In this fascinating video essay that was made between 1982 and 1984, artist Dan Graham draws an interesting parallel between the meetings of the Shakers and rock culture. I guess it is a recording from a screening at some cultural institution like you would make a bootleg at a concert.

I always wonder why artists or the galleries that represent them do not make these works available online. I understand that from an artist or curator point of view it would never be the authentic piece presented in the way it was intended to be presented, but how many people that visit an exhibition are actually going to sit down on an uncomfortable bench to watch a video for an hour while their friends or family are waiting impatiently near the museum exit.

Control by Spoek Mathambo directed and shot by Pieter Hugo & Michael Cleary. The song is a great darkwave township house cover of She’s Lost Control by Joy Division. Some additional information at Dazed Digital.

Saw the video this weekend at the Pieter Hugo exhibition at GEM in The Hague. The exhibition is a must-see for those  interested in photography. You can watch a trailer here.

Video for Bull in the Heather by Sonic Youth from the album Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (1994). Also starring musician and writer Kathleen Hanna.

Section 25 “Looking from a Hilltop” (Version 2)

Recently I have been listening to quite a few Section 25 tracks and I am surprised how good some of these tracks are. I once bought a second hand copy of Always Now, but I didn’t like it at all. I kept the record though because of the great sleeve design. For me the tracks where too minimalistic and Larry Cassidy was not very convincing as a singer.

This is a track from their best album From The Hip (1984). Where Love and Hate from 1988 sounds dated, From the Hip sounds fresh and modern. Apart from the rather dull song Prepare to Live it is a classic album with a great atmosphere. 

For our latest mission, a musical breaks out at the GEL Conference in New York. A speaker is suddenly interrupted by a man who refuses to turn off his cell phone. This is the fourth in our series of Spontaneous Musical projects. Enjoy the video first and then go behind the scenes with our report below.

I am not a musical fan, but I really enjoyed this spontaneous musical disguised as a conference presentation.

Video for Confusion by New Order (Fac 93, August 1983).

Watch Activiti workflows in action in Alfresco Community Edition 3.4.e.

A Voyage on the North Sea, a film by Marcel Broodthaers (1973-1974). This film was originally published as a 16 mm colour film together with an artist book bearing the same title.

Alec Soth: Birth of an Exhibit

To my regret I was not able to visit this exhibition so it is nice to watch this making of video. I hoped the exhibition would also travel to Europe, but I have the feeling this is not going to happen soon. I bought a copy of the special edition of Broken Manual as a souvenir.

The B-52’s perform Rock Lobster at the Downtown Cafe in Atlanta, Georgia in 1978, about a month before the release of their first album.

This is great footage from the B-52’s performing Rock Lobster at the Downtown Cafe in Atlanta in 1978. Embedding isn’t allowed by the creator of this video Kelly Mills, so you have to follow this link to watch it. There is some more footage available from this gig.

The sound of the B-52’s is great. This is mostly due to the great sound that Ricky Wilson produced. Using his Mosrite guitar with only four strings in an open tuning he managed to play both bass and guitar lines.