Author: greg

Because you can?

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Death by Gun), 1990, Image: moma.org

Why else would you exhibit the same work in two different places?
The Museum of Modern Art has this stack, by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, in two galleries–the Prints Galleries and the Contemporary Gallery. I’m trying to think of any other artist whose work could be shown in two places at once.
Meanwhile, the new building is literally awe-inspiring. My biggest fear was that the gargantuan galleries would dwarf the art. It’s not even close.
I remember during the OK trial, when Margaret Cho ran into Johnny Cochrane at the Mondrian, she gushed, “I love your show!” The only reason I didn’t use that line with Mike Ovitz was because his case wasn’t on TV. Still, we had a good time trading war stories from our days workin’ for the Mouse.
Oh, wait, I think I dropped something.

Personal Islands Off Manhattan: The Smithson Edition

smithson_floating_island.jpg

This is better than pirates. Modernartnotes reports that the Whitney is preparing to realize Robert Smithson’s work, Floating Island, a landscaped barge which will be tugged around New York Harbor.
I’ve been waiting for this since Spring 1997, when Brian Conley and Joe Amrhein talked about doing it after their successful recreation of Smithson’s Dead Tree at Pierogi 2000.
Related:
Whitney gossip at Modern Art Notes
Artforum reviews Dead Tree at Pierogi 2000, May ’97
Dead Tree and Floating Island at RobertSmithson.com
Man claims Governors Island for several minutes with pirate flag

Manzanar Machinima at Margaret Mead

beyond-manzanar.gifHuh, what’re the odds? I just finished a piece for an offline publication about machinima, and the first thing I see at this year’s Margaret Mead Documentary Festival is Beyond Manzanar, a video game-based exploration of the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII and political attitudes toward Iranian Americans during the 1979-80 hostage crisis. It was created by Tamiko Thiel and Zara Houshmand.
Fortunately, America has moved beyond the dark era of racially based policies, into the crystal clear dawn of religion- and nationality-based detention and discrimination. Why not celebrate our progress this Saturday?

Beyond Manzanar, presented somehow at 4:15, Sat. 11/13 at the AMNH
Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, Nov. 11-14 and 20-21, at the American Museum of Natural History
Beyond Manzanar‘s site
Ansel Adams’ photographs of Manzanar and its internees

Team France Harvard Opera Police

phuyghe_puppet.jpgAfter the stunning success of Team America World Police [Hey, turns out they got the US political climate right after all…], puppet projects are breaking out all over.
At Harvard’s Carpenter Center for Visual Arts, the artist Pierre Huyghe is staging a puppet meta-opera that tells the stories of Le Corbusier’s design for building and Huyghe’s production of the opera. [That’s the “meta-” part. And yes, the puppets have puppets.]
The performance is November 18th at 6pm; a filmed version will screen in a blobular theater attachment until April 17.
Huyghe & Corbusier: Harvard Project [VES, Harvard]
NYT story with rehearsal stills

IC Moving downtown: Bart Walker jumps to CAA

ICM’s Man in New York, Bart Walker is going to CAA. Walker is known for making it happen for filmmakers like Jim Jarmusch and Sofia Coppola. His “Jarmusch-style” foreign presale fundraising helped Coppola keep the copyright for Virgin Suicides and maintain final cut over Lost in Translation. [via filmmakermagazineblog]
Related:
Translating the deals into a movie [greg.org]
Tokyo Story [fall 2003 Filmmaker Mag]

IC Moving downtown: Bart Walker jumps to CAA

ICM’s Man in New York, Bart Walker is going to CAA. Walker is known for making it happen for filmmakers like Jim Jarmusch and Sofia Coppola. His “Jarmusch-style” foreign presale fundraising helped Coppola keep the copyright for Virgin Suicides and maintain final cut over Lost in Translation. [via filmmakermagazineblog]
Related:
Translating the deals into a movie [greg.org]
Tokyo Story [fall 2003 Filmmaker Mag]

More Arrests in Van Gogh Killing; Big Funeral Planned

In addition to the shooter/stabber, Dutch police and intelligence officials have arrested eight other men ages 19-26 in connection with the murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh. Several of them had been detained before in terrorism-related investigations.
Meanwhile, the man caught at the scene is being questioned for terrorist ties; he reportedly had a testament with him, “indicating he anticipated being killed in the attack.”
Both politicians and the Dutch public are agitated over what may be the country’s first incident of Islamic terrorism. The AP reports a public cremation is being planned Tuesday for Van Gogh, which seems like a pretty showy sendoff. Should placate the Hindus, though. [According to Dutch news, he talked widely about having a big funeral party in case any of his numerous death threats panned out.]
See the map of Linnaeusstraat in eastern Amsterdam where Van Gogh was killed. [nu.nl]
Police Arrest 8 Tied to Suspect in Killing of Dutch Filmmaker [NYT]
Radical Questioned in Filmmaker’s Death [AP/NYT, ‘Radical’? How about ‘Suspect’?]
Van Gogh bereidde weken geleden eigen uitvaart voor [nu.nl]

Iceland: The Next Canada

No, that doesn’t mean they’re now recruiting Bush dodgers. It means they’re promoting the country as an up-and-coming alternative location for film production. Here’s a partial list of benefits to shooting in Iceland:

  • At least four months a year, you don’t have to shoot “day for night”.
  • Another four months, there’s 18 hours of sunlight.
  • You remember how Tribeca was just starting out, and you’d always see Bobby taking meetings at Tribeca Grill? Reykjavik’s like that, except that it’s Sigurjon Sighvatssonn.
  • On the weekend, the whole place parties like rockstars.
  • Fewer Bjork sightings than shooting in Brooklyn.
  • You can scout a location one day, and when you go to shoot the next, it’s gone. Something about the weather. [wtf?]
  • Whatever. Iceland will rebate 12% of your in-country production costs, and without demanding a part for their new wife.
    In Iceland, Freeze Frame Takes on New Meaning [NYT]
    There it is in black & white at The Invest in Iceland Agency.

    • Yeah, Your Own Little Island Off The Coast Of America’d Be Nice Right About Now

    David Nash, described by his mother as an “aspiring artist,” seized control of Governors Island in New York Harbor yesterday and held it in the name of the Blue Tulip Party, at least until 6:40AM, when somebody spotted the pirate flag he’d hoisted on the island’s flagpole.
    Being a non-cutthraot sort of pirate, Nash ordered the harbor patrol cops who arrested him to “Put [their] weapons down, and go in peace.”
    He has been exiled, at least temporarily, to his own personal Elba, on the Island of Bellevue.
    Man tries to seize Governors Island [NYDN, via TMN]

    Yeah, Your Own Little Island Off The Coast Of America’d Be Nice Right About Now

    David Nash, described by his mother as an “aspiring artist,” seized control of Governors Island in New York Harbor yesterday and held it in the name of the Blue Tulip Party, at least until 6:40AM, when somebody spotted the pirate flag he’d hoisted on the island’s flagpole.
    Being a non-cutthraot sort of pirate, Nash ordered the harbor patrol cops who arrested him to “Put [their] weapons down, and go in peace.”
    He has been exiled, at least temporarily, to his own personal Elba, on the Island of Bellevue.
    Man tries to seize Governors Island [NYDN, via TMN]

    Queue Review

    A while back, I filled by DVD rental queue with over 100 movie suggestions from greg.org readers. Even combined with some of my own ongoing additions, I’ve depleted my queue completely. More suggestions are welcome,
    In the mean time, here are some short reviews of DVD’s fresh from the queue:
    Unknown Pleasures (2003, Zhang Ke Jia) The wrapper says, “think a Chinese Slacker, but it’s more a Chinese Reality Bites directed by Mike Leigh.
    Super Size Me (2003, Morgan Spurlock) I wanted to play catchup, but it felt like most other things from SoHo these days–played out. If this were an order of fries, I could’ve done with a small.
    Shadows (1959, John Cassavetes) Rewatched in the wake of the fleeting appearance of Cassavetes’ first version. It’s like an American Unknown Pleasures. My kid’s first movie (the B&W is good for their visual development, right?)
    The French Connection (1971, William Friedkin) I confess, I got it because Nick Nolte loved it, and it’s a spare, elliptical classic. Felt like it had less dialogue–or a shorter script, anyway–than even Lost in Translation.
    Capturing The Friedmans (2003, Andrew Jarecki) The DVD experience is so different than the film BECAUSE THERE’S CLEARLY EXONERATING EVIDENCE ON THE EXTRAS DVD. It’s like only finding out the secret of The Crying Game on the director’s commentary. Oh, and clowns disturb me.
    Ridicule (1996, Patrice Leconte) Very very funny, but there’s a closeup of (pardon my French) a fat, uncut queue in the first scene that might make the rest of watching this movie with your inlaws rather uncomfortable.
    The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola) Yeah, yeah, I just got it to study the editing of the baptism/massacre scene. You should see this in a theatre.
    Tigerland (2000, Joel Schumacher) Joel Schumacher’s Full Frontal, Of course, Full Frontal was made in the wake of Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and Oceans Eleven and paid us back with Oceans Twelve [and, granted, K Street], whereas Tigerland only gave us Phone Booth.
    Elephant (2003, Gus Van Sant) Even better the third time (I’d put it on the queue before I got it for my birthday), but with a positively Third World selection of DVD extras: i.e., almost none. Have someone read my interview with producer Dany Wolf to you while you watch it.
    Faces (1968, John Cassavetes) Impressively depressing.
    Come Undone (2000, Sebastien Lifshitz) For a brief moment after I turned it off, I planned to look up who the Stephane Rideau fanatic was who recommended this meandering gay French teen soap opera (as wel as Francois Ozon’s Sitcom) to me, and chew them out. Now that they have much bigger worries, I’m glad I didn’t.
    Sign yourself up for DVD rentals at GreenCine.

    So, ‘The Gays’ Are The New Nader?

    That’s the gist of just about every pundit I’ve heard today: those pesky gays and their persistent existence cost Dems the election.
    Sounds like it’s going to be a long, hard, punishing four years for gay folk in this country. At least the submissive bottoms will make out alright…

    For Sale: One Adman

    A very talented art director/designer friend is interested in moving to an agency position (he’s currently inhouse at a hip lifestyle/fashion company).
    If you either work in an advertising agency in NYC or know people who do, and you’re game to share your insights with him, please drop me a line.
    Thanks, I appreciate it very much. [And I know it’s a lot to ask, especially coming on the heels of last week’s “hey, check out my advertisers!” request and all…]