoff & rehire' patterns engaged in by US Steel and other companies. Millworkers waiting for rehire phone calls that never came.

Men and women in their fifties and sixties have whispered to me what they think needs to be said: the details of exactly how the steel industry beat the shit out of this town as it left. They say, "Nobody will come out and say it."

This industry so totally cleaved to in public symbols, in cult of personality, in cult of masculinity. It was an industry built on the bodies of the workers -- and now, UPMC makes its money "caring for" those bodies, the eldest of that generation of workers in this, one of the oldest communities in America.

People think that hospitals are a place to go to get well. They forget that it is also the place to go when one is preparing for death. Why do you think UPMC is so successful? We are an old, old county. And the eldest among us, many of them worked for US Steel. Now they go to the hospital for the last leg of their journey, and say goodbye to their (visiting) families from UPMC hospital beds.

Their bodies built the old industry, the one we lost. Their bodies build the new industry. It is oddly appropriate, isn't it, that we have the UPMC Tower.

Disconnect. Reconnect. What else won't be talked about?

Salon Des Refuses @ Mendelson Gallery

Steve Mendelson is giving a number of works rejected from this years Associated Artists Of Pittsburgh another shot with a provocatively named show called Salon Des Refuses. The title evokes a legendary show in 1863 of all the works turned down by the Paris Salon which included a who's who of future impressionist masters like Manet, Degas and Renoir. The show will include 20 works from artists like Robert Villamagna, Mark Panza, Laura Marins and Ben Matthews.

Here's Kurt Shaw's review.

The Rise Of The Rest-- The Art World Turned Upside Down

If you watched any Olympic coverage, you got a nice visual display of the awesome transformation of Asia.This is not just a one city illusion, looked at by the numbers, Asia's rising trade surpluses, huge savings rates and currency surpluses demonstrate a vast potential spending power, most of which has yet to be unleashed. China for example has gone to great lengths to keep it's currency far lower than the market would, depressing it's citizens spending power.

The other thing that came across was the almost violent pride, that has developed in in China and it's similar in India-- which is starting to be seen in the exploding interest in Asian art.



I wonder about the place American Art, now plays in art history and the art market. In the post war world, we were the sun, everything seemed to revolve around us, especially the art market. The message in art history books was that all the paths of history lead to us, which was funny since a lot of the modernist movement, came from artists inspired by non western art.



Here's a story in The Washington Post about the same trend in India.

"The world art market first took fleeting notice of modern Indian art in the 1990s. A critical appreciation emerged only in the past six to seven years. In February, Sotheby's sold about half a dozen Indian contemporaries along with works by Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon.

Analysts say the enthusiasm coincides with the world's growing attention to Asia.

"There is a new de-centeredness that has come into play in the art world. And it coincides with the so-called rise of the rest, which means vocalization of positions and perspectives that differ from the Western position," said Gayatri Sinha, an art critic."

Interesting to see how this plays out.

Art Bloggers Wanted

Pittsburgh's art scene is really to big for this blog to cover right now and I need to spend more time making art. We are looking for more people will and eager to document regional shows, music events and theater and talk about life and culture in the region. If you think you can post at least once a week on average and have something to say about the scene here(beyond just that you are the world's best artist)-- please contact us and perhaps send us a link to your current blog and writing. Single guest posts might also be considered but the focus is to have a steady base of contributors.

Pittsburgh Art Events: 8/22-23/08.

Sorry that I'm getting a bit of a late start on this one. I just got back from my very first trip to Buffalo, which had a lot more going on than one might expect. I'll post a bit about that during the next few days on Serendipity. Meanwhile, back home in the jewel of the Rust Belt, I'm gearing up for a couple of can't-miss art events this weekend.

Friday

Yes, indeed. This is the very first art exhibition I will have ever attended at a bowling alley. Simultaneously this will also be the first time I have ever shown one of my own works at a bowling alley. On Friday night, between 6 and 9PM, you can witness the "First Showing" of Art Goes Bowling at Arsenal Lanes in Lawrenceville. Curator and gadfly Zombo asked 100 artists to transform 100 beat-up bowling pins, and the results will be displayed to the musical accompaniment of "The Whips". This will be the group's debut performance, and Zombo claims they sound like the Velvet Underground meets the Cramps. That actually sounds enticing.

I don't know what the others have done to their pins, but I promise that my creation will be one of the most low-rent spectacles available for viewing (and for sale- all pins are $25 each). Truth be told, I have seen a couple of pieces by Eric Luden... very nice indeed! I got a glimpse of them (and a few more) at Lucky, the Painproof Man's performance last weekend. If you weren't there for it, you really missed out. It turns out that Lucky has spent time with The Coney Island Circus Sideshow, and the experience is evident in the rapport he develops with his audience. He had the free funnel cakes and popcorn he gave out earlier churning in bystander stomachs. He's reprising his schtick on August 30th, at 6PM at the Zombo Gallery.

Saturday

Have you gotten your tickets to Pittsburgh's annual premiere art party? The Sprout Fund's Hothouse has steadily earned the reputation as one of the best events of the year. This installment brings a full bill of entertainment. Musical acts include Ben Opie's "The Braxton Project", River City 6 brass band, J. Malls, Lucid Music, Harangue, Hands Down, Assembly, Joy Ike, the Grackles, Keeb $, Pandemic and DJ Selecta. There's also a vaudeville carnival production by the Zafira Dance Company... and lots of great food and drinks provided by local establishments like brillobox, Double Wide Grill, Dozen, East End Food Co-op, Enrico Biscotti, The Pennsylvania Brewing Co., big Catering, etc.

But you don't go to Hothouse for the refreshments. The reason for the Sprout Fund's existence is its support of many local entities that work to make our city a better place. Hothouse showcases all of the stuff that the organization has helped to fund over the year. This includes such a diverse range of products and activities that I hesitate to even choose highlights. Suffice it to say, the following featured displays are personal priorities for me this Saturday night: Fe Gallery's preview for In the Making: 250 Years, 250 Artists, the Dr. Sketchy drawing session, the unveiling for the models of the Industrial Arts Co-op sculpture, the life-sized issue of The Original, Unsmoke System's multimedia show, large-scale Gigapan prints of previous Sprout Fund public art, and the sustainability games of Creative Reuse.

Don't forget that Hothouse is a fundraiser. General Admission is $50 at the door (which admits you from 9PM-Midnight). But if you have some extra cash ($150), you can also attend the VIP reception that runs from 7-9PM. And there's a silent auction offering up objects donated by the likes of Bricolage, the Carnegie Museum of Art, City Theater, Dance Alloy, Encyclopedia Destructica, Quantum Theater, WYEP 91.3, and artists like Mike Budai, David Montano, Josh Tonies and yours truly. The location for this year's Hothouse is the upper floors of The Union Trust Building at 501 Grant Street in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Well Earned Stroke Fest

For it's 250Th anniversary, I guess the Heinz History Center produced this endless but true compilation of things done in Pittsburgh first.

I think there is at least one stretch with claim to have been the birthplace of the ironclad warship.

"The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire, was launched by the French Navy in 1859;[2] she prompted the British Royal Navy to start building ironclads. After the first clashes of ironclads took place during the American Civil War, it became clear that the ironclad had replaced the unarmored line-of-battle ship as the most powerful warship afloat.[3]"

Still, Pittsburgh had the first major integrated steel mill, was the birthplace of the Aluminum industry and innovations like the railroad air brake. Pittsburghers also began the modern oil industry; the national library system was started here as well as the nuclear power industry.

What Is Chapter 9 Bankruptcy?

One of the big fears in the markets right now is the very real risk of a number of municipal bond defaults. Sadly, few stories on the subject fail to mention Pittsburgh which offers a menu of at risk debt, from the Transit Authority, Sports and Exhibition Authority or from the city itself. Null Space has followed this depressing subject. The city has a staggering pension shortfall of close to or over a billion dollars. (the city insists it's only 899 million short.)

One thing one learns is that under the law, governments really never have to pay their bills.

"Section 904 limits the power of the bankruptcy court to "interfere with – (1) any of the political or governmental powers of the debtor; (2) any of the property or revenues of the debtor; or (3) the debtor's use or enjoyment of any income-producing property" unless the debtor consents or the plan so provides. The provision makes it clear that the debtor's day-to-day activities are not subject to court approval and that the debtor may borrow money without court authority. In addition, the court cannot appoint a trustee (except for limited purposes specified in 11 U.S.C. § 926(a)) and cannot convert the case to a liquidation proceeding.

The court also cannot interfere with the operations of the debtor or with the debtor's use of its property and revenues. This is due, at least in part, to the fact that in a chapter 9 case, there is no property of the estate and thus no estate to administer. 11 U.S.C. § 902(1). Moreover, a chapter 9 debtor may employ professionals without court approval, and the only court review of fees is in the context of plan confirmation, when the court determines the reasonableness of the fees."

Chances are that we will all learn about the subject.

Yiddish, The Amazing Life Of A Dying Language

Today's Post had a nice story on a survey of migration of Yiddish words into English. Yiddish is a strange creature--itself a hybrid language of mostly German and Hebrew. It's also rapidly dying as a primary spoken language. But it's unique expressive qualities are causing more and more words and phrases to be used widely.

"The study aims to determine who uses Yiddish and Hebrew words and how, as well as other distinctive hallmarks of Jewish speech such as phrasing and pronunciation.

The researchers sent out their queries about a month ago, hoping for 2,000 responses. They wound up with more than 41,000 and have started analyzing the data earlier than expected. (For more information on the survey and to contact the researchers, go to www.huc.edu.)"

We need this study like a hole in the head.

Swimming Cities Of Switchback Sea

I found this video about Swoon's Hudson River floating art town.

Swoon Project Floats Down The Hudson River

The internationally known street artist known as Swoon and a group of collaborators, from musicians to writers has built another floating art project. In 2006 and 2007, their floating art city called the Miss Rockaway Armada made it's way down the Mississippi. A new project called Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea involving seven vessels built in Troy NY is making it's way down the Hudson to NY giving performances along the way. It's final landfall will be at the Deitch Studios in Long Island City, Queens, where it will stay during Swoon's NY solo.

"Dark Dark Dark provides a live score, including a work sea shanty. A film crew is following the band for “Flood,” a fictional piece that features the musicians as main characters on the Switchback Sea. The film is another example of how these artists, who come from the Bay Area, Minneapolis, Troy and Brooklyn, have created a kind of expanding collective in which one work grows and morphs into the next."

The Times story says the group resists being called hippies, but the project hearkens back to the free form collective actions and idealism of that era.



This video is about the Miss Rockaway Armada project.