David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


30 July 2012

Melbourne Art Fair _ lectures and forums

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Melbourne Museum Theatre
2 - 5 August 2012

Melbourne Art Fair 2012 Plenary Program Presented in Association with Museum Victoria. Four days of informative and lively discussions on contemporary art includes Lectures, Forums and Artist Talks.

Thursday 2  - Friday 5 August 2012 10am - 4pm

Free Admission. Bookings essential. 

 
In the occurrence of a session being booked out, Melbourne Art Fair will endeavor to operate stand-by queues. Admission to sessions is not guaranteed. 


To see the program for the full four days  click here

Meanwhile, here's the program for

Friday 3 August 2012
Melbourne Museum Theatre

   

Why paint? Concerns in contemporary painting
Why paint? Concerns in contemporary painting
Why paint? Concerns in contemporary painting


Morning Lecture, 10am-11am

Contemporary painting: "Stones really are precious sometimes, just as fingers are sometimes delicate…"

Jan Bryant

Perhaps the most brutal and devastating allegation levelled against painting last century was the widespread claim that it was too tired, too weighed down by the burden of its own history, to make us think or see anew. But while we know that something very particular arises from the materiality of making and from the affect of materials, it seems unproductive today to argue for the 'supremacy' of one material over another. Instead, painting has absorbed the lessons of conceptualism, claiming both an appreciation for the specificity of materials, while also encouraging broad, non-denominational thinking. Painting has survived its premature death sentence to persist today as a resilient and vibrant area of contemporary practice. This lecture will propose that it is now possible for painting to be both itself and to be not itself, to be both painting and not painting, without losing sight of its essential difference.

To make a booking, click here



Morning panel session, 11.30am-1pm

In this place now…Painting: A discussion of contemporary, post-conceptual painting


Jan Bryant (convener)
Rebecca Coates
André Hemer
Ryan Renshaw


This forum is dedicated to discussing concerns in contemporary painting, framed by questions, provocations, debates and lectures that address directly the question of painting as a post-conceptual medium. Rather than attempting to dredge up old dichotomies or discipline-specific biases, this forum brings together an academic, a curator, a dealer and a painter to encourage debate around where painting, in its broadest definition, sits today.

To make a booking, click here



Lunchtime artist forum

1.30pm-2.30pm

Amber Wallis
Grant Nimmo
Julia Gorman
Matthew Hopkins


This panel comprises four painters, each of whom work in vastly different manners: alternatingly utilising the visual languages of abstraction, figuration and appropriation, as well as expanding painting to incorporate elements of collage, drawing, sculpture, installation art and spatial practices. In this panel, each of the artists will speak on the work of another artist — not necessarily a painter — who has impacted on the direction of their own painting practice in some way. Amber Wallis will speak on the American late-modernist painter Cy Twombly and the Russian expressionist Wassily Kandinsky; Grant Nimmo will speak on the contemporary American painter Dana Schulz; Julia Gorman will speak on the contemporary American sculptural and installation artist, Jessica Stockholder; and Matthew Hopkins will speak about the American artist Jim Shaw, specifically his 'Thrift Store Paintings' and his ongoing series of 'Dream Drawings'.

To make a booking, click here



Afternoon Lecture, 3pm-4pm

Regarding pain/t/hing
   
Peter Tyndall

A brief history of the typo in Art : 
Dear Theo, Send more pain. Vincent


To make a booking, click here


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28 July 2012

Pop Eye Loves Lucy

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L⦿G⦿S/HA HA



L⦿G⦿S/HA HA

Fulgurant, indeed!  This statue of Saint Lucy (Lux, Lucis : Light) and her eyes (in and out) is at St. Roch Chapel, Faubourg, New Orleans.


L⦿G⦿S/HA HA

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25 July 2012

The only way to hide facts

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MOMUS

Greek myth.
    1. the god of blame and mockery.
    2. a cavilling critic.

  Scotch myth.
    1. the god of futuristic vaudeville and analog baroque.
    2. a tender pervert.

    3. a writer of songs.
 
    
... as described at phespirit.info
    
And now...   

The Age Of Information
Track 7 : lyrics from the album Ping Pong (1997)
released on Satyricon Records - 724384517823
    
This is a public service announcement

Ladies and gentlemen, we are now entering
The age of information
It's perfectly safe
If we all take a few basic precautions
May I make some observations?

Axiom 1 for the world we've begun:


Your reputation used to depend on
What you concealed
Now it depends on what you reveal

The age of secretive mandarins who creep on heels of tact
Is dead: we are all players now in the great game of fact instead
So since you can't keep your cards to your chest
I'd suggest you think a few moves ahead
As one does when playing a game of chess

Axiom 2 to make the world new:

Paranoia's simply a word for seeing things as they are
Act as you wish to be seen to act
Or leave for some other star

Somebody is prying through your files, probably
Somebody's hand is in your tin of Netscape magic cookies
But relax:
If you're an interesting person
Morally good in your acts
You have nothing to fear from facts

Axiom 3 for transparency:

In the age of information the only way to hide facts
Is with interpretations
There is no way to stop the free exchange
Of idle speculations

In the days before communication
Privacy meant staying at home
Sitting in the dark with the curtains shut
Unsure whether to answer the phone
But these are different times, now the bottom line
Is that everyone should prepare to be known
Most of your friends will still like you fine

X said to Y what A said to B
B wrote an E mail and sent it to me
I showed C and C wrote to A:
Flaming world war three

Cut, paste, forward, copy
CC, go with the flow
Our ambition should be to love what we finally know
Or, if it proves unloveable, simply to go

Axiom 4 for this world I adore:

Our loyalties should shift in view according to what we know
And who we are speaking to

Once I was loyal to you, and prepared to be against information
Now I am loyal to information, maybe I'm disloyal to you
My loyalty becomes more complex and cubist
With every new fact I learn
It depends who I'm speaking to
And who they speak to in turn

Axiom 5 for information workers who wish to stay alive:

Supply, never withhold, the information requested
With total disregard for interests personal and vested

Chinese whispers was an analogue game
Where the signal degraded from brain to brain
Digital whispers is the same in reverse
The word we spread gets better, not worse

X said to Y what A said to B
B wrote an E mail and sent it to me
I showed C and C wrote to A:
Flaming world war three

Cut, paste, forward, copy
CC, go with the flow
Our ambition should be to love what we finally know
Or, if it proves unloveable, simply to go

Well worth a listen, we reckon. Hear it at
Playlist for World of Echo with Dave Mandl - July 22, 2012
Click on the link above _ choose the Pop-Up Player _ 
move the slider on the Pop-Up Player to 4.01minutes

Fact(or) this:
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23 July 2012

Un Tour du Cerceau


Every year, the night-shift crew at bLOGOS/HA HA watch in full the Tour de France on SBS. Every stage, with rarely a moment missed.

What a seasonal treat it is for the thousands who line the way and the millions who tune-in around the globe.

The poetry of  ) the circulation of ) the sounds ) of the names ) old & new ) of the teams ) ) ) )

EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI )
ORICA GREENEDGE ) )
TEAM SKY ) ) )
OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP ) ) ) )

of the riders ) ) ) )

Ryder HESJEDAL ) Cadel EVANS ) George HINCAPIE ) André GREIPEL ) Alexandre VINOKOUROV ) Mark CAVENDISH ) Bradley WIGGINS ) Andy & Frank SCHLECK ) Matty GOSS ) Stuart O’GRADY ) ) ) )

of the commentators )

Phil LIGGETT ) and Paul SHERWEN ) )

of the colour ) the movement ) photography ) countryside ) spectators ) architecture ) ) ) )

Stage 19 
(52 km - time trials)
BONNEVAL - CHARTRES 

) after which a helicopter delivers us a turning bird's view of that miraculous construction ) what more ) ?! ( ) ) ) )

*This year, the team we followed most closely was LES ENFANTS DU VIDE (Children of the Void : see below) with their sticks and cerceaux and monochrome uniforms all in International Klein Blue.


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17 July 2012

West Space Fun Raiser

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opening this evening...
    

Wednesday 18 July - Sunday 22 July 2012
Opening Celebration:  6-9pm Tuesday 17 July 2012
Official launch by The Right Hon the Lord Mayor Robert Doyle
Benefactors’ Preview: 5-6pm Tuesday 17 July 2012   

Artists donating work :
Adam Cruickshank | Alasdair McLuckie | Ali McCann | Arlo Mountford | Ben Sheppard | Benedict Ernst | Bill Sampson | Brett Jones | Bridie Lunney | Brie Trenerry | Camilla Tadich | Carly Fischer | Charles O'Loughlin | Christopher Dolman | Christopher Koller | Concettina Inserra | Dan Moynihan | Dane Lovett | Daniel Price | Darren Sylvester | David Mutch | David Rosetzky | David van Royen | Dell Stewart | Drew Pettifer | Dylan Martorell | Emily Ferretti | Fleur Summers | Glenn Walls | Greg Wood | Hannah Raisin | Ieuan Weinman Isobel Knowles | Jake Walker | Jelena Telecki | Jennifer Mills | Jeremy Bakker | Jessie Angwin | Jessie Scott | John R.Neeson | Jordan Wood | Juan Ford | Julian Smith | Justin Andrews | Kat Clarke | Kate Just l Kate Matthews l Kay Abude | Kez Hughes | Kiera Brew Kurec | Kieran Boland | Kieran Stewart | Kiron Robinson | Kirra Jamison | Laith McGregor | Leslie Eastman | Lillian O'Neil | Lou Hubbard | Lyndal Walker | Marcia Jane | Makiko Yamamoto | Masato Takasaka | Max Creasy | Marika Nilsen | Meredith Turnbull | Mia Salsjo | Michael Ciavarella | Michael Graeve | Michael Vale | Nat Thomas | Natalie Ryan | Nathan Gray | Nicholas Jones | Nick Devlin | Nick Waddell | Olivia Pintos-Lopez | Patrick Pound | Peter Tyndall | Pip Ryan | Ross Coulter | Rowan McNaught | Rozalind Drummond | Sally Smart | Sam George Sam Songalio | Sangeeta Sandrasegar | Sanne Mestrom | Sarah CrowEST | Scott Mitchell | Sean Peoples | Sherry McLane Alejos | Simon MacEwan | Simon Pericich | Skye Kennewell | Sophia Hewson | Spiros Panigirakis | Steven Rendall | Sue Dodd | Tai Snaith | Taree Mackenzie | Terri Bird | Tim Hillier | Toby Pola | Torie Nimmervoll | Tully Moore | Utako Shindo | Valentina Palonen | Van Sowerwine | Veronica Kent | Vivian Cooper Smith | Zoe Scogglio + more

West Space
Level 1, 225 Bourke Street
Melbourne, Victoria, 3000
Australia

Phone : +61 3 9662 3297

Email : info@westspace.org.au

Exhibition Hours
Wed - Fri 12 - 6pm
Sat 12 - 5pm



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16 July 2012

Re.

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DEAR SIR/MADAM

 Regarding
  
APPLICATION TO REFUSE

 Granted
   
APPLICANT

 Salon de ...
    


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15 July 2012

Hall of Fame [ Name and Shame ]

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Zhang Bingjian in his Beijing studio in front of his Hall of Fame

A Portrait Of Chinese Corruption, In Rosy Pink
by Louisa Lim /NPR
29 July 2012

At an artist's studio in Beijing, dozens of pink-tinted portraits hang in neat lines: beaming men in ties and glasses, the very picture of the archetypal Communist apparatchik. Their portraits are painted rosy pink — the color of money, or at least China's 100-yuan bill.

The collection of paintings is called the Hall of Fame. But in fact it's a wall of shame: Each is a Chinese official found guilty of corruption.

The gallery of rogues is the brainchild of artist and filmmaker Zhang Bingjian. So far, he has commissioned 1,600 portraits of corrupt Chinese cadres.

"This is the beauty of the piece," he says. "It's open-ended. You don't know when it will be finished. Probably 10,000, 100,000, who knows? ... There are many new famous people coming every day."



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14 July 2012

sTRUTH, mate!

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Spoken Definition as BLOCKED [attempt] by bLOGOS/HA HA

'The truth' is blocked by China's Great Firewall
Published: Friday, Jul 13, 2012, 14:05 IST
By Tom Phillips | Place: Shanghai

"The truth" appears to have vanished from the Chinese internet, after bloggers discovered that the word had been blocked on the country's leading social media website.

Online messages began circulating earlier this week claiming that the Chinese characters for "the truth" could not be searched for on Sina Weibo, a micro-blog that has nearly 300 million users.

Attempts to search Weibo for "the truth" on Thursday turned up the message: "According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, search results for 'the truth' cannot be displayed."

It is not known how long the term has been blocked or why, but one internet user said they had first noticed the truth was missing in late June. Sina Weibo did not respond to requests for information.

Qi Zhenyu, head of social media for iSun Affairs, a Hong Kong-based current affairs magazine, said it was not clear when censors might allow the truth to return. "It is not unusual but it is quite ironic this time - you can't simply block the truth," said Qi. China is notorious for actively blocking sites such as Facebook and Twitter with its "Great Firewall". But social media firms are also required to self-censor as a result of government pressure and guidelines.

Terms blocked in the past include those deemed obscene as well as politically sensitive, such as Tiananmen Square or the name of Bo Xilai, the disgraced politician whose wife was implicated in the suspected murder of Neil Heywood, the British businessman. "Weibo is the most popular social media site in China and as a result suffers the highest level of censorship," said Qi, whose online magazine is also blocked in mainland China.

"Whenever there is a word that upsets them, they just go ahead and block [but] most of the time you can't really explain why they censor a certain word."



    
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13 July 2012

dOCUMENTA 13 _ plus ça change


The image bLOGOS/HA HA has seen most often accompanying writing about documenta 13 is of a 1959 black and white photograph [performance en passant by Theatre of the Actors of Regard] made at documenta 2


Mousse 34. An issue about dOCUMENTA (13)

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, curator of the 2012 documenta 13, writes about this ____ in the current issue of Mouse Contemporary Art Magazine:

An Image / Un'immagine: 

Notes Towards dOCUMENTA (13)

by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev
   
This is an image that I found while hunting through the documenta archives. We see a woman on the left looking at a piece of sculpture, another sculpture on the same metal shelf, and a man on the right who may or may not be looking at the sculpture. The woman is barefoot. We do not know who she is, we do not know who he is. The scene reminds me of the film Far from Heaven, made in 2002. The photo was taken in 1959 by an unknown photographer.

Many events occurred in 1959. World events and the space race intertwined in the media. On January 1, Fulgencio Batista fled Havana, Cuba, when the forces of Fidel Castro advanced. On January 3, Alaska was admitted as the 49th state of America. On January 4, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos entered the city of Havana. On the same day, in Léopoldville, 42 people were killed during food fights between police and participants in a meeting of the Abako party.
On January 8...
   
click here to read full article



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11 July 2012

Within You Without You

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Yesterday we showed a book cover detail, Enquire Within Upon Everything, and a picture of a double-checking man looking into another man.

Today, with a nod to George Harrison, the same format and a variance of direction.


both images received from Eric B



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10 July 2012

Enquire Within

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A well-worn standard reference in the office of  bLOGOS/HA HA is our 1894 (Nineteenth Edition. Revised) of Enquire Within Upon Everything. Here's a detail, a golden signage hung in the window of the front cover.



It's also a methodoLOGOS/HA HA much practiced hereabouts. Below, a local meta-rayoLogist double checks his findings.


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08 July 2012

Means of Transport

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Another T'en as un oeil! 

The Offspring of Leda, either realised or imagined, as a participant in the 1903 parade of the great annual Carnival de Nice.

What a transport of mixed signs! The more famous offspring of Leda are Helen of Troy and Castor and Pollux. Why are seven babes shown here? What of the eye on the potty? (Probably it's associated with the French eye-turd anaLOGOS/HA HA; it also reminds us of the mediterranean apotropaic practice of picturing eyes on boats against the evil eye.) Borne on a 'trojan horse' (note the horse's feet of men)...
 

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06 July 2012

T'en as un oeil!

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The AnaLOGOS/HA HA
 

From: Anal, Logos, Analogy

Analogy (from Greek ἀναλογία, analogia, "proportion") is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject (the anal-log or source) to another particular subject (the target), and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process. In a narrower sense, analogy is an inference or an argument from one particular to another particular, as opposed to deduction, induction, and abduction, where at least one of the premises or the conclusion is general.

   

   
Q. E. D.
   

      
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04 July 2012

O m(y e)y(e)!


Commenting on the previous post, correspondent D reminds us that the French have always been rather adventurous in their scataLOGOS/HA HA

Of course! All those old postcards that exclaim
Ah! T'en as un oeil!
It's something like 
O m(y e)y(e)!

Here is one such, a tableau vivant by Theatre of The Actors of Regard. Note the curtain and the old, heavy framed, dark portrait on the wall behind.
     


  "Here's looking at you, kid!"



and on the other side...

Here's looking at you, Monsieur sous rature
  


   
Why then were they so surprised to encounter again
a fountain?
 
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