Paul Bowles (1910-1999)


"The American writer and composer, Paul Bowles, reflects on his life in Morocco, his adopted home for over fifty years. Dir. Mohamed Ulad-Mohand. Runtime: 27 min. "
UbuWeb

The Ronettes


Wikipedia - "The Ronettes were a 1960s girl group from New York City, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett (a.k.a. Ronnie Spector); her sister, Estelle Bennett; and their cousin Nedra Talley."
Wikipedia, The Ronettes, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4)

Stencil graffiti


Stencil near Rush and State Street, Chicago
Wikipedia - "Stencil graffiti makes use of a paper, cardboard, or other media to create an image or text that is easily reproducible. The desired design is cut out of the selected medium and then the image is transferred to a surface through the use of spray paint or roll-on paint."
Wikipedia

No Depression


Wikipedia - "No Depression was a bi-monthly magazine that covered a broad range of roots music, including alternative country and Americana. It was launched in September 1995 (as a quarterly) by co-editors/co-founders Grant Alden and Peter Blackstock, who brought in Kyla Fairchild as a co-publisher shortly thereafter."
Wikipedia, No Depression

Leslie Hewitt


Untitled, 2005
"Leslie Hewitt is inspired by 'the everyday and the transformative power of circumstance or situation,' as she notes in Modern Painters, taking on the forsaken documents of our past—brittle pictures, forgotten books, repressed films, and ephemera—to repurpose them in the present."
Whitney, Leslie Hewitt

Olympic Pictograms Through the Ages


"Designer Steven Heller traces the evolution of the tiny symbols for each Olympic sport since their appearance in 1936."
NYT

William T. Wiley


Alchemical Lyon, 2007
Wikipedia - "William T. Wiley (born October 21, 1937, in Bedford, Indiana) is a contemporary American artist. His practice spans a broad range of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, performance, and pinball. At least some of Wiley's work has been referred to as Funk art."
Wikipedia, William T. Wiley, artnet

David Tudor


Wikipedia - "David Eugene Tudor (January 20, 1926 – August 13, 1996) was an American pianist and composer of experimental music."
Wikipedia, David Tudor, The Getty, Sonic Memorial for David Tudor, YouTube - Realisation of David Tudor's Rainforest IV, (1), (2)

In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960–1976


Jan Dibbets. Untitled. 1969
"This exhibition examines approximately seventy-five works by artists of different nationalities relating to travel and the city of Amsterdam, which was the nexus of intense art activities in the 1960s and 1970s, when artists converged there from all over the world."
MoMA, artcritical, Brooklyn Rail, NYT

Prince Buster


Wikipedia - "Cecil Bustamente Campbell, O.D. (born 28 May 1938), better known as Prince Buster and also known by his Muslim name Muhammed Yusef Ali, is a musician from Kingston, Jamaica is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rocksteady music. The records he made on the Blue Beat label in the 1960s inspired many reggae and ska artists."
Wikipedia, last.fm, ska2soul, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6)

New York Cubans


Wikipedia - "The New York Cubans were a Negro Leagues baseball team that played during the 1930s and from 1939 to 1950. Despite playing in the Negro Leagues, the team occasionally employed white-skinned Hispanic baseball players as well, because Hispanics in general were largely ignored by the major league baseball teams before Jackie Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers for the first time."
Wikipedia, Negro League Baseball Players Association

dance on paper


Pina Bausch
"Who is dancing on paper? Dance on Paper is an open space for writing about movement and its many manifestations. Previously from Paris and New York City, now from Riverside, CA, I intend this site mostly for my own documentation, but also to relay interesting discourse on contemporary dance from French into English."
dance on paper

Gotham City


Wikipedia - "Gotham City, a fictional city appearing in DC Comics, is best known as the home of Batman. Batman's place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4 (Winter 1940)."
Wikipedia

Bauhaus: The Face of the 20th Century (1994)


"The Bauhaus school of design, craftsmanship and architecture, founded by Walter Gropius at Weimar in 1919, was largely responsible for revolutionizing the structure of art school tuition, and its basic tenets of design are now a modern commonplace."
UbuWeb

Tapedeck


"Tapedeck.org is a project of neckcns.com, built to showcase the amazing beauty and (sometimes) weirdness found in the designs of the common audio tape cassette. There's an amazing range of designs, starting from the early 60's functional cassette designs, moving through the colourful playfulness of the 70's audio tapes to amazing shape variations during the 80's and 90's."
Tapedeck

Z'EV


Wikipedia - "Z'EV (born Stefan Joel Weisser, at 7:58 a.m. on February 8, 1951 in Los Angeles, California) is an American text-sound artist, poet and mystic who is perhaps best known for his work as a catacoustic (reflected sound-based) percussionist."
Wikipedia, MySpace, Z'ev: Swords into Plowshares, YouTube, (1), (2)

Gustav Metzger


Liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, April 28 1943, (1995/2009)
Wikipedia = "Gustav Metzger (born 1926) is an artist and political activist who developed the concept of Auto-Destructive Art and the Art Strike. Together with John Sharkey, he initiated the Destruction in Art Symposium in 1966. Metzger is recognized for his protests in the political and artistic realms."
Wikipedia, Guardian, Gustav Metzger, artinfo, YouTube, (1), (2), (3)

Folk America


The Bently Boys
"Clips and commentary about or by the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie Poole, Fiddlin' John Carson, Dock Boggs, Mississippi John Hurt, Judy Collins, Steve Earle, Pete Seeger, Honeyboy Edwards, Slim Bryant, Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Rambling Jack Elliot, Anna Lomax, Mary Travis, Tom Paxton, Roger McGuinn, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Stephen Stills, Country Joe McDonald, Odetta, Tom Paxton and more."
Folk America: Birth Of A Nation, Folk America: This Land Is Your Land, Folk America: Blowin' In The Wind

NYPL Map Rectifier


"The NYPL Map Rectifier is a tool for digitally aligning ('rectifying') historical maps from the NYPL's collections to match today's precise maps. Visitors can browse already rectified maps or assist the NYPL by aligning a map. Play the video above to tour the site and learn how to rectify a map yourself."
NYPL

Éric Rohmer


Wikipedia - "Éric Rohmer (4 April 1920 – 11 January 2010) was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter and teacher. A figure in the post-war New Wave cinema, he was a former editor of Cahiers du cinéma."
Wikipedia, NYT, Films de France, IMDb

African Head Charge


Wikipedia - "African Head Charge is a dub reggae ensemble active since the early 1980s. The group was formed by percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, and featured a revolving cast of members, including, at times, Prisoner, Crocodile, Junior Moses, Sunny Akpan, Skip McDonald, and Jah Wobble. The group released most of its albums on Adrian Sherwood's label, On-U Sound."
Wikipedia, On-U Sound, MySpace, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4)

Gabriele Münter


Jawlensky and Werefkin, 1909
Wikipedia - "Gabriele Münter (19 February 1877 –19 May 1962) was a German expressionist painter who was at the forefront of the Munich avant-garde in the early 20th century."
Wikipedia, MyStudios, artnet

The International Dada Archive


"Founded in 1979 as part of the Dada Archive and Research Center, the International Dada Archive is a scholarly resource for the study of the historic Dada movement. The Archive has compiled a comprehensive collection of documentation and scholarship relating to Dada."
The International Dada Archive

Bang on a Can


Wikipedia - "Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted musical organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon. It is a major force in the presentation of new concert music, and has presented hundreds of musical events worldwide."
Wikipedia, Bang on a Can, cantaloupe, YouTube, Thurston Moore - Stroking Piece, "Manhatta" by Michael Nyman, Bang on a Can: Summer Music Institute 2008 #31, STEVE REICH DIRECTING BANG ON A CAN, Louis Andriessen - Workers Union, In C by Terry Riley - Bang on a can

Danh Vo


"Danh Vo has planted a garden on the roof of the historical passageway using plants which former French missionaries introduced to Europe on their return from Vietnam. The artist ordered these plants from a special horticultural nursery in North Rhine-Westphalia; they may be regarded as descendants of the varieties that were originally introduced, among them predominantly different species of rhododendron."
Preis2009, frieze, Contemporary Art Daily, ArtMag, YouTube - Package Tour - part I, Package Tour - part II

Michael Buthe


Der Engel und sein Schatten, 1974
"Buthe worked in various media and was one of the first artists to present room-size installations as works of art. These installations could be seen as settings for shamanistic ceremonies. In painting and assemblage, Buthe consistently experimented with color and a wide variety of materials, including fabric, foil, and organic matter. His art was greatly influenced by his personal spirituality and by his travels to Africa and the Middle East."
Alexander and Bonin, Google

David Hochbaum


You Are Not Falling, You Are Floating
"This February Corey Helford Gallery presents You Are Not Falling, You Are Floating, an immersion into the surreal state of consciousness between being awake and asleep and the secrets about ourselves, which are revealed in our dreams, by New York artist David Hochbaum."
Contra, David Hochbaum, MySpace

Antique Radio Tuning Dials


"A special thanks goes to Doug Morton, of 72 Studio, who designed and provided me the above photograph and the Antique Radio Tuning Dials viewing web page."
Indiana Radios

Timelines: Sources from History


"This British Library interactive timeline allows you to explore collection items chronologically, from medieval times to the present day. It includes a diverse combination of texts: those that allow glimpses of everyday life (handbills, posters, letters, diaries), remnants of political events (charters, speeches, campaign leaflets), and the writings of some of our best known historical and literary figures."
Timelines: Sources from History

John Prine


Wikipedia - "John Prine (born October 10, 1946, in Maywood, Illinois) is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s."
Wikipedia, John Prine, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8)

Demons and Devotion: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves


Mouth of Hell (detail)
"The Hours of Catherine of Cleves is the most important and lavish of all Dutch manuscripts as well as one of the most beautiful among the Morgan's collection. Commissioned by Catherine of Cleves around 1440 and illustrated by an artist known as the Master of Catherine of Cleves, the work is an illustrated prayer book containing devotions that Catherine would recite throughout the day. The manuscript's two volumes have been disbound for the exhibition, which features nearly a hundred miniatures."
The Morgan Library & Museum, NYT

USA: Poetry - Frank O'Hara


Joe Brainard and Frank O'Hara, "Is That the Height of Your Ambition Johnny?" (1964)
"USA: Poetry was produced and directed by Richard O. Moore for National Education Television. The twelve part documentary series which was produced in 1965-66, showcased many poets including, Anne Sexton, John Wieners, Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, John Ashbery, William Everson, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Creeley, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder, Kenneth Koch, Ed Sanders, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Richard Wilbur, Denise Levertov, and Louis Zukofsky."
Frank O'Hara, (1), lingo 7, New Yorker - "Fast Company", "An Outside View: Frank O'Hara Scholar David Lehman on Meditations in an Emergency, A Frank O'Hara Exhibit", Frank O'Hara: Nothing Personal, YouTube

Blondie


Wikipedia - "Blondie is an American rock band founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American new wave and punk rock scenes of the mid-1970s. Their first two albums contained strong elements of these genres, and although successful in the United Kingdom and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the United States until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978."
W - (1), Blondie, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8)

Thierry Guetta (aka Mr. Brainwash)


"While 'Exit Through The Gift Shop', Banksy's documentary about Thierry Guetta (aka Mr. Brainwash) debuts at the Berlin Film Festival, Thierry himself is opening 'Icons' his first solo show in New York."
Wooster Collective, Art is Alive, L.A. 'Street Artist' Mr. Brainwash Takes Manhattan (With a Velvet Rope, Of Course)

Spade Cooley


Wikipedia - "Donnell Clyde 'Spade' Cooley (December 17, 1910 – November 23, 1969) was an American Western Swing musician, big band leader, actor, and television personality. His career ended when he was arrested and convicted for the murder of his second wife, Ella Mae Evans."
Wikipedia, B-Westerns, YouTube, (1), (2), (3)

Vik Muniz


Waterlilies, after Claude Monet (Pictures of Magazines, Still-life), 2004
Wikipedia - "Vik Muniz (born 1961) is a Brazilian born, New York based artist who experiments with media. His works are fleeting and consist of objects arranged to make an image, he then photographs the arrangement resulting in the final piece."
Wikipedia, Vik Muniz, artnet, TED, Google

Nancy Spero


Israeli Women Soldiers, ca 1966-1970
Wikipedia - "As both artist and activist, Nancy Spero’s career has spanned fifty years. Her continuous engagement with contemporary political, social, and cultural concerns is renowned. She has chronicled wars and apocalyptic violence as well as articulating visions of ecstatic rebirth and the celebratory cycles of life."
Wikipedia, artnet, art21

Sam & Dave


Wikipedia - "Sam & Dave were an American soul and rhythm and blues (R&B) duo who performed together from 1961 through 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Samuel David Moore (born Samuel David Hicks on October 12, 1935 in Winchester, Georgia), and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (May 9, 1937, Ocilla, Georgia – April 9, 1988, Sycamore, Georgia)."
Wikipedia, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4)

Black Sparrow Books


Wikipedia - "Black Sparrow Books, formerly known as Black Sparrow Press, is a book publisher originally founded in 1966 by John Martin of Santa Rosa, California. He founded this company in order to publish the works of Charles Bukowski and other avant-garde authors. He initially financed this company by selling his large collection of rare first editions."
Wikipedia, Black Sparrow Books

Luis Egidio Meléndez


Wikipedia - "Luis Egidio Meléndez (Naples, 1716-Madrid, 1780) was a Spanish painter. Although he received little acclaim during his lifetime and died in poverty, Meléndez is recognized today as the greatest Spanish still-life painter of the eighteenth century. His mastery of composition and light, and his remarkable ability to convey the volume and texture of individual objects enabled him to transform the most mundane of kitchen fare into powerful images."
Wikipedia, MFA, Boston

Giovanni Boldini in Impressionist Paris


"Images of sunny suburban landscapes and bustling streets enliven the Clark's galleries during Giovanni Boldini in Impressionist Paris, the first exhibition in the United States in twenty years focused on Boldini. This vibrant exhibition, which premiered at the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Boldini's hometown of Ferrara, Italy, follows the artist's early career, from his move to Paris where he absorbed the painting techniques of the Impressionists, to the development of his distinctive style of painting vivacious portraits of society figures."
The Clark

Buzzcocks


Wikipedia - "Buzzcocks are an English rock band formed in Bolton in 1976, led by singer–songwriter–guitarist Pete Shelley. They are regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, pop punk and indie rock."
Wikipedia, Buzzcocks, YouTube, (1), (2), (3)

Art Spiegelman


Wikipedia - "Art Spiegelman (born February 15, 1948) is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. He is married to and frequently collaborates with artist and art editor Françoise Mouly."
Wikipedia, Google, Lambiek, Barclay Agency, RAW

Gerhard Richter


Seascape (Cloudy), 1969
"Gerhard Richter is an important artist in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; his work spans nearly five decades. Here, you can view his work and learn about his life. Click on a work below to begin."
Gerhard Richter

Avant-Garde All the Time: The UbuWeb Poetry Foundation Podcast

"A short (11 minute) interview with UbuWeb founding editor Kenneth Goldsmith introducing the site to a general listenership, with a specific focus on UbuWeb’s sound archives."
Greylodge

2010 Winter Olympics


Cypress Mountain
Wikipedia - "The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be a major international multi-sport event held on February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the resort town of Whistler, British Columbia and in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond."
Wikipedia, NYT, NBC, Maps of World

Fernando Bryce


"Fernando Bryce lives in Berlin and in Lima. The idea of the panopticum inspires his work. Fernando Bryce combines copied images, drawings and abstract compositions with which he sets up large-scale visual fields of drawings on paper. His poetic method combines personal and collective histories and myths."
artnet, Fernando Bryce

Philippine-American War, 1899-1902


Battle of Paceo, Philippine-American War
"The Philippines (LEFT, 1898 map) was a colony of Spain from 1571 to 1898. Spanish rule came to an end as a result of the Philippine Revolution and US involvement with Spain's other major colony, Cuba. The Philippine archipelago, with a total land area of 300,000 sq km (115,831 sq mi), comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, located close to the present-day countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Palau and the island of Taiwan."
Philippine-American War, 1899-1902, Wikipedia

Moth Trails


"Different takes on a simple idea. The first example I ever saw shows the trail left by a bat as it hunts a moth. You can see it here. And here is another take on the idea, this time in video form."
flickr, vimeo

Arthur Baker


Wikipedia - "Arthur Baker (born April 22, 1955) is an American record producer and DJ best known for his work with hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Planet Patrol and the British group New Order."
Wikipedia, Arthur Baker, MySpace, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4)

Miniature book


George Salomon of Paris
Wikipedia - "A miniature book is a very small book, sized from .5 inches square to roughly 2 by 3 inches — no larger than 3 inches in height, width or thickness. These books became more popular in the last few decades of the 19th century because they were portable and easy to conceal. One could carry a vast number of books in a small case for when one travelled."
Wikipedia, Indiana University, Miniature Book Society, Google, Mini Book