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Interesting factoid I just learned: Cory Arcangel, whose hacked Nintendo cartridge piece Japanese Driving Game is depicted in the GIF above, is a relative of Pop artist Allan D'Arcangelo. Not sure the exact kinship--a cousin, but no one in the family's exactly sure how many steps removed. D'Arcangelo passed away in the '90s (and since we're talking about a distant cousin, this isn't a story of art world dynasty building, much as that might disappoint the dish-minded); some images via google are below. A frequent theme of D'Arcangelo's was road signs and American auto culture. The affinity between his art and the above piece of Arcangel's--which subtracted the cars from an '80s video game leaving the highway, signage, and surrounding landscape--is amusing. D'Arcangelo isn't as well known as Lichtenstein or Warhol, but I've always liked his work. He's one of those "impure Pop" artists, like John Wesley, whose personal style usually peeks out from behind the genre's bland corporate facade.
Update: According to family members Allan is Cory's great uncle.
New media/infoTech/social activist non-profit the THING recently moved to new headquarters in what they're calling the Death Star, the big AT&T building at 6th and Walker in NYC. Rebelling against the bourgeoise strictures of documentary photography that tyrannically emphasize "clarity," Robbin Murphy shot these photos of the Nov. 9 housewarming (and welcome for residency artists Jan Gerber and Daniel Pflumm). Heisenberg, call your photo lab.
Less probabilistic are these views inside the Death Star, the erstwhile manual switching center for the former phone monopoly, which appears to be mostly gutted and is being renovated as a newer-media telecommunications complex (besides THING headquarters, it will host various co-location facilities, such as The Hub at 32 Sixth, described by the developer as follows:
The Hub at 32 Sixth is a true carrier-neutral, co-location and interconnection facility that boasts a robust and growing number of communication providers. Strategically located on the 24th floor of 32 Avenue of the Americas, The Hub has quickly become the primary point of convergence for all buyers and sellers of bandwidth in the New York Metro area. Its co-location facility currently hosts nearly 40 terrestrial carriers and a growing portfolio of content providers, ISPs, and enterprise tenants, as well as an expanding range of wireless providers, making The Hub the interconnection power house.)