Vicious Vitamins

The Penelopes played at The Nest, Dalston

2012-02-03T05:33:00.000-08:00

The Penelopes played live at The Nest in Dalston for their first ever London show. Great place and great music where the band could test their new songs. Two pics below...

London, Hackney

2012-01-18T01:03:00.000-08:00

The Penelopes, new single NOW NOW NOW

2011-12-13T03:05:00.000-08:00

London-based The Penelopes have just released their new single Now Now Now which was also remixed by the C90s. The band will play live at The Nest on 20 January 2012 (Stoke Newington Road, Dalston).

and the C90s remix

Mark Maggiori

2011-12-02T06:28:00.000-08:00

Mark Magiori is a French visual artist, former singer of nu-metal band Pleymo (the French Pleymo, not the English one), director, painter and photograph. Galerie Oberkampf in Paris opens an exhibition of his works on 3 December.

More info:
markmaggiorishots.blogspot.com
www.hkartagency.fr
http://www.galerieoberkampf.com/

M83 - New album

2011-12-02T06:05:00.000-08:00

Anthony Gonzalez aka M83 released his new album, "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming"

M83 will play at La Cigale, 15 March 2012.

Turzi

2011-08-24T00:59:00.000-07:00

Turzi will play at Gaîté Lyrique in Paris on 7 September... More info www.myspace.com/turzi

Thurston Moore

2011-08-24T00:49:00.000-07:00

Thurston Moore played at La Villette for the Villette Sonique festival, celebrating the release of his new album Demolished Thoughts.

Glenn Branca Ensemble

2011-08-24T00:47:00.000-07:00

No Wave icon and mentor for Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, Glenn Branca played at La Villette in May 2011.

Beastie Boys are back !!!!

2011-05-06T02:04:00.000-07:00

We love it !!! The Beastie Boys still rule !!!!

Beastie Boys and Santigold, Don't play no game that I can win !!!!!!

NEW! Beastie Boys - Don't Play No Game I Can't Win (feat. Santigold) (2011) - MusicPlayOn.com

Some Sonic Youth news...

2011-04-07T08:25:00.000-07:00

Sonic Youth is back. The band released the soundtrack of French film "Simon Werner a disparu", a different musical experience from the latest release of the band. This is truly a soundtrack, not an album. It is however a great piece of music, experimental and electronic.

To celebrate the release of his latest solo album "Demolished Thoughts", Thurston Moore will play live in Paris at La Villette Sonic on 19 May 2011. Vicious Vitamins already got tickets !!!

http://www.sonicyouth.com/

Artus de Lavilleon a la Galerie Patricia Dorfmann, Paris

2011-01-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

Rétrospective II / LIEUX COMMUNS

Vernissage samedi 22 janvier 15h / 21h
Exposition 22 janvier – 26 février 2011

Galerie Patricia Dorfmann, 61 rue de la Verrerie, 75004, Paris

Après avoir vécu dans les vitrines du magasin Le Printemps, créé un mouvement artistique, « retourné ma veste en galerie », perdu ma mère, vécu en chine, montré un film à Beaubourg, exposé à l’étranger et dans des foires, et presque tout vendu à une exposition ou tout était bien encadré, bien montré, bien justifié, je me suis senti trahi par moi-même et par le système qui (enfin) me reconnaissait.

« Tant qu’à ce que l’art soit devenu un marché comme un autre », je me suis alors mis à développer les grands dessins noirs et blancs qui faisaient mon succès en publicité et sous forme d’illustration, tout en me servant de cette excuse pour exposer dans des lieux communs (boutiques, librairies, magasins) et continuer de témoigner de mon vécu et de son archivage quotidien de la façon la plus large possible (décalée ? Banale ? Populaire ? Marginale ? Posthume ? sans rapport avec ce marché).

C’est cette partie de mon travail que je vous propose aujourd’hui de découvrir, entre performance et revendication engagée, ce qui découle d’un refus du marché de l’art, et de ses conséquences, plus quelques peintures faites dans mon salon.

Artus Laviléon, 15 janvier 2011

Music auction at Philips de Pury

2010-12-08T07:08:00.000-08:00

Auction house Philips-de Pury will held a Music auction on Friday 10 December at 5pm in London. Vicious Vitamins went to the exhibition and particularly enjoyed the Alan Vega/Suicide memorabilia and a picture feature the three legends David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed. A number of rare items will also be auctioned such as a collection of 52 vynil covers designed by Andy Warhol (including the Velvet Underground banana cover), a picture of Joy Division front-man Ian Curtis by Kvin Cummins or some Black Flag gig posters designed by Raymond Pettibon.
http://www.phillipsdepury.com/splash/music-2010/music.aspx

On a similar topic, we were happy to discover (probably late, sorry...!) that Rizzoli released a new book about Joy Division featuring photographies of Kevin Cummins with foreword by writer Jay McInerney and text by Joy Division founder Bernard Sumner.

Aleksi Cavaillez at Espace Fiction

2010-11-26T08:19:00.000-08:00

Last week end to see "Espace Fiction - Drawings from the moon", exhibition by Art Posthume artist Aleksi Cavaillez at Espace OFR, 20 rue Dupetit-Thouars 75003 Paris (MOnday to Saturday 10am-8pm and Sunday 2pm-7pm). You can also download the beautiful catalogue here: http://www.dirloz.net/works/DIRLOZ_SCIENCE_REVIEW.pdf

Palazzo Grassi, Venice - Art Idea #87: make a portrait/self-portrait by captioning a mirror

2010-09-27T02:49:00.000-07:00

Superflex in Metz

2010-09-17T01:26:00.000-07:00

French industrial group Bel (The Laughing Cow, Babybel) launched earlier this year Lab'Bel, a program dedicated to promote contemporary visiual arts. For the Nuit Blanche, a night of events and visited organized in the largest cities throughout France, Lab'Bel invited Danish art activists Superflex.

Vicious Vitamins interviewed Superflex last year for the issue #2 released during Frieze and FIAC (issue 2 that you can download by clicking on the right margin of the site). For the Nuit Blanche in Metz, Superflex will present a work already featured at Art Unlimited 2010, Flooded Mc Donald. The performance will consist of a rise in the water of a Mc Donald restaurant until complete flooding. Mixing humour and tragedy, Superflex, here again, chalenges our lives of consumers and the power of brand in the developed world.

Flooded MacDonald's (2008), 1 October 2010 from 18.00pm to 1am
Salle des fetes du Lycee Fabert, Metz.

Info: http://www.superflex.net/floodedmcdonalds/
: http://www.nuitblanchemetz.com/

Music

2010-09-08T06:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the new track of our friend Christian Jay

Christian Jay new track

Too Cool For School - New-York hipsters in Paris and London

2010-09-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

In September, two exhibitions in Paris and London will feature the hippest generation of New-York artists. Galerie du Jour-Agnes B in Paris will show works of artists the gallery has long-standing relationship with, Harmony Korine, which new film will be produced by Agnes B, Dash Snow and Ryan McGinley. East-End London gallery Ritter Zamet will present over ten emerging artists from New-York in an exhibition called The Coke Factory including Scott Campbell, Dan Colen, Nate Lowman, Aurel Schmidt, Agathe Snow and Dash Snow.

At Galerie du Jour, Ryan McGinley will show studio pictures of unprofessional models met in gigs and parties. Unfortunately there is nothing that has never been seen already although this serie should be seen in its entire context of 150 pictures of 150 models, left free to adopt the posture they want – Is Ryan McGinley trying to become a new Rankin? Let’s give him a chance but the pictures he originally took of his friends and daily life were so beautiful that it is hard to understand why he is now being so conventional and bourgeois in a professional studio. Although Harmony Korine probably spends most of his time working on film projects (Mister Lonely in 2007 and soon Trash Humpers that we are really looking forward to watch), he still finds time for other visual arts. At Galerie du Jour, he will present mixed-techniques portraits that somehow remind the fear and anxiety of Munch works. Harmony Korine is probably the most interesting artist of this generation emerged from street and skateboard culture. Dash Snow will be remebered with a beautiful dyptique made in 2007 (see picture below - click on picture to see the entire high def picture). In addition, Agnes B herself will show some of her videos.

Harmony Korine, Scumbag and baby, 2010, technique mixte

Ryan McGinley, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere , 2010, Photographie nxb. 30x45 cm

Dash Snow, « Untitled (Metallic trees) », God Spoiled, 2007. Photographie, dyptique.

At Ritter Zamet, a bunch of hipsters will take over the space and questioned their creative process in light with the over-mechanised and consumerist Western society. This show will include Dash Snow (the picture of the beautiful dyptique above will be shown at Galerie du Jour), a year after his death and who will also be at Galerie du Jour in Paris, his former wife Corsican borned Agathe Snow, and some Purple Diary characters (that gives you an idea of the hipness !) such as Aurel Schmidt or Scott Campbell. Pictures of The Coke Factory will maybe be added to the post soon(ish).

3+1 at Galerie du Jour Agnes B, 9 September-6 November 2010: 44, rue Quincampoix 75004 Paris – galeriedujour.com

The Coke Factory at Ritter Zamet, 9 September-23 Octobern 2010: Unit 8, 80a Ashfield Street E1 2BJ London (opening reception Thursday 9 September, 6pm-8pm) – www.ritterzamet.com

Artus in surfland

2010-08-19T03:33:00.000-07:00

Our friend Artus de Lavilleon is in residency at Roundhouse in Hossegor (France), a villa openned by French magazine Clark with the support of Nike (who is now entering the surf industry). During his time at Roundhouse, Artus will produce drawings in an studio left only for him. Drawings and parties ahead... sure that Artus will share that with Vicious Vitamins very soon... More info on the blog of the Roundhouse: www.clarkmagazine.com/roundhouse (in French only)

Ich Bin Ein Berliner 2.1

2010-08-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

Vicious Vitamins was at the first party season 2 of Ich Bin Ein Berliner at SO36 in Berlin and it was great !!!!

David Mars and Emmanuel(le) Hubaut, two of the three promoters of the party

Stephane Herve and Alexis Gaffuri, two third of Dead Sexy Inc

Valery Renay (Noblesse Oblige)

Alexis Gaffuri (Dead Sexy Inc) and Jemek Jemowit

Sebastian (Noblesse Oblige) and Randy Twigg backstage

Shopping selection from Vicious Vitamins

2010-08-12T02:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Vicious Vitamins Friends !!

It's been a while I haven't put anything on this blog, believe it I'll make more work going forward and I already added a shopping selection on the right hand side margins. From there you'll be able to access DVDs, CDs, books selected by Vicious Vitamins... To start with I highly recommend the new album of Berlin-based duo Noblesse Oblige, Malady. A masterpiece !! More to come... You can also follow my travels on Dig For Voodoo, the B-side blog of Vicious Vitamins: www.digforvoodoo.com.

Love to All,

Antoine

ICH BIN EIN BERLINER - The compilation

2010-06-08T07:59:00.001-07:00

Vicious Vitamins' friends Araknid records alongside with DJ and Dead Sexy Inc singer Emmanuel Hubaut are releasing a double CD compilation featuring the best of SO36 parties Ich Bin Ein Berliner.

Ich Bin Ein berliner festival is a monthly event organized by Andreas Schwarz, David Maars, and Emmanuel 5 at legendary club from Kreuzberg SO36. It's an Electro Glam & Rock party with “a touch of Queer” where you can see and listen to Bands, Performers, Djs, who are based in Berlin and often a special " just for one day " Berliner act. It started august 2009 and became one of the best and freaky party in town. Many artists already played there such as : Gloria Viagra, Steve Morell, Noblesse Oblige, Mount Sims, Snax, Aerea Negrot, Randy Twigg, Squeezebox Band, Nachlader, Scream Club, Electronicat, Bürger P, Glamour to Kill, We are Enfant Terrible, Mittekill, Sue Denim, Kamikaze Queens...

You can listen and buy the CD on Araknid Records web site: www.araknidrecords.com

Sofia Cordova

2010-05-14T02:17:00.001-07:00

Vicious Vitamins recently discovered the work of Sofia Cordova, a San Francisco-based artist borned in Puerto-Rico in 1985 who recently graduated in MFA from the California College of the Arts program in San Francisco. We strongly recommend to visit her web page and listen to her music.

Her work seeks to give body and testament to Caribbean identity, as compromised by Caribbean Diaspora, through the creation of a concept album and installation space. The album, which exists currently in two EP forms (Lamento Borincano & Baby, Remember Your Name), is performed through and by the group ChuCha Santamaría Y Usted (myspace: www.myspace.com/chuchasantamaria) and details simultaneously occurring narratives borrowed from family photographs and Caribbean histories (primarily pivotal points in Caribbean colonialism; resistance of and assimilation with) through the lens of dance music.

"I approach dance music both as it existed for me as a kid: a beacon of glamour and mutable identities as well as in the way that it exists for Caribbean immigrants and their similarly marginalized Gay and Black contingencies upon arriving in the States. These same photographs also serve as the source for photo-paintings designed to inform the domestic chronology of ChuCha. The installation Baby, Remember My Name, is a space which serves as the receptacle for the 'remixed' photographs, music videos, costumes and promotional materials which constitute the mythology of ChuCha. The space acts as a facsimile of a teenager's/superfan's room and a dressing room, potentially belonging to ChuCha herself. In this fabricated liminal zone, I hope to describe the space of dance songs recorded off the radio late night; songs which to me were laden with the lure, possibility and sorrow of leaving home to study/work/'be better off' in the US."

Sofia Cordova web site: www.sofiacordova.com
ChuCha Santamaria y usted: www.myspace.com/chuchasantamaria

The MySpace page features the first 3 songs released in the first EP "Lamento Borincano".

Noblesse Oblige new album: Malady

2010-04-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

Berlin-based duo Noblesse Oblige is about to release their third album, Malady. Noblesse Oblige was formed in London, 2004 by French actress/singer/songwriter Valerie Renay and German musician/producer Sebastian Lee Philipp Their debut album Privilege Entails Responsibility is considered one of the classics of the Independent Electro underground scene. After moving to Berlin in 2007, the band released their second album In Exile which won the renowned Russian Steppenwolf Music Prize and an endorsement by the German ministry of Culture. Since their formation, Noblesse Oblige have played over 300 Live show throughout Europe and South America. In June the new album and its spectacular Live show will be presented on a European tour.

More information on www.noblesseoblige.co.uk and www.myspace.com/noblesseoblige and www.facebook.com/noblesseobligemusic

Purchase the album:

For UK: http://www.musicnonstop.co.uk/product-view.php?productid=23396

For France: http://www.amazon.fr/Noblesse-Oblige-Malady/dp/B0039ULHTG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1270205863&sr=8-1%3E

New exhibition Artus de Lavilleon

2010-03-29T01:25:00.000-07:00

The Night is Young on CINEMOI

2010-03-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

We strongly recommend to watch Leos Carax "The Night Is Young" ("Mauvais Sang") on the French movie channel, Cinemoi (www.cinemoi.tv), accessible through SKY.

Film Showtimes
Sat 20 Mar - 6:30pm
Mon 22 Mar - 12:30am

‘The Night is Young' (‘Mauvais sang') is a stunning multi-genre and layered work that is hard to pigeonhole. Another unique vision from the incredibly talented and elusive Leos Carax, this unconventional post-modern noir is a must see for all fans of French cinema.

The plot loosely follows the codes of film noir, with its protagonist finding himself roped into a lucrative robbery. Alex (Denis Lavant) has recently lost his father, whose criminal friends, Marc (Michel Piccoli) and Hans (Hans Meyer), believe it was murder by the hand of a notorious gangster called ‘l'Américaine' (The American woman). Known to have inherited the nimble hands of his father, Marc offers Alex a role in their next job: to steal the cure for a new, deadly virus plaguing Paris, STBO, which infects those who make love without being in love. Alex agrees and, having broken up with his girlfriend Lise (Julie Delpy), falls in love with Marc's girlfriend Anna (Juliette Binoche).

Carax's work is a visual feast, which employs the photogenic French capital in a novel way, infusing its streets with colour and vibrancy, while shooting most of his material at night, exploiting the unnerving darkness and shadow play. The incongruous effect is one of a place that is situated within a familiar yet alien time and space. The analogy to the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic is indeed an empirical issue to the film, but the pervading post-apocalyptic aura moves it to a dystopian temporal plane.

Carax's labyrinthine Parisian streets are navigated through stunning camera work, most notably in the sequence that follows Alex's lengthy run along an unending street in homage to Truffaut's extensive tracking of Antoine Doinel's escape in ‘The 400 Blows'. The jolting cinematography is equalled by the film's elliptical and daring structure, which eschews narrative coherency in favour of the evocative affect of the visuals and simmering tensions between characters. Carax is a director who aims directly for the senses and forces of feeling as opposed to those of reason.

This remarkable story, which incorporates elements of thriller, noir, sci-fi and romance, is played to perfection by a cast who stake major holds in contemporary French cinema.

Carax's muse Denis Lavant (‘Les amants du pont neuf', ‘Beau travail') is once again disconcertingly off-beat and displays another physical performance that attests to his roots in theatre and circus. Juliette Binoche, fresh from her breakthrough in Téchiné's ‘Rendez-vous', radiates an enigmatic beauty and disquiet in another assured performance, which signals her impending status as one of THE actresses of her generation. The legendary Michel Piccoli (‘Le Mépris', ‘Les Choses de la vie', ‘La Grande bouffe'), proffers an authenticity to his role as the ageing criminal, who, although on the wane, proves he is a force to be reckoned with. Finally, Julie Delpy makes a César winning performance as the naive Lise (years later Kieslowski would attribute leading roles to Binoche and Delpy in the masterful Three Colours Blue and White respectively).

A bold romantic, Carax is arguably the most genuine inheritor of the New Wave (especially Godard), whose films challenge convention and fashion a completely novel and thrilling form of cinema. ‘The Night is Young' is a prime example of this but unfortunately (and this is where he differs from his prolific Nouvelle Vague influences) is one of only four full-length features this exceptional filmmaker has made. To be savoured accordingly.

French cinema in London

2010-03-16T08:55:00.001-07:00

Cinemoi, the French movie channel accessible through Sky, organizes a private screening of In the Electric Mist, Bertrand Tavernier’s first US feature, boasting an all-star cast of Tommy Lee Jones, John Goodman and Kelly Macdonald, is a superior psychological thriller set in the eerie backwaters of Louisana. This exclusive director’s cut of the film is a testament to the consistent quality and longevity of Tavernier’s cinematic career (Laissez-passer, L.627, Capitaine Conan, Clean Slate).

The 6.40pm screening will be preceded by a cocktail reception at 6.00pm
RSVP compulsory: T. 020 7819 6311 or rsvp@cinemoi.tv by Monday 15 March

Information on www.cinemoi.tv

Art fundraiser for the Bhopal Medical Appeal

2010-03-03T02:07:00.000-08:00

On Thursday 4 March, London street art gallery Pure Evil is launching an art fundraiser show for the Bhopal Medical Appeal. The gallery will be full of amazing works donated by the artists. All the money made from the sales of these artworks will go towards helping people who are still suffering the effects from the Bhopal disaster, which was the worlds worst industrial accident.

For those who cannot make it to the gallery, the show will be on-line at: artforbhopal.tumblr.com/

Official opening: Thursday 4 March at 6pm at Pure Evil Gallery (108 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4RH) - www.pureevil.eu

Died Young Stayed Pretty - UK DVD release

2010-02-17T03:52:00.000-08:00

died Young Stayed Pretty, Eileen Yaghoobian documentary on rock poster artists, is now taking on Europe. Eileen will be in Amsterdam and Copenhagen in April for a screening and the film will be released on DVD in the UK by the ICA.

You can also read Paul Dale article on List.co.uk: "One is left in no doubt that this bunch of eccentrics, loners and mad men are exercising their artistic freedoms in ways that few artists ever do" (Link: http://www.list.co.uk/article/23504-died-young-stayed-pretty/)

Congrats to Eileen for the success of this truly independent film !!!

Didier Clain at Sycomore (Paris) and Centotto (New-York)

2010-02-08T04:57:00.000-08:00

Our friend artist Didier Clain is showing his works at Paris gallery Sycomore (7 bis, rue Geoffroy Marie, 75009) and Centotto in Brooklyn, new-York.

The Paris show closing party will be on 25 February from 19.00 to 22.00 with more works and installations of Didier and other artists. More pics to follow on our B-Side blog Dig For Voodoo (click the link on the right).

Sycomore Art: 7 bis, rue Geoffroy Marie 75009 Paris. Metro Grands Boulebards (http://www.sycomoreart.com/)

At Centotto, the exhibition "Terrae and The Ether" will remain present through February. Opening was on 5 February and the next general reception will be on 19 February from 6pm to 10pm.

Terrae and the Ether Bridging a recently bygone simposio exhibit denuding creative process with an upcoming simposio exhibit authorizing poly-authored forgeries, Terrae and the Ether, an interstizio exhibit, merges the patent nominalities of photographed places and persons, or places and things, with paintings of an indefinite, abstractly envisioned ether that might conceivably dwell therebetween.Featuring works by Tim Kent, Layton Hower, Myles Dickason, Miguel Kim and Didier Clain.

Centotto: 250 Moore Street #108, Brooklyn, NY 11206

Information: http://www.centotto.com/ and +1 908 338 3590

Happy New Year 2010

2009-12-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

Vicious Vitamins wish you a happy 2010 and let you think over this Romain Gary's statement:

L'art est ennemi naturel de tout "ordre des choses". Il faut que l'art continue à être un scandale, dans un monde où l'on crève de faim, d'ignorance, d'hébétude et d'abandon.

Romain Gary, Journal d'un irregulier

Arrache Toi Un Oeil: serigraphy on wood (exhibition)

2009-12-14T02:09:00.001-08:00

Arrache Toi Un Oeil, the printing collectif based in Paris that was featured in Vicious Vitamins #1 in the rock poster article, opened a space in Paris 11. They organize their first exhibition of serigraphy on wood and other works. Please see below the flyer.

Private viewing Saturday 19 December from 17.00.

Address:

Atelier ATUO

80 rue du Chemin Vert

75011 Paris

Métro Voltaire

Damien Hirst, Nothing Matters - Cruel press clipping !!!!

2009-11-30T09:02:00.000-08:00

OK, let's put it that way: we don't care about Damien Hirst and we think there so many more better artists than him (and cheaper !!! there's justice for collectors !!). We gathered some cruel statements from the press and some of them are hillarious !

Charles Darwent, The Independent

Bad Painting, done well, has a solid place in 20th-century art. But there is Bad Painting and bad painting, and Hirst's work is the second.

Could the younger man's return to paint on canvas mark an admission that the Britart experiment has, in the end, been a failure? Seen like this, the dreadfulness of Hirst's painting might be excused as intentional, a sign that something has been lost in British art and that that loss is irreparable.

I left with a sense of sadness that a man whose pills and diamond-covered skull will remain icons of his time should have been laid so low.

Jonathan Heaf, GQ Magazine

Hirst - now less 'Bad Boy' and more the 'Bono' of Brit art'

Laura Cumming, The Observer

Hirst has no feeling for the things he paints, so nothing here has the graphic force and register of his sculpture, and the images are the opposite of what collage (his modus operandi) should be – subtle, coherent, significantly arranged. You can't get any feeling off these cannibalised Bacons at all.

But there is, I think, something profound at stake for Hirst himself. In the portrait of Angus Fairhurst, there is a palpable sense of effort, struggle, genuine perplexity. The fear of death, at last, is not theatrically faked.

Wish you were here...

2009-11-23T02:30:00.000-08:00

The picture below is a fragment of the giant drawing (2.5m x 12m) of Artus de Lavilleon. This drawing was used as a dance floor at the Art Posthume party last Friday.

Art Posthume Party !!!

2009-11-19T02:19:00.000-08:00

Party with artists from the Art Posthume group (Artus de Lavilleon, Daniele Tedeshi, Alexis Cavaillez, Nicolas Levy) at Salons du Louvre, Friday 20 November from 22.00 'till late.

Jarvis Cocker at Village Underground 9-11 November

2009-11-09T02:53:00.000-08:00

This week Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday , Jarvis Cocker will be at Village Underground in Shoreditch for three days of music and art. The program is below. Vicious Vitamins will be there...

MONDAY 9th NOVEMBER
NOON – 1pm REHEARSAL
The band makes sure that all the technical bits & pieces are working

1pm – 2pm BRING AN INSTRUMENT
Bring your own instrument & work on some music with the band. Amplification is provided.

2pm – 3pm LIVE GRAFITTI
Charley from the nearby Pure Evil gallery will work on a large-scale piece (which may or may not reference the fact that today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall). Live musical accompaniment.

3pm – 4pm BRING AN INSTRUMENT (PART 2)

4pm – 5pm POLE-DANCING WORKSHOP
Lucy Misch will perform a routine & also provide instruction for those wishing to learn a few basic pole-moves. Appropriate dress required. Live musical accompaniment.

5pm – 6pmSPECIAL SURPRISE GUEST

TUESDAY 10th NOVEMBER
NOON – 1pm REHEARSAL
The band gradually warm up by running through some of the songs to be featured in Wednesday night’s concert.

1pm – 2pm YOGA
Jivamukti Yoga is a physically demanding spiritual practice. It is performed to music. Here is your chance to take part in a session hosted by one of its foremost practitioners, Durga. Appropriate clothing is essential & you should bring your own exercise mat if at all possible.

2pm – 3pm BRING AN INSTRUMENT
Bring your own instrument & work on some music with the band. Amplification is provided.

3pm – 4pm SPOKEN WORD
Various poets/performers will read their work over a live, improvised musical backing provided by the band.

4pm – 5pm LIVE GRAFITTI
More live creativity hosted by Charley from the Pure Evil Gallery

5pm – 6pm HULA- HOOP WORKSHOP
Learn to hula-hoop or hone your skills over a live musical backing. Hoops provided.

WEDNESDAY 11th NOVEMBER
NOON – 1pm REHEARSAL
The band gradually warm up by running through some of the songs to be featured in tonight’s concert.

1pm – 2pm BURLESQUE DANCE WORKSHOP
Jo King , a burlesque performer with over 30 years experience, will pass on some of her knowledge with live musical accompaniment provided by the band. Skirts (for female participants) & shoes with a bit of a heel are recommended.

2pm – 3pm BRING AN INSTRUMENT
Bring your own instrument & work on some music with the band. Amplification is provided.

3pm – 4pm STRANGE INSTRUMENT HOUR
David Coulter & Max Eastley will demonstrate the capabilities of a number of unusual instruments including the musical saw & the Aeolian harp. The band will back them.

4pm- 5pm ROLL UP, ROLL UP
Anything could happen as the room is prepared for the day’s final event….

5pm – 6pm CIRCUS CIRCUS!
Students from the Circus Space training academy on Coronet Street in Hoxton will perform a specially-devised show with live musical accompaniment. Afterwards there will be an opportunity to try your hand at a number of circus skills.

& DON’T FORGET!!!!!!After the Circus Hour the venue will begin to transform itself in readiness for the concert to be given at 9pm by Jarvis & the band. Tickets for this one-off show will be available throughout the occupation of the gallery.

PLEASE NOTE !!!This is a ROUGH running order only & is subject to change at the drop of a hat. Check nearer the time for exact details. Or just come down anyway….what have you got to lose?

Conor Harrington at Lazarides (London)

2009-11-02T06:35:00.000-08:00

London gallery Lazarides is currently showing "Headless Heroes", a solo exhibition of Conor Harrington. Internationally renowned for combining graffiti with fine art, Conor's new works move away from the solitary male figure shifting the focus to the confluence of the hero with the forces of every day life.

Lazarides: 11 Rathbone Place, London, W1T 1HR
Tuesday-Friday 11am - 7pm and Saturday 12pm - 5pm
http://www.lazinc.com/

Artus released !!!!

2009-11-02T02:32:00.000-08:00

French artist Artus de Lavilleon spent two weeks hiden at day in a cabinet at Paris department store Citadium and at night in another box left at his home. On Friday 30 October, Artus celebrated the end of his performances with friends and fans. (Photo Didier Clain)

Vernissage Artus de Lavilleon

2009-10-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

CONSUMERISME

Friday 30 October, 8.00 pm

at Citadium (50/56, rue Caumartin 75009 Paris)

"Consumerisme" by Artus de Lavilleon, 15-30 October 2009, Paris

2009-10-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

French artist Artus de Lavilleon will live and sleep hiden in a piece of furniture (90cm x 90 cm x 200cm) of the Paris department store Citadium. Press release in French below. Everyday during the period of the performance, Aleksi Cavaillez will publish a drawing inspired by the performance on his personnal blog: america.dirloz.net.

Chronique d’un enfermement volontaire dans une surface minimum vivable dans un temple de la consommation moderne, et de ses suites.

Dans quelques heures je serais m’isolerais complètement dans une boite au sein du magasin Citadium et y passerais en moyenne dix heures par jour sans en sortir, sauf crise grave, du 15 au 30 octobre 2009.

De 10 h à 20h du Lundi au Samedi à l’exception du Jeudi ou le magasin ferme à 21h, et du Dimanche ou je me baladerais dans Paris.

J’arriverais vers 9h50 vêtu d’un costume blanc, au 104 rue de Provence et en repartirais vers 20h10, sauf le premier jour ou j’arriverais à 9h30, et le deuxième ou je partirais plus tôt pour des raisons personnelles.

La boite fait environ l0,90 x h0,90 x L1,90 m et est placée horizontalement à l’entrée gauche du magasin, non loin de la vitrine ou se trouve la peinture « Consumérisme ». Elle est opaque et sert de stand.

J’y amène tous les jours le journal « Le monde », et y dors sur le même matelas sur lequel dormais ma mère, avec une couette, deux oreillers, un réveil, des boules kies, un réveil, une lumière, un stylo et un carnet de notes. Trois bouteilles d’eau, dont une vide.

Pour le cas ou des personnes trouvent ce stand qui est « caché quelque part dans la boutique », le vendeur leur interdira de me déranger et pour toute explication leur montrera le livre « Coyote » sur la performance de Joseph Beuys de 1974, que j’ai découvert aujourd’hui, et qui, dans mon idée, fait étrangement écho à la mienne.

Mon téléphone, ainsi qu’une liste des amis qu’il contient, et mon ordinateur portable seront laissés, le temps d’une rapide consultation, à disposition du groupe de personnes qui ont accepté « d’enquêter (peut-être sous forme d’interviews) sur les raisons qui peuvent pousser un homme, moi, à réaliser une performance artistique qu’il dit ne pas comprendre lui-même ».

Mon emploi du temps entre la boite installée chez Citadium et celle installée dans mon ancien appartement ne concernant que moi, je ne donne pas l’heure précise de mon arrivée. Mais je tâcherais d’y être tous les jours avant minuit et ce jusqu’à 8h du matin.

J’y travaillerais à écrire à des textes, dans cet autre espace vital minimum, faisant l0,70 x h2,0 x L1,50m, placée juste derrière la porte d’entrée et bloquant l’accès à l’appartement.

Sur la table que je possède depuis mon enfance : une machine à écrire et des rubans, du papier, un réveil, « La stratégie du choc » de Naomi Klein, « L’art conceptuel » de Tony Godefrey (ed Phaidon souple) qui m’ont fortement influencé, « Le Coyote », et mes « mémoires ». Une tasse, du thé, une théière, et une bouilloire.

Sous la table, une bassine, du savon et un gant, un tube de dentifrice et une brosse à dents, pour me laver brièvement la nuit dans la cour.

Mes repas, déjeuner et dîner, seront principalement pris à l’extérieur, sur le chemin d’une boite à l’autre.

Dans le cas ou le vernissage prévu par le magasin Citadium et « la boite de jour », quelques jours avant la fin de la performance, a effectivement lieu, probablement le mercredi 28, je me réserve le droit de sortir de ma boite de façon définitive et de l’exposer ouverte aux yeux du public.

Une photo sera prise avant et après la performance, de la détérioration du costume blanc que j’aurais porté sans relâche.

Les textes écrits dans la seconde boite seront à disposition de qui s’y intéresse, et n’auront pas forcément de rapport avec cet enferment choisi et subit.

« Dans la seconde acception, le consumérisme désigne l’épistémè associé à la société de consommation. Il s’agit d’une idéologie où la consommation de biens revêt une importance capitale. Cette acception de consumérisme est largement rattachée à la notion de post-modernité.

Le consumérisme est par métonymie appelé société de consommation et en tant que tel violemment critiqué depuis la fin du xxe siècle, que ce soit par les mouvements écologistes ou par les « anti-pubs »... » Wikypédia.

« Il y a un moment ou les idées cessent d’être bonnes pour être juste nécessaires. C’est le moment ou la perte de sens devient la plus évidente, et parfois aussi la plus intéressante, socialement, artistiquement, et humainement ». Artus.

Download Vicious Vitamins #2 !!!!

2009-10-12T02:40:00.000-07:00

The second issue of Vicious Vitamins, October 2009, special London and Paris art weeks, is now available to download !!!!

Hard copies will be distributed at Zoo Art Fair in London and Slick in Paris and in a number of galleries, bars, restaurants, exhibitions and parties in London and Paris...

Faites comme Sandrine, lisez Vicious Vitamins !!! (photo Didier Clain)

OUT SOON !!!!

2009-09-25T02:21:00.001-07:00

Vicious Vitamins #2 is on its way !!!! We sent everything to the printing company yesterday, the magazine will be out in bars, restaurants, galleries and shops of London and Paris from Saturday 10 October, just before Frieze.

This second issue will rock !!!!!! A London/Paris art magazine with Danish activist Superflex (inviited at Frieze), Hubaut x Hubaut par Jerome Sans, the Vicious Vitamins Artist-watch list, Artus de Lavilleon....! As usual, fairs Directors (Frieze, FIAC, Zoo, Slick) will be interviewed... Also, night crowd pictures of Londoner Billa Baldwin and Parisian Paul Blind...!!!!

ART SHOULD NOT BE BORING !!!!!

Museum of Everything - London

2009-09-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

One of the show we are very excited about this year during the Frieze week is the Museum Of Everything which initiators will be interviewed in the hard copy of the next Vicious Vitamins. The Museum Of Everything is the first London’s first and only public space for artists and creators living outside the boundaries of mainstream society. From janitors to jailbirds, mediums to miners, The Museum of Everything features over two hundred drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations presented within a 10,000 sft former dairy and recording studio, located minutes away from the Frieze Art Fair. The Museum of Everything formally opens its doors on 14th October 2009, with a gala event on the preceding evening featuring a DJ set by Jarvis Cocker.

More info and program on the museum's website: http://www.museumofeverything.com/

Museum of Everything: Corner of Regents Park Road and Sharpleshall Street in Primrose Hill, London NW1.

Charles Saatchi interview

2009-09-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

It is rare enough so we've got to mention it. Phaidon published a book-long interview of Charles Saatchi: all the questions journalists dared to ask to this enigmatic art lover about art, advertising, himself, his career, collecting, YBAs and much more... Whatever you feel about the person, it remains an interesting and quick-read book. Our favourite bit is by far:

"By and large talent is in such short supply, mediocrity can be taken for brilliance rather more than genius can go undiscovered."

Vicious Vitamins - New Issue SOON !!!!!

2009-09-04T04:42:00.000-07:00

Hi there !

We're working hard on the new issue of Vicious Vitamins which is due to release for the London and Paris art fairs in October. You will find the magazine in a limited number of places in London and Paris: Zoo Art Fair, Slick Art Fair, Show-Off, galleries, shops and restaurants in Shoreditch and accross Paris...

We can now reveal the content of the magazine !

- Danish artist activists Superflex;

- An Hubaut x Hubaut interview by Jerome Sans;

- The Vicious Vitamins artist watch-list;

- Artist focus on Artus de Lavilleon including an exclusive drawing that Artus did just for us and interviews of Artus' friends about him;

- Interviews of the fairs' Directors: Matthew Slotover (Frieze), Soraya Rodriguez (Zoo), Martin Bethenod and Jennifer Flay (FIAC), Johan Tamer-Moreal (Slick);

- Booth selection at Frieze, FIAC and Slick;

- Picture of London and Paris night life by Billa Baldwin for London and Paul Blind for Paris.

Being the Paris/London issue, the magazine will this time be largely bilingual French/English.

And we disclose above the picture we'll use for the cover of the magazine. The picture was of course chosen from Billa Baldwin's portfolio !!!!

We look forward distributing the magazine...!

With much love from London town !

Antoine

Trident Way: A Departure Gallery residency and exhibition

2009-09-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

D E P A R T U R E G A L L E R Y

Trident Way: A Departure Gallery residency and exhibition

Departure Gallery has invited 14 artists to inhabit an empty warehouse on a busy trading estate on the outskirts of London. Throughout September they will develop artworks in response to these surroundings, culminating in an on-site exhibition. This project offers artists a unique opportunity to experiment with the aesthetic, sculptural and conceptual possibilities of this vast space, which is dominated by dramatic, pier-like storage structures.

The importance of the trading estate as part of our urban landscape is often overlooked. It is a site of distribution and exchange; a liminal stage between industrial producer and public consumer. Here, light industry takes place side by side with the local community, yet is kept out of bounds to the public by fences and barriers. Trident Way provokes a re-examination of the cultural complexities of this familiar yet under-explored environment, highlighting the mystery in its functionality, the beauty in its vulgarity and the theatricality in its mundaneness.

Trident Way follows the success of Boeing Way, a similar site-specific residency and exhibition organised by Departure Gallery, which took place in an adjacent 32,000 sq ft warehouse on the same estate in March/April this year. We are planning ongoing projects on this estate throughout 2009/10.

Artists: Louise Ashcroft, Helen Barff, Nathan Birchenough, Anka Dabrowska, Elizabeth Hancock, Doug Jones, Helene Kazan, William Mackrell, Beatriz Olabarrieta, Neil C Smith, Jeni Snell, David Snoo Wilson, Jennifer Taylor and Sara Twomey.

Artists will be in residence on site throughout September 2009. The exhibition runs 3rd-5th October 2009. Please call Louise Ashcroft on 07861375101 or email louiseashcroft@departuregallery.com if you would like more information.

7 Trident Way, The International Trading Estate, Southall, UB2 5LF.Private View: 2nd October 2009, 6pm-9pm (a minibus shuttle will transport guests from Southall Station). Exhibition runs 3rd-5th October 2009, 11am- 5pm.

Departure Gallery is a nomadic platform for contemporary art, which temporarily reclaims empty urban space to provide unique architectural contexts for exhibitions showcasing work by exceptional emerging and established artists.

www.departuregallery.com

Liquid Architecture Music: New album coming soon

2009-08-20T07:14:00.001-07:00

Jerome Sans and Audrey Mascina are currently working on the second album of their band, Liquid Architecture Music. The first single of the album, Give Me Something To Love, is already available worldwide on all good digital platforms and the clip is shown on MTV. The band has also created a pair of sunglasses, in collaboration with the designer Thierry Lasry and artist Thomas Lelu, on sale on the website of Paris concept store Colette.

The clip is available here:

http://vimeo.com/5231481

More news to follow...

Billa Baldwin's new serie for Reebok and Namalee Bolle

2009-08-12T03:16:00.000-07:00

Billa Baldwin, the eye of East-End nights and one of Vicious Vitamins favourite photographer, has released a new serie of pictures for Reebok and fashion muse and singer Namalee Bolle. Have a look below or check out Billa's website and flickr page: http://www.shitbilla.com/ and www.flickr.com/billa.

Dash Snow

2009-08-04T03:06:00.000-07:00

Picture by Gradient Magazine (http://www.gradientmagazine.com/)

Dash Snow (1981-2009)

2009-07-20T07:39:00.001-07:00

Dash Snow: RIP

Peres Projects website:

"Dash was the gentlest of souls and one of the most sensitive artists of his time. He found beauty where most would not know to look. We are forever grateful for all that Dash leaves behind, both in the body of artwork he created and of course also in the extraordinary family he so dearly loved. We will treasure his life always."

A Dash Snow Memorial is being prepared and about to open at Deitch Projects in New-York. More info on Peres Projects news page: http://www.peresprojects.com/news/

New-York Premiere of "Died Young Stayed Pretty" at IFC Centre !!!!!

2009-07-08T07:24:00.001-07:00

Died Young Stayed Pretty, the DIY film about DIY art of rock-posters will have its New-York Premiere at IFC Centre (323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street) on Friday 17 July. Eileen Yaghoobian, Director of the film, will be here in person. Do not miss it !!!!

Eileen Yaghoobian was interviewed in the first issue of Vicious Vitamins. Here is the interview if you want to learn more about this truly underground art practice:

Can you please introduce yourself and explain how you came up with the idea of a documentary about gig posters art?

My name is Eileen Yaghoobian and I directed Died Young Stayed Pretty. My movie is about rock posters and the people who make them. The film opens a window onto a group of talented artists who try to use the tools of graphic design to shock and inspire. In 2001 a renaissance happened in the rock poster world spurred on by the launch of Clayton Hayes' website Gigposters.com, a web portal that catalogues all the rock posters made from 2001 onwards. My film captures this creative comeback of rock posters. My interest in the posters lies in the cultural dialogue that lives in them. The idea came at a dark time in my life...my second brother had died and I was living in his place. To cheer me up, an old friend (Michael Humphries) sent me a link to Gigposters.com and I instantly connected to the imagery. The way the Rock Posters re-envision all cultures. A Turbenegro poster presents Elvis as a gay sailor! A post-apocalyptic city surrounds bunnies walking into a bonfire for an Andrew Bird show. M&M's as the ultimate hero because they can walk into a building in flames to save people because they only melt in your mouth! They're fireproof! Bullets shot through a big red target on a poster printed on metal. The target equally symbolizing the Japanese flag for the band Teengenerate, a Japanese punk band playing on Pearl Harbor day! Twisted stuff!! And beautifully powerful. I decided to go for it, and made a feature film with out of pocket money! I took a risk, and lone - wolfed the project...travelled solo for three years filming on location from Austin, Chicago, Nashville, Seattle, Providence, Calgary, and all across the USA and Canada. Kinda like a band on tour. I tried to match the energy of Rock, and equally cut my film like a Rock Poster.

The gig posters scene is niche made of thousands of artists and independent printers. On which criteria did you select people that feature in your film?

I love the way imagery used in Rock Posters to represent rock n roll. People think that if you make a film about rock and roll, and pop culture and art that it would be an easy combo for entertainment, but actually it was really hard to make it work as a feature length doc. Maybe in a short it could sustain itself, but It was difficult to keep the pace and I sweated over that in editing, cutting down 200 something hours of footage. With a film like this, you can easily get caught in the traps of the glitter and gloss of rock and roll. If you're not careful it can sink you! I had enough material for four docs, but I chose to go with what I love most about music and rock posters. My movie is about the community of poster makers and the cultural dialogue that lives in the posters. The poster makers are like Dr. Frankenstein. Their posters are built from past memories and experiences. Like Frankenstein, the posters are made of found or dejected fragments; a ruin made up of ruins. They alter pieces of other people's forgotten dreams into a poster for a rock band. They create a "monster" (a new artifact) that has to deal with the living again. And that "monster's" quest and function is to promote rock and roll! Ultimately the goal of a poster is to be cool and Frankenstein is super cool!

Emails/internet, gentrification of urban spaces and increasingly precarious music business are challenging poster art. Is it something that you came across while meeting all the artists and people involved in poster art?

I think we're saturated with it! I think information is so fast and so readily available, and it can disrupt isolation and the need for a creative bubble. For example, Poster Makers, hypothetically, will at a certain space in time, avoid pink like the plague because of its recent use or overuse. The collective subconscious is rampant and more calculated now. But what's lovely is that regardless of all of these things, the poster makers post their ideas, loves, passions, voices, views, and politics on a telephone pole; advertised illegally, strewn in urban landscape. These personal pieces of propaganda become part of the street, and erode with the street; stolen and attacked by people, and broken down by weather and time. They live short lives, placed in odd circumstance, and they're really only there for the purpose of a rock show! Pasted to gritty surfaces they reshape space; it's beautifully powerful!

In the meantime, is it true to say that those challenges have actually increased the quality of the posters produced - probably as they were less promotional tools and more collectibles...?

Yes, because in most towns it's illegal to poster. Posters once had functionality to them; they were made cheaply as B/W fliers, Xeroxed and stapled to a pole on the streets. Now, if you can say, they have an "underground" existence online. Before Gigposters.com, the posters were made for one show for one night and maybe a 100 people saw it. But now they are archived on this site and the world can see the poster. Because of this, they have become valuable collectible items; they're hand done, color silk screened. Art Chantry in my movie talks about posters as artifacts, because they're considered advertising for a show, they can't really be "art". After the show is over and the band breaks up what's left is an artifact. Funny enough, the process is very archaic and primitive...like archeologists they are the collectors of the golden era, of our Modern times. The poster artists are an ultimate paradox: a powerless subculture with power. They are powerful because they are thieves of their past; they steal and appropriate from popular icons, ad makers, and illustrators from old magazines, acting as "gods" to engineer a band's image. They have learned a powerful way to communicate through promotion and advertising, but they use their skills to promote a band they love. They are true fans.

I see in all the people interviewed in your film a kind of Resistance: resistance to commercial rational of art and music business, resistance because their passion for both their art and the music community they belong to is the most important thing. Do you have this feeling when standing back and thinking about all those people?

Yes their passion for art and music is what drives them, but as far as resistance goes it really depends, subversive celebration is inherent in poster culture. I love the fantasy of the "Underground." I wanted to see if it existed, and to see if the feelings derived from posters mark out a physical space in comparison. Where is "off the radar?". Art Chantry speaks in my movie about a Dead Kennedy poster, and that they're name alone caused a mass reaction of people tearing the poster from the street. The power of artists to reevaluate culture, and throw it back in its face has been stolen back by the power structure. Chantry says that being President (referring to Bush) is the new punk. That he's put into office to destroy the culture around him and that he's the ultimate punk! Tom Hazelmyer, talks a lot about that in my film...how it's the death of innovation and the coolest thing a kid could do now is wear a brown shirt and walk around...simple and plane... Anyway punk is in the malls now! But he does say that he things rock posters are the new punk!!!

What's next for your film: festival, international distribution, DVD release? And for you: another film maybe?

A UK distribution is coming soon in the Fall! DVD is released in Canada and coming soon internationally! OMG! I'm so excited about my next feature...it's a narrative and I've been collaborating with a writer in Portland for the last year and half. It's a Gothic love story about an extraordinary young woman who is a survivor and comes to terms with her extraordinary-ness!!! She is a tenant of Dr. Peter, who is as old as Satan, and a taxidermy Doctor. His old house is filled with his obsession, his collection of the native animals of the region. He comes from another world, like a pulp fiction novel from the 30's or 40's. Anthony is the boy she thinks is cute, an anti-heroic western man! He's a pizza delivery boy and he's repulsed by her flaws but something happens and.... Well more to come soon! And this one hopefully will be made with financing!!! No more out of pocket productions... But hopefully people will like it enough to want to help me with my next movie!

April 2009
Info: www.diedyoungstayedpretty.com

Basel art fairs week 2009

2009-06-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

Danish artist Troels Carlsen reading Vicious Vitamins at the Kunsthalle Bar

Volta party

Vicious Vitamins, Troels Carlsen (artist) and Peter Funch (photographer and second half of Copenhagen-based V1 Gallery)

Nacho Valle (Director of Valencia gallery Valle Ortí), Spanish artist Fermín Jiménez Landa and Volta press relation Creixell Espilla-Gilart

Troels Carlsen, Peter Funch and Amanda Coulson

Performance at Volta

Vicious Vitamins #1 - Some pictures...

2009-05-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures that will be published in the first issue of Vicious Vitamins. This issue will soon be available for download on-line and will be distributed for free in Basel during the Basel art fairs early June.

Dunk, Copenhagen (Denmark)

Lowsalt, Glasgow (Scotland)

Centre for Visual Introspection, Bucharest (Romania)

Poster Uffie by Powerhouse Factories for the Lollapalooza Festival

Poster by French artist Antoine Bernhart

Poster for Kap Bambino gig by Paris-based design studio "Arrache Toi Un Oeil"

Troels Carlsen, Sipping from the Mirror (pencil and collage on blank antique bookpages, 2008)

Troels Carlsen, Crânes (acrylics on antique anatomy print, 2008)

Cover Vicious Vitamins #1

2009-05-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

Lada Redstar, the hottest burlesque dancer from Sarajevo, will be in the front page of the first issue of Vicious Vitamins. The picture itself is from Paris-based photographer Dimitri Lepretre.

Also on the photography side, we're happy to announce that Billa Baldwin, the favourite photographer of the Shoreditch wanker community, will be a regular contributor of Vicious Vitamins !!!! and he will of DJ for our parties !!!!! It's all good, innit !!!!

Lada Redstar: www.myspace.com/ladaredstar

Dimitri Lepretre: http://www.dimitrilepretre.com/

Billa Baldwin: http://www.shitbilla.com/ and www.flickr.com/billa

About Lada Restar

LADA REDSTAR is from the cold, Lada Redstar is from the other side of The Wall: She's from the Eastern Bloc! It wasn't in Hollywood or on Broadway where she was initiated into dance... It was to the cadence of the Red Army's parades that she learned to move her body... It didn't take her long to leave the ranks of her regiment and begin her ascent to glory! It's said that the little soldier girl had no trouble getting her hands on the keys to the Kremlin and other communist hellholes. She can still be found in these places occasionally today... and she's privy to the most intimate secrets of the senior dignitaries of the Party! Lada Redstar has survived the wars, and today she comes to the West to offer her personal vision of conquest, of charm, and of Burlesque. From the cold! But warm like the most blissful vodka euphoria... So... За ваше здоровье! ... After all, who knows seduction better than the women of the East?

Edito Vicious Vitamins # 1

2009-05-01T03:03:00.000-07:00

Everything started in 1987. I was nine years old and I was living in L’Etrat, a small village not too far from Saint-Etienne, an industrial town located more or less in the middle of France (a little bit more east than west, at the north of the south half…). In 1987 was opened the Museum of Modern Art of Saint-Etienne. It was kind of an exciting news for everyone to see this massive black construction on the edge of the highway finally opened to the public. I was at primary school and of course was brought there every year by my teachers and my parents. That’s how I discovered art and the first artist I learnt about was Fernand Leger. I actually thought he was also from Saint-Etienne because his paintings were about working class people and Saint-Etienne was a very industrial city until the eighties.

Then I moved to Paris at the age of 13 and probably because I was a lonely teenager I visited everything I possibly could. I even seriously considered buying a Nan Goldin picture which at this time was offered for 3,000 French Francs (about 450 euro)!!! That was at the FIAC which was at this time on the site of the Musee du Quai Branly; but that was more than half my saving so I didn’t buy it.

I don’t know why I keep on looking at art. Maybe am I desperately running after the same feeling I experienced the day I discovered Fernand Leger in Saint-Etienne? What I know is that Leger challenged the traditions. He invented his world that he offered to everyone looking at his works. I liked Fernand Leger for the vivid colors and funny shapes (some years later some teachers told me to call that cubism, orphism or tubism). I was nine and I found it fun!

Since then, I’ve been looking for the same fun. Why should art be boring and pretentious? Art should not be boring and pretentious and that’s why Vicious Vitamins is here. Art is made of energies, the energies of artists, gallerists, collectors, art fairs crews and thousands of people enthusiast about art... That’s what we’d like to present in this magazine. Welcome!

Vicious Vitamins - The Basel art fairs issue

2009-04-27T06:29:00.001-07:00

Dear friends,

The first issue of DIY-gonzo-art publication Vicious Vitamins will be released during the Basel art week within Volta, Liste and Scope as well as in a selected number of museums, galleries and hotels, bars, etc in the city of Basel.

The first issue will feature interviews from the Directors of Art 40 Basel, Volta, Liste and Scope. We will also publish an interview and pictures of Danish artist Troels Carlsen, several pages about artist-run spaces across Europe and a focus on "rock gig posters", an unknown although fantastic bridge between art and music.

Vicious Vitamins will probably contain a Paul H-O free column and our favourite gallery girls !!!

See you in Basel !!

Antoine

Wolfe von Lenkiewicz new exhibition "The Descent of Man"

2009-04-27T05:56:00.000-07:00

Wolfe Von Lenkiewicz's works are most of the time figurative pencil drawings inspired by Renaissance techniques and mixing antique charaters of mythology and modern entertainment icons. Diverse in size, from A4 page to enormous size compositions, Wolfe Lenkiewicz showed his worked at Simon Dickinson, T1+2 Gallery and Paradise Row in London and Mimmo Scognamiglio in Naples.

This new exhibition organize by All Visual Arts will feature a diverse range of drawings as well as a deer bronze sculpture.

The Descent of Man

02.05.2009 to 31.05.2009

1 Melton Street London NW1 2ER
Private view: 1 May 2009, 6pm - 8pm

RIO by Adel Abdessemed at David Zwirner, New-York

2009-04-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

After PS1 in 2008, Algerian-borned and New-York-based artist Adel Abdessemed is having his new show at David Zwirner Gallery from April 3 to May 9, 2009. Although relatively unknown in America, Adel Abdessemed attracts great attention in Europe where he is one of the favourite artists of great collectors such as French billionaire and Gucci-owner Francois Pinault.

This new show will feature sculptures, drawings, photographs, and videos made from 2008 to 2009 and will be presented in between two main gallery spaces on 19th street (525 and 519, 19th street).

Surveillance at Affirmation Arts

2009-03-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

A special edition of Vicious Vitamins will be released for "Surveillance", an exhibition curated by Rachel D.Vancelette and featuring a group of seven exciting New York-based emerging artists.

Affirmation Arts: 523 West, 37th Street - New-York, New-York 10018

Date: April 9 to May 16, 2009

Picture: Shin il Kim, Active Anesthesia – The full of square2007 (Courtesy Galleria Ricardo Crespi)

March 20, 2009: New York, NY: Affirmation Arts is pleased to announce Surveillance, a group show curated by Rachel D. Vancelette, featuring artists: Yasmine Chatila, Tomory Dodge, Jeffrey Gibson, Charles Harlan, Shin il Kim, Caitlin Maloney, and Angelo Plessas.

“Surveillance” is defined as ”close or vigilant watch over someone or something,”’ and derives, by way of the French veiller, from the Latin term vigilare, meaning “to keep watch.” Artists have historically been the gatekeepers of society’s public accounts, and today they continue to mirror our daily lives. Whether it is through the Internet, virtual social networking, photography, painting, or multimedia-based technologies, artists are always interrupting and interpreting the reality of today’s information age.

Surveillance presents the diverse studio practices of seven artists who remind us all that they are indeed keeping watch over this explosive and public exchange of information. In recent years the continual bombardment of virtual information has radically transformed the world, and these artists are among those who are constantly redefining its boundaries and content. The necessity and proliferation of surveillance techniques have become a large part of our everyday lives. Whether or not our society at large is conscious of these invasions and observations, it is clear that this diverse group of artists is engaging and addressing these critical issues.

In an age where the excess of information has produced false, invasive, and voyeuristic avenues in both the private and public domain, these artists remind us of the daily observation, private moments, intimate encounters, and public cyberworld of virtual activities. Multiple conceptual vocabularies of art are coming full circle with the use of new technologies and materials. These artists are employing both traditional and nontraditional techniques, evoking a transformative intervention while providing a gateway for the viewer’s engagement.

Some New-York exhibitions

2009-03-15T08:01:00.001-07:00

Chronology of the art crunch !

2009-02-27T09:12:00.000-08:00

We have gathered some keys dates and events of the economic crisis and the main contemporary art auctions to show how the art market has followed the same declining trend as all other assets in the world (in bold, art related events):

July 10, 2007: So-called credit crunch starts with the downgrade of some $12 billion of subprime debt by rating agency S&P.

October 1, 2007: UBS announces $3.4 billion losses from sub-prime related investments; this announcement is the first of many to come.

January 21, 2008: global stock markets experience their most serious drop since 9/11.

March 17, 2008: JP Morgan acquires Bear Stern for $240 million; 12 months earlier, Bear Stern was valued $18 billion.

May 13, 2008: Christies sales for $348.26 million of post war and contemporary art.

May 14, 2008: Murakami’s “My Lonesome Cowboy” sells at Sotheby’s for $13.5 million while estimated $3-4 million. The auction achieved $362.03 million in 73 lots. During that auction Francis Bacon’ “Triptych 1976” sold for $86.28 million becoming the most expensive work of contemporary art ever auctioned.

June 2008: ArtPrice annual report announces that contemporary art sales generated EUR 980 million between june 2007 and june 2008, up 50% on the previous year for a volume of transactions roughly equivalent.

July 31, 2008: UK Nationwide announces the biggest fall in house prices (8.1%) since it started its survey in 1991

September 15, 2008: Wall-Street bank Lehman Borthers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The same day, Merrill Lynch agrees to be taken over by bank of America for $50 billion.

September 15, 2008: Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, Part I, Damien Hirst sales for £70,545,100 (including buyer’s premium).

September 16, 2008: The US Federal Reserve rescues insurance company AIG with a $85 billion package.

September 16, 2008: Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, part II, Damien Hirst sales for £40,919,700 (including buyer’s premium).

September 17, 2008: UK’s biggest mortgage lender HBOS is taken over by Lloyds TSB for £12 billion.

September 25, 2008: US mortgage lender Washington Mutual is closed down by the US regulators and sold to JP Morgan Chase.

October 17, 2008: Sotheby’s contemporary art sale in London struggled to find bidders and fetched £22 million with fees versus a lower estimate of £30.6 million.

October 18, 2008: Philips-de Pury auctions fetched only £5 million versus a lower estimate of £18.6 million; this includes Murakami’s sculpture “tongari-kun” failure to attract a single bid while expected to attract at least £3.5 million.

November 26, 2008: The European Commission release EUR200 billion in an attempt to save millions of European jobs.

December 1, 2008: The US recession is officially declared by the national Bureau of Economic Research

January 23, 2009: The UK officially entered a recession as fourth quarter 2008 GDP falls by 1.5% compared with previous three months.

February 11, 2009: Christies London sales 79% of a 29 lots offering in a 36 minutes auction representing £8.4 million with fees (88% below the £72.9 million achieved at the equivalent option the previous year).

More to follow…

The Warhol Economy: An Interview with Elizabeth Currid

2009-02-24T07:13:00.000-08:00

Sociologist Elizabeth Currid studied the influence of the culture industry on New-York economy and claims that it has a similar impact - if not bigger - than Wall-Street. Interview with the author.

Could you please present your work in few words.
I study the economics of cultural industries: fashion, art, music and design. I find that so much of their work revolves around their social life.

Based on your work, the art was created in the street and became an industry when it started to penetrate the night life, especially when artists and socialites mixed together. Are those two components still the same today in New-York in 2009?
I think subcultures have great appeal to mainstream markets because they are innovative and unusual. Nightlife is an important conduit for getting information about new art forms into the market place and on the public’s radar.

Has the market boom and the amount of money invested in art increasingly corrupted young artists and alternatively do you think the serious crisis the economy and thus the art industry are facing will bring back the creative world to where it was in the ebulliant 70’’ and 80’’?
I don’t ever buy the idea that because an artist is economically successful he is “corrupted”. I think all artists have a right to try to acheive economic success doing what they love. I do think that art markets work in bifurcated economies, that the boom brought lots of disposable income but simultaneously outpriced new artists from living in NYC and the bust will depress real estate prices and rent and but also give greater access to artists. So artists flourish in both types of economies, albiet in different ways.

At what point art became an industry, a serious business?
I think on some level art has always been commodified and a serious business. Certainly painters have been commissioned to do work for hundreds of years. But the ubiquity of turning art into a consumer good, and one that all social stratospheres can access to an extent, really caught on in the 1980s with graffiti in the galleries and the rise of hip-hop into mainstream markets.

You demonstrate that the culture industry creates economic value to the city of New-York. What could be the consequences of the desaffection of collectors (due to the economic crisis) and the fact that more and more artists establish their studios outside New-York (or at the hedge of the city) or in European cities like Berlin or Barcelona?
Well, the economic crisis has and will continue to hit New York City particularly hard. This is generally a Very Bad Thing. But the silver lining is that it will make this incredibly cost-prohibative city more accessible to many other socio-economic groups besides just the wealthy. In doing so, artists may move back into the city and form the artistic neighborhoods that have produced great artists such as the Abstract Expressionists or the East Village artists of the 1970s.

The Armory Show is starting next week; from your research point of view, what role does The Armory Show play in the NY culture scene?
The Armory Show is both a gatekeeper and an important social scene that puts the major players in the international art world in the same place. Brilliant artists, savvy dealers, thoughtful critics, art loving buyers all show up. Things happen. Careers are made. New York remains an important part of the game.

Does your work and the meetings and interviews you had enable you to identify the leaders of the new generation of gallerists, artists and fashion designers. If yes, can you give us few names ?

I would never pretend that my observations of the economic and social processes of the art world make me an expert on what is “good art”. I’ll leave the soothsaying to the dealers and art critics.

The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art and Music drive New-York City by Elizabeth Currid, Princeton University Press.

Volta Show NY: booth selection

2009-02-19T14:05:00.000-08:00

Vicious Vitamins recommends you to visit the following booth:

Arnaug Maguet, La Blanchisserie (Boulogne-Billancourt, France), booth
www.lablanchisserie.com

Using very diversified means, Arnaud Maguet questions the basic aspects of the 1950’s to 1970’s subculture. He starts with music (rock’n’roll, punk, krautrock, hip-hop, free jazz, psychedelic music…), then goes on to Kenneth Anger’s or Andy Warhol’s experimental films, D.I.Y. graphics, underground literature, popular films (and all the letters that categorise them, from B to Z and vice-versa) ; in so doing he calls forth a great many more or less well known legends. These legends have in common a « garage » type of aesthetic – or how, after one has completely and urgently failed to replicate the hoped for model, one chooses to marvel at the result rather than just to make the best of it. Like T.W. Adorno who underscored the “fetishist aspect in music”, Arnaud Maguet’s pieces turn these legends into relics of our collective memory, magnifying or distorting the original fiction. Thus he produces a body of work in which each added element completes the programme of a show that takes shape as it is being performed, creating a record company (Les Disques en Rotin Réunis / United Rattan Records), while at the same time becoming a member of various groups himself (Alpha-60, Beauty and the Beat, the Groovers, Finger On You).

Francisco Valdés, Elaine Lévy Project (Brussels, Belgium)

www.elainelevyproject.com

To frame Francisco Valdés work in a particular style or medium would draw an artificial enclosure around it and miss its inherent heterogeneity; his pieces explore exchanges between dimensions and means of reproduction rather than an explicit theme. Accordingly, unexpected gestures of resurrection, ingenious acts of appropriation, translation between media and explorations of exorcism abound in them.

The artist’s sources are varied too: images taken from eBay, old books, consecrated artworks, Youtube, his personal collection of ghost pictures, and others. All this alludes to Valdés' distrust for unquestioned representations of reality, an attitude that has been described as mixing “suspiciousness towards and flirtation with the double meaning of sophistication”. The works of the show are constructed upon low-resolution images, a primary source that generates a sort of unstable space, eager to be manipulated. At the other end, the final pieces suggest sensations of temporal displacement, sound, and movement, alongside a recursive system of fictions which subverts apparently secure categories such as “prototype”, “original” or “mass produced”.

Alejandro Almanza Pereda, Magnan Projects (New-York, USA)
www.magnanprojects.com

Possibility takes new direction. The in-your-face approach and raw materials used to create imposing “active” physical structures in his earlier works transitions to a more subtle, contemplative approach. The equilibrium of forces and materials give way to create relationships with objects that create situations in which the viewer is faced with challenges to commonly held perceptions.

At Magnan Emrich Contemporary show in late 2008, Almanza created Out to Lunch (Closed for the day). Addressing ideas of safety measures and codes, the artist wraps and ties chain links into knots creating a huge ball suspended from the ceiling rafters of the gallery. Its’ own weight pushes the chain to its established load limit. Visitors entering the space are confronted with the threatening structure. Will it break from its own weight? Do we trust the safety codes that are imposed on us? Or, does one assume that in a gallery setting it must be safe to walk under or around? Perceptions of danger become individual experiences.

The New-York Art Week: Selection 2

2009-02-19T08:21:00.000-08:00

Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective at MOMA
“I’m a big fan of Martin Kippenberger so when I saw there was a retrospective at the MOMA I was super excited! I’ll never miss this one for sure. This exhibition shows a broad diversity of works and medium that Kippenberger made along his career so it should be quite comprehensive even for those not familiar with his work…!”

MOMA: 11 West 53 Street, New-York (http://www.moma.org/)

______________________________

Michael Borremans: Taking Turns at David Zwirner Gallery
“Michael Borremans is a fantastic artist, very complex mind but doing accessible work..! and he’s from Belgium which is a country I like with great – although sometimes unknown – artists and galleries. Borremans paintings mix traditional techniques and imageries with contemporary references; all what I like !”

David Zwirner Gallery: 252 West 19th Street, New-York (http://www.davidzwirner.com/)

______________________________

Gregory de la Haba: Equus Maximus at Jack The Pelican
“I saw an incredible piece of Gregory de la Haba at Briadge Art fair in Miami: an installation of three horses (real size!) around a gambling table; just go there to see this piece which is still shown at the gallery. I’m sure there’s much more to see from this exhibition and that will be an opportunity to visit other Brooklyn’s galleries.”

Jack The Pelican: 487 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn (http://www.jackthepelican.com/)

______________________________

Serban Savu: The Edge of the Empire at David Nolan Gallery
“I’m very interested in Romania and Romanian artists. David Nolan has an exhibition of School of Cluj artist Serban Savu which I’d like to see. This will also be an opportunity to see the gallery’s new space in Chelsea. David Nolan also has some available work of Ciprian Muresan which I collect so I’d like to see what he currently has.”

David Nolan Gallery: 527 West 29th Street, New-York (http://www.davidnolangallery.com/)

The New-York Art Week: Selection 1

2009-02-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

Location One
“I’ll visit Location One as each time I’m in New-York; Location One is one of the best non-for-profit art space (exhibition and residency) in the heart of Soho and it is run by very nice people that I always enjoy meeting. They currently have a retrospective of Nayland Blake which is interesting; although it is a non-for-profit, their program is of similar quality of a commercial gallery. They celebrate their 10th anniversary very soon which I may attend ad well.”

Location One: 26 Green Street (Canal/Grand), New-York (http://www.location1.org/)

_________________________________________

Universal Gym by Thomas Hirschhorn at Gladstone Gallery
“I usually follow Thomas Hirschhorn with attention. He is always very excessive but interesting. I know the title of this solo show he currently has at Gladstone Gallery, Universal Gym, and I find the topic quite interesting as gym and fitness have become an obsession in the western world.”

Gladstone Gallery: 530 West 21th street, New-York (http://www.gladstonegallery.com/)

_________________________________________

Rock On Mars by Stephen Sprouse at Deitch Project
“I like Deitch Project; he has a great list of artists in his gallery and I’ve always enjoyed the bridges he builds between visual art and music. I’ll pop by his gallery to see the Stephen Sprouse exhibition. I’m not very familiar with Stephen Sprouse that why this retrospective is a good opportunity to get to know him better. Here again, there will be a mix of art, fashion, rock n’ roll and design !!!”

Deitch Project: 18 Wooster Street, New-York (http://www.deitch.com/)

_________________________________________

AND/OR by Jonathan Horowitz at PS1
“I always go to PS1 and spend some time to Brooklyn and Williamsburg; I’m always a tourist in New-York! I want to see the exhibition of Jonathan Horowitz, his first solo show in a New-York museum. he's work is always very political, a clever critic of the media and celebrity business in the US. The recent election of Barak Obama and the event Jonathan Horowitz organized at Gavin Brown's Enterprise the day of the election makes this exhibition a "must-see" in New-York at the moment.”

PS1: 22-25 Jackson Avenue (46th Ave), Long Island City, Brooklyn (ps1.org)

The Armory Show: An interview with Katelijne De Backer

2009-02-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

Katelijne De Backer, Executive Director of The Armory Show, answered our questions:

2009 is probably the most challenging year so far due to the economic environment. Will you judge the success of the Armory Show 2009 upon the same criteria than the previous years?
We have always judged ourselves by the quality of the art shown and that remains our primary concern. Of course sales are important, but we feel they result from the great work our galleries exhibit.

Have you taken into account the current economic environment when selecting the galleries? Did you take into account the tough times gallerists and artists are currently facing?
The economic crisis hit the art world after our selections were made, so it didn’t affect our considerations – nor our applications. But we are very aware of the difficulties our exhibitors are facing, so we have tried to help them by offering them such options as being able to get smaller booths and to make their payments in instalments. We have also stepped up our efforts to attract committed visitors to the fair. It is worth remembering that our fair started (as the Gramercy International Fair of New Art) as a response to the art market crash of the 1990s, and the same reasons that made it a success then make it a success now: by pooling the resources of the world’s best galleries in New York, the center of the art world, our exhibitors have access to more collectors, curators and critics than they ever could have on their own.

What are the main differences between Armory Show 2009 and Armory Show 2008?
The most obvious difference is that we have expanded to include Pier 92, in which we are debuting The Armory Show – Modern, a section devoted to Modern and secondary-market contemporary art. I feel that it gives our fair historical depth that it didn’t have before. This also gave us the opportunity to reach out to organizations such as the Metropolitan Museum and the Neue Gallery to get involved in our off-site events.

As sales will be certainly lower than the previous years, have you taken more risk, being more audacious or, on the contrary, have you favoured “high street” galleries and very established artists?
As I said, our decisions were not dictated by the market. I expect that the galleries in our Modern section will bring their heavyweights, while the contemporary galleries will continue to do what they do best – the more established ones will bring their stars, while the younger ones will dazzle us with new talent.

Is the Modern Art section a sign of return to fundamentals, a sign that the excess of contemporary art (declining quality of art works, prices out of control) are over?
I wouldn’t look at it that way. In 2007 we held our fair at the same time as the ADAA held theirs, and we discovered that both fields reinforced each other. We have wanted to take advantage of this at The Armory Show, but were only able to do it this year thanks to our parent company, MMPI, which was able to secure our permanent access to both piers. I do agree that prices were out of control, but that was a result of excesses throughout, not just limited to the art world. I’m glad that things will return to more realistic levels.

Why have you not diversified to design instead of Modern art as it seems it is becoming the next hot collection to have...?
Our only concern is fine art, and it will continue to be that way.

Does it really make sense to have several galleries within the largest fairs that represent the same artists. Some important artists such as Damien Hirst or Anish Kapoor are represented by four or five galleries in some other big fairs...? Is it a concern you have at The Armory Show?
Our Selection Committee (made up of six gallerists from around the world) spend a lot of time weighing the strength of our applicants’ programs. They’re not only concerned with whom they represent, but their standing in the art world and their commitment to their artists. With nearly 250 galleries, it’s inevitable that there will be some crossovers, but for the most part you will see a great variety of work, a lot of which you may not have the chance to see elsewhere.

Would you dare asking galleries to coordinate before the fair in order to do not have too much of the same few artists in different booths?
We don’t do that. Usually galleries that represent the same artists negotiate amongst themselves. But we leave it entirely up to their discretion.

Given the buyant artistic environment of New-York and the permanent presence of very large collectors, there is a risk of being too “New-York centric”. Is it a concern you keep in mind when selecting the galleries? Or on the contrary, do you clearly play the card of New-York...?
We really aim to have a great variety, which is why we make sure that our Selection Committee is made up of dealers from all over the world. This year our Committee was made up of Ciléne Andréhn from Stockholm, Olivier Antoine from Paris, Matthias Arndt from Berlin, Stefania Bortolami from New York, Marc Foxx from Los Angeles and Alison Jacques from London.

Generally, how do you see the art fairs market evolving? Do you believe that fairs will increasingly become like Miami art week with a mix of art, parties, celebrities... or do you think fairs will become more like the Basel week where art and only art matters...?

We work hard on our VIP Program and we have dozens of events happening all over the city, but our emphasis has always been on the art. Parties are great, but we don’t want people to forget what they are here for.

Details:

http://www.thearmoryshow.com/

Pier 92 and 94

5-8 March 2009

Noon to 8pm (7pm on 8)

12th Avenue and 55th Street

Notice to the art crowd

2009-02-13T07:12:00.000-08:00

Photographed at The Half King in Chelsea, New-York, on 12 February 2009

The writing aside says: "Too bad, his millions haven't"

Volta New-York: List of events

2009-02-12T07:53:00.000-08:00

Beside the main fair, a number of animations, events and talks are organized on the fair site or in cinemas of Manhattan. Here is a list of the “official” events:

Imperfect Articles
Imperfect Articles will be on site with their limited edition T-shirts with artwork by contemporary and emerging artists, such as Akroe, Anders Nilsen, Atsushi Kag, Carmen Price, Cody Hudson, David Shrigley. Davis/Langois, Eri Ito, Huskmitnavn, Hvass&Hannibal, Ian Pedigo, Joshua Abelow, Katherine Bernhardt, Matthew Feyld, Misaki Kawai, Rashid Johnson, Richard Colman, and UFEX as well as Italian artist Pesce Khete and Troels Carlsen from Denmark, both of whom are exhibiting at VOLTA NY.

Web site: imperfectarticles.com/

Colección Whitney

In the lobby will be Colección Whitney, a work by New York-based artist Trong Nguyen, a replica of the medieval discipline device of the stocks, used often in olden days of New York City to publicly punish criminals. In keeping with his practice, which often questions the power relationships between viewer and art object, here the Vietnamese artist aims to regain control of the act of looking by encouraging the visitor to spend time in the stocks. Both the object’s name and its given name (“stocks” and “Whitney”) also ask us to consider how the financial crisis, banks, or public and private collections, create a hierarchy of art objects and artists.

Web site: http://www.cameandwent.com/coleccion.html

Suck it ! by Sweet Tooth of the Tiger
Collaborative operation of Sweet Tooth of the Tiger with contemporary artist and pastry chef Tara Strickstein, presents Suck-it! In which sweets will be given out to visitors, artists and dealers. Highlighting the choreography and ceremonial nature of food exchange, Tara and experimental chef Adam Danforth, explore innovative flavor pairings combined with a unique sense of social ritual based in art theory and reflecting their individual studio practices. STT organizer, Tracy Candido, utilizes the public sphere as a place for eating, feeding, and talking with your mouth full and provides a "sugar high" that aims to engage active dialog and conversation.

Web site: http://www.sweettoothofthetiger.com/

A New Stance for Tomorrow

Amanda Coulson, director of VOLTA NY, the darling of the Armory Show satellite fairs,
has commissioned Natalie Kovacs and Victoria Brooks to create site-specific programming for the Tribeca Grand that explores an alternative position to VOLTA NY’s 2009 theme: ‘The Age of Anxiety’. The curators have combined their expertise to create a 3-part exhibition that references historical contexts while offering positive propositions for the future. Concentrating on alternative visions and innovations by artists, designers and filmmakers from the 1950s to now, A New Stance for Tomorrow includes screenings, site-specific design, sound art and performative installation with works by Byron Broadbent, Michel de Broin, Charles & Ray Eames, Tim Etchells, Noam Gonick & Luis Jacob, Claire Hooper, Pierre Joseph & Philippe Parreno, Yves Klein, Oswaldo Macia, Simon Martin, Mathieu Mercier, Alain Resnais, Pia Rönicke, Mika Taanila, and Andrea Zittel.

A New Stance for Tomorrow – Part 1 Cinema programme
The first major piece in A New Stance for Tomorrow will be a series of artists’ film and video screenings to be shown in the Grand Screen screening room at the Tribeca Grand Hotel – a chic art nouveau-style private cinema that hosts a diverse film programme throughout the year, including New York’s A-List Cinema Society film events. The screening programme will be split into two, conceptually focused around the films of Charles and Ray Eames from the 1950s and 1980s. Part 1 concentrates on imaginings and innovations in architecture and the built environment and will explore the relationship of these disciplines to how space is designated and inhabited. Part 2 will concentrate on imaginings and innovations in design, interiors and ways of living and will explore the relationship of these disciplines to how we interact and associate with design, both socially and functionally. The artists, designers and filmmakers included in these programmes in different ways dissolve the boundaries between art, architecture and design whilst creating experimental imaginings and explorations for positive propositions for the future.

A New Stance for Tomorrow – Part 2 Wildflowers of Manitoba mixed-media performative installation
The second major piece, hosted in The Tribeca Grand’s Sanctum, comprises an arresting mixed media work that incorporates film, performance and a domed installation by Noam Gonick and Luis Jacob. Wildflowers of Manitoba is both a utopian vision of an idealistic world and a model or vision of how things to come could be. Blurring fact and fiction they draw on varied historical references from the history of the hippy and radical fairy movements to Gay and Lesbian Culture providing an insight into other potential futures or possibilities.

A New Stance for Tomorrow – Part 3 Soundscape and installation at VOLTA NY 7W

A New Stance for Tomorrow continues in the elevators at 7W – the site of VOLTA NY, opposite the Empire State Building, with a series of artists’ audio projects. Here, Oswaldo Macia’s Tomorrow will be cloudy (2004-7) creates a soundscape that represents all the animals that boarded Noah’s Ark in early 17th century philosopher John Wilkins’ archive. It not only works as an analogy of the current climate crisis and the recent financial ‘crunch’ but also represents a journey into the past and future. Also in the elevators, artist, director and writer Tim Etchells, best known for his work as leader of the renowned performance ensemble, Forced Entertainment, will present Brief Reminder (2006). The declaration/warning is modelled on announcements in public spaces, reflecting the rules and systems in language and in culture and the way in which these systems are both productive and constraining.

Related Installation:
Byron Broadbent’s Cine-Pod – commissioned in response to the exhibition A New Stance for Tomorrow. The model, drawings and film present a future proposition for a new, mobile cinema structure that is at once sculptural and functional. Experimenting with new materials and technologies, the Cine-Pod is a solar-powered cinema made from ‘smart glass’ – a switchable material that transforms from translucent to opaque with the start and end of a screening.

Open Forum
Volta will share its talks programme “Open Forum” with the Armory Show; the one taking place at Volta’s location 7W 345th street is on Friday 5th at 5 p.m.

The Curated Art Fair: Trend or Necessity?
In recent years there has been a growing involvement of curators with art fairs, whether assuming posts as artistic directors, conceiving projects specifically created for a fair or acting as members of a selection committee. Are curatorial practices expanding more and more towards art fairs? If so, to what extent can we speak of a "curated art fair" and an "art fair curator"? Can a curator provide a new perspective or will the actual economical situation herald the retreat of the curator to less commercial spaces. The panel includes personalities who have bridged both worlds, such as a museum director who has worked with art fairs, a curator turned gallerist and an art critic turned art fair director.

Participants:
David Liss, Artistic Director Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MoCCA), Toronto
Louky Keisers, Director LMAK Projects, New York
Miguel Amado, Free-lance curator and art critic
Amanda Coulson, Executive Director VOLTA
Paco Barragán, Artistic Director CIRCA Puerto Rico and author “The Art Fair Age”

Volta New-York: An interview with Amanda Coulson

2009-02-12T07:06:00.000-08:00

Amanda Coulson, Executive Director of Volta Show, answered our questions about the Volta fair, New-York and the challenges faced by the art market.

Do you consider the purchase of Volta by MMPI as a new step/new challenge for the Volta fair or does it remain business as usual?
It’s always a challenge when a small “family run” operation gets absorbed into a large company but we certainly wouldn’t have been able to expand to the U.S. platform so quickly -- and fairly painlessly -- without the support of MMPI and The Armory Show, the entire staff of which was incredibly welcoming and helpful. It’s business as usual in the sense that the core group organizing it have remained in place with the same vision we always had, the Merchandise Mart supports us with logistics and back office, but we can focus on content.

Have you received specific guidelines or recommendations from MMPI? Are you encouraged to coordinate your program with The Armory Show (also owned by MMPI)?
Absolutely not. MMPI does not meddle in artistic decisions about the fair though of course it’s now a serious business and there are expectations and there is oversight. To use an analogy offered to me by a journalist, Steven Kaplan : Volta used to be a small town for which I was mayor, sheriff, garbage collector and dog catcher. But the small town has now been incorporated into the county; I remain the mayor, but the other services are taken care of by county personnel, which gives me more time to be mayor. However, I have to shape up: no more lounging around the spittoon chewin' tobacco with the local yokels. I have to tuck in my shirt and meet my budgets.

Regarding the Armory, we do work very closely together and, of course, to “graduate” from VOLTA to the main fair is a natural progression but it’s not like Katelijne De Backer and I sit around deciding who’s going where like Masters (or Mistresses) of the Universe. We have a very friendly collaboration and part of that is due to the fact that I conceived the NY edition to complement them with the solo projects. We are not in direct competition, doing precisely the same thing as them; we have a very precise focus and profile and we stick to that, but we keep each other au courant of each other’s lists and choices and exchange opinions.

Do you consider single artist booths is a way to give more importance to the artists (even thought there are consequently less artists shown in total) than to the galleries?
Absolutely. Even now people scan the galleries at a fair and make a snap judgement based on their names and where they are based. I’d like people to open their minds to the notion that good art is made everywhere and even a gallery you’ve never heard of might have a good artist in their programme. The fair is a market, of course, but I thought that the solo project concept was a way to make it feel hopefully less like a trade show and more like a kind of exhibition. It’s why we base it loosely around a theme as well.

I suggested to a lot of galleries that they band together to promote an artist work: this was as much for economic reasons as to purposefully encourage a more collaborative feel. It was actually surprising how few galleries – even in this climate—didn’t want that!

Are you concerned by the current art market and, as a consequence, would you consider giving the galleries more flexibility in the organization of their booths if it would enable them to sell more works?
It would be pretty callous of me if I wasn’t concerned. To pretend it is not a huge commitment for a gallery to support a fair at a time like this is really disingenuous. Some fairs give the impression that they are doing the galleries a huge favour by accepting them: yes, a fair can do a lot for a gallery or an artist’s career but there is also a responsibility one has to one’s exhibitors and a bad fair can also break a gallery. But I don’t think a solo project means necessarily harder sales; sometimes a deep exploration o a single artist’s work can be a real asset… at least that’s what many collectors told me at last year’s VOLTA NY. This year though we are having a whole second space as a “Collector’s Lounge”—a kind of storage area where galleries can bring more than they can fit in the booth and even other works.

We started VOLTA as a platform to help galleries reach an audience, the last thing any of us would want is to become a hindrance to continuing business, so I do think a lot about that aspect. Having said that, I believe 100% in our platform: New York is and will always be the epi-centre of the art world. To have a solo project for an emerging artist in a place where you will get both the curatorial boards and the collecting groups of institutions like Dia, MoMA, New Museum, Whitney, Guggenheim, Brooklyn Museum, Sculpture Center … just to name NY institutions!...is an incredible asset. Then all the galleries that might offer your artist a show; it often changes an artist’s career to get a NY gallery.

What’s the profile of collectors at Volta? Do you think that the development of Volta means that you’re stepping away from young and moderately-wealthy collectors to more established collectors with an eye on emerging artists?
No, not really; I just think the more established are now coming as well, it doesn’t mean they are pushing any one out. The art is not changing… As some galleries mature they progress to The Armory or Art Basel. We’ve had a large number do so already and that allows us to keep bringing in new galleries or different artists. VOLTA’s not a place to come and see the “greatest hits,” it’s the place to make discoveries so I think the audience might get bigger but remain a group with the same interests: to look at emerging art.

Do you already see consequences of the economic environment prior to the fair (number of applicants, experiences of galleries, countries of origin of the galleries, experience of the artists shown at Volta, etc…)?
Yes and no. We had the same number of application for Basel and that was well after the crash started… even more applications came in way after the deadline and after Miami. There are some galleries who are cautious or scared but for each one of them is someone who sees crisis as opportunity. So, what I’ve seen is a shift but by no means an all-out decline or run for cover. Certainly the U.S. galleries are having a much harder time than their European counterparts mainly because the good ol’ “Old Europe” economy that everyone used to make fun of for being “sluggish” means, indeed, there are not the extreme highs but also not the extreme lows. I’m not saying there isn’t a recession, but it’s not a full-scale bloodbath and—surprisingly-- there are even signs already of a pick-up in the art market according to a lot of galleries I talk to regularly in Europe.

Is Volta NY intentionally more business-focused than Volta Basel? What are the differences between Volta NY and Volta Basel? How important is the influence of New-York (biggest art market in the world, permanent presence of the biggest collectors in NY, major artists as well as buoyant emerging art scene) over Volta NY?
No. In some ways I might even say the opposite, going back to the point I made above about the sheer number of institutions in the Greater New York area (and beyond)!! NY isn’t just about the market because it has a very strong curatorial backbone… Still, Basel might not have a gallery or institutional scene as rich as NY but it is the Mecca of the art world so thousands flock there—especially in a Biennale year like this one—so the exposure one gets not just to collectors but to curators, critics and observers is huge. Being so central in Europe is also a factor and particularly being so close to the German-speaking countries, which have such a high percentage of contemporary art institutions and collectors. Really both have a good balance between market and other factors, which is precisely why they are such successful venues.

There are differences between VOLTA Basel and NY but it’s more about how we approach the fair and what we think it brings to each cities scene: I don’t believe that VOLTA should juts go anywhere there is an overflow: London, Berlin, Miami… our idea is to really fulfil a function. In Basel that function was very specific to the time and place where it was born: when Liste had an age-limit (even for the artists!!) and a limit on the amount of times you could do the fair (which changed since the arrival of VOLTA) and in a city where the main fair gives half it’s floor-space over to Modern. Conversely, in NY, we came in a year that Armory was contemporary only, so we had to react to that, to think about what we could offer that was different from everything else and possibly even needed. So the fairs definitely have a different slant and flavor.

Details:

Address: 7W 34th Street, 11th Floor. NY 10001 New York USA
Dates: March 5th- 8th , 2009
Vernissage: March 5th, 11 am - 1 pm
Admission: Regular US$ 15 Reduced US$ 10
The Armory Show + VOLTA NY Combination Pass: US$ 40