Fresh Talk: William Pope.L

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century  

William Pope.L, a performance artist and interventionist based in Chicago and Lewiston, Maine, is presenting a magic lantern show titled Blink for Prospect.2 New Orleans, the 2011 U.S. Biennial. For his project, the artist made a film from more than a thousand images donated by the people of New Orleans. On the night of October 22, he projected the film through the back of an old ice cream truck as it was pulled through the streets of the city by volunteers. Blink came to rest at Xavier University where it will remain on view through January 2012. This Fresh Talk episode features a conversation with Pope.L, the sounds of Blink in motion and a hint of Don Quixote.

Of Note: Jeff Byrd played the role of Sound Editor on location in New Orleans.

Prospect.2 Opens in New Orleans

While there's not the same sense of post-Katrina urgency connected with Prospect.2, this year's exhibition offers more of a balanced presentation of local, national and international artist participants. P.2's budget limitations are clear. Less than half the number of projects and no site specific, large scale works to match the scale and ambition of, say, Mark Bradford's three-story ark in the Lower 9th Ward during Prospect.1. In fact, more than a few of the projects on view had debuted in other venues.

Still, NOLA is a magical context for founder Dan Cameron's visionary effort. Opening night news regarding Prospect.3: Franklin Sirmans will be P.3's Curator. Cameron has stepped down from the director position, but will remain involved as a board member.

This afternoon, Joyce Scott performs Miss Veronica @ Cafe Istanbul, and tonight, William Pope.L's Blink, a magic lantern show projected from an ice cream truck, will wend its way through the city. I'll be there and plan to post my conversation with Pope.L within the week.

Fresh Talk: Joyce Scott

Listen to this episode

Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century

This fall, Joyce Scott, a venerated visual and performing artist based in Baltimore, Maryland, is participating in Prospect.2, New Orleans, a biennial of international contemporary art. Joyce considers the state of art in her home town and talks about her Prospect.2 projects. Performing at Cafe Istanbul on Saturday, October 22, she will tell the story of Miss V, a worldly incarnation of Saint Veronica, who is frustrated by the chasm between men and women in the 21st century.

Sound Editor: Ira Kip 
Photos courtesy Goya Contemporary 
Music: Joyce Scott

ART TALK Podcast Series Premiere

This week, Fresh Art International launches the ART TALK podcast series.


Special thanks to: Joyce Scott, for starring in FAI's first podcast; Ira Kip, for stellar sound editing; Freya Schlemmer, for a super fresh graphic; Zoe Charlton, for offering FAI a home base; and Shonnell Gibson, for kick starting this site. 

Subscribe now and be the first to hear Joyce's podcast post, this Saturday, October 15.

Ira Kip, during a podcast edit session.

Janet Biggs: No Limits

Janet Biggs, In the Cold, 2010, video still

I’m taking a day trip to view a solo exhibition featuring the video art of Janet Biggs at the Tampa Museum of Art. A mid-career survey, No Limits is beautifully presented. The ponderous amount of technology that made possible the encounter of 12 video projects is almost entirely out of view. I’ve followed Janet's trajectory for the past ten years and couldn’t resist the opportunity to walk through an absolute wonderland of her amazing projects. I’ll be posting a podcast of my conversation with Janet later this month.

No Limits is on view at the Tampa Museum of Art through January 8, 2012. 

Bahar Behbahani: The Chronicle of Her Innocence

 

Bahar Behbahani: Saffron Tea, video, 2010

  I went to  NYU Abu Dhabi for the Sept 29 opening of The Chronicle of Her Innocence, an exhibition of provocative paintings by New York-based Iranian artist Bahar Behbahani. This still is from Bahar's video Saffron Tea, screened in the gallery before her conversation with Sam Bardaouil, Curatorial Director of Art ReOriented. Also in New York:

Artist/curators Kesha Bruce and Charlie Grosso @ Baang+Burne, where their 6 x 6 exhibition series currently features the subversive needlepoint of Stacia Yeapanis. (In 2009-2010, Stacia participated in Losing Yourself in the 21^st Century, one of my collaborative curatorial projects.)

+ White on White, an experimental film noir by Eve Sussman/Rufus Corporation at Cristin Tierney.

+ The Pleasure of Slowness, a group exhibition at Bertrand Delacroix based on one of Milan Kundera’s books. Found a strange disconnect between the art and a wonderfully curious concept.

+ The sculptural lyrics of Do Ho Suh’s Home Within Home at Lehmann Maupin.

 + My first walk on the High Line, beginning with a look in one space beneath its beams—David Byrne’s pulsing Tight Spot, a gigantic inflatable globe wedged into a raw space on 25^th St. that’s about to be built out for Pace Gallery’s new space in Chelsea.

This week: Baltimore. Follow my postings as Fresh Art International unfolds.

Introducing Fresh Art International

You may know me as an independent curator, a university gallery curator/director or the executive director of a contemporary art center. I’ve connected internationally in those roles, and as an art critic, travel writer, and educator since 1995. My raison d'être lies at the intersection of art and life; I can't seem to separate the two.

My creative practice involves an exceptionally dynamic problem-solving process. Fresh Art International (FAI) is one tangible outcome. This experiential public platform taps into a network of amazing professional resources. A work in progress, FAI will offer a series of open conversations that give and take energy and ideas from contemporary artists, curators, producers, writers, performers, designers, architects, entrepreneurs and other cultural outliers.

My belief is that fresh thinking and positivity are essential to construct a truly creative life in the 21st century. This site embodies my desire for your best possible future.