jody zellen

Comm Lab Final

2007-12-09T17:52:00.000-08:00

here is my final flash
www.jodyzellen.com/a_life

I also worked on this
www.jodyzellen.com/comic

and this
www.jodyzellen.com/oog_news

Art Dec 8

2007-12-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

First stop was the studio museum in harlem where there is an exhibition by the LA artist Kori Newkirk. It presents works form the last 10 years (1997-2007) and focuses on the beaded images as there are numerous works from the bead series in the exhibition. These works translate photographic images of the skyline, trees and landscape into threads of plastic beads. The beads become pixels and while the images are indentifiable, they are also disentegrated. Works in other mediums, pomade, video, collage and neon sculptures are also on view.

From there it was back to Chelsea to see Nina Katchadourian's video installation at Sara Meltzer. Inthe back room a 14 screen multi-channel work explored human and animal relationships, the confines zoo animals are kept in, and the attempt to make their domesticated habitats similar to their natural environments.

At Silverstein an exhibition entitled HOW TO HUNT features work by and Trine SondergaardNicolai Howait who photograph hunters in the lush Danish landscape. At first glance it seems possible but on close examination it becomes evident that each image is a composite of numerous shots that have been photoshopped together. The use of photoshop ...how dows it change things and with images that are heavily photoshopped...does it become more about that than the picture?

At Zwirner there was Jason Rhodes final work an installation entitled Black Pussy. It seems to be more about the happening that ocured than about the individual works left to view. A second visit to Thomas Ruff's blown up jpg images was a treat. They are beautiful and while they are about digital manipulation, it seems to be the point.

It was tragic to visit two exhibitions of young artists who recently died. Jeremy Blakes work continues to draw me in and appears fresh no matter how many times I see it.

Redacted

2007-12-09T10:32:00.000-08:00

Redacted is a film by Brian DePalma that uses an incident where soldier committed a rape as its point of departure. What was interesting about the film, even though it was scripted and acted, was that it presented points of view of different mediated media. the soldiers own videos, surveillance footage, documentary footage as well as web testimonials. Moral consciousness and motivations about what is right and what is wrong, even in times of war, was at the heart of the film.

I'm Not There

2007-12-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

A lover of Todd Haynes films, I was not as taken by I'm Not There as I thought I would be. The idea of representing Dylan as different individuals worked for me and I was engaged in most of the stories. I guess it just dint come together. The filing especially the black and white was beautiful.

What Would Jesus Buy

2007-12-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

What Would Jesus Buy is a film about Reverend Billy aka Billy Talen. The films follows him and his choir on a roadtrip they took across the United States preaching the idea of less consumerism. The documentary tells a story, but not one that gives enough insight into the character that reverend Billy is. I wanted to learn more about his politics, his antics and his motivation as well as more about the make up of his interesting choir.

Walter Ong

2007-12-09T10:22:00.000-08:00

Walter Ong is not a writer I was familiar with and was excited to delve into his writings. For some reason I found his prose unreadable so my comments are minimal. I guess for me the basics are between reading, interpreting and interfacing. While reading might have been new at one time, story telling was always practiced. Now we read, write and listen using the computer and our dependancy on technology has for sure changed our relationship to orality and literacy.
Storytelling is interactive as one hears what one ones, in a way, takes that and passes it along. The idea of new media allows for that possibility in that one can follow any path in a complex web of information to discern the meaning and the knowledge they are after.

Margot at the Wedding

2007-12-03T06:58:00.001-08:00

Margot at the Wedding is a films with great actors who act out, but do not do much else. It is about disfunctional relationships and coming back together to try to bridge the past with the present.

The Savages

2007-12-03T06:56:00.000-08:00

The Savages is an honest look at a disfunctional family and what happens when someone grows old and is alone. The estranged brother and sister must visit their father who they have not seen in years and put him in a nursing home. They three dont get along and each has their own issues. Its a tough film to watch yet the acting is good and it resonates long after.

Art 12/1/07

2007-12-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES
December 1, 2007–March 23, 2008
the New Museum

Well know for their online projects using rich rhythms and pulsating texts Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries has created a seven screen installation as part of the new New Museum's inaugural exhibition. The screens alternate between the vertical and horizontal formats as they span the wall. The work presents a disjointed narrative that can be read within each screen or across the seven. Using just black type on a white ground the words and letters fill the spaces as they flash on and off in time to the syncopated rhythm of the music. The carefully choreographed stories intersect one another. They begin and end in unison. These rich works are inspired by literary and cultural works as well as by film noir yet are reduced to their essentials. Using only the Monaco font the works have no images or color. Yet Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries creates an engagingly visual work through their deliberate animation of text.

Peter Paul Chocolates
Maccarone
630 Greenwich Street
November 15 - Dec 24

The Los Angeles based multi media bad-boy has done it again. This time he has created an innocent and delicious product -- a chocolate santa-- that is not quite as innocent as it seems. Paul McCarthy has transformed the Maccarone Gallery into a functioning chocolate factory that produced just one product-- a 10 inch high dark chocolate santa who holds a butt plug in his hand. Each day 1000 santas are produced and packaged ready for consumption. The exhibition is open daily to visitors who can watch the chocolateers creating the figures, mixing the syrup and pouring it into the molds. The relationship between art and commerce is evident here. The artist has transformed a large scale sculpture he created into an accessible commodity that is available to all for $100. Adults and children alike can sample the chocolate and buy the sculpture. Yet the santa is holding a butt plug. How does one explain that to children? Perhaps that is not the point. Mass production, and the creation of excess as will the 30,000 santas produced during the show's duration find a home? What happens to them later? Will the product last forever? Once the 'wow" wears off one is left with many questions about McCarthy's endeavor, yet the endearing santa begs to be enjoyed, as food and as art.

Robert Beck
How am I to Sign Myself
CRG Gallery
November 10 - Dec 22

How am I to Sign Myself is an excerpt from a letter written to James Joyce in 1904. Using that as well as a variety of psychological tests used to understand the functioning of a subject's personality Robert beck presents the culmination of 10 years of drawings a suite of works that can be referred to as "Diagnostic Drawings."

Robert Barry
Art and War
Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert
148 9th Street

In the multi-roomed space that is the Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert Gallery, Robert Barry adheres a single word created in mirrored vinyl to each wall. The words dissect the space, and are oriented in all directions. The words resonate in numerous ways. How are they seen in relation to each other? What do they signify alone. How does the title "Art and War" direct our reading of them?

Yasumasa Morimura
Luhring Augustine
531 West 24th
November 24 - December 23

Using himself as subject, Yasumasa Morimura recreates iconic photographs that illustrate historical figures and political events from the 20th century. Che as well as Hitler are presented as is Lenin and Mao and Einstein. Using well know photographic images as his source Morimura carefully recreates the scene making himself up to look like the subject. His transformation is uncanny and his ability not only to be come another but who he chooses to picture creates an interesting portrait. In a three channel video entitled "A Requiem" Mishima, 2007" Morimura reenacts Yukio Mishima's speech from 1970 that was deliver to inspire a coup d'etat. Morimura 's speech was deliver to a group of young artists rather than soldiers where he encourages them to rise up and fight the so as to not become slaves of foreign culture.

Antony Gormley
Blind Light
Sean Kelly Gallery
Gormley brings aspects of his exhibition that was presented at the Hayward Gallery in London to Sean Kelly. While the Hayward show was inclusive, this exhibition features three sculptures and the evocative Blind Light, a smoke filled room in which one looses all sense of where they are.

Charles Ray
Matthew Marks Gallery
Charles Ray presents three sculptures. A toy plow with a driver painted green, a white sculpture depicting a naked boy who sits on the floor playing with a toy car and a life size egg cracked open to show the baby bird inside.

Jim Shaw
Metro Pictures
November 20 - December 22
Dismembered human forms are the common theme in Jim Shaw’s exhibition. Shaw also shows a group of sculptures that take the form of body parts as home décor. The hybrids include an ear couch covered in blue velvet, nose wall sconces, butt-head stools and a digestive-tract wall sculpture.

Eric Wesley
Bortolami
510 West 25th Street,
November 30, 2007 - January 5, 2008
For the exhibition, Wesley has created the Spa-ference Room, the latest installment of an ongoing project called Spa-fice. Half spa, half office this environment creates a mood of simultaneous relaxation and productivity. Originally designed as a functioning apparatus for a relationship between work and rest, otium and negotium, this social machine exists only at the aesthetic crossroads of sculpture and invention. Spa-ference Room takes a celestial form as one encounters an absurdly gigantic bathrobe suspended in the atmosphere of the gallery

Golan Levin
Bitforms
Golan Levin is well known for his work in audiovisual performance and interactive software art

Urs Fischer
Gavin Brown Enterprise
October 25 - Dec 22
A huge hole in the gallery's floor

Lisa Sigal, Tent Paintings
Frederieke Taylor Gallery
535 West 22nd Street
November 29, 2007 - January 12, 2008
Lisa Sigal has been conflating building with the act of making art. Architecture becomes surface and painting can become shelter. Questioning the way in which space is measured and mediums are defined, Sigal plays with the differences between color, line, signage and wall until all things are seemingly equal.

Comm Lab Final Idea

2007-11-27T11:51:00.000-08:00

For my final project I will go back in to Flash and work an the animation I began in which little figures from my drawings move, and populate the screen in various ways. The project is something i have ben working on since I presented it for the stop motion animation project and had developed to this stage.

www.jodyzellen.com/a_life

in the next few weeks it will continue to develop. however the fate of the figure is still unknown

Starting Out in the Evening

2007-11-26T16:26:00.000-08:00

Starting Out in the Evening is a film about an aging writer who has not published in years and a young Grad Student who wants to write a thesis about his work. Their relationship is complex and the both use each other. There is a daughter who has her own issues and a past that does not want to be talked about. Its a beautiful portrait of some aspects of NYC but not the movie I thought it would be.

Physical Computing Final Documentation

2007-11-26T16:24:00.000-08:00

To view the documentation for the final project for physical computing click here

Comm Lab After Effects

2007-11-26T16:22:00.000-08:00

In After Effects - just a low resolution movie.
To view
click here

This is another one (original is 1.4 GB)
click here

Comm Lab Movie

2007-11-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

Eddie, Kim and I created this movie.

to see the low resolution version

click here

American Gangster

2007-11-25T15:00:00.001-08:00

American Gangster starring Russell Crow and Denzel Washington is a fast moving story about those on both sides of the law.

No Country for Old Men

2007-11-25T14:58:00.000-08:00

No Country for Old Men is a violent film. A slow moving western of sorts about revenge and power.

Elizabeth

2007-11-25T14:57:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth is a period drama starring Cate Blanchett at the Queen. Its the first film I saw in a while about a woman's rather than a man's struggle.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

2007-11-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

Julian Schnabel has directed a few films and each one is a masterful work of art. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is an unsettling movie as much of it is told from the poit of view of a man who is "locked in" someone who has 100% comprehension and zero movement. Based on a true story about the former editor for French Elle Magazine, this films depicts an ambitious man's struggle with not being able to be who he is and his doscovery of something else within himself. Its a beautifully shot and very powerful film.

Art in NY and in LA in NOV

2007-11-25T14:52:00.000-08:00

ART IN LA November 17 - 24.

Back in LA I immediately went to see as many shows as I could catch up on. Unfortunately much of Culver City was closed after thanksgiving.

Glen Ligon's gold paintings line the walls of Regen projects, most have the same text stenciled in the center, yet a few offer something different. The black neon in the back room catches one off guard.

Jeffrey Vallance was at Margo Leavin. More shrines.

Anna Sew Hoy's installation at Karen Lovegrove really transformed the space and was one of the most interesting shows out there.

The show at 16:1 was Joella March
She made pieces with neon and language that was quite interesting

At Bergamot Station in Santa Monica

Thordis Adalsteinsdotter made quirky paintings at Shoshana Wayne Gallery

At Craig Krull Gallery Michael Light's images of LA from the sky are always amazing to look at. Lost of lush blacks.

Rosamund Felsen had photographs by Morton Bartlett who made pictures of dolls in the 1950's. His negatives were recently rediscovered and printed. The images sexualize these playthings in an unsettling way

Anton Henning's transformation of Christopher Grimes gallery painting the walls two toned and creating lighted frames for the paintings made one look at the work in a different way.

The show at Cherry was among one of the more interesting in LA at the time. Elad Lassry's work is formal yet also conceptual.

Before LA These were some of the shows that stood out in NYC

Kirstine Roepstorff at the Drawing Center

A berlin based artist who uses found and appropriated materials to make collages that both fill walls but also exist as stand alone works. She sews pins and glues disparate images creating new contexts and meanings from the political and social materials that flood the world.

Thomas Ruff (at Zwirner) continues to use appropriated JPG images from the internet blowing them up to large size photographs that maximize the pixelated nature of the the enlargements.

Miranda Lichtenstein at Elizabeth Dee photographs and video... enigmatic and interesting

Paula Scher makes painting of maps. She begins with a real place and enhances what is there by adding her own painted commentary. the colorful works define places in new and exciting ways.

Thomas Demand at 303... seemingly more of the same but this time the place is specific. The exhibition makes reference to the location where uranium was stolen from an embassy. The political and social overtones are there but sometimes they are masked by Demand's formal presentation.

At Lehmann Maupin Do Ho Suh fils the back space with a sculpture made of small figures creating the shape of a tornado.

The collaboration between John Baldessari and Alejandro Cesarco at Murray Guy is subtle but poignant. Images with just text and color line the gallery walls. What was quoted and how both artists reacted creates a conversation between all the works on the wall.

Robert Beck's drawings at CRG caught me by suprise as I don't know his work and I was immediately taken in by the work, The images are beautiful the text poignant. These pieces can be looked at over and over again.

Art from Nov 3/4

2007-11-08T06:06:00.000-08:00

Skipping Chelsea this weekend I saw the shows that were in Soho--Ronald Feldman had Keith Cottingham who digitally created tree-like objects as photographs and videos, Deitch projects had a painting show of work by Micah Ganske, Team had a show of works by Mathew Cerletty and a video installation in the basement by Slater Bradley. The Drawing Center and Spenser Brownstone were closed for installation. I went to PS1 on Sunday and enjoyed the large piece by Tunga, The video by Francesco Vezzoli about his life and death-- a true hollywood story. The installation of the 14 segments of Berlin Alexanderplatz was a good solution to how to display it all at once, although daunting to think about watching. None of the individual works really stood out this time.

We Own The Night

2007-11-08T06:04:00.000-08:00

We Own The Night is a police drama about a family caught on both sides of the law.

Reservation Road

2007-11-08T06:03:00.000-08:00

Reservation Road is also a film about moral questions, what is right and what is wrong and how one lives with the decisions one makes.

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

2007-11-08T06:01:00.000-08:00

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead a film by Sydney Lumet about a robbery gone wrong and how it affects all involved. It keeps with the theme of movies dealing with moral questions.

Dorkbot

2007-11-08T05:58:00.000-08:00

Dorkbot held Nov 7

The presenter were:
Kuba Bakowski: TV Zero Zones
Thessia Machado: pluck or dot matrix space resonator
Rob Seward: "KILL" "RUN" "HOME" -- http://robseward.com/

Before that Vito Acconci presented a spoken word piece at the Swiss Institute. He read from recent proposals for his architecture work. Quite inspiring. A few days before that Robert Barry also had one of his spoken word pieces read. A dialogue between a man and a woman.

Comm Lab Story Board

2007-11-01T07:04:00.001-07:00

For our movie we have a narrative/abstract idea.

A figure emerges from the subway into the light
He is bombarded by language he can not understand (Chinatown shoot)
Close up of figures talking in a language he can not grasp
Image of confusion

all this is shot in hight contrast black and white

Cut to fast paced montage of sign fragments that cohere in words
This is a color montage with a jazzy sound track

The film ends back in black and white where the figure merges with a silhouette that is part of an ad. The idea being that he merges with this other world.

Gone Baby Gone

2007-10-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

Gone Baby Gone begins as a detective/cop movie about the search for a missing 4 year old girl. The single parent is not a very attentive mother and those who attempt to locate the child seem to be more caring and concerned than the girl's birth parent. The acting and the portrayals of the characters hold one's interest. The film stars Ed Harris, Casey Affleck and Morgan Freeman. And at the end we are left with a moral dilemma. That there is something to talk about at the films ends say a lot as most films I see I tend to forget as soon as the lights go on.

Klimt

2007-10-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

Klimt a film by Raul Ruiz is surreal fantasy that does not make a whole lot of sense. People like Egon Schiele as well as people who are figments of Klimt's imagination drift through the film. John Malkovich plays the artist. He flits through the film sometimes painting, sometimes drinking. The chronology never really comes together nor Klimt's motivations in painting nor in life.

Art 10/20/07

2007-10-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to the Whitney and the Guggenheim museums. Usually I see new shows as soon as they open but thats in LA. The Richard Prince show was fantastic. I had hear from other that if you saw one joke painting, you knew them all but I disagree. The formal aspects of his endeavor takes over and the installation within the small sections of the museum work incredibly well. The work layers up and down within the installation as well as within each work. While most of the work is not new to me, seeing groups --like the nurses all together gave them greater impact. As a lover of 90's appropriation it was confirming to see the early work as well as the sketches and source materials. Even the cars which are not my favorites made sense in this show.

Kara Walker at the Whitney was another show I was looking forward to and was not disappointed in. While I think her early work is stronger, especially the silhouettes on the walls, I am also interested in the animations as there i think the shapes and her narratives take on new life. The textual aspects of her work, and her willingness to open her journals or notations as art is also curious. There is a lot there to see. She also has a new show at Sikkema Gallery in Chelsea where new works--paintings and works on paper are on view. Perhaps seeing both is a bit overwhelming but the scope of her endeavor continues to impress.

The early photography show at the MET was also worth while. MOMA is in between new shows, the annual photography show was a disappontment, as none of that work seems especially new or innovative. Also fewer pieces by each artist seemed to be on view than what I remember from the past.

As for Gallery shows:

Amir Zaki
October 19 - November 21, 2007

Perry Rubenstein Gallery
527 West 23rd St
New York, NY 10011
www.perryrubenstein.com

Amir Zaki at Perry Rubenstein. Zaki continues to use the landscape of southern California as his inspiration. These works appear to be less digitally manipulated than those from recent shows, yet his digital transformations are still there. This time the take place as signage. Using the vernacular landscape of Los Angeles and its funky architecture as his source, Zaki presents churches, gas stations and other isolated buildings. At first glance everything seems normal until you look closely at the neon signs, the posters on a building's face and realize that the insignias are not what you'd expect. They are ambiguous icons that are abstract forms. The sink into the landscape and become part of the facades. What is equally interesting is what Zaki looks for, then adds to his compositions, and how he extrapolates...in this case by making sculptures based on the logos and signs in the images. These pieces, while not all that successful to me, show me that Zaki an artist who always is reaching for something more.

Joseph Zito
September 20 - October 27, 2007
Tomorrow The Birds will Sing

Lennon Weinberg
514 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001
www.lennonweinberg.com

Joseph Zito's sculptures have a nasty edge to them. Some are mechanized, and many involve children or children's playthings. A seesaw is made with an electrical current running through it. A swing has a seat that is a bed of sharp nails. Cast Iron replicas of the blow up pillows that surround children's arms so they will not drown are left to rust in an abandoned pool. The work is sinister, yet playful.

Ugo Rondinone
Big Mind Sky
September 15 - October 27

Matthew Marks Gallery
523 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

Ugo Rondinone is a swiss artists whose large sculpted head and small paintings on canvas of urban setting are a curious juxtaposition but one inspiring to me. The paintings on burlap leave the edges exposed so the painting only take splace in a small area. The line drawings are sketchy and delicate.

Wolfgang Tillmans
Atair
october 20 - November 24, 2007

Andrea Rosen Gallery
525 West 24th Street
new York, NY 10011
www.rosengallery.com

Wolfgang Tillmans' photographs some frames, some taped to the wall, some of people some of places work together in ways the individual images do not. There is content that is often explained through context. Yet there is the pure pleasure of looking as well.

Carlos Motta
The Leningrad Trilogy
October 19 - November 17

Winkleman Gallery
637 West 27th STreet
New York, NY 10001
www.winkleman.com

Carlos Motta's exhibition is formally elegant and conceptually complex. In a 3-channel video installation and a series of 36 photographic diptychs, Motta presents a thought-provoking meditation on the history and the monuments of Lenigrad. The photographs juxtapose the past and the present while the videos range from a poetic meditation to interviews with people on the streets.

Isaac Julien
WESTERN UNION: Small Boats
26 October - 17 November 2007

Metro Pictures
519 West 24th Street
New York NY 10011
www.metropicturesgallery.com

Isaac Julien’s film installation is a multi room multi channel meditation on migration and the hope for a better life.

Rendition

2007-10-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

Rendition had great cast and from that it seemed like a movie worth seeing. A political thriller about torture and terrorism, I guess that theme is old hat. It could have been better. It held my interest but I was expecting more.

Computational Media Midterm

2007-10-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

My midterm for computational media is a work in progress. It begins with a grid of color images. upon a click they become black and white. upon another click the images double in size. upon the next click they fill the screen one at a time. Next would be they become line drawings. I also plan to add a RSS feed of news headlines in red type to each image. hopefully i can get that to work. I also have to work on the proxy as so far no matter where i post it, on my site or on the NYU server it still does not work.

to view it on nyu click here.

Physical Computing Midterm Assignment

2007-10-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

Documentation for our midterm assignment is here

Comm Lab Flash Animation

2007-10-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

This is your life
a flash animation for com lab
to view click here

Art update

2007-10-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the best Art I saw was not created by any person but was nature. The change in weather, the cool temperature and the color of the fall leaves was awe inspiring. The deep blue of the sky and the formation of birds in flight as well as the dark of the night and the illumination of the sky by the stars was really a work of art.

Before going to the country I saw Jillian McDonald's show at Moti Hasson Gallery that is up through Nov 11. Jillian inserts herself into horror films. Its really worth a trip to the gallery to see the work 535 W 25th street. Click here for Jillian's page at the gallery.

I also went to the shows that opened on 27th street. More about that soon.

Lars and the Real Girl

2007-10-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

Lars and the Real Girl is a film about a man who buys an inflatable woman. Its the story of his relationship with her and how those around him treat him, and her and why. Although the premise is convoluted it is much better than I would have imagined.

Control

2007-10-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

Control is a film about the band Joy Division and its lead singer. It is beautifully shot in black and white. It tells the story of his struggles and eventual suicide in 1980 at the age of 23.

On Chesil Beach

2007-10-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan.

Computational Media Assignment 6

2007-10-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

Assignment 6
click here to view code for the work. The code wont run without the arduino however. just imagine the figure moving on the x and y axis and then changing colors. wow!

Comm Lab animation

2007-10-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

without sound

with sound

Comm Lab garage band

2007-10-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

Corey and I created this piece using garage band.

click here

we could call it Hugo's Ball.

It was inspired by a sound poem by Hugo Ball. Hugo Ball was a German author and poet born in 1886. He was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire whose memeber also included: Tristan Tzara, Hans Arp, Marcel Janco and Richard Huelsenbeck. According to Hugo Ball, inventor of dadaist phonetic poetry, "we must withdraw into the deepest alchemy of words, reserving to poetry its most sacred ground."

For more sound poems by Ball and other great stuff visit ubu.com

Computational Media Assignment 5

2007-10-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

This one does not work in the browser for some reason, and is still a work in progress.
click here to view work

Michael Clayton

2007-10-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

Michael Clayton was good. George Clooney can hold his own. Tom Wilkinson is fantastic. They story, as always is about suits and their cover-ups, but enjoyable none the less.

Art for the first week of October

2007-10-08T06:31:00.000-07:00

Daniel Joseph Martinez
DIVINE VIOLENCE
October 5 – November 3, 2007

The Project
37 W 57th Street
3rd Floor New York, NY 10019
www.elproyecto.com "In “Divine Violence,” Daniel Joseph Martinez presents 128 gold paintings from a continuing research project aimed at naming all the groups in the world currently attempting to enforce politics through violence. In direct reference to religious icons, where the gilded background serves as a sign of divine grace, the paintings in “Divine Violence” are gold-colored panels featuring the hand-painted names of the radical political groups.

The transformation of the gallery space into a secular space of contemplation brings to mind Rothko’s chapel, and the installation functions as a commemoration and a record. Neither is the series encyclopedic, but instead it is an ever-growing rhizome of political terror. The artist acknowledges that the ongoing project is quixotic: his list currently runs to 1700 such groups, and the names are in a constant flux, so a final list is impossible. In that sense, “Divine Violence” is like a frozen glimpse of a chaotic process, and a view of aesthetics existing hand in hand with fear."

Lida Abdul
What We Saw Upon Awakening
October 4–November 17, 2007
Location One
http://www.location1.org/

'In What We Saw Upon Awakening the artist has created a surreal vision of the de-construction of a ruin. Remarkable for its compositional beauty and restraint, this film is a meditation on the aftermath of war, exposing the tangled after shocks of destruction, acceptance and renewal. In six minutes of classically framed and beautifully conceived cinematic shots, we watch as a group of men pull in a united effort on long white ropes, straining under this Herculean task. Slowly we grow aware that the ropes are tied to the stone walls of an actual house destroyed by a recent bombing in Kabul, which the men are striving to pull down. At first their efforts seem puny and ineffectual against impossible odds; their actions become a metaphor of all survivors’ attempt to deal with the devastation of war. Later the film ends with a burial ritual, symbolizing closure and a moment of communal healing when the ruins are finally put to rest so that life can begin anew."

Carsten Nicolai
Static Balance
October 5 - November 3, 2007
Pace Wildenstein
www.pacewildenstein.com

"In static balance (2007) ambient noise bounces off the surface of parabolic mirrors producing an acoustic field of varying density according to your location within the installation. A second work, fades (2006), mixes mathematical equations—primarily sine functions—and computer-generated images into a gradual increase and decrease of light intensity. White noise fills the space, and the light beams’ three dimensional qualities are accentuated by lingering stands of mist. static parabol 1 and static parabol 2 are two large horizontal wall works measuring 6 ½ feet by 13 feet. Without sound these static works evoke the pure pattern of their mathematical design."

Chiem and Read - I Am As You Will Be The Skeleton in Art
September 20 - November 3, 2007
www.cheimread.com/current

This is a group exhibition featuring works by more than 30 artists in which skeletons are the main subject. Included are drawings, paintings photographs and sculptures.

Paul Noble
Dot to Dot
September 20 - October 27
Gagosian Gallery
www.gagosian.com

Paul Noble was born in 1963 and lives and works in London. His large scale drawings often made by linking numerous pieces of paper depict fantasy worlds and abstract landscapes. In this installation he also exhibitions ceramic sculptures, and rugs but it is the drawings that stand out for their intricacy and depiction of both real and imagined places

Feast of Love

2007-10-08T06:30:00.000-07:00

I cant say Feast of Love was the best movie i ever saw. It filled in time, but the ideas about a belief in god turned me off. It was about relationships that last and relationships that fail, and fate and destiny.

Comm Lab Sound Collage

2007-10-04T05:47:00.000-07:00

Here is a low resolution version of the sound collage Eddie and I created. We called it Artificial Earth. Funny thing is today, if you click on google (10/4/07) its the anniversary of Sputnik.

The History or Love

2007-10-04T05:45:00.000-07:00

Finishing The History of Love by Nichole Krauss brought tears to my eyes. It took a while to get into the book, but by the end I did not want it to end. As it is a book about book, and writing I particularly enjoyed it.

Computational Media Assignment 4

2007-10-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

Assignment 4
two projects
an animation
a city

Darjeeling Limited

2007-10-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

Wes Anderson's Darjeeling Limited is a buddy film, a journey film as well as a film about brotherly love and family. Three brothers board a train in India, in search of their mother as well as an understanding of their relationship. The sites along this spiritual journey are meant to guide them but really is comes down to a tolerance of each other.

Physical Computing Idea

2007-10-01T06:57:00.000-07:00

An Idea for a Project
Having spent a lot of time with Eddo Stern's show at Postmasters (as I am reviewing it for Art Papers) it inspired me to try to make my own moving figure. I like the idea of lazer cutting plexiglass into the pieces that would make a figure and fashioning it together so that the joints could move. I guess each part would be wired and when a viewer pushes a button (an on/off switch) the arms, legs and head would move. I know this is simple but since i have never made anything that moves like this its a place to start. The figure would be attached to a wire rod and that attached to a block of wood. It could sit on a small pedestal and when a light shines onto it, it would cast colorful and moving shadows on the wall. Here is a sketch:

Art 9/29/07

2007-10-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

Since most of the shows for September have already opened this weeks art viewing was limited. I went to 47 Orchard Street to see Sadie Benning's show hoping to see the large drawings that were in her film "Press Play" but they were not on view. Somehow I got that wrong. What was on the walls were small drawings made with color pencil or crayon with rounded edges, they were (to me) simultaneously abstract and figurative.

I also stopped in to see Chris Marker's photographs in Soho at Peter Blum Gallery. The photographs all from a series called "Staring Back" are images of people Marker has encountered over many years. Its a collective portrait of chance encounters and vacant stares, of strangers caught unaware.

I spent more time with Eddo Stern's show at Postmasters as I am reviewing it for Art Papers.

The exhibition at Eyebeam Interference includes works by:

Forays | Angie Eng | Jill Magid | Carrie Dashow | Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg | Trevor Paglen | neuroTransmitter | Robert Ransick | Yury Gitman | Carlos J. Gómez de Llarena | IAA | Graffiti Research Lab | Caspar Stracke | Eyebeam R&D Lab | Michael Frumin | Jonah Peretti

Like many of the shows I have seen at Eyebeam they are more didactic than visual. This falls into that category. Viewing requires time and patience and quite a bit of reading.

The NY ART Book Fair hosted by Printed Matter held at the Dia Foundation was like a trip down memory lane where the hand made was presented along side the mechanically produced. This is an annual fair of contemporary art books, art catalogues, artists' books, art periodicals, and 'zines offered for sale by over 120 international publishers, booksellers, and antiquarian dealers. Each press or artist set out their publications on tables that covered two floors of the space. The modest crowd was able to look at and even touch the works of art. Something that makes books so special is that they are tactile. Its also a small community where everyone seems to know each other and is open to looking and talking about what they love--artists books of all kinds.

Comm Lab Marshall McLuhan

2007-10-01T06:17:00.000-07:00

This is a visual response to McLuhan.
The Medium [MEDIA] is the Message.

Physical Computing Midterm Assignment

2007-10-01T06:07:00.000-07:00

I met with Mike and Seanita to discuss ideas for this project. I threw out the idea of beginning with a blind person's cane and attaching sensors to ti so that when it came in contact with a wall or curb it would send vibrations or sounds to the person using the stick. I was even thinking it could record images and send those to the user as well, perhaps inside a headset giving the blind a picture of what they could not see. while this idea has possibilities we moved on to talking about Mike's ideas of recording body movements for example the involuntary motion of legs bouncing. if we attached sensors to socks and could capture that motion perhaps we could also turn that into a sound or visual collage. We tossed that idea around for awhile, then i saw the eraser sitting on the table...what if, i said we recorded the motion of a person using the eraser, as they wiped the text or images off a white board. Everyone got excited about that idea. It is simple but possible to execute. Mike knew what kind of sensors and tracking devices we could attach to the device to capture the motion. It would be easy to get numerous erasers to cut apart and attach wires to and there are plenty of volunteers we could solicit to help us track a motion. What interest me most is the motion is gestural, a drawing in essence, that is recorded as a series of numbers that we can then turn into visual and or aural data making a hopefully beautiful sound/image collage based on the movements of people interacting with the device. What I also like is while erasing we are also creating. We will see where this goes in the coming weeks. Documentation of our discussion was recorded by Seanita and Mike and can be seen here.

Physical Computing Lab 4

2007-10-01T06:03:00.000-07:00

For Lab 4 we were instructed to attach the servo (motor) to the arduino. I got it to work without much trouble, making it spin through varying the light coming in through the photo sensor. With mike, we were able to tweak the high and low range of input, (a bit of math I do not really 100% understand) so that the numbers matched the high and low value in the program. I also was able to adjust the frequency of sound coming from the speaker using this same code.

Ernesto Pujol

2007-10-01T05:55:00.000-07:00

The Cuban-born artist Ernesto Pujol is best known for his installation work, as well as his photographic images. He lectured at NYU and taking the audience through his recent installation as well as performance works. His latest pieces are walks, ritualistic performances in which he stands or walks through a particular setting, in silence. Other's document as well as participate in the journey. The works are evocative and subtly poignant. Other lectures in this series also seem worth while. The schedule is here.

Into the Wild

2007-10-01T05:50:00.000-07:00

Into the Wild was true story based on the life of a boy who after college disappeared into the wild. Rejecting his parents middle class/upper class values and wanting to live off the land, he left his possessions, money and everyone he knew behind, invented a new name for himself and journeyed through the natural landscape en route to his final destination, Alaska. he seemed to touch everyone he encountered with his openness and perhaps naive goals. After two years, alone, he was ready to come back out of nature, but was blocked by nature. He ended up eating poison berries by mistake and starved to death, only to be found by hunters a few weeks after hos demise. The movie was moving and touching.

Eastern Promises

2007-09-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Eastern Promises was a curious but violent story about the Russian mafia in London, alliances and deception. Viggo Mortenson's character was cold and stoic. The other's were also good but the movie did not have the emptional creepiness of some of Cronenberg's other films.

Helvetica

2007-09-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

Helvetica the movie was a pleasant suprise. I know the font--its pros and cons but was suprised at how omni-present it really is. I wish there were some other California voices in the the films in addition to David Carson as CalArts design in my opinion is anti-helvetica.

Comm Lab Photoshop Assignment

2007-09-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

Here are the 3 images our group made together:

Computational Media Assignment 3

2007-09-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

This is assignment 3
http://jodyzellen.com/nyu/assignment3/assignment3.html

Art on Sunday

2007-09-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

I visited the Whitney to see Mark Bradfords show. I thought he'd have the whole floor but really there were just four new paintings. One hangs in the stairway going down to the cafe, the other 3 are in the first floor space. They look fantastic. The middle work is HUGE and glows as it has a silver background. There are less found posters on the surface than in the show at the Hammer Museum, and the pieces are less map-like. Bradford excaves the surfaces and here seems to draw into them as well.

Also on view were photographs by Danny Lyon. Again it was a small show. Selections from different series were on view. I was looking forward to his montages but they were disappointing--mostly personal collages. There were 2 30 minute films as well.

At the Asia Society I saw the exhibition "Zhang Huan: Altered States." Born in 1965 in Henan Province, China, Zhang Huan is best known for his controversial early works of performance art, most of which focus on physical endurance. The exhibition consisted of photo-documentation of his performances as well as some large sculptures. It was less awe inspiring than I had hoped.

Physical Computing Observation Assignment

2007-09-23T13:45:00.001-07:00

JeaYoon and I did our observation assignment together.
What we saw and though can be found here

Physical Computing Lab 3

2007-09-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

For lab 3 we were to use the potentiometer to regulate the light coming from the LEDs. I did that last week so to continue, I took apart a toy cell phone and disconnected its speaker. Then I attached the speaker to the breadboard and then used the potentiometer to make the sound coming from the speaker to get louder and softer which worked, but also to change the frequency of the sound. On the Arduino page there is a code for a melody and I cut and pasted this to get the sound. I would like to be able to do this programming myself instead of cutting and pasting but I guess that will come later. Below are some images of this assignment. Sorry for the poor quality of the images, My camera does not do well in low light nor does it focus close.

This image represents my idea:

What I want to eventually be able to do is to go back to my toy phone--and use the key press as a button (or switch) to have LEDs light up to make a figure (or a word or series of words).

Right now step one will be for me to connect the inside of the phone back to the speaker and when the buttons are pushed the sound (now connected to the breadboard) plays. Once this works, I can try to use the phone as a trigger for LEDs. Mouna said to set up a grid of 9 switches and have them each light up different or sequences of LEDs on the bread board. Once I get this to work I can go back and "hack" the phone and use it as the switch. where each of its different button causes something else to happen. I would also like to be able to build a nice looking object abotu 4 x 4 inches that has this grid of LEDs but thic can come later. I will try to get to the first few steps of this idea soon and then move 1 step at a time. Its all so foreign to me. I know what I would like to see but do not really have a clue how to get there.

James Powderly

2007-09-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

James Powderly's talk was really inspiring to me as he creates interventions in public spaces and is able to make works that are both projected and interactive. Just so i remember, I am listing his information and links here.

page at eyebeam
robot clothes
graffiti research lab
instructables.com

Art 9/21/07

2007-09-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

In soho I visited a few galleries:

Deitch Projects that had a group painting show

Team, whose new space (or new to me) is just beautiful. They had a conceptually based show by Gardar Eide Einarsson

Location 1 had an interesting participatory installation by Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese that invited you to draw the moon. Visit www.location1.org for more information.

In Chelsea I went BravinLee's temporary space where there was an amazing video installation that is only up a few more day by Michael Somoroff called Illumination

I also saw the electricity show at Exit Art. Its a bit of a free for all, and although not much stood out for me visually there were numerous projects that used sensors and were based on user input.

The Hunting Party

2007-09-22T07:08:00.001-07:00

The Hunting Party is another war film about journalist who venture where they should not to get the story and seek revenge for personal reasons. Like many other recent films it also uses video footage to reveal the horrors or war as well as what can happen on air in front of a live camera.

The Valley of Elah

2007-09-20T06:46:00.001-07:00

Like the Brave One the Valley of Elah uses modern technologies --cell phone video to create a backstory, or a reason for a murder. Captured during the war in Iraq the snippets of corrupted video are the only clues the main character has to try to understand his son's experience in the war. While the movie is about finding the murderer, its the back and forth, and the reconstructing of an experience not witnessed through photos and videos to find answers that makes the film interesting.

The Brave One

2007-09-20T06:42:00.000-07:00

The Brave One is a curious film. It is an eerie look at NYC,during both day and night. It follows the lead character as she records the sights and sounds of the city both before and after her tragedy. The thing that stood out, aside for the moral issues of taking a life was the reliance on using technology, both video and sound recordings to trigger memory. Why look at a video of your own beating? or listen to the recording of a murder you committed. or watch a murder again captured by a surveillance camera?

Computational Media Assignment 2

2007-09-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

This is assignment 2
http://jodyzellen.com/nyu/assignment2.html

Computational Media Assignment 1

2007-09-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

This is the first assignment
http://jodyzellen.com/nyu/processing_sketch/

Physical Computing Arduino

2007-09-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

After much trouble and a lot of not understanding I finally set up the breadboard and the arduino and got it all working. Todd helped me set it on a piece of wood and now I understand that this set up can stay this way and be used for other things. I was able to get the code into the arduino program and make the switch turn on and the leds blink. I then connected the potentiometer but don't really know what is supposed to happen with that.
This is about the most confusing stuff I have ever tired to understand.

Comm Lab 3 Video Sites

2007-09-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

Explore three video sharing sites and write a review

You Tube is the accepted standard of video sites. It has a tremendous archive and a lot of art posts. Yes everyone can upload their work and share it, i guess thats the point. I put one video on You Tube but have spent little time viewing what is there. When I do visit the site I find it easy but I just don't make time to look at videos on line.

I noticed that google now has a video link as well. I guess it goes to You Tube.

Most sites, have the same interfaceas You Tube. ifilm.com was an early film site as was atomfilms.com. To me they are all the same.

Sadie Benning at Dia

2007-09-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

Sadie Benning’s video “Press Play” is a split screen 28 minute film using drawing. She was in conversation with Lynn Cooke at Dia Friday Sept 14. Benning began by making drawing of images as well as from her imagination and edited these images into a 40 minute video. She collaborated with a sound artist and the pulsating music, coupled with urban noises paces the video. The imagery is for the most part static but the narrative moves along showing glimpses of urban life.

Across The Universe

2007-09-16T11:37:00.002-07:00

Across the Universe used the Beatle's songs as its point of departure. While the Beatle's music still resonates, the movie at least to me seemed to trivialize the times as well as my image of the music.

Paul Auster’s “The Inner Life of Martin Frost”

2007-09-16T11:37:00.001-07:00

While Paul Auster’s novels that weave narrative within narratives are extraodinary, his film “The Inner Life of Martin Frost” was less inspired than his written words. The film was not conceptually rigerous and felt a bit self indulgent. Visually is was pat, and not spectacular in any way. Movies, of for that matter novels about artists’ muses need to have that extra something otherwise they fall into the obvious.

Comm Lab Walter Benjamin

2007-09-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

Walter Benjamin's The work of art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction basically talks about the idea of aura and questions whether an object's aura disappears with mechanical reproduction. In the digital world of today the question of aura and truth are further complicated. When Benjamin was writing the idea that a photograph could be massed produced and was seen as a reproduction of reality was new. Today we are used to photography's reproduction. What interests me is the idea of truth and how i no longer believe that any image I see is not digitally manipulated. It might still have an aura and wow me but I do not believe that it was what was framed in the view finder. Most photographers enhance their images, tweak the color or even combine negatives. These images are often presented without acknowledging this manipulation.

The following 3 videos were made in response to Benjamin.

Comm Lab 30 second video

2007-09-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

This was a class project to make a 30 second video

Physical Computing Art Presentation

2007-09-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I visited many Chelsea art galleries and kept track of any interactive projects or projects that used physical computing. This month there are many. (see art log)

I wanted to present two of my interactive installations. Both were programmed by other people and one of the reasons i am here at ITP is because I want to know how to do these things for myself.

My first interactive installation was called Disembodied Voices and it was a 5 projection installation. Four of the projections were looping DVDs. Just the fifth (center screen) was interactive. 10 toy cell phones were suspended from the ceiling, these were the triggers for the interactivity. When the buttons on the phones were pushed the key press in Flash was activated through the hacked key board we used, causing sound to fill the space and the icon on the screen to grow.

This is a picture of the component we used that was attached to the computer and the phones.

The project's documentation can be seen here:
http://www.jodyzellen.com/dvx_index.html

The other installation I created was when I had a residency at Pace University. I worked with the computer science department to create an interactive installation where viewers triggered sounds and projections as they moved up and down the stairs. Processing was used to interface between the sensors and the flash animations I created. Documentation of this instalaltion can be seen here:
http://www.jodyzellen.com/pace2.html

Physical Computing Observation Assignment

2007-09-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

Observe people using technology.

Early in the morning I went to the gym and the attendant scanned my gym pass. Often this technology is not working as as many days as they scan the card, I have to write in my number.

Walking up Broadway is usually a chore as people are on their phones talking and texting as they walk.

When I went to order my coffee at Starbucks, I noticed that the cashier types in my order and it appears as a label on my cup.

At the grocery store the items I bought are scanned.

Later in the afternoon I saw an electronic billboard and was struck by its changing imagery as well as the luminosity of its display.

When I had to buy a new metro card I paid attention to the interface of the machines. These are much better designed than any bank machine I have used. The display is clear and the steps to purchase or refill a card easy to use.

In most of my observations I was sruck by how we take advantage of technology without realizing we are using it.

September 15 Art Log

2007-09-16T09:09:00.001-07:00

This is a log of the art I saw on Saturday September 15, in Chelsea.

Rather than keep track of everything, I am going to try to post the media oriented show, as well as those by people I know, and whatever stands out as worth remembering. I will try to include the gallery information and images where possible.

EDDO STERN September 8 - October 13, 2007

Postmasters Gallery
459 W 19 Street
New York, NY 10011
212 727 3323
http://www.postmastersart.com
http://www.eddostern.com

Eddo Stern is well known for his work in video and online gaming. In his current exhibition at postmasters he has extracted elements from online gaming culture and presented them in the gallery as an installation of shadow puppets and video displays where elements from the games have been collaged into a Medusa's head, or mask-like object that ebbs and flows and the elements move together. The works are playful and successfully combine low and high technologies.

SHIGEKO KUBOTA
My Life With Nam June Paik
September 6 - October 20, 2007

Maya Stendhal Gallery
545 West 20th St.
New York, NY 10011
212.366.1549
www.mayastendhalgallery.com

Shigeko Kubota video installation is an environment full of projections and video sculptures. "Conceived of as one video environment, the exhibition presents a landscape of Kubota's magical video sculptures, which at once disorients and transfixes the viewer. It is a dreamland filled with massive crystalline mirror growths, dynamic metal sculptures, and video screen projections that pulsate colorfully like living organisms. Kubota describes the sculptures as a means of communication with another world." Kubota was Nam June Paik's wife and collaborated with him on numerous projects. There is a similarity with their styles and the object nature of their works.

DANIEL ROZIN
September 8 - October 6

Bitforms Gallery
529 West 20th Street
NY, NY 10011
www.bitforms.com

Daniel Rozen's interactive works are sculptural object that respond to the presence of the viewer. Crafted out of a variety of materials ranging from wood to photographic prints to digital images these motorized and mechanized elements work together to capture the viewer's movements, and in time delay presenting a trace of those activities.

JEON JOONHO
September 6 - October 13

Perry Rubenstein Gallery
527 West 23rd Street
NY, NY 10011
www.perryrubenstein.com

Jeon Joonho's projected works are short animations that work in concert with each other. The drawn line in a number of the works is contrasted to the digital effects in others.

JEFF SHORE AND JON FISHER
September 6 - October 6

Clementine Gallery
623 West 27th street
NY NY 10001
www.clementine-gallery.com

Jeff Shore and Jon Fisher have been working together to create electro-mechanical installations that display the circuitry all over the wall as an abstract composition while carefully constructed boxes conceal the mechanized motion that are subsequently projected on the wall to tell a story that unfolds from piece to piece over 10 minute duration in the gallery. The space darkens, and an object begins to move a sound fills the gallery. It is hard to discern what is happen as the viewer oscillates between the screen and the objects. Often the movement can be detected other times it is hidden from view but viewers can imagine a small camera filing a model. Fisher and Shore's work is durational, narrative and sculptural simultaneously.

JUN NGUYEN-HATSUSHIBA
September 6 - October 20

Lehmann Maupin
540 west 26th street
NY NY 10001
www.lehmannmaupin.com

Using high and low technologies, in the darkened front gallery space Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba creates a series of interrupted projections where shadows of objects capture disrupt the flow of the news.

ADAM HELMS
Hinterland
September 6 - October 6, 2007

Marianne Boesky Gallery
509 West 24th street
NY, NY 10011
www.marianneboesky.com

This installation begins with a series of silkscreens where black masks have been screened over found images of historical and contemporary conflict. In these works images of torture and masked identity are given an equivalence through the juxtaposition of images that span different conflicts and different time periods.

In the back space are large drawing of mountainous landscapes that suggest the changes in the climate. These are juxtaposed with a taxidermy buffalo and a sculpted structure that resembles a remote outpost. The relationships between these works become evident as one looks back and between the pieces.

ALSO OF NOT BUT NOT NECESSARILY MEDIA OR INSTALLATION:

SOL LEWITT
September 6 - October 20, 2007

Paula Cooper Gallery
534 West 21 Street
NY NY 10011
www.paulacoopergallery.com

LeWitt who died this spring graces the Paula Cooper Gallery with a large cube that has scribbled lines on each of its surfaces.

EUAN MACDONALD
September 6 - October 13, 2007

Cohan and Leslie
138 Tenth Avenue
New York, New York 10011
www.cohanandleslie.com

INGRID CALAME
September 6 - October 13, 2007

James Cohan Gallery
533 West 26th Street
New York NY 10001
www.jamescohan.com

D-L ALVAREZ
September 6 - October6, 2007

Derek Eller Gallery
625 West 27th Street
NY, NY 10001
www.derekeller.com

MARCO BREUERSeptember 5 - October 6, 2007

Von Lintel Gallery
555 West 25the Street
New York , NY 10001
www.vonlintel.com