Monday, August 18, 2014

Yoko Ono - "Cut Piece" Performance



If we're told and given free range to act out in some way, does the permission drive us towards committing these acts, regardless of the effects that it has on another?  If I was in the audience I would have cried, taken off my shirt and gone up to Yoko to place it on her... 

Traces of Ana Mendieta



"Where is Ana Mendieta?"... echoes in the New York streets from about 500 feminist protesters during the 1992 inaugural show for the Guggenheim Museum.  This question was directed at the male-dominated art establishment for having already forgotten the prolific and profound artist while choosing rather to include her former partner, the minimalist sculpture Carl Andre, who was tried and acquitted for Ana's death in 1985 when she "fell" from their 34th floor apartment after a heated argument between the couple.  "My art is grounded on the belief in one universal energy which runs through everything," she wrote in an artist's statement from the early 1980's, "from insect to man, from man to spectre, from spectre to plant, from plant to galaxy." 

Thursday, May 22, 2014

The Overview Effect



The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it. Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.

‘Overview’ is a short film that explores this phenomenon through interviews with five astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for society, and our relationship to the environment.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Yayoi Kusama’s statement regarding her Naked Orgy performance


Yayoi Kusama’s statement regarding her Naked Orgy performance in the MoMA scultpure garden in August 1969. -ds

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Kraftwerk's 1970 Television Debut in Full



From the Rockpalast Archive
Mixed Media Show
Soest, Germany
Winter 1970

0. Intro
1. Stratovarius
2. Ruckzuck
3. Heavy Metal Kids
4. Improvisation 1

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Mica Levi Interview (the composer for Under the Skin)



So impressed by this young talent who is responsible for the eery and abstract music for the soundtrack of Under the Skin. Check out her insights into making music and her process in song writing.  

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Thursday, February 13, 2014

LUIGI RUSSOLO AND THE FUTURISTA SOUND SYSTEM



Luigi Russolo was an Italian Futurist Painter and Composer. In 1913 he wrote the Futurist manifesto, The Art of Noises and performed "noise concerts" in Paris using machines that he had created called Intonarumori. Luigi Russolo was one of the first avant-garde composers and this animation was made in his honour.

First Female - Female Kiss / Morocco (1930)



Ever the femme fatale, Marlene Dietrich dressed in a men's tuxedo kisses a woman for the first time on screen.  'She was also nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award despite knowing little English and speaking her dialogue phonetically.'

Wednesday, February 12, 2014