“The Unnatural Act Act,” by Norman O. Mustill [1974], is from the collectionof Knud Petersen. It appeared originally in a Copenhagen Fluxus show. More Mustill. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit
Archives for 2010
‘We Buy Democracy One Race at a Time’
Never mind the solemn hyperbole of this “leaked memo,” which comes via MoveOn.org. It does tell the real story: The Cabal of Multinational Corporations is pleased to formally announce RepubliCorpTM, a new combined entity following our complete merger with the Republican Party. RepubliCorpTM combines the ethics-free campaigning savvy of the GOP with the limit-free spending […]
Crimes Are Crimes Are Crimes Are Crimes …
We are all BananaRepublicans. Obama has claimed the right to assassinate American citizens whom he suspects of “terrorism,” merely on the grounds of his own suspicion or that of the CIA, something Bush never claimed publicly.” — The World Can’t Wait Also, “Obama says that the government can detain you indefinitely, even if you have […]
Because You Never Heard of Him …
May I add an annex to The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today, which is now on in New York at The Museum of Modern Art? The MoMA show features works by lotsa biggies — Atget, Bellmer, Brancusi, Brassaï, Duchamp, Frank, Friedlander, Gaillard, Höch, Kertész, Man Ray, Nauman, and too many others to […]
Carolee Schneeman’s ‘Fluxus’
Went to see the exhibition “Experimental Women in Flux” at the MoMA Library. There was much to like, although it’s a small exhibit. I got a kick out of this feminist blast: fluxus can be lots of fun when the boys let you on their boatsometimes they throw you off the boatyou have to be […]
It’s 9/11: Eraser-in-Chief ♥ Bullshitter-in-Chief
When Barack Obama rebuffed calls for an independent truth commission, choosing not to investigate George W. Bush and his cronies as war criminals, he forfeited whatever moral authority he might have had as president. In his Aug. 31 Oval Office speech announcing “the end of the combat mission in Iraq” he even heaped praise on […]
Too Funny Not to Post
Yes, we know about 9/11. We’re still reeling from it. The event itself was catastrophic. But the pols and war profiteers have put it to ruinous use ever since. So I’ll save my customary Best 9/11 Memorial posting for next year, when the 10th anniversary comes around. Besides, how many times can you post Still […]
Women Who Experiment
Have a look at the Web site for the Fluxus exhibition Experimental Women in Flux at the Museum of Modern Art Library. The curators write: In the spirit of MoMA’s publication of Modern Women: Women Artists at The Museum of Modern Art in June 2010, the Museum Library features experimental works by women that form […]
Way Out West
Abbie Conant, that is — the trombonist, actor, singer, poet, feminist, and professor, whom Malcolm Gladwell wrote about in Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit
Supervert Gets Into Her Head
The last time I mentioned Supervert, the nom de plume of a writer I know, the headline, Better Than a Review, referred to a YouTube video that a fan made about Supervert’s latest book, Perversity Think Tank. The other day, an interview with Supervert showed up on the Web site Dark Markets that led me […]
At Last Count …
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The Beats Left Algren Cold, Kerouac Especially
I once asked Nelson Algren what he thought of Naked Lunch. He was living in Hackensack, N.J., getting by on Social Security and whatever he won at Aqueduct. He still wrote the occasional book review and received small but steady royalties from his two most famous novels, The Man With the Golden Arm and A […]
Joyce Meets Burroughs by Way of Mary Beach
A recent reminder about the “incredible translation job” done on Mary Beach’s Die Elektrische Banane by Walter Hartmann and Gregor Pott got me to thinking that somebody should say it: James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake meets William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch in that book. It’s not the particulars of the subject matter so much as Beach’s attitude […]
La Dada Mama
More from the e-mail bag: Ah yes, what a BOLD approach to human physiognomy, I must admit, in those collages you show here! And yet, being a Höch aficionado I’ll have to insist it wasn’t Mr Paolozzi but Hannah Höch who first applied a human silhouette cut-out in her collage work, back in 1931, in […]
Vienna Phil Circle Jerks Are Still Jacking Off;
Government Pays, Despite Cancelled Contract
News from the e-mail bag: Austrian Federal Government cancels Vienna Philharmonic funding contract, but transfers money to twin orchestra, the Vienna State Opera By William Osborne On October 16, 2000, the Austrian Federal Government signed a contract with the Vienna Philharmonic that gave the orchestra yearly funding of $2.91 million (€2.29 million) for a period […]
Tuli Kupferberg, R.I.P.
Gone. But not forgotten. There will be a funeral service open to the public on Saturday, July 17th, 11:45 a.m.-3 p.m, at St. Marks Church-in-the-Bowery, 131 E.10th St., in Manhattan. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit
Auntie Foo Checks Back In … Yum!
The first time Auntie Foo checked in, an anonymous comment arrived with savvy guesswork about auntie’s identity and some excellent info and illustrations about the art of collage. A bit of sleuthing revealed that the anonymous commenter was Walter Hartmann, an old associate of Carl Weissner, Jorg Fauser, and Jurgen Ploog, from their GASOLIN 23 […]