Bill Viola The Man of the Dreams!!!!

"Images have their life because they're untethered and free flowing"

Bill Viola at the Getty

Please check out this 10 minute movie on his amazing piece called Emergence

I discovered Bill Viola while researching our paper. He has been a video artist for 35 years and does amazing single channel videos and installations. His inspirations are Mysticism, Sufism, Christian Mysticism and Buddhism. He takes a spiritual look at human emotions, memories, sense perception and expressions.
Viola's website

Betsy

Fashion Show: Paris Collections 2006

"a hit...its beauty deceptively guised in its simplicity."
—The New York Times

This was one of the most innovative exhibits I have ever been to! Too bad that it has past, but I thought that it was worth mentioning since we have been talking and writing about the evolution of art and expression. While some of the pieces were "ready to wear," others pushed the boundaries of fashion and became pieces of art. The craftsmanship was amazing and I was very impressed with the selection and the display as well. They used projection and light to highlight the pieces; you can go to the MFA bookstore and look through one of the books to see the collection.

YOU CAN STILL SEE:


Fashion Photography
Saturday, November 18, 2006 - Sunday, March 25, 2007

Exploring the realm between art and commerce,
"Fashion Photography" displays expressive poses,
daring couture, and the aura of glamour captured
by the great fashion image-makers of the past
hundred years. Shown here, a classic by Herb Ritts.

Fashion Photography, as we know it has the power to set and change trends, is accessible to the masses through advertisements and is a great example of the power of an image. If you have time this is a small exhibit my favorites are shot my David Lachapelle.

David Lachapelle website

SkyMall Liberation

Here's a great media literacy exercise to do when you are faced with the same magazine for a long time. The artist is Evan Roth, and in his own words, he is "a maker of things with a specific interest in tools of empowerment, open source, and popular culture. Roth graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.S. in architecture. After working as an autocad monkey for a year in DC and another two in LA he returned to the east coast to attend the Parsons Design + Technology MFA program where he was awarded a 5' plastic trophy for graduating as valedictorian."

Check the link out at

http://www.blog.ni9e.com/archives/2007/02/skymall_liberat.html/

-sam smiley

Guerrilla, not Gorilla...Girls

The Guerrilla Girls are a group of Feminist women who promote their views and opinions through various types of art work. This anonymous group began in the 1980's and their work continues to inspire many artists up until the present day.

This is how they describe themselves:

We’re feminist masked avengers in the tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Wonder Woman and Batman. How do we expose sexism, racism and corruption in politics, art, film and pop culture? With facts, humor and outrageous visuals. What have we done for you lately? Our work has been passed around the world by our tireless supporters. We’ve appeared at over 90 universities and museums in recent years, as well as in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Bitch, Mother Jones and Artforum; on NPR, the BBC and CBC; and in many art and feminist texts. We are authors of stickers, billboards, many, many posters and other projects, and several books including The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. We’re part of Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women Campaign in the UK; we're brainstorming with Greenpeace; and we put up a new billboard in Hollywood just in time for the 2006 Oscars. WHAT'S NEXT? More creative complaining! More facts, humor and fake fur! More appearances, actions and artworks. We could be anyone; we are everywhere.

Check out their website at: http://www.guerrillagirls.com/

- Susan L.

Art, technology & our senses explored at MIT

Sensorium: Part II
Flying Carpet
February 8-April 8, 2007

Right now there are several great reasons to take a trip down Mass. Ave to MIT and the List Visual Arts Center (Weisner Building, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge).
http://web.mit.edu/lvac/www/programs/index.html

Sensorium: Part II features six works by contemporary artists questioning and exploring the ways in which technology has shifted our ways of interacting (with the world and each other) through our senses. Click on exhibitions on the link above for a fairly complete description of each installation, the artists and curators-- but with just still photos it’s hard to do the exhibition justice. I found the entire show profoundly thought provoking and delighted in finding some unexpected humor…





Mathieu Briand, Ubiq, a Mental Odyssey, 2006
Photo courtesy of the artist


Briand’s piece (based on 2001: A Space Odyssey – shown above) comes with a pair of headsets that enabled my husband and I to view the exhibit through each other’s eyes. Cool, huh?

Flying Carpet- (just across the lobby from Sensorium) is an interactive video installation that “will allow visitors to be able to communicate with visitors at the Bethlehem International Peace Center and Art School at the West Bank through the use of web cams and chat postings.” I guarantee you will identify with the answers to the question “where would you fly on a magic carpet?”

Each exhibit is highly worthwhile and if you have even a small amount of time I recommend you go. It’s basically free (they have a donation box…) and the hours are posted on the website.

And click on the link to print out this map before you go:
http://web.mit.edu/lvac/www/collections/map.html
It’s MIT’s public art collection! Amazing.

Carol