Article 14599 of rec.music.misc:
Path: mit-amt!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!ll-xn!ames!amdahl!bnrmtv!rees
>From: rees@bnrmtv.UUCP (Rick Rees)
Subject: More machines in San Fran
Date: 7 Jun 88 00:23:24 GMT
This is a review of some machine art showing in San Fran.
The "Post Nature" showing at New Langton Arts, appearing through
June 17 I believe (call to be sure), consists of the following
works:
Survival Research Labs - In a far corner of the gallery where the
walls are covered with Planimals (painted plastic impressions of
animals), stands motionless a dark arm-like figure with the forebody
of a mummified dog mounted on it. Beneath the contraption is
a puddle of fairly clean oil oozing about the floor. In front
of the contraption are two posts about waist high. The viewer
is obviously supposed to move between the posts, thus activating
the contraption as it is approached. It lurches to life with a
rapid clanging of jackhammer-on-metal sound that almost drowns out
the noise of the motor which is making the arm contract and then
jut out the dog body whose head is now rotating. This is part of
a machine that was used in the On Broadway show that those of
you with the Scenic Harvest video have seen.
The Bee Hive - Inside of a mesh cage is a beehive about 2 feet in
diameter. Also in the cage is a nose/mouth mask with tubes running
out of the cage into a bottle of water and a bottle of something else
(it looked like honey). The floor of the cage had a hole cut in it
large enough to stick your head through. The hole had a cloth of
fine mesh hanging from it like a bag, and it had a lot of dead
bees in it. From the top of the cage came a long transparent tube
leading to a sun roof in the gallery ceiling which allowed the bees
outside. On the wall was a picture of the artist with his head
inside of the cage, mask on.
The Roach TV - Inside of a glass cage was an old TV with its chassis
removed. Cochroaches of about 1.5 inches in length are all around
the TV, some are inside it. They aren't moving much, most look
dead. Behind the TV is a small video camera aimed at the insides
of the TV. This image appears on the TV screen.
TV Aquarium - A color TV shows the video taped image of a fish tank.
Bird Cage Room - In a small room, about 7 foot square, one enire wall
has a four cages constructed in it surrounding a large video monitor.
Each cage has a small singing bird in it. The video monitor shows
the slow motion image of a small bird leaping about its cage.
Speakers in the room have the sound of singing birds coming from
them.
There were a few other pieces that aren't worth mentioning.
The gallery had this wonderful ambience made up of this calm
image of the graceful bees with the bird songs in the background,
which would occasionally be interrupted with the deafening
jackhammer roar of leaping dog.
The metal sculptures at Rena Bransten Gallery through the first week of
July (again call) were most impressive for the historical significance
they bring to the whole machine art thing than for their value as
interesting pieces to look at. Of the 3 artist being shown, the
Tinguely arouse the most curiosity, if not for their simple repeating
motions made by small electric motors, then for the $250,000 price
tag (that's right, a quarter million, and the guy's still alive!).
The Camberlain pieces are car body parts crushed into colorful
3 and 4 foot sculptures. I found the smooth surfaces and primary
colors somewhat appealing but dull. Stankewiecz used heavy metal
to creat mostly static pieces that looked like they should be
moving, but since they couldn't, they were mostly boring. The
one piece of interest was about four feet tall with heavy metal
bars and cylinders arranged in a spiral-like fashion. At first it
looks static like the rest, but on closer examination you see that
the handles are inviting you to grab them, and upon doing so you
get get the heavy metal pieces to start swaying into each other
making a somewhat musical clunking.
Unfortunately, there are only 2 Tinguely kinetic sculptures (or
meta sculptures as he calls them), and one of those is on loan from
the University Art Museum which I am quite familiar with.
There were several Tinguely etchings and other graphics that
are representations of his machines. The exciting part about
this visit was getting a look at several books on the history
of Tinguely's work. I finally got to see pictures of the self
destructing piece in the 1960 NYC show at MOMA (I posted a
description a few months ago which I still have if you want it).
And there's a film of it that I hope to find at SFMMA!
And I found the book of Tinguely's work at a local bookstore!
And his later work uses animal skull's and looks a lot like SRL!
Article 14631 of rec.music.misc:
Path: mit-amt!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!rutgers!ucla-cs!reeves
>From: reeves@CS.UCLA.EDU
Subject: Chris Burden Review (Art, not music)
Date: 7 Jun 88 21:25:43 GMT
Chris Burden: A 20 Year retrospective
at the Newport Harbor Art Museum through 6/12/88
A comprehensive exhibit of Burden's work from documentation of the
early performance pieces to his more recent large scale
installations. The exhibit is loosely unified by Burden's
fascination with pre-adolescent projects and concerns. The
guided tour starts at the front door...
Sampson: At the entrance of the museum, you were suppose to
walk through a turnstile connected to a jack that presses two
beams against the walls. With each entry the pressure grows until,
if enough people attend, the walls bust and the lobby collapses.
Unfortunately, the Newport Beach fire department didn't like
the piece blocking the exit, and it was dismantled, though the
sections remain.
A tale of two cities: A 20' by 50' tableau of rocks and dirt
covered with over 500 toys representing two warring city states.
Tanks and Japanese robots march over hills march past Pizza
huts and nuclear power plants. The exhibit is equipped with
binoculars so that the viewer can get a tactical view of
the impending carnage.
Artifacts and Relics: The artifacts are reviews of Burden's
performance pieces, annotated by the artist. Rhetorical questions
are answered by quotes from other interviews. The relics are what
was left from some of the performance pieces: the lock from ``Locker
piece'', the skimask from ``I'll never show my face in Kansas
City'', and the nails from when he was crucified on the Volkswagen.
Museum room: Glass case displays of a hand ax and alcohol, and the
ingredients for gunpowder (all labeled). On the wall are collages
of found objects and documentation: suicide notes, a $3 portrait
from a TJ street artist, and a hunk of hair torn from a bum
who was messing with one of his outdoor installations.
Ships and submarines: Cross sections of the Nina, Pinta and the
Santa Maria constructed from various found stuff. The remnants
of operational toy subs that explode on contact. A huge mobile
of models of all of the US submarines.
The big wheel: a 6' iron and wood wheel that gets spun up by
the back tire of a motorcycle. Once started, inertia keeps the
wheel spinning for 2 1/2 hours. (Started up at 10 and 1).
Reasons for the neutron bomb: 50,000 nickels topped with matches
representing the military hardware poised in Eastern Europe.
Science experiments: A car, two televisions, a boat and a ``speed
of light'' machine, all constructed from scratch.
Full financial disclosure: All of the artists financial records
(checks, bank statements, and income tax forms) from 1976.
Films and videos: A documentary on the exhibit, with interviews
from people who had attended some of the performance pieces.
(Fun fact: At ``Shoot'', the bullet was only suppose to graze
his arm. When it went straight through the muscle of his
right arm, nobody even had a first-aid kit.) Also the saga of
Big Job, a clunker big rig that he bought to transport his stuff
around that ended up being an albatross. After he junked it, he
was offered $5,000 for it by an art collector. And a film of
the creation of ``Beam Drop'' in the Lewiston NY art park,
girders dropped 100' by a crane into a pond of wet cement.
Sex tower: an 8' model of a proposed 125' wood tower topped by
a gold pyramid intersecting a circle. All of the fasteners face
the point from the inside out.
Scale model of the solar system: A beach ball in the museum
represents the sun, and mercury is the ball bearing over by
``a tale of two cities''. Venus and Earth are outside somewhere,
while the other planets are located in a nearby hotel and further
afield. A map of their locations is provided.
That's it. It's not SRL, but it's a pretty good afternoon, and
you don't have to sign a disclaimer.
John Reeves
UCLA AI Lab Internet: reeves@cs.ucla.edu
3531 Boelter Hall UUCP: {ihnp4,rutgers,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!reeves
UCLA LA CA 90024 !uunet!cs.ucla.edu!reeves
