The grants disease is a terminal but preventable disease.

ready. set. go.
Thanks Jonah for the link.

From Guidestar.com


About Us:

We encourage nonprofits to share information about their organizations openly and completely. Any nonprofit in our database can update its report with information about its mission, programs, leaders, goals, accomplishments, and needs—for free. We combine the information that nonprofits supply with data from several other sources.

It is free to set-up an account and view the 990-Form from any Non-Profit Organization (501c3). This form allows you to see the organizations top donors, highest paid employees, budgets and other aspects of their annual report.

For example, you can download Eyebeam 990-Form here (or the fun way, find it on Guidestar yourself!).

Here is a helfpul guide for reading a 990-Form.

Zevs recreating his Chanel logo on a ‘naked canvas,’ at ‘The Outsiders,’ Photo by ArtObserved

Lazarides Gallery, which opened in 2004 and now has four spaces in the UK, opened The Outsiders, a special “hit-and-run” show at 282 Bowery (at Houston Street) in New York City. Open Sept. 26-Oct. 12, 2008.
Featured artists include Faile, one of the most recognizable international street artist collectives; Paul Insect, France’s JR, Antony Micallef and the refreshingly controversial Jonathan Yeo. Also on display are works by Vhils, Invader, Conor Harrington, David Choe, Zevs, Mark Jenkins, Todd James, Miranda Donovan, Blu, Polly Morgan Borf, BAST, Mode 2 and Ian Francis.

THE OUTSIDERS -LAZARIDES
282 Bowery (at Houston St)
September 26 to October 12, 2008

Via Art Observed

More from Vinchen here.

More on the story here.

SomeRightsReserved is the awesome online store of the London-based KithKin design collective. The shop, billed as "a download revolution" features both digital products (such as music and fonts) and directions/instructions for building physical items.

We made a series of human-like homeless polar bears and installed them around DC to get people to think about the issue (of melting arctic ice) with more empathy. it seemed people liked them a lot and took pictures of their kids in front of them, etc. but most were removed pretty quickly by the authorities. the last image is one that was met with ill-fate after being deemed a "suspicious package." so the whole thing ended up have a touch of irony to it when compared to the actual situation.

Soho

In January 2008, during the run-up to the election of the 44th President of the United States, Storefront for Art and Architecture and Control Group sent out an open call for ideas: What would the White House, the ultimate architectural embodiment of power, look like if it were to be designed today?

Over 850 participants from 42 countries around the world signed up to participate, and almost 500 proposals were received. Some are visionary, others polemical; some tap into themes related to current electoral politics, others into the remarkable potential of the building's iconic status. All are investigations of architecture's opportunities and obligations in relation to political power.

On October 2 at 7pm, Storefront will inaugurate an exhibition presenting 150 ideas and proposals submitted for White House Redux. At 7.30pm, awards will be presented to the authors of the best projects as selected by a distinguished panel of judges.

(LifeWire) -- Brian, a 30-something salesman from New York City, uses bathroom breaks to handle the demands of his second job. The bathroom stall becomes a secret cubicle for his other job as a mortgage broker. He sends e-mails, checks his voice mail and makes appointments.

Many workers "daylight" in defiance of company policy, frustrating managers and human-resource executives.

"I have a certain lifestyle, and I need a certain amount of money coming in," he says.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/09/23/lw.working.on.the.job/index.html

also (now defunct): http://incubate-chicago.org/laperruque/

We need a broader understanding of what art can be, certainly not a return to the old splits between avant-garde rupture and documentary realism. Art has a key role to play in the economy, in communications and in the spectacles of power. Much of the world today exists in the imagination, in the semiotic realms that I was describing before. And they have a huge effect on concrete reality.

Read the full speech at Continental Drift

Brian Holmes has been co-organizing a series of seminars with the New York City based reading group 16 Beaver Group under the title Continental Drift, working on the issues of geopolitics and geopoetics. He maintains a blog nder the same name ('Continental Drift') with the additional subtitle 'the other side of neoliberal globalization'.

For his project Adam Smith: a million of good reasons to become millionaire, Damián Ontiveros Ramírez asked students of economy and accounting to help him draw the figure of Adam Smith, an 18th century Scottish philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, an essay regarded as the first modern work of economics.

A view from Damián Ontiveros Ramírez' installation

The artist's objective is to total 1,000,000 drawings that show Adam Smith performing different actions. Each of them suggests a way to make money, as the Scottish economist had claimed that the source of wealth is labor. For media_city Seoul, the artist is showing digital animations of some of the drawings.

Damián Ontiveros Ramírez, Adam Smith: A Million of Good Reasons to Become Millionaire

Younger than God: artists' view of the really fresh contemporary art
From http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/ats/854378428.html
Excerpts:

Hello Artist friends. I have been recently invited to submit a portfolio to the New Museum for a show next year, called 'Younger than Jesus'. I immediately thought its a ridiculous title! But, for a moment, honestly, It felt little special thinking of having my piece in that pretty white box on the Bowery street. If you don't know this. Please check (http://www.newmuseum.org/assets/general/pressreleases/2008.7_triennial.pdf)

How about we, artists and creators, make a counter-exhibition in the Spring of 2009 in New York City. In theory, the exhibition is open to every artist. You can be in any age, create any kind of work. You can even show a piece in the New Museum show and be in our show.

Artist as cultural warriors wanted.

so.. my rough Idea is. Having an exhibition around the same time as New Museum Show. Everything will be super D.I.Y. Style. We will look for space, fund, lighting, publicity, and etc. but it will be amazing and beautiful.

And hopefully the plan will change, become better with your involvement.

If you agree with this in some degree, let me know.
I can share my info, if you share your info. Portfolio or websites.
Once we have few people, we can start talking about the process.

Peace.
Anonymous artist
artist.anonymous123@gmail.com

Complete invitation after the jump:

An unruly History of the Ready Made is the sixth interpretation of the Jumex Foundation/Collection by Jessica Morgan, curator at Tate Modern in London.

Taking the groundbreaking introduction of the Readymade by Marcel Duchamp in 1913 as a starting point, this exhibition will stage an unruly (disobedient, argumentative, and perhaps contradictory) history of the consequences of this gesture.

Duchamp’s readymade is not only one of the defining moments for modern and contemporary art, but has proven to be a continuous project, re-energized, re-discovered, and re-thought by numerous generations, cultures and various art histories up to the present day resulting in a complex, socially and culturally expanded concept.

Relying as it does on the work available from a private collection, albeit one that extends to over 3000 objects, the unruly nature of this history of the readymade is also a reflection of the circumscribed character of the exhibition, a definition that also allows for the experimental and even playful, as opposed to rigorously art historical, development of a lineage of this most important breakthrough in the history of art.

The exhibition includes 100 works by Fracys Allis, Abraham Cruz Villegas, Minerva Cuevas, Damián Ortega, Marcel Duchamp, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Iñaki Bonillas among many others.

The exhibition opened september 8th and runs till february of 2009

Arte en Construcción is a new tv series produced by La Colección/Fundación Jumex, Canal 22">Canal 22 and Art.es Casa Productora.

This series focus on visiting artists studios to discuss the process involved in the creation of their work.

The first episode features Luis Felipe Ortega, José Dávila and and Luis Felipe Fabre

Banksy has a casual attitude to copyright and encourages the
reproduction of his work for your own personal amusement, so it's
with regret that he finds himself having to deem pieces either
'real' or 'fake'. He would encourage anyone wanting to purchase
one of his images to do so with extreme caution, but does point
out that many copies are superior in quality to the originals.

Since the creation of Pest Control in January 2008 we have identified
89 street pieces and 137 screen prints falsely attributed to the artist.

"Zeitgeist Addendum" will be premiering at the 5th Annual Artivists Film Festival in Hollywood on Oct. 2; and released for free online Oct. 3, 2008 (artivists.org)

*The failure of our world to resolve the issue of war, poverty, and corruption, rests within a gross ignorance about what guides human behavior to begin with. 'Zeitgeist-Addendum' addresses the true source of the instability in our society, while offering the only fundamental, long term solution"

You can view Zeitgeist for free online:
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com

See the premiere in Hollywood, CA on Oct. 2, 2008
https://audience.withoutabox.com/fest...

Artivist Film Festival

This just in: The Aesthetics of Terror, an exhibition scheduled for launch this November at the Chelsea Art Museum has been canceled. by museum president Dorothea Keeser. Artists were informed yesterday morning that Museum president Dorothea Keeser felt the show “glorified terrorism and showed disrespect for its victims.” Amongst the better known artists included are Martha Rosler, (whose new show just received a glowing review in Time Out), Harun Farocki, Jenny Holzer, and Jon Kessler. The museum’s chief curator Manon Slome has resigned in an act of protest. I have calls in to Slome and Keeser for comment and have posted the complete list of artists after the jump. Via: MBS

Leisure Library is a project started in Spring of 2008. Instigated by our involvement in the Infinite Exchange Gallery at the ZERO1 biennial in San Jose on June 6, 2008, we started compiling a selection of manuals that give instructions for producing a variety of social events. These collection will manifest as a series of Leisure Libraries.

We are contacting producers of events in hopes of collaborating in the production of these manuals. Our collaboration could take any number of forms with more or less involvement from Hideous Beast: you design and author the manual and we publish it (in print and as a pdf on our website); you provide images and text and we do the design; we use available images and text, write additional text and publish with your approval; or any combination of these approaches.

If you have ideas and would like to add them to the Leisure Library, please contact us!

The Leisure Library consists of:
Mini Movie Fest User Guide
Mini Movie Fest Workshop User Guide
Mini Cine Instructional Guide
Field Test: N55 SHOP
Field Test: Product Placements
Pinata Party
DRAWtime
SWEATtime
Show and Tell
Laundry Lectures Series - Red76
Open Media Studio: FREE ART
MEDIAreport
A Manual of Bent Instructions – Forays
PowerPoint Extreme

the Think Tank reader series compiles several texts which discuss issues of artists, gentrification, the urban environment, and the so-called Creative Class. As Directors in the Think Tank that has yet to be named, these issues are important to our understanding of our relationship to the place where we live (Philadelphia) and the effect we (un)intentionally have on this place as artists, activists, citizens. We offer this reader as a resource for others who are interested in exploring these issues with us.

DOWNLOAD THE READER (PDF, 11.6M)

"I have opposed federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts because I believe it is not proper to use tax dollars for what many Americans feel are the obscene and inappropriate projects this organization has supported. I support providing federal block grants to the states for arts education and artistic endeavors pursued by state and local authorities, while assuring that federal tax dollars are not spent on obscene or offensive material."

—John McCain, 1999

PLAF - Hallet's Cove from MOMO on Vimeo.

PLAF - An explanation (nicked from the PLAF blog here)

PLAF – Autonomous Mechanisms. Plaf is a word for splash in both Spanish and French and relates to the on-going project that features kinetic sculptures that have been placed and fastened in several locations in the New York Waterways. Constructed from used materials, the work will be left to the elements as a way to explore the force and power of water that goes unused and unnoticed in New York City. Using the rivers water, wind, tides, and currents, the sculptures will shift and decay, leaving the work just as it is without comment on form or representation. September1st Anonymous Gallery will be providing an information booth and map created by the artists. The public can then go search and find the ongoing outdoor artwork and share in the environment in which it is presented. This information will be available during business hours and online at www.anonymousgallery.com.

Throughout the month of September, Eltono and MOMO will also be constructing an indoor exhibition that reflects the work and progress outdoors. While their project is primarily ephemeral, the indoor exhibition will serve to document and preserve their research, ideas, model making and related art. Every three to five days Eltono and MOMO will install new work that includes silkscreen prints, video, collage, painting, and sculpture. The on-going exhibition, along with the map and information will be available to the public from September 1st until October 10th and will be celebrated with a public exhibition opening on September 25th from 6-9pm.

One of my favorite artists, Evan Roth, is working on a project that will be released soon - the pictures say it all, it's a "carry on" communication system. These metal places contain messages which will appear when they are X-Rayed. The project isn't quite done yet, Evan needs access to an X-Ray machine to take some photos and document. If you have access to an X-Ray machine he's willing to give you a set of the plates for helping out (email fi5e [at] ni9e.com].

As anticipated, Muxtape was unable to maintain its original form under assault from the RIAA and slow moving legal negotiations with the labels.

The first red flag came in August. Up until then all the discussion had been about numbers, but as we closed in on an agreement the talk shifted to things like guaranteed placement and "marketing opportunities." I was denied the possibility of releasing a mobile version of Muxtape. My flexibility was being constricted. I had been worried about Muxtape getting a fair deal, but my biggest concern all along was maintaing the integrity and experience of the site (one of the reasons I wanted to license in the first place). Now it wasn't so simple; I had agreed to a variety of encroachments into Muxtape's financials because I wanted to play ball, but giving up any kind of editorial or creative control was something I had a much harder time swallowing.

Instead, the site will become more of a stripped-down MySpace for bands wanting to put their music online. Disappointing because Muxtape, as originally conceived, was obviously what everyone but the "music industry" wanted. Some of that simplistic magic will likely transfer over to the new incarnation but it won't be as cool as mix tapes for your pals. (thx, mark)

"We all want to see our borders more secure, and human trafficking, organised immigration crime, illegal working and benefit fraud tackled. ID cards for foreign nationals, in locking people to one identity, will deliver in all these areas," she added.

The UK Border Agency will begin issuing the biometric cards to the two categories of foreign nationals who officials say are most at risk of abusing immigration rules - students and those on a marriage or civil partnership visa.

By Josephine Meckseper.

Subject of the the Statement

Funk the System is an open and independent information point, archive, network and communication device. It provides a platform for political, cultural and subversive expressions.
The ideas of Funk the System are rooted in a local scene that acts globally. Social rights and environmental activists, artist collectives and independent media groups build together a diverse network facing reality world-wide and living and researching possible alternatives.
The distribution of information happens separated from a money based system and functions in a non-profit way. All entries are copyleft.

A washing machine was made from : Tape, a plastic pipe and a water dispenser. Special soap to be used at low water temperatures was added to the water to clean the clothes properly. Go for a walk and wash your clothes! Or drag it behind a bike.

From N55

In Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, hundreds of posters, photographs, moving images, audio clips, and ephemera bring to life over forty years of activism, political protest, and campaigns for social justice. Curated by Dara Greenwald and Josh MacPhee as part of Exit Art's Curatorial Incubator, this important and timely exhibition surveys the creative work of dozens of international social movements.

Artur Barrio. Portugal 1945.
“MANIFEST: against the art categories, against the salons, against the awards, against the jury, against the art critique” (Rio de Janeiro February 1970)

When lassercutting joins the glorified office work league and creativity turns into cash:

Watch the video here.

You just need to know how to surf the webz!
"This means you do not need to use graphics software to make something. This significantly lowers the entry barrier for all creative people who can hand draw using pen and paper but do not know how to use design software."

via Beyond the Beyond

The excellent Richard Prince exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery which closed earlier this month raises important issues that all public galleries may sometimes face. In 1983 Iwona Blazwick and I presented a show by Richard Prince at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. Prince emerged as part of a generation of politically-aware American artists, including Jenny Holzer, Robert Longo and Cindy Sherman. The exhibition included three works now on display at the Serpentine but then the financial value of those pieces was very low. Since the 80s all those artists have entered the market, albeit in different ways. However, one thing they had in common was an interest in what the market could do for them—certainly in terms of wider distribution—as much as what they could do for the market. In this respect they were quite distinct from some politically-orientated senior artists, who were highly equivocal about the art market.

Continue Reading on the Art Newspaper

Over 250,000 euro cent coins are being used to create Sagmeister's sentence for Urban Play - which the public can then remix as they like.

The work has been kindly removed by the police in order to protect it, as people were taking coins (as expected) and eventually modifying the installation.

Stefan Sagmeister Urban Play project by scottburnham.
Read More at http://scottburnham.com/

In brief, the money we use is just one kind of money. Invented in the Renaissance, and protected with laws banning other kinds of money, it has very particular biases that lead to almost inevitable outcomes.

I just finished a book (more on that later in the week), where I make the case that our highly corporatized society was really forged during the Renaissance. Aristocrats were losing power just as a new merchant class was gaining it. So they made a series of deals through which merchants' companies were granted monopoly charters from the monarchs in return for a sweet cut of the proceeds. Merchants got to lock in their status as newly rich, while monarchs stopped their own descent. Merchants supported the monarchs whose charters granted them exclusive access to new territories or industries, and monarchs got to do colonial expansion once-removed.

Abu Ghraib Coffee Table, by Phillip Toledano, from "America: The Gift Shop." Moulded resin, plexiglass, 6', 2008. Related: the work of Allen Jones. (Thanks, Susannah Breslin)

The world is filled with things made for a specific purpose. When their purpose has been fulfilled, or their valued properties diminish, there is often some material remainder. Our projects attempt to extract or exploit that history,

-as a celebration of the human and biological labor embedded in materials,
-as a means of investigating the complex relationships between humans and things, objects and images, representations and their referents,
-as an inquiry into the various forms of being,
-as an elaboration of the western interest in found materials from Duchamp's experiments with ready-mades to driftwood figurines, from Rauschenberg's combines to the phenomenon of the Antiques Road Show, from ethnographic artifacts to religious reliquaries,
-as a symbolic or tactical intervention in the waste stream,
-as an antidote to expansionist economics,
-as alternately apocalyptic and utopian
------

Material Exch