Three must-see shows this weekend in SF: Parker Koo Ito’s RGB Forever show at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery; the AVATAR 4D group show at NOMA Gallery; and Rich Bott’s STILL AT LARGE STOP LAST SEEN AT MIRA MESA CHILIS STOP at 2nd Floor Projects.
Artie Vierkant
Artie Vierkant is an artist based in San Diego CA and Philadelphia PA. He is currently pursuing his MFA at UC San Diego following an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennysylvania where he studied Fine Art and the History and Sociology of Science. In addition to Hyperallergic, Artie has written for New Asshole and posted content to the UbuWeb video archive. He got this job by starting an argument with Hrag via Twitter and being just flippant enough to impress. His work and writing can be viewed at artievierkant.com.
Follow Artie on Twitter: @avierkant
Posted inArt
5 Great Works Of Internet-related Art
Far too often great art on the Internet gets lost amidst the clutter of virtual mediocrity, or simply gets far too buried in the “shared” list of your RSS aggregator of choice. We’ve done the detective work for you and present five great pieces of art that should be on your radar (or at least saved to a different Bookmarks folder) …
Posted inArt
Available Online for Free
One of the most important social, political, and artistic concerns facing us today is the question of access: our ability to share media, our ability to take ownership of or simply to view films, music, and other forms of art. In the past, non-digital and only finitely reproducible media created a certain type of economic exchange and ownership which has long been upended by file sharing. Every day millions of people download and stream films on the Internet in an alternative form of exchange more related to cultural capital than economic capital. This is a political action accomplished as easily as downloading the flat version of Avatar.
Posted inArt
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
Recently on Hyperallergic, An Xiao’s “Cover Art, or Vito Acconci Gets a Follow Back,” made the case for artists who choose to directly reference or re-stage existing artworks. She draws a comparison between derivative works and cover songs. This may be an apt comparison, but she glosses over an important fact: most cover songs are terrible.
Posted inArt
Surveillance vs. Sousveillance
In his latest edition of Hypermedia, artist Artie Vierkant explores ideas of surveillance and sousveillance in the work of artists Jill Magid, Steve Mann, Josh On, Ryan McKinley, and Trevor Paglen.
Posted inArt
Information, Aesthetics & Fun: An Interview with AIDS-3D
Hypermedia columnist Artie Vierkant interviews artists Daniel Keller and Nik Kosmas, who are more commonly known as AIDS-3D. Their work deals with a multitude of issues at the intersection of art, technology and society and they frequently employ cultural ephemera from the Internet rendered in aestheticized and irreverent ways.
Their work has been exhibited at The New Museum, PPOW, The X Initiative, Gentili Apri Berlin, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, X Biennial de Lyon, and on the Internet. They recently contributed an essay, “Hubris/Nemesis/Whatever” for Art Fag City’s IMG MGMT series.
Posted inArt
Hypermedia: Exposure
Hypermedia: Critical Issues in Contemporary Media Art is a column written by artist Artie Vierkant for Hyperallergic. Each article discusses an existing or emerging theme in practices at the intersection of electronic media and the arts, drawing from the contemporary and the historic, the pervasive and the obscure.
The Internet has bred a certain degree of cultural democratization — citizen journalism, revolts aided by the use of Twitter, the rise to fame of Soul’ja Boy, etc. The same is true to a degree in art, but for the most part older methods of working stay cribbed in older methods of distribution.
Posted inBooks
DIWhy? A Review of New Asshole, Issue 1.2
The second issue of Manya Scheps’ quarterly critical journal New Asshole launched on the internet recently in .pdf format. The journal, a self-described “DIY critique of DIY,” focuses primarily on goings on among the collective and community-based art scenes in Philadelphia. (Full disclosure–this is a scene I only recently left to pursue a graduate degree, and an article of mine was published in the first issue. It was a piece of writing that the editor copy & pasted off of my blog without my prior knowledge.)
New Asshole succeeds, however, in not limiting its scope to the politics of the art scene and extends its grasp to act as a sounding board for critical inquiry within the community. Put simply, it exists to call artists and collectives to task, creating a forum where “DIY,” “hip,” or “rad” art can be discussed critically and held accountable.