Tag: art/Archives

XKCD Comics

From XKCD, “a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language,” this one’s titled “Listen to Yourself:”

Jack Straw Artist Programs

Artist Support Program logoNW audio artists, you have til Oct’s end to submit your Jack Straw Productions – 2008 Artist Programs Applications:

THE JACK STRAW ARTIST RESIDENCY PROGRAMS offer established and emerging artists in diverse disciplines an opportunity to explore the creative use of sound in a professional atmosphere through residencies in our recording studios and participation in our various presentation programs. You may apply to more than one artist program, but must submit a complete and separate set of applications for each program.

Preventive Maintenance Monthly

Magazine cover with woman asking: Done Any LatelyPreventive Maintenance Monthly (now digitized at VCU libraries) was an Army pub started in 1951 and drawn by comic artist Will Eisner, with comically beautiful service babes asking accusing questions like “Who didn’t check out these parts before taking them off the equipment?” And offering vital SOPs like:

Magazine drawing on cleaning battery terminals

PostSecret

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.”
PostSecret postcard- I secretly hope you're going to be miserable. But even more secretly I hope you're going to be happy.

Frank Warren came up the concept, catalogs the cards, and created a community.
PostSecret postcard- To the man who held my hand and made sure my son was okay when I totalled my car 9 years ago, I'm sorry I didn't ask your name, but I will never forget your kindness.

Frank Warren has been on NPR’s WE-SAT and ATC. And PostSecret has spawned a swarm of of books and flock of videos. These animated PostSecret cards accompany Donora‘s song “Shhh” in the film “PostSecret – A Valentine Video:”

Sound Sculptures

Advanced Beauty is an ongoing exploration of digital artworks born and influenced by sound…is an ever-growing collaboration between programmers, artists, animators and architects. The first release will be a collection of Audio-Visual Sound Sculptures, on High Definition DVD and 5:1 Surround Sound. “

And, if you happen to be in Sheffield England in early May, you can attend a premier of these sound sculptures at the Showroom Cinema.

I’ve included a preview of the sound sculptures below:

ItSpace

Objects from ItSpaceMySpace has pages for people, places, and now things. Composer Peter Traub has started ItSpace, a participatory sound project. “ItSpace pages feature everyday household objects. Each page has a photo of the object, a description, and most importantly, a 1-minute piece of music composed of recordings of the object being struck and resonated in various.” A story by Jesse Dukes on NPR Day to Day, “Objects Sing at Itspace” (5:04) mp3):

Frozen Grand Central

Improv Everywhere, suppliers of slo-mo Home Depot shoppers , have an improved improv, Frozen Grand Central:

Over 200 Improv Everywhere Agents froze in place at the exact same second for five minutes in the Main Concourse of Grand Central Station. Over 500,000 people rush through Grand Central every day, but today, things slowed down just a bit as commuters and tourists alike stopped to notice what was happening around them.


Pix, video and blog at Improv Everywhere; their slogan: “We Cause Scenes.”

Vienna Vegetable Orchestra

tomatoesFrom their site: “The Vegetable Orchestra performs music solely on instruments made of vegetables. Using carrot flutes, pumpkin basses, leek violins, leek-zucchini-vibrators, cucumberophones and celery bongos, the orchestra creates its own extraordinary and vegetabile sound universe. The ensemble overcomes preserved and marinated sound conceptions or tirelessly re-stewed listening habits, putting its focus on expanding the variety of vegetable instruments, developing novel musical ideas and exploring fresh vegetable sound gardens.”

From their automate CD, here’s an excerpt of “cut 2” (1:03 mp3):

Some Assembly Required

SARlogoHappy Birthday to radio’s Some Assembly Required on their 9th year of ops and 200th broadcast. Since 1999 sound artist Jon Nelson (of Escape Mechanism) has hosted the series, which “features work by a variety of artists and groups who work with bits and pieces of their media environments, giving something back to the cultural landscape from which they so enthusiastically appropriate.”

The SAR blog has many interviews with mash- & cut-up, and other audio artists.

Carl Warner- Food Fetish Fotos

WFMU’s Blog has a post on Carl Warner’s food-photo-landscapes. “Everything you see in these images can be found in the kitchen. Photographer Carl Warner has painstakingly incorporated all kinds of food into a series of still lifes:”

Carl Warner photo of food arranged into a landscape

“The road is paved with cumin, bread mountain off in the distance, peas hang from broccoli trees and cauliflower clouds adorn the heavens:”

Carl Warner photo of food arranged into a landscape

rattle cans

If art/beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder then this guy can tag my building anytime. Learn more at http://www.banksy.co.uk

Banksy’s Wet Dog
Wet Dog by Banksy

Banksy’s Ratapult
Ratapult by Banksy

New Bansky book: Wall and Piece.

Closer to home the City of Bozeman has finally had ENOUGH (they became very interested in graffiti after one of their own buildings was damn near wrecked by rattle can vandals)

Tomorrow night (1/28) at their regular meeting the Bozeman City Commission will respond to this:
The Old Bozeman Library, tagged

With this:
*Consider creating and staffing a Vandalism and Graffiti Task Force consisting of one staff liaison, one representative of the Downtown Partnership, one representative of the Bozeman Police Department, one representative of the local business community, one representative of the INC, and one representative of the Bozeman School District to direct and perform public outreach and education, study possible mitigation measures and long-term solutions, and make future recommendations to the City Commission.

Xmas Light Shows

Christmas in Frisco Square 2007 Light Show:
Jeff Trykoski‘s 65,000 computer-controlled music-synced lights are in Frisco, TX. The music is broadcast to passing vehicles over a low-power FM transmitter. More xmas moving lights after the jump. More…