Permutations Software generating poems by Brion Gysin

Posted on 02/08/2010 by W&V

New York based artist Joseph Moore wrote the software “Permutations” for the currently running exhibition Brion Gysin: Dream Machine on display at The New Museum for Contemporary Art in New York. The Exhibition is a retrospective of the work of the painter, performer, poet, and writer Brion Gysin (born 1916, Taplow, UK–died 1986, Paris). Working simultaneously in a variety of mediums, Gysin was an irrepressible inventor, serial collaborator, and subversive spirit whose considerable innovations continue to influence musicians and writers, as well as visual and new media artists today.

The “Permutations” software by Joseph Moore is a “version” of the program developed by Ian Sommerville and Gysin in 1960 to permute poems. Moore has attempted to create a realization of the work that is sensitive to the original and its process. At the same time, it is a new version, a collaboration done in the spirit of an artist whose work provides a critique of conventional notions of authorship. Moore believes that it is also in the spirit of the work to share copies of it and made his “Permutations” Software avilable to download from Github. The concept and artistic process of this project is fascinating.

Below you find a podcast of the original “I am that I am” poem.

Software by Joseph Moore | Brion Gysin: Dream Machine | Poem by: Brion Gysin | Ubuweb

Herman and Nicole Daled collection: Less is more

Posted on 10/05/2010 by W&V

Marcel Broodthaers, La robe de maria, mixed media on canvas
120 x 100 x 12 cm
Daled collection

Lawrence Weiner, a bit of matter and a little bit more
language + the materials referred to
original cardboard stencil, 43,5 x 57,5 cm
Daled collection

Belgian collector couple Herman and Nicole Daled refuse to perceive art as decoration. They are considering the concept behind a piece of art more important than its realization and approach art in a fundamentally different way: basis for their activities are their relationships and conversations with artists. in keeping with the aim of conceptual art that places the intellectual content of a work above its realisation, they consider themselves not collectors but communicators and producers: they provide artists with the opportunity to also realise works outside of established market mechanisms. their intense engagement with conceptual art, one of the most important movements in recent art history, goes far beyond usual collecting practices. this is not only apparent in the actual works, but also in the meticulously archived documents containing actions and works.

James Lee Byars, Robe pour cinq personnes
Textile fabrics
dimensions variable
Daled collection

One of the most important influences for Herman and Nicole Daled was Marcel Broodthaers; more than 80 of his works are in their collection. moreover, the collection holds several works by Daniel Buren, Dan Graham, On Kawara, Sol Lewitt, Niele Toroni, Lawrence Weiner, Cy Twombly and many more.

Less is more is a very inspiring exhibition from the amazing personal conceptual art collection and archives of Herman and Nicole Daled. It will feature pictures, objects, paintings and concepts.The exhibition concentrates on the period between 1966 and 1978, thereby providing a lively portrait of the progressive, international art scene at that time. It will run until the 25Th of July 2010 at the Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany.

On Kawara, Today Series: Oct. 31, 1971.
Oil on Canvas, 20,5 x 25,5 cm.
Daled Collection

On Kawara, I got up
Series of 108 postcards sent to Herman Daled daily between may 18 and september 3
14 x 9 cm
Daled collection

Niele Toroni, Empreintes de pinceau N° 50 répétées à intervalles réguliers de 30 cm
Paint on canvas, 100 x 100 cm.
Daled Collection

Daniel Buren, untitled
12 paintings (acrylic on cloth)
installation view Haus der Kunst
Daled Collection

On Kawara Reading One Million Years

Posted on 22/03/2010 by W&V

On Kawara, a Japanese conceptual artist living in New York City, made since 1966 a long series of “date paintings” (the Today series), which consist entirely of the date on which the painting was executed in white lettering set against a solid background. Other series of works include the “I Went and I Met” series of postcards sent to his friends detailing aspects of his life. A second series of postcards, I Got Up At, rubber-stamped with the time he got up that morning, and a series of telegrams sent to various people bearing the message “I am still alive”.

In 1971 he started with his work called ‘A Million Years’. This ten volume piece was produced concurrently with a series which would later be seen as his defining work. ‘A Million Years’ was, just as its title states, a series of numbers counting back the last million years from 1969. It was later accompanied by ‘One Million Years (future)’ which counts forwards from 1980. In 1993 Kawara transformed One Million Years (Future) from a written to recorded state. The impetus for this metamorphosis was an exhibition for Dia Center for the Arts that ran from January 1, 1993, to December 31 of the same year. The below video made by New York art tours gives an impression of ‘One Million Years”

The exhibition was comprised of three parts, a selection of one thousand Today paintings, the ten volumes of One Million Years (Past) and the recording of One million Years (Future), in which a male and female voice continuously, year after year, count into the future. A segment of this recording was transformed into a CD. With the exhibition the viewer plays a more passive role, entering into the space where the recording plays continuously, whereas with the CD the amount of time is limited, 74 minutes, and contains a set number of years (1994 AD to 2613 AD), thus transforming the infinite time of the exhibition into the finite time of the CD. With the CD the viewer is able to manipulate the duration and chronology of the CD, thus entering into a far more active relation to the work. You can listen to a part of the work in the below Ubuweb podcast.