View current page
...more recent posts
Matt Harle's new work, seen and photographed in his Navy Yard work space. This is great stuff, roughly made but sophisticated sculptures in which a mylar scrim hides some mysterious inner structure made of paint and cut wood. Mysterious, but as Harle says, not obfuscating, since it is possible to puzzle out exactly what's inside the scrim by looking through angular holes and vertical slits on the sides.
Harle describes these screens, which slow down and confound vision, as creating a twilight-like condition of uncertainty, even under the bright lights of the gallery. Multiple associations are not just possible but inevitable--ship sails, tree branches, cellular organisms, totemic objects. Yet everything about them is considered, from a materials standpoint. This is better work than so much of what was on view in PS1's "Greater New York 2005." What's wrong with the gatekeepers? Where are they?
"Posse on Greenwich" [mp3 removed]. If drum and bass were played on a rhythm box with a "clap channel." I would have added a bass line but my CPU was maxing out. I'm starting to conclude that bass lines bore me, anyway.
Snapshots of a flood in Ohio, looks like from the '50s, (re)posted from Ebay by Bill Schwarz. This apocalyptic shot suggests World War II devastation and/or Max Ernst's Europe After the Rain, with a few unfortunate jpeg artifacts. I tweaked the contrast in the quest for ultimate artiness (and so you can see it better).
"Two Inch Nails" [mp3 removed]. Continuing what seems to be a micro-industrial theme. I had written a controller curve that made the mid-range percussion build and lapse in complexity a couple of times, but the MIDI learn went haywire and those "wah wah" sweeps with the cutoff filter in this version were completely accidental. I didn't notice the difference till after I posted it; I went back to the master file and fiddled with some settings to "fix" it, and now I can't duplicate the wah wah exactly. So this file is unique. Who said machines were about precision?
Just took a scary spill on my bicycle: the bolt holding the seat on snapped in two (see my photo above) throwing me off balance and into a high speed dive to the pavement. One wrist got bruised; I don't think it's too bad but ask me tomorrow. I managed to roll and shift my weight so my butt took most of the impact. The pedestrians across the street on the sidewalk were mightily freaked out seeing this dramatic fall and I had to reassure them. If a car had been behind me, well...
I guess I could threaten the bike company but seeing as it's a nineteen year old machine and I've stood on the pedals putting weight against the seat-sides probably a million times, it's my own f*ing fault for not foreseeing this (the Republican way: blame the victim, blame yourself...) The question now is, what other ticking time bombs await? New bike or new bolt?
From the New York Times:
An antiwar speech by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq, was cut short yesterday after the organizer of the event was arrested and police officers confiscated his audio equipment.From Steve Gillard:
The claps and cheers that had greeted Ms. Sheehan's arrival at the rally in Union Square quickly turned to furious chants of "Let her speak!" as officers ushered away the organizer, Paul Zulkowitz, who the police said lacked audio permits for the event.
This was cleared with City Hall, because no cop is politically ignorant enough to do this on his own. You think Ray Kelly was surprised by this? You think this was done behind Bloomberg's back?UPDATE: An anonymous commenter opines that "they could have just gotten the permits." According to the announcer at the event (and other accounts I've read) the organizers tried repeatedly to get them and were rebuffed by the City. That's how free speech is denied in NYC. It must be nice to live in a bubble and think the loss of our liberties is only a problem for people too dumb to do the paperwork.
Hell no. They have been harassing Critical Mass for two years. They have tried to block protests and shunt them to Randalls Island or the West Side Highway since 2002.
Do you want four more years of this?
Cindy Sheehan was protected by the Crawford sheriff. She was silenced by the NYPD.
That's pretty fucking shameful.
Bloomberg acts like a Democrat when it comes time to placate people. But he's a control freak Republican when it comes to Bush and national policy.
Remember, protecting the grass of the Great Lawn is more important than free speech, unless Disney wants to rent it.
So tell me again how Freddie Ferrer is a party hack. Because I think it is highly unlikely these policies would continue. Bloomberg has fought every protest which would make the GOP look bad.
I guess he wants to protect his $7m investment. The question is do you?
The online forum Wired New York has found my 2003 post on Lord Norman Foster's "finished" Hearst Tower design. That sucker is almost complete now, standing proud and ludicrous among the parapets of the lower Columbus Circle area. Much as I like the top, "modern" part of the project, it looks as incongruous in real life sitting on that Deco pedestal as it did in the plans--exemplifying what Herbert Muschamp called "parabuildings" and Bill Schwarz more accurately calls "spaceships on rooftops."