This February has been really busy for us here at Public Media Institute and Proximity magazineland. This weekend marks an end to our recent programming madness . We hope the following events will provide motivation for you to battle this Chicago winter and give you a chance to check out some exciting new shit.
On Thursday [...]
VERSION FESTIVAL 10:
Infrastructures and Territories
April 22, May 2, 2010
DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: March 1, 2010.
Version is an annual springtime convergence that brings together hundreds of artists, musicians, and educators from around the world to present some of the most challenging ideas and progressive art initiatives of our day.
This is the Ninth edition.
Submit your proposal online:
http://www.lumpen.com/V10/theme.html
Please spread [...]
We are excited about the release of another issue of our sister publication, Lumpen magazine. Issue 114 should be out this Friday, February 5, during the Save the Whale fundraiser at the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Plural Design’s tender care in creative direction makes printing on paper worth it.
Long ago in a world without internet, a few critical publications helped inspire and activate insurrection and counter cultural thinking here in the U.S. These publications provided real cultural coverage and analysis of how our lives were being consumed, co-opted and recombined by The Corporations. The Baffler was one of them. Their critique was a [...]
One of the most interesting public art projects we have ever seen is taking place on a lake in Minnesota. Check out how Art Shanty Projects unfolds. It opens tomorrow!
Ok here is our last celebration of what we loved last year. Rachel Hewitt wraps it up.
Issue #006 is themed (An)Other Art Worlds and weighs in at 184 pages.
We invited our friends and friends of friends to contribute to our annual geographically and territorially-based examinations of some other art worlds. This not so random survey of under-represented art scenes, movers and shakers, artist run initiatives, groups, spaces and theoretical constructs helps [...]
Trendbeheer, our Dutch partners in art crime, are in Chicago setting up their this weekend-only show at the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Please come by this Friday December 18 for the opening and party or visit Saturday, December 19 for the Rotterdam VHS Film Festival program. Check out some photos of the work in progress. The Art [...]
Painter Richard Wright, whose painting work includes striking and large-scale frescos, has won this year’s Turner Prize.The Glasgow-based artist, who is inspired by architecture and space, beat Roger Hiorns, Enrico David and Lucy Skaer to take the prize.
Wright works predominantly with paint and gold leaf directly on walls to create intricate and unique graphic designs. [...]
Nancy Klehm is featured in Time Magazine discussing Humanure.
“At one point, Klehm invited her “nutrient loopers” to a potluck and was surprised to see who had agreed to participate. “It was the white collar people, not the ragtag anarchists. Mostly, they were delighted that they got this wacky proposal,” she says. “They didn’t know how [...]
Art Forum scenester report
An Art Burn report
Sylvester Stallone’s Artwork Sells for as Much as $50K at Miami’s Art Basel
Kavi Gupta makes some much needed cash at NADA
Performance art is happening again.
Art Miami Sucked while Pulse Miami did fine.
Temporary Services‘ Brett Bloom, Salem Collo-Julin and Marc Fischer are involved with a great new project called Art Work: A National Conversation About Art, Labor, and Economics at the Cleveland art space , SPACES. ” Art Work is a newspaper and website that uses SPACES as its distribution hub. It consists of writings from artists, [...]
Reality art star tv show, School of Saatchi, is playing on BBC, without Saatchi.
Now might be a good time to check out a residency in Rotterdam.
AREA Chicago is having a Wants and Needs Fundraiser Dec 11.
Phil Collins is the Guardian’s Artist of the Week.
Chicago Art Review interviews Brennan McGaffey, a cool dude.
Will someone explain to [...]
Transborder Immigrant Tool helps Mexicans cross over safely
Online Maps: Everyman Offers New Directions
The FBI tracked Studs Terkel.
Hans Ulrich Obrist has a conversation with Raoul Vaneigem.
Chicago’s Camera Network Is Everywhere
Bad At Sports Episode 220: Liam Gillick
Hui-Min Tsen is opening up some interesting questions and relating quite nicely with our neighbors in Bridgeport.
Jesus! Where the hell have we been? Sharkforum is now Blogtastic!
Ack..It’s harder to stay with this guy.
Our Online Editrix posted some pics from here recent show.
And really, please… bittorrent this film.
Bad At Sports interviews Temporary Services.
Our patron, Reuben Kincaid, brings the Radar Eyes print show to NY.
Art Review magazine’s Power 100 meet the The Top 20 Most Powerless People in the Art World
Saturday November 7 is Media Democracy Day.
A sweet Satellite Alphabet set
threewalls and TheGreen Lantern Press release The Artist’s Run Chicago Digest at HPAC [...]
The Baffler is coming back! Old news but good news to us!
Minneapolis doctor gives artists a health care option.
Damien James writes about the October 29 Yes Men event at Co-Prosperity Sphere on Bad at Sports. Thanks DJ.
Paddy Johnson’s Art Fair As Economic Indicator: Are Things Looking Up worth the speculation.
The pavilion that should not have [...]
Shepard Fairey lied about his Obama source material.
McDonald’s restaurant to open in the Louvre.
Mud stencils activism in Wisconsin and some from Illinois.
The Yes Men Make Chamber of Commerce Look Like (Bigger) Dinosaurs.
While all the real estate agents, Daley cronies and various other business/politician types are all mourning the loss of the Olympic bid Roger Ebert has written the most sensible and poignant article I’ve read in months. I cannot thank him enough for writing this.
Anyone on that Olympic committee could see, as most of us do, [...]
Go see The Heartland show this thursday at the Smart Museum
The awesome guys, Rob Davis and Michael Langlois are featured on Bad At Sports.
Yes Men and friends released a parody of the New York Post for last weeks Climate week.
We wish we were at to the New York Art Book Fair.
Pictures of the recent Berry [...]
If you haven’t already, you really must listen to Bad At Sports Episode 210 with the Director of the Chicago MCA, Madeleine Grynsztejn.
Art World magazine to end, perhaps due to the fact their idea of an Art World doesn’t exist?
The Bruce High Quality Foundation University opens in NY- pedagogy as art action.
It must be a [...]
The fifth issue of Proximity magazine will be pre-released this Friday, September 11, at threewalls* in the west loop during the opening salvo of the fall gallery season.
This issue is devoted to International Contemporary Photography. For a preview pdf of the table of contents and some sample spreads please come back later.
Artists and authors featured [...]
Last night talk-show host Glenn Beck debuted as the Fox News art critic.
Roberta Smith of the NYT chronicles the crisis in The Mood of the Market, as Measured in the Galleries.
As Annie Leibovitz fights her $24 Mil lawsuit an Italian shooter claims she stole his pictures.
Given the state of things its hard to believe that [...]
Damien Hirst in vicious feud with teenage artist over a box of pencils
“17-year-old graffiti artist Cartrain [...] was arrested, released on bail, and is waiting to find out if he will be formally charged with causing damage to an iconic artwork worth £10m.”
A few reads worth the diversion:
So Surreal: Thrift Shop Art May Be by Dalí
Several works attributed to the Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dalí are currently on display at a Salvation Army Family Thrift Store in a seedy industrial neighborhood in Houston.
30 things about art and life, as explained by Charles Saatchi
He rarely gives interviews, but a [...]
Indian art pushing boundaries
[Chicago] Gallery owners feeling pinch of recession
New Frida Kahlo Collection Denounced as a Fake
Kathryn Born has been increasing the visibility of the arts in Chicago with the Art Talk Chicago blog, a project run by the Chicago Tribune Company. For years the Tribune Co. has spent way too much money figuring out this internet thing. The recent series of blogs they created are a little too little too [...]
Picked up the Chicago Reader and read Deanna Isaac’s column, As 4Art leaves for Bridgeport, yet another storefront in “Podville” goes dark. We are very familiar with the history of the Pod Empire and have watched the so-called “Chicago Art District” lose the vitality it maybe once had. When Pod III decided to move artists [...]
Here at Proximity Magainze (on-line) we pride ourselves on well-organized information and well-planned site navigation. Let’s face it Web Users Are Lazy and we know the value of being able to reach any essential piece of information within two clicks.
A number of our readers visit the site to check the blog as well as our [...]
Non-specialist readers and recruitable art enthusiasts have a lifeline to the amorphous, mysterious Chicago Art World via their new Art Critic, Lori Waxman. A long time contributor to many on-line and print art publications, Lori’s appoitment is a glimmer of hope in the declining arena of arts coverage in Daily papers. Some recent reviews are [...]
On Sunday May 31, 2009 Public Media Insitute (Proximity’s dot.org parent) will release issue #002 of Pr, our broadsheet newsletter, at the Hyde Park Art Center. It is part of the Artists Run Chicago Exhibition and features and essay about the history of artist-run spaces in Chicago from the last 25 years by Dan Gunn. [...]
The Chicago Sun Times reports that Chris Kennedy, a son of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy, will announce his candidacy next week for the US Senate seat occupied by Rolland Burris.
Chris Kennedy is the president of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., a Chicago-based property owner and management company. The Mart also runs several art fairs including [...]
Well, part of it is anyway. We have a full PDF preview available of the table of contents so you can see what you are missing. We think now is the perfect time to support independent publications so we don’t see them die off the way that galleries and various non-profits are starting to.
Check out [...]
This Sunday, May 10 the Hyde Park Art Center will open its Artists Run Chicago show in Gallery 1. Proximity and its related tentacles will participate in quite a few ways. First we asked our friend Michael T Rea to bring over his Spacesuit for Steven Hawking to represent Reuben Kincaid Artist Management. As part [...]
We have been working hard to make this spring happening.
For one we are releasing our one year anniversary issue (#004) this Friday, April 24 at the big Version Festival shindig taking place at the Co-Prosperity Sphere. It will be one nice feature of an action packed evening we have been planning for months. We hope [...]
So, the list has arrived for this year’s recipients. We all (should) know that a Guggenheim Fellowship is one of the most prestigious and sought after awards in the world. So we should all be thrilled that Chicago is well represented this year, especially in the arts.
The short, windy city list:
Ryan Cohan, Composer.
Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Artist.
Wilhelm [...]
One of the best shows to have debuted since last year is Cody Hudson’s and Corey Arnold’s jam at the Andrew Rafacz Gallery. Take take a peak before the show comes down May 9. If you don’t know Hudson you should read this recent interview conducted by the cats that design Proximity magazine: The Post [...]
The 50 States Project has brought together 50 photographers from across the USA.
Each photographer lives in one of the 50 States and during the year long project each photographer will represent the State [...]
Please take the chance to check out this year’s Southern Graphics Council Conference
“The 2009 Global Implications Conference features exhibitions, demonstrations, lectures, panel discussions, private collection viewings, and special events at over 40 locations around Chicago.
Keynote speakers include Kathan Brown, Enrique Chagoya, Anne Coffin, and Jane Hammond.
Bad at Sports will be podcasting a series of shows [...]
We think they will still accept submissions!
Call for Submissions
For King Ludd’s Midway Arcade
Version Fest 09′
Curated by Material Exchange
Calling all gamers, artists, engineers, tinkerers, hackers, manipulators…
The Midway Plaissance in Hyde Park was the home of the World’s Fair of 1893, an international celebration of the landing of Columbus in North America 401 years earlier. It involved [...]
Our release party last Saturday was a blast. Thanks for coming. Even if you didn’t get a fresh copy of the new publications we will make it easy for you. Download a preview copy of Matériel at the magazine’s website. You can purchase one at Golden Age, Quimbys, No Coast, Rotofugi, and Penelope’s. They [...]
Margot Harrington and Chad Kouri just finished designing our new sister publication, Pr. Pr is a “Posterletter”–half newsletter and half poster–and it rocks! The over sized broadsheet confabulation features an interview with Paul Chan, whose recent exhibition at the Renaissance Society garnered rave reviews.
Also featured is a beautiful poster designed by Margot and inspired by [...]
This is no surprise:
Artnet: A report by “wealth-research” firm the Spectrum Group confirms what dealers at the recent Armory Show fairs probably already suspected — the nation’s millionaires are hurting. According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of households with a net worth of more than $1 million dropped by 2.5 million from 2007 [...]
From Chicago Breaking News:
A 50 percent admission fee increase — jacking up the price of entry to the Art Institute from $12 to $18 beginning May 23 — was approved by the Chicago Park District’s Committee on Programs and Recreation Wednesday morning and is expected to win full board approval later in the day.
“We recognize [...]
Nor were we. We were looking for some news regarding the big spring art kick off in NYC and found a few crumbs worth digesting about the Armory Show and other fairs.
Paddy Johnson’s reliable commentary and rated reviews can be found here.
Some NYT items:
Toplessness and Taxidermy in a Bottoming Market
A Painting Called Good, but Only [...]
Artists in a Year of Recession: Impact on Jobs in 2008 examines how the economic slowdown has affected the nation’s working artists.
The study looks at artist employment patterns during two spikes in the current recession – the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2008. This downturn reflects larger economic declines: a Commerce Department report last [...]
Read Flatfile Flatlines
The effects of our bad-news economy are starting to kick in, and it’s not just the deadwood that’s falling. This week, one of the largest and liveliest art spaces in the West Loop, Flatfile Galleries, announced that its current shows will be its last. It closes March 27.
Proximity Magazine invites you to participate in the (Con)Temporary Art Chicago Guide. The Guide showcases the best cultural offerings in Chicago during the Spring season – late April to early May 2009. We are creating a map and publication – including directories, articles, and interviews – about what’s happening at places both prominent and secret [...]
NYT reports that an exhibition of works by the French-Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed has been prevented from opening in Turin while a prosecutor ponders whether it is illegal to display video clips showing animals being bludgeoned to death and fighting for sport in an arena. The show had already been postponed for weeks at The [...]
Art Review reports:
Cai Mingchao, a Chinese national who in 2006 paid a record HK $117 million ($15 million) for a Ming Dynasty Buddha, said he placed the winning bid for the two Qing bronzes auctioned in Paris last week — and won’t be paying, reports Bloomberg.
The National Treasures Fund, a group backed by the Chinese [...]
It’s a sign of the times now that city officials are targeting art spaces for revenue and fines. New City reported last week that local non profit art space, Green Lantern, was fined for not displaying a proper permit. Also disturbing is last Friday’s visit to the AV Aerie by a dozen CPD officers and [...]
Our longest running publication, Lumpen, was just released as issue #111. You can download a pdf of it now. Coming this month will be the release of Matériel, and Pr, a Proximity Publication. On April 24, 2009 we will release Issue #004 of Proximity as well as the (Con)Temporary Art Chicago Guide. Did we mention [...]
Momus, aka Nick Currie, blogs about the death of print. It’s not looking good for pulp in Chicago after the bankruptsies of the Tribune and The Chicago Reader as well as the collapse of print titles like Stop Smiling and Prompt. One interesting fact he pulled out is that for every magazine pronounced dead in [...]
The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.
“The goal of giving form to a complex situation like the credit crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated. This project was completed as part of my thesis work in the Media Design Program, a graduate studio at [...]
We are sending our sort of top secret broadside magazine project to the printers this week. Matériel is an oversized, newsprint publication that’s a collection of the best/brightest designers/illustrators/photographers work we can find – creating a showcase for their submitted work. It’s a sister magazine to Proximity providing a ‘design’ counterpoint to Prox’s ‘art’ focus. [...]
Yves Saint Laurent Art Sale’s 1st Night Brings In $264 Million
PARIS — Despite the global economic crisis, a lot of money seems to be left over. On Monday, the private collection of Yves Saint Laurent and his partner became the most expensive one ever sold at auction, bringing in more than $264 million on the [...]
We thought it was over a year or so ago when we started Proximity, but now that the New York Times decides… it must be so! Read what every art dealer going to the New York Art fairs has sitting on their desk this week. The article, The Boom Is Over. Long Live the [...]
Photo credit: MILC
Hundreds of piñatas filled with space blankets were installed beneath underpasses throughout Chicago to bring attention to the issue of homelessness in the city.
Watch the video about the Pinata Factory project put together by Coop Image Group and others.
” The piñatas are the output but are far less important than the community activity [...]
Art Shanty at Iron Studios (2006)
Proximity Magazine invites you to participate in (Con)Temporary Art Chicago. This 80-96 page book, to be released along with the next issue of Proximity Magazine, will showcase the best cultural offerings in Chicago during the art fair season – late April to early May 2009.
Our goal is to showcase Chicago [...]
Is it possible that online trading sites and virtual worlds like Second Life are pointing to a new business model for art fairs? After the decline in revenues at recent fairs and the continuing crisis in the markets many galleries are just staying home. Some see this as an opportunity. After launching their own [...]
Art Fag City’s Worst of the Web 2008 is both funny and critical. Good job Paddy! I always had a hard time navigating that site too. Looks like a “new media artist” allowed his dreams to be confounded by the whims of Mr Deitch. But who knows who to blame?
I would like to nominate [...]
Notice:
Attention Chicago:
A highly organized, internationally recognized, massively marketed, thoroughly branded, and extremely expensive series of sporting events is coming to your town. This is not it.
From Saturday January 24 to February 14 2009, InCUBATE and person-in-residence Anne Elizabeth Moore will host a series of games called the Unlympics. They will consist of real [...]
Proximity magazine is joining a group of Chicago- based artists at Trendbeheer presenteert @ Art Rotterdam! We will be presenting and sharing publications from Chicago and spend a few weeks conducting research for our first Proximity City Guide. If you are in Holland during the weeks of February 1-14 please come by the show (Feb [...]
Our friends at the Impakt festival in Utrecht sent us news of their new media project Impact Online. They host one of the most interesting media festivals in the EU. Check it out.
About the project:
Impakt Online exhibits art projects designed for the Web. We invite and support artists to create new work.
In the “It’s About [...]
NYT’s year in review for art is worth looking at..
Out With the Fat, in With the Hungry
By HOLLAND COTTER
IN the past eight years American art and American politics had a lot in common. Both favored big money, insularity and retrograde conservatism. Now come changes.
In politics the old order was voted out. In the art [...]
