A Note on Artist Residencies

Hi gang,

Well, this must be the year for being geezerly. I'm sick again (me! I'm never sick and this is the third time in a month and a half ) and my left wrist got injured. Take it from me, stress is not good! Rest=Good. Stress=Bad. So I have tried to stay off the computer except for the stuff I really have to do for my book promotion, reader's guide, etc. Anyway, I've been getting some private questions via email about residencies, as well as a comment you can read below my last post regarding whether or not residencies are places where you can take classes.

First--I'll answer that question above: Most residencies are places where people just go to do their work. A retreat is more a place where people take classes. When you go to a place like MacDowell, you get a cabin and food and you do your thing. But I'm sure there are exceptions, which brings me to my next point—Many people ask me very specific questions about residencies---is there north light for painting, will the place accept me if I have never had a show, does the place offer a stipend, etc. You really have to check each place for yourself. I can't do that for you. And you should also know that while I do post about residencies here, they are only a tiny percentage of what's actually out there all over the world. If you are serious about going to a residency somewhere, please check out these three sites that are the motherships of residency programs: www.resartis.org, www.transartists.org, and http://www.artistcommunities.org/.

The last one charges a small fee for membership but is well worth the money. You can actually type in your preferences for seasons, genres, size, place, and on and on so that you can tailor-make your stay somewhere. And if you have more specific questions you can contact the places directly.

Finally, I highly suggest you read my FAQ section (http://miraslist.blogspot.com/search/label/FAQs%3A%20RESIDENCIES). And I highly suggest that if you can make it to the next TransCultural Exchange Conference on Opportunities in the Arts in Boston this coming April (go to the site for details), do it. You will meet people who run residencies all over the world. It's an amazing conference. And guess who will be there? Yes, Mirabee!

Off to sniffle and be a big baby....love to you all,
Mirabee

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Police targeting commuting workers

Revenue collection for police and courts is down due to less driving, less commuting, and less traveling for vacations. The roads are becoming less traveled and less congested. That is a problem for towns, cities, and states counting on revenue from driving infractions, drunk driving, and accidents. So, police have devised a new tactic of stalking factory, plant, and other shift workers, especially in rural areas to make up for the loss of their regular revenue collected in undeclared taxes.

Election after election, government employee unions for court, police, and other government workers can ensure, or torpedo, a candidate’s election. So, police numbers have grown, and grown, and their accountability to the public, has waned, and waned, due to the rigging of elections.

Citizens raped, having their houses broken into, who have a loved one beaten up or killed can be at their wits ends trying to get police to do investigations to the point police arrest and set up for prison, crime victims, as some officers are just too lazy to do their jobs. Police retaliate against anyone who is naïve enough to try to get them to their jobs against their will. Police are not really to protect and serve citizens, they’re to protect the continuity of government.

Without police, there would be anarchy. There are countless public servants who are the real deal, dedicated, honest, and true to their profession. But, human nature is reality. Without a boss, without structure, the children will play well out of bounds. There is no exception from human nature for police, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and officials.

Imagine coming out of work, and seeing police in pairs, every mile or so, waiting to be preyed upon. By fining, and going after a certain behavior, that behavior is being punished. So, the fewer and fewer people working our targets to be punished for having a job. What does this say about the current state of America?

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Over policing and the constant state terror of a perceived terrorist threat looming 24/7:
http://starkravingviking.blogspot.com/2010/10/suspected-ups-toner-cartridge-bomb.html

http://thesrv.blogspot.com/2010/10/us-empire-of-delusion.html

http://judicialmisconduct.blogspot.com/2010/10/from-blacklistednewscom.html

http://thegetjusticecoalition.blogspot.com/2010/07/anatomy-of-blacklisting-in-usa-and-uk.html

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Alevtina Kakhidze - Revolutionary Obedience

"Art must concern itself with the real, but it throws any notion of the real into question. It always turns the real into a facade, a representation, and a construction. But it also raises questions about the motives of that construction." - Mike Kelley

Here is how it went:
Ukrainian artist Alevtina Kakhidze has been working on value and power for a while. In one of her charming projects (The Most Commercial Project), for instance, she drew objects that she liked, most of them she couldn't afford, and gave the drawings the same value that the objects had. So, a drawing of a Louis Vuitton handbag had the same value as the object itself. And when she brought her goods into her marriage, the lawyers confirmed that her estate was worth much more than her entrepreneur husband's.
In one of her projects, back in 2008, Alevtina drew the earth seen from the sky. No, this needs more precision: the earth seen from an airplane which is not her own private airplane.
Once she made the drawing, Alevtina Kakhidze wrote to some of the richest people in Ukraine - Rinat Akhmetov and Viktor Pinchuk (who has his own adventure in the art world now) - and asked them to make a drawing for her of how the earth looks from a private plane. It was a nice portfolio she sent them, very professional and smooth. She tried encouraging them, telling them it wasn't about drawing well. If anyone can draw, so can you!
This (and the obvious silence afterwards) made for a nice work. A clean statement about what we see and the position we see it from.

But two years later, unexpectedly, an answer arrives. Akhmetov decided to make his huge foundation to support artists' projects. And Alevtina's project was thought perfect for a beginning. Unfortunately, Mr. Achmetov is too busy/shy/untalented to make a drawing, but he will be happy to rent a private plane for Ms. Kakhidze, so she can make her project herself.
And make it she did.
The project, called "I'm Late For A Plane That Cannot Be Missed", started with Alevtina going by collective transport from her house in the suburbs to the airport. She hitch-hiked a little, took a suburban mini-bus, a suburban train, and (as expected) arrived late at the small private airport near Kiev. There was already a TV crew traveling with her by then, asking everyone on the way who they were and if they knew Alevtina. At the airport, there were several more crews, and over a dozen news photographers. After all, this was an important day for art and culture in Ukraine: the richest man around decided to support real artists, and started by allowing this innocent-looking girl to realize her dream.

And off she went. Onboard, she took only a few reporters. (There was even a struggle for the seat.)

The anxious journalists were mad when, upon returning, Alevtina declared only one thing: she will tell the whole story and answer all the questions tomorrow during her lecture performance. That made no news story at all! Disappointed and frustrated, they could do nothing but wait.

However, the next day arrived quite quickly. And here they were, the journalists, and tens of artists gathered at the conference in one of the most prestigious places in Ukraine (a part of the Saint Sophia Cathedral complex). Waiting mainly to learn how to get money for their projects. And, also, to hear what Alevtina has to say. And to see the drawings.
Alevtina starts describing how she prepared for the trip, how she got clothes specially designed for the occasion, she talks about the cost of the plane rental (10 000 euros). And then she declares:

I felt so calm on the way to the airport and in the sky but now I have to account for this tranquility. What have we done on the plane? We were there. There is no result. I have nothing to show for what actually happened there.

The journalists were confused. This is surely a scandal? No drawing!
But also - no demolition! No shocking performance! No reaction! Nothing! Alevtina did strictly nothing - she did not change the game, she did not make the plane fly somewhere else, she did not paint it red, she made no drawing. She took the flight.
Did I say she didn't change the game?
Of course she did.
Her non-action was performative. It created a new reality. It brought about a challenge to the system, keeping up the power struggle between the art and the money. Who is the boss here? And why?
Certainly, they want us to do what we want. But if we do what we want our way, we are the ones defining what they want. And for a fraction, it becomes our game. And this fraction, for me, is the work.

In one of her works, Alevtina writes (or quotes, the origin is unsure): “And do you remember, I found 10 roubles, and ran home to show mom. Not the 10 roubles, but how lucky I am.”
It is not the thing we find. It is about how lucky we are.
And how we subvert this luck.


PS. The struggle continues: in the description of the event on the Foundation's site, the actual request for Akhmetov to draw the earth is not mentioned, making it all seem slightly more like making "Dreams come true in art". What dreams, exactly?

2011 Simbol Design Sports Cars Lavazza GTX-R The New Super Sports Cars

Italian brands The Lavazza GT-R unveiled, Simbol Design has some pictures and specifications for the new super sports car. Simbol Design has created this impressive new V12 supercar producing 620 hp while weighing a mere 2380 lbs. This gives the car an exceptional power to weight ratio of 3.8 lb.

2011 Simbol Design Sports Cars Lavazza GTX-R The New Super Sports Cars

Simbol Design's Lavazza GTX-R body made of carbon-Kevlar built atop a tubular steel frame. And since German powerplants have emerged as the new crate engine of choice for niche manufacturers from Spyker and Wiesmann to Gumpert and Pagani, the Lavazza packs a BMW-sourced 5.4-liter V12, picking up Lamborghini's tractor-origins mantle with an electro-pneumatic transmission reportedly sourced from a bus. Sources differ on the engine's output – alternately claiming 489 horsepower or 620 – but either way, 0-60 mph times quoted around the four-and-a-half second sound conservative.

The 2011 Simbol Design Sports Cars Lavazza GTX-R The New Super Sports Cars will be offered in both coupe and roadster versions and will be built in carbon kevlar. This will help the car get its weight down to about 2381 lbs. On the exterior, the 2011 Simbol Design Sports Cars Lavazza GTX-R will get fixed front diverters and rear venturi intakes with adjustable side diverters, an adjustable rear wing, and a roof scoop.

The front of the car may look a little like a Pagani Zonda (or a Zonda on drugs), but the price tag shouldn’t as this car is definitely not fitting into the ranks of the Italian supercars of today. Both coupe and roadster bodystyles are apparently in the works, though there's no word on availability or pricing just yet, but are exclusive to models such as this, you can not expect that the cheap.

 2011 Simbol Design Sports Cars Lavazza GTX-R The New Super Sports Cars

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Feast your pretty peepers on this picture gallery of excellent rib tattoo ideas, which are mainly for girls, however guys may find them appealing as well.

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2011 Mustang to get new 3.7Liter V6

Finally.
The Mustang won't be using the old Explorer engine anymore. Starting next year.

It is supposed to be getting a version of the 3.7 Liter already in used in other Ford models.
It will make over 275hp. Much closer to the Camaro's 300hp V6.

This should be a really nice car. There is really no need for V8s anymore in our new "2009 over $3 a gallon world".
(Which is what I just paid yesterday, by the way...)

2010 Audi R8 5.2 V10 FSI Quattro Road Test

A bigger stick for the soft-spoken supercar, and a price to match.

By making available an R8 with a monster 525-hp V-10 engine—complementing the 420-hp V-8 model that was introduced two years ago—Audi has elevated its exotic-looking two-seater from “almost-a-supercar” status to a true competitor in the high-performance realm above mere sports cars.

The 105-hp increase comes from a 5.2-liter, direct-injection V-10 that is virtually identical to the engine found in the Lambor ghini Gallardo LP560-4.

Unique engine programming and intake and exhaust systems are the chief differences in the Audi engine over the Italian job, although both engines are made in the same plant in Hungary.


We’re told that the V-10 weighs just 68 pounds more than the V-8, and that fuel economy with the bigger engine will worsen by only 1 mpg.

Output is listed by Audi at 525 horsepower and 391 pound-feet of torque, 27 horses and seven pound-feet fewer than in the Lambo, but we suspect some of that difference is simply marketing.

2009 New York Auto Show: 2010 GMC Terrain SUV

GMC EXPANDS ITS ENGINEERING EXPERTISE WITH THE EFFICIENT AND CAPABLE 2010 TERRAIN.

* All-new, five-passenger crossover SUV delivers expected segment-best highway fuel economy of 30 mpg
* Comprehensive package of premium features, with an emphasis on vehicle safety and passenger comfort
* GMC's engineering excellence and innovation advances with direct injection technology, programmable power liftgate and standard rear vision camera

GMC's all-new 2010 Terrain makes its world debut at the 2009 New York International Auto Show. The Terrain is a five-passenger crossover SUV that blends bold styling with fuel efficiency and premium features.

"The new Terrain brings GMC's history of innovation and engineering excellence into a smaller, fuel-efficient package for today's buyer," said Susan Docherty, Buick-Pontiac-GMC vice president. "The capability attributes that make a vehicle a GMC are ingrained in Terrain, making it an appealing choice for existing traditional SUV customers who are looking for distinctive styling and increased efficiency."


A new, 2.4L four-cylinder engine that features direct injection is expected to deliver best-in-segment highway fuel economy of 30 mpg. Maximum fuel economy is achieved in part with an "ECO" mode that is activated via a console-mounted button. When engaged, it lowers the torque converter lockup speed to 1,125 rpm to help save fuel on models equipped with the 2.4L engine.

Also available will be a 3.0L DOHC direct injected V-6 engine delivering an estimated 264 horsepower (197 kW). Both engines are mated to efficiency-enhancing six-speed automatic transmissions and offer a refined, confident driving experience.

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2010 Lotus Elise Mini Sport Cars

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