Documentation from a performance, B!RDBRA!N, at The Blackbox on January 22, 2012 for the Pacific Standard Time Public Art & Performance Festival.

“No general idea, not one idea, but an accumulation of details. One detail after another. All the time, without interruption or pauses”. —Guy de Cointet, 1979

Alex was an African Grey Parrot and the subject of a thirty-year Avian Language EXperiment (hence, his name) that set out to prove that birds can reason on a basic level and use words creatively. Alex consistently demonstrated an ability to learn symbolic and conceptual tasks often associated with complex cognitive and communication skills. The animal psychologist who worked with Alex for 30 years, Dr. Irene Pepperberg, claimed that Alex used a two-way communications code and could identify 50 different objects and recognize quantities up to six; that he could distinguish seven colors and five shapes, and understand various spatial concepts. Alex showed surprise and anger, and could add, to a limited extent. He even understood the concept of zero. Alex died suddenly and unexpectedly on September 6, 2007. His last words to Pepperberg were: “You be good. I love you.” Pepperberg’s research remains controversial, with some skeptics maintaining that Alex’s apparent mastery of language revealed nothing more than a very sophisticated version of conditioned responses.

Late last month, the beloved Los Angeles artist and teacher Franklyn Liegel was found unresponsive in his studio. An autopsy later confirmed the immediate cause of death was a heart attack.

More info here

See them in Los Angeles at MOCA

About this project

Social awareness is alive in the streets of downtown Los Angeles…as a parade! On Sunday, October 2, 2011, at 11 am the streets of downtown Los Angeles will erupt in a parade of local artists and residents, complete with music, dancing and performance. The parade celebrates the culmination of Trespass, a collaborative project between Arto Lindsay, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and West of Rome Public Art. Help us make the revitalized historic Broadway come alive for this celebration of art, music, dance and community activism.

Trespass has commissioned over 60 Los Angeles-based artists to produce a statement—their call to action, pleasure and reciprocity. The statements printed on T-shirts in English and in Spanish will be worn as part of the parade. With the t-shirts serving as our unofficial uniforms, free speech will resound in the voices of the most influential contemporary artists, the youth of our time, and the diverse L.A. public.

Amazing performance artists, philosophers, musician, sound wizards and dancers, will make this an unforgettable moment for the cultural life in the streets of downtown L.A.

Trespass invites us all to gather in this time of world turmoil and change to rise up and speak out in spectacle.

Keep public art alive and keep us marching on! Donate Now so we reach our goal of 2,600 ft! Just $5 moves the float 1 whole foot! Trespass!

This project has been created to coincide with the opening of Pacific Standard Time, a collaboration of more than 60 cultural institutions across Southern California, who are coming together this fall for the first time to celebrate the birth of the L.A. art scene.

http://trespassparade.org/

Participating artists include Eleanor Antin, Edgar Arceneaux, Lisa Anne Auerbach, John Baldessari, Walead Beshty, Andrea Bowers, Nancy Buchanan, Chris Burden, Vaginal Davis, Sam Durant, Charles Gaines, Cheri Gaulke, Amy Gerstler, Piero Golia ,Alexandra Grant, Matt Greene, Julian Hoeber, Alex Israel, Glenn Kaino, Dawn Kasper, Mike Kelley, Chris Kraus, Barbara Kruger, Joel Kyack, Suzanne Lacy, Liz Larner, William Leavitt, Sharon Lockhart, Ann Magnuson, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Dave Muller, T. Kelly Mason, My Barbarian, Yoshua Okón, Jorge Pardo, Stephen Prina, Steve Roden, Nancy Rubins, Sterling Ruby, Aaron Sandnes, Jim Shaw, Susan Silton, Stephanie Taylor, Diana Thater, Kaari Upson, Jeffrey Vallance, Marnie Weber, Pae White, Terry Wolverton…

Oliver Payne meets Theotis Beasley — the nicest skateboarder since Rodney Mullen.

Throughout the season return for a game of chess, roundtable discussions, workshops, and other free events. Find out more at: www.icaphila.org/excursus

The Red Krayola - Hamburg and Berlin 2011

9/30/11 Kampnagel - Hamburg, Germany
10/1/11 Hebbel Am Ufer - Berlin, Germany

Temporary bookshop and exhibition
July 21 — August 25, 2011
Reception: Thursday, July 21, 6-8pm
Organized by Textfield, Inc.

Creatures of Comfort
205 Mulberry St.
New York, NY 10012
www.creaturesofcomfort.us

Creatures of Comfort New York is pleased to present No More Reality, a temporary bookshop and exhibition organized by Textfield, Inc. The bookshop and exhibition will take place in Creatures of Comfort’s adjacent project space at 205 Mulberry St.

In conjunction with the bookshop, which will feature current and archived titles from Textfield Distribution, there will be an exhibition of work by artists that Jonathan Maghen has collaborated with through Textfield to realize various publishing projects. The exhibition will feature the works of Phil Chang, Arthur Ou, Eduardo Sarabia, and Anna Sew Hoy.

The bookshop and exhibition title have been appropriated from the Philippe Parreno work, No More Reality (the demonstration), 1991, which is a four-minute video of children demonstrating, and chanting the slogan and title (“No More Reality”).

FREE all ages dance party, rock show and soiree!

Debut event, featuring:
Lucky Dragons
DJ Jimi Hey
Savory and sweet melon snacks and drinks from Eden Bakti’s Herbal Eden

Conveniently scheduled between afternoon nap and bathtime, this intergenerational mixer aims to let moms, dads and friends get loose, and for baby to do her thing!

I.M.A.H.A.N.H: Sunday, July 3, 3-7pm

Tagbanger· 06/22/11

Zuma, 1977

In conjunction with our residency at the Serpentine Gallery’s Centre for Possible Studies, the Bidoun Library is presenting a program of two films drawn from our collaboration with the online archive UbuWeb this Wednesday, June 8.

The program will be introduced by Masoud Golsorkhi, editor of Tank magazine.

Wednesday June 8, 2011
7-9pm
Free!

Centre for Possible Studies
64 Seymour Street
London W1H 5BW

Bahman Maghsoudlou
Ardeshir Mohasses & His Caricatures
1972
20 min

A short documentary about Ardeshir Mohasses (1938-2008) featuring rare footage of the Iranian artist in his studio in Iran before his self-imposed exile to New York, which was to last over thirty years. Mohasses’ anti-Shah and anti-Islamic Republic cartoons used settings and costumes of the Qajar dynasty (1794 to 1925) — a misdirection that fooled no one. The film features commentary from Iranian intellectuals of the time, including Houshang Taheri, Javad Mojabi, and Fereidoun Gilani. Mohasses, a man of few words, is noticeably mute throughout.

Kamran Shirdel
The Night It Rained
1967
35min

In northern Iran, a schoolboy from a village near Gorgan is said to have discovered that the railway had been washed away by a flood. When he saw the approaching train — so the story goes — he set fire to his jacket, ran toward the train, and averted a serious and fatal accident. Kamran Shirdel’s film The Night it Rained does not concentrate on the heroic deed promulgated in the newspapers, but on a caricature of social and subtle political behavior — the way in which witnesses and officials manage to insert themselves into the events. Shirdel uses newspaper articles and interviews with railway employees, the governor, the chief of police, the village teacher and pupils — each of whom tell a different version of the event. In the end, they all contradict one another, while the group of possible or self-appointed heroes constantly grows. With his cinematic sleights of hand, Shirdel paints a bittersweet picture of an Iranian society in which truth, rumor, and lie can no longer be distinguished.

June 24 - July 2, 2011

QUEERING SEX is a performance and video exhibition that features the work of artists who are dealing with gender and sexuality. This cross-generational, trans-historical video program explores sex and sexuality via ideas and actions related to performance, and thereby highlighting a relationship between performativity and identity. The exhibition includes the participation of over 40 artists from Los Angeles, New York, and abroad.

QUEERING SEX needs your support please visit the kickstarter page to help bring this project to Los Angeles!!

thanks Nate

Thanks Jimi

We will be opening for Sebadoh at the first show of their 2011 tour.
Flyer by Tom Watson.
Sculpture by Caroline Thomas & Patrick Walsh.