Encounters with the 1930s

Max Beckmann, Paris Society, 1931
"Encounters with the 1930s, one of the most important exhibitions of the season, is the Museum’s contribution to the commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of the creation of Guernica (1937), Pablo Picasso’s emblematic art work. The show, jointly organized by the Museum’s departments of Collections and Exhibitions, will occupy a surface of more than 2,000 square meters divided into two areas."
Wall Street International
CNN (Video)
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

Rubble and Revelation

"Like an archeologist probing the wreckage of modernity, Cyprien Gaillard travels the world looking for monuments of our era that have lost their aura and symbolic power, and with the precision of a research scientist, he documents their life and gradual disappearance. He roams nomadically from continent to continent, encountering ruins and relics that are immortalized in photos, videos, sculptures, and collages which convey his obsession with the poetry of decay."
Fondazione Nicola Trussardi (Video)
purple DIARY
designboom

Aleksandr Deineka

RIA Novosti
"Aleksandr Deineka is one of the artists who complicate the still prevalent practice of dividing the history of Soviet art into a binary opposition between an avant-garde and kitsch 'Socialist Realism.' Born in 1899 in Kursk, Deineka studied at the Kharkov Art College and participated in the defense of Kursk by the Red Army during the civil war following the 1917 revolution."
U. Chicago
Wikipedia
Was Socialist Realism Forced Labour? The Case of Aleksandr Deineka in the 1930s
YouTube: Aleksandr Deineka

Aguirre - Popol Vuh

Wikipedia - "Aguirre is the seventh album by German progressive/Krautrock band Popol Vuh. It contains music used in the soundtrack to Werner Herzog's film Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), first released as an album in 1975 on Ohr, and reissued in 2004 by SPV with one bonus track. This score was the first of many filmic collaborations between the group and Herzog. Only two tracks ('Aguirre I' and 'Aguirre II') are from the film; the rest were gathered from various recordings done by the group during the period 1972–1974, including alternative versions of two songs ('Morgengruß II' and 'Agnus Dei') originally released on the band's 1974 album, Einsjäger und Siebenjäger."
Wikipedia
amazon
YouTube: Aguirre I, Aguirre III, Vergegenwärtigung, Aguirre IV
YouTube: Aguirre 43:44

2008 August: Popol Vuh
2010 December: Aguirre, the Wrath of God
2011 May: Abschied (1972)

History of Boogie Woogie

"This is part 1 of the History of Boogie Woogie from the South Bank Show in England -1986. Featuring many great short clips of famous boogie artist such as Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, and Meade Lux Lewis. Also Big Joe Duskin and world renown Axel Zwingenberger from Germany perform in Part 4."
YouTube: Boogie Woogie History Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

2011 June: Boogie Woogie

YouTube Multiplier - disquiet

"Sonic Diptychs: The great youtubemultiplier.com site was introduced to me by the talented and insightful Samuel Landry, and since his initial mention I’ve seen and received many others. The service lets you easily play two or more (up to eight) YouTube videos side by side, simultaneously. The previous link goes to a Landry (aka @le_berger on Twitter) cocktail of Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, and Stephan Mathieu. The service is wonderful if only for letting me now, whenever I want, play one of my favorite sonic diptychs: Brian Eno’s Thursday Afternoon + DJ Krush’s Kakusei."
YouTube Multiplier
YouTube: Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, and Stephan Mathieu, Brian Eno’s Thursday Afternoon + DJ Krush’s Kakusei

Television - Little Johnny Jewel

"Now Little Johnny Jewel,
Oh, he's so cool,
He has no decision,
He's just trying to tell a vision.
Some thought that this was sad,
And others thought it mad,
They just scratching the surface,
JJ can do the floor kiss."
YouTube: Little Johnny Jewel (Parts 1 & 2), Little Johnny Jewel (Live SF 78), Little Johnny Jewel (Live in Brazil 23-10-05)

2007 November: Tom Verlaine
2010 March: Tom Verlaine - 1
2011 October: Warm and Cool

Fernando Pessoa and Co.: Selected Poems

"The melancholy writer Fernando Pessoa, who died 75 years ago this week, was likely unaware of the effect he would have on Portugal decades later. Pessoa is still read by new students of literature, and older readers who constantly rediscover his work. He has been immortalised in statue form outside Lisbon's beautiful Brasileira cafe, and performances, exhibitions, and films pay him consistent tribute. There is even a table football in his old house-turned-museum – 11 wooden Pessoas competing against a cast of artistic and literary figures."
Guardian: Fernando Pessoa and the multiple faces we show on the net
W - Heteronym
amazon: Fernando Pessoa and Co.: Selected Poems

2008 March: Fernando Pessoa
2010 October: disquiet: ambient/electronic
2011 October: Autopsicografia
2012 October: The Book of DisquietZ

Niney the Observer

Wikipedia - "Winston Holness, better known as Niney the Observer (born George Boswell, 1951, Montego Bay), is a Jamaican record producer and singer who was a key figure in the creation of many classic reggae recordings dating from the 1970s and early 1980s. Holness gained his nickname 'Niney' after losing a thumb in a workshop accident. In the latter half of the 1960s he worked as an engineer at KG records, where he began producing. His first release was his own composition 'Come on Baby' issued on his Destroyer label. He moved on to work with Bunny Lee in 1967, then for Lynford Anderson's studio, then working for Joe Gibbs as chief sound engineer, replacing his friend Lee 'Scratch' Perry."
Wikipedia
amazon: Niney the Observer
Roots Archives
YouTube: NINEY - Blood and Fire (12' Disco Mix), Blood And Fire - reggae roots dub 12" single, Dub 51, Confusion in a Babylon (AKA Mutiny), No More Will I Roam (Dennis Brown), Niney The Observer & King Tubby - Everyone's Dubbing, King Tubby meets Niney The Observer & Dennis Brown - Fire From The Observer Station, Winston Niney Holness & Perry & Scientist - Mutiny

An Intro To Rebel Hip-Hop Of The Arab Revolutions

"Early adopters in countries like Morocco, Algeria and Palestine have a more strongly developed and time-tested hip-hop scene—but across the greater Arab world, hip-hop has risen up alongside folk anthems as a revolutionary soundtrack. And in the Western world, Arab diaspora rap preoccupies itself with questions of Eastern and Western dislocated identity. These artists take a great deal of inspiration from some of the greats of politically conscious rap in the eighties and nineties in the United States, particularly Public Enemy and Wu-Tang Clan. They also draw from the long history of Arab poetry and artistic political dissidence, from Khalil Gibran to Mahmoud Darwish and Ahmed Fouad Negm. Here is a handy starter kit for listening to Arab and Middle Eastern rap and hip-hop music."
The Awl (Video)
Beats and Breath (Video)
Revolutionary Arab Rap: The Index (Video)
Rebel Rap from the Outlaws of Hermel (Video)
[PDF] Esquire Middle East - Fight The Power
Hip-Hop Responds to Middle East Mobilization (Video)

Matthew Monahan

“Exit Wounds"
"Matthew Monahan’s work presents a futuristic archaeology. Drawing from a wide range of influences, from Modernist art to ancient totems, Monahan’s ‘artefacts’ are both familiar and strange. Filtering historical mythologies through his own personal system of reference, altered further through the experience of making, Monahan’s work alludes to a contemporary spirituality, where beauty and brutality coalesce as virtual monuments."
Saatchi Gallery
YouTube: Matthew Monahan

Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde

"From the mid-1950s through the 1960s, Tokyo transformed itself from the capital of a war-torn nation into an international center for arts, culture, and commerce, becoming home to some of the most important art being made at the time. Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde provides a focused look at the extraordinary concentration and network of creative individuals and practices in this dynamic city during these turbulent years."
MoMA
NYT: A Feisty Phoenix From the Nuclear Ashes
amazon
Japan Times

Songs for Drella - Lou Reed and John Cale

Wikipedia - "Songs for Drella is a concept album by Lou Reed and John Cale, both formerly of The Velvet Underground, and is dedicated to the memory of Andy Warhol, their mentor, who had died unexpectedly in 1987. Drella was a nickname for Warhol coined by Warhol Superstar Ondine, a contraction of Dracula and Cinderella, used by Warhol's crowd. The song cycle focuses on Warhol's interpersonal relations and experiences, with songs falling roughly into three categories: Warhol's first-person perspective (which makes up the vast majority of the album), third-person narratives chronicling events and affairs, and first-person commentaries on Warhol by Reed and Cale themselves. The songs on the album are, to some extent, in chronological order."
Wikipedia
Popdose Flashback ’90: Lou Reed/John Cale, “Songs for Drella” (Video)
amazon
YouTube: Songs For Drella, Live At The Brooklyn Academy Of Music, New York 1989, 56:01

Dreadful Memories: The Life of Sarah Ogan Gunning, 1910-1983

"Gunning suffered a life of bitter poverty which became the fuel for dozens of moving songs about working people, the mines, and the great coal strikes of the twenties and thirties. Gunning's a cappella roots music is intercut throughout the interviews and archival footage."
folkstreams (Video)
folkstreams: Transcription of Dreadful Memories

Robin Skouteris

"Robin Skouteris is a music producer, DJ and a video director from Athens, Greece. Mostly known for his mashups, Robin also remixes and composes for music artists, tv commercials and short films. A solo self-produced album with collaborations, is in the works."
last.fm
Soundcloud (Video)
YouTube: Scissor Sisters - Let's Have A Kiki (Robin Skouteris ''Kiki In The Park'' Official Mix), Popalicious! (Pet Shop Boys / Kylie / Black Eyed Peas / Katy Perry & More), Madonna - The Queen Of Pop MEGAMIX, by Robin Skouteris, Working Lady Should Be Dancing Like Jagger (Donna Summer/Bee Gees/Maroon), " Rock This! " (Queen / Gwen Stefani / Beastie Boys / Nirvana / Michael Jackson & More), Jennifer Lopez Vs Britney Spears Vs Rihanna - Against The Floor (Robin Skouteris Mix), Michael Jackson - The Legendary MEGAMIX

A Fractured State

"Michael Kirby Smith began photographing what would become A Fractured State, after arriving in Sana’a, Yemen in December 2011. An ongoing journalistic investigation into a nation gripped by conflict and social problems, the project documents a country recovering from a thirty-three year dictatorship and a population struggling with rampant poverty, malnutrition, internal conflicts, environmental issues, an increasing number of refugees from the Horn of Africa, and an expanding U.S.-led covert war against Al Qaeda. Smith gives us an intimate look into an underreported region with the eye of a humanist."
Guernica

"Going Underground" - The Jam

Wikipedia - "'Going Underground' is the first British number-one chart single by The Jam, released in March 1980. It went straight in at number one, a rare feat at the time, and spent three weeks at the top. It was the first of three instant chart-toppers for the group. 'Going Underground' was not released on any of the band's six studio albums, although it has appeared on many compilations and rereleases since then. The single's B-side was 'Dreams of Children', which had originally been intended to be the A-side; following a mix-up at the pressing plant, the single became a double-A-side, and DJs tended to choose the more melodic 'Going Underground' to play on the radio."
Wikipedia
The Jam: The Band That Inspired Me To Become A Music Writer
YouTube: Going Underground, Going Underground (Live), Going Underground (Live - Pinkpop 1980), The Dreams Of Children, The Dreams Of Children (Live)

2009 March: The Jam
2011 December: Down in the Tube Station at Midnight

Mantegna to Matisse: Master Drawings from the Courtauld Gallery

"In keeping with its tradition of exhibiting masterworks from collections outside of New York, the Frick will present fifty-eight drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, London. This exhibition marks the first time that so many of the principal drawings in The Courtauld's renowned collection — one of Britain's most important — have been made available for loan. The prized sheets represent a survey of the extraordinary draftsmanship of Italian, Dutch, Flemish, German, Spanish, British, and French artists active between the late Middle Ages and the early twentieth century. The survey features works executed in a range of drawing techniques and styles and for a variety of purposes, including preliminary sketches, practice studies, aide-mémoires, designs for other artworks, and finished pictures meant to be appreciated as independent works of art."
Frick
WSJ: Delicate Lines
NYT: Sketches That Speak Their Lines Silently
Guest Blogger Review: From Mantegna to Matisse at London’s Courtauld gallery
YouTube: Master Drawings from the Courtauld Gallery: An introduction to the exhibition

Ngola Ritmos

Wikipedia - "Ngola Ritmos is an Angolan traditional music band, created around 1947 by Liceu Vieira Dias, Domingos Van-Dúnem, Mário da Silva Araújo, Manuel dos Passos and Nino Ndongo. They sung kimbundu music with guitar and small percussion. In the 1950s, the band comprised Liceu, Nino, Amadeu Amorim, José Maria, Euclides Fontes Pereira, José Cordeira, Lourdes Van-Dúnem and Belita Palma. Their lamentos were inspired by the daily chronicles or funeral laments sung by bessangana women and their sembas by popular dances."
Wikipedia
Cabinda Ritmo ‘Filomena’ - N’Gola, early 1970′s (Video)
YouTube: Manazinha, Monami

Your Guide to the Brooklyn Nets

"Alright, so you have been presented with the rare and exciting opportunity, smack in the middle of adulthood, to just suddenly begin rooting for a brand new professional sports franchise. We've written elsewhere about the decisions you'll have to make regarding whatever established rooting interests you have, but this is for those of you whose utter lack of knowledge about anything related to basketball has allowed you to come into this blissfully untethered to another team."
Brooklyn Magazine
NYT - All Black Everything: A Brooklyn Nets Style Guide
Brooklyn Nets
YouTube: Brooklyn Nets #1 - The Association - Part 1 "Hello Brooklyn", Part 2; Episode 2 Part 1, Part 2; Episode 3 Part 1, Part 2

"My Girl" - Madness

Wikipedia - "'My Girl' is a song by British ska/pop group Madness from their debut album, One Step Beyond.... It was written by Mike Barson. The song was released as a single on 21 December 1979 and spent 10 weeks on the UK Singles Chart peaking at number 3."
Wikipedia
YouTube: My Girl

2011 August: Madness

Faith47 "Fragments Of A Burnt History" Johannesburg Exhibition Coverage

"Last week, Faith47 opened 'Fragments Of A Burnt History', her new exhibition at David Krutt Projects in Johannesburg, South Africa. Our friend Rowan Pybus spent some time with the South African painter during the preparation and installation of this beautiful new show. 'Fragments of a Burnt History' featured a stunning installation of found objects and artwork created in the artist’s studio. Each individual artwork can be seen in details here."
StreetArtNews
DAVID KRUT PROJECTS
(vimeo) - Fragments Of A Burnt History

2011 February: Faith47

Geologic Time, Sped Up

"Mark Ward almost titled this nine-minute mix of drone and pulse 'Three Chords in Geological Time.' Instead he went with 'From Sea to Sierra.' The latter is arguably the better of the two titles for various reasons. Like the 'Geologic Time' title, 'Sea to Sierra' hints at the sense of movement, but it better allows for the pacing of the actual track. Drones can be especially static, and this drone-based composition is anything but."
disquiet (Video)

The Dream Life of Grete Stern

Artículos eléctricos para el hogar, hacia (1950
"Today, Whitney Otto, author of Eight Girls Taking Pictures, has a slideshow on the Huffington Post drawing our attention to inspirational female photographers the viewer may not know. We were delighted to see Grete Stern featured. As Otto explains, 'Grete Stern was born in Germany to a Jewish family, and in Weimar Berlin, she and Ellen Auerbach had a photography studio called ring! + pit that specialized in advertising. She emigrated to Buenos Aires in 1935.'"
Paris Review
LesGouExposiciones
Grete Stern (Ring!)
Dreaming in Feminine: Grete Stern's photomontages and the parody of psychoanalysis
W - Grete Stern
YouTube: Art of Photography

Carlos Garaicoa

Cuban Garden, 1997. Installation, performance in Old-Havanna
"Carlos Garaicoa is known for his explorations of social and political issues in the context of urban architecture and the built environment. Inspired by his native Havana, Garaicoa adopts the city as a laboratory and metaphor for human existence, intervening on its landscape to offer searing and insightful commentary on issues such as architecture's ability to alter the course of history, the failure of modernism as a catalyst for social change, human rights, and the frustration and decay of 20th century utopias."
Art Daily
artnet
BOMBSITE: Carlos Garaicoa by Holly Block
YouTube: Carlos Garaicoa MOMA New Photography 05, Carlos Garaicoa at the Irish Museum of Modern Art

Margin Call (2011)

Wikipedia - "Margin Call is a 2011 American independent drama film directed by J.C. Chandor. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay also written by Chandor. The film takes place over a 36-hour period at a large Wall Street investment bank and highlights the initial stages of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. In focus are the actions taken by a group of employees during the subsequent financial collapse. The ensemble cast features Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Demi Moore, and Stanley Tucci in lead roles."
Wikipedia
NYT: Number Crunching at the Apocalypse
TNR: How ‘Margin Call’ Gets It Right About the Financial Crisis
New Yorker: All That Glitters
YouTube: Margin Call Trailer

phora (2005) - Ann Hamilton

"Lining the entrance corridor were large images of the still mouths of medieval wooden figures. The images, made by moving a miniature video camera in close proximity to the figures, created the passing illusion of the mouth's opening or closing. Two short walls and one long wall of the garden corridor were covered with a film that retained some transparency while reflecting the surrounding mouths like a mirror."
phora (Video)
PDF - La maison rouge
Jessica Hemmings
vimeo: phora pen video (Video)

2010 March: Ann Hamilton

Aksak Maboul

Wikipedia - "Aksak Maboul (also spelled Aqsak Maboul for a while) were a Belgian avant-rock band founded in 1977 by Marc Hollander and Vincent Kenis. They made two studio albums, Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine (1977) and Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits (1980), the last one with ex-Henry Cow members Chris Cutler and Fred Frith. They were also active in the Rock in Opposition movement."
Wikipedia
Crammed
YouTube: Bosses de Crosses, Saure Gurke, milano per caso & fausto coppi arrives, I viaggi formano la gioventu, Chez les aborigènes, Ossip & Lili/Odessa

2011/2012 Brazil Vacation Moleskin

"I took this watercolor moleskin, my first one in fact, and turned it into a travel log (kind-of) of my Winter Vacation to Brazil. I was really excited because I never had the chance to do much watercoloring, so it was great practice. During this vacation I visited family in Ribeirão Preto (state of São Paulo), stayed with cousins in São Paulo (city), and went hang gliding and exploring Rio de Janeiro with my cousins from Niterói. Finally, I've been able feel complete with my travel sketchbook enough to post it and share."
Moleskin (Video)

The Robert Fripp String Quartet

"The Robert Fripp String Quartet. Principally recorded live during tours of California, Italy, England and Argentina in May and June, 1993. After the staid acoustic concerns of the League of Crafty Guitarists, Fripp’s latest ensemble indulges, thankfully, in both electric and electronic applications. Fripp is accompanied here by longtime associate Trey Gunn (on grand stick) and by The California Guitar Trio."
last.fm
YouTube: Kan Non Power, Contrapunctus, Yamanashi Blues, Passacaglia, Chromatic Fantasy-Contrapunctus

Buddy Holly,

Wikipedia - "Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as 'the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll.' His works and innovations inspired and influenced contemporary and later musicians, notably The Beatles, Elvis Costello, The Rolling Stones, Don McLean, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton, and exerted a profound influence on popular music."
Wikipedia
Buddy Holly Center
YouTube: Peggy sue, That'll Be The Day, Rave on!, Oh, Boy!, Everyday, Maybe Baby, I'm Gonna Love You Too, Ting - a - ling, Moonlight Baby, Rock Around With Ollie Vee, Ready Teddy

2011 May: Charles Hardin Holly; Clovis, New Mexico; May 27, 1957

Tim Hawkinson - Uberorgan

"Imagined and created by artist Tim Hawkinson, the Uberorgan (or Überorgan) was initially created for a 15,000 square foot gallery at MassMOCA in 2001. The challenge of filling the volume of the gallery is what gave birth to the Uberorgan: how to create something that had a strong visual presence in such a large volume of space while simultaneously having strong auditory presence. The result was accomplished by Hawkinson adjusting his process by building models of the space to study how he would accomplish filling the space and avoid being caught 'shorthanded'. The final product involved a series of large scale balloons that were effectively large bagpipes producing music."
Odd Music
MASS MoCA
Acousmata (Video)
PBS: Tim Hawkinson (Video)
art 21: Uberorgan

Concertina

30-button Stagi A30, English concertina
Wikipedia - "A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it. Also, each button produces one note, while accordions typically can produce chords with a single button. The concertina was developed in England and Germany, most likely independently. The English version was invented in 1829 by Sir Charles Wheatstone and a patent for an improved version was filed by him in 1844. The German version was announced in 1834 by Carl Friedrich Uhlig."
Wikipedia
Concertina Connection
Concertina Library
YouTube: Concertina (Niall Vallely), Noel Hill, Tony MacMahon - The Concertina, Come West Along the Road, The New Mown Meadow, Bunclody (Irish tune) on Anglo Concertina, Reel - The Keel Row, Kyckling (Chicken) polka on Wakker Hayden

Johnny Cash - Ain't No Grave

"There ain't no grave can hold my body down
There ain't no grave can hold my body down
When I hear that trumpet sound
I'm gonna rise right out of the ground
Ain't no grave can hold my body down"
YouTube: Ain't No Grave

The Souljazz Orchestra

"Canada's hardest-working super-group, the Souljazz Orchestra, have been perfecting their signature sound for over a decade now: a percussive explosion of Soul, Jazz, Afro, Latin and Caribbean rhythms, driven by majestic horn-drenched melodies, all backed by an arsenal of overheated primitive keyboards."
The Souljazz Orchestra
Wikipedia
YouTube: Ya Basta, Bibinay, Kapital, Secousse Soukous