Mat Collishaw

I saw Mat Collishaw's current installation at the BFI and cannot recommend it enough. Its a crazy wooden structure like some strange central European cupboard where the mirrors also double as tv screens. The mirrors change from reflecting to showing images that I think are from the late Georgian/Armenian film director and artist Sergei Paradjanov. On April 13 Collishaw is doing a talk at the NFT3 (620pm, need to book). I'd be there if I wasnt in Berlin that month!

Converse Dazed Emerging Art Award

Dazed Converse Art Prize is now open for entries.

I'm on the judging panel and am really passionate about it. There isn't any prize around for younger British artists. The aim is to bring attention to artists after they graduate when they havent got a gallery but want to get their work out there. It's really difficult and many fall by the wayside.

To enter you need to be under 35, based in UK and unrepresented. The winner get £6000 and four runners up get £1000 each. There will be a group show for all winners at Stephen Friedman gallery in the summer. Entries close May 1 - click above to enter and spread the word.

April 1

My friend Harry Malt's multi-artist publication Bare Bones launches its third issue on April Fool's Day on Redchurch St.

Gil J Wolman

I came across Gil J Wolman yesterday - there's a retrospective show coming up in June at MACBA in Barcelona of his art and poetry. He was one of the big names of Lettrism - the precursor to Situationism where Guy Debord cut his teeth.

I found his sound poetry on ubuweb yesterday and couldnt stop laughing. I'm sure i'm not meant to but it bloody hilarious. Check out this ten minute number: Megapneumies

Jimmy Joe Roche

Jimmy Joe Roche has made a new site. His downloadable slime software looks pretty amazing too...

Audio Avoidance

Been focusing on a massive feature this week so enough with art. Here's the songs I've been listening to while working (with some not so always straight forward links...)

Jackson 5: Got to Be There

Devo: Whip It (this link makes me feel a little sick but i had to put it)

Guns and Roses: Sweet Child of Mine

Snopp Dogg: Ain't No Fun

The Gap Band: Burn Rubber on Me

Orion: Ritmo de Juventud (Orion Edit)

Otis Redding: I Love You More Than Words Can Say

Slave: Just A Touch of Love

Judy Garland and Barbara Streisand: Get Happy/Happy Days

Tonight

Next SPACE opening tonight. Go see Adam Frank Thomas and Nick Laessing (and a couple of other shows too for good measure). PV Thursday 18th March 6pm - 9pm. Shows runs until April 17.
I recommend eyeing up Paul Pieroni's blog to keep an eye on upcoming projects. He's the next generation's Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Santigold Does Imelda

Came across this video through some email from David Byrne's site (god knows how I ended up on that mailing list....) but its a brilliant narrative about Imelda Marcos. Worth clicking the full screen to see it big. So Adam Curtis.

Kitano

My interview with Takeshi Kitano is out in the latest April issue of Dazed. It coincides with the big show he has at the Fondation Cartier in Paris.

Crash

I'm going through a JG Ballard stage - currently reading volume 1 of his collected short stories. Which are brilliant.

Picked up Crash to read on the tube today and ouch that's a tough read. It is also the inspiration for this Gagosian group show that I have to get round to seeing this week... Makes me think of how much I'm fascinated by Warhol's Death and Disaster images (definitely check this video link if you're interested in their background).

Cory Arcangel

I just interviewed Cory Arcangel for an upcoming piece and had the join of wandering through his work again... This was the first piece I saw way back.

American Gothic

"America is no longer land of the brave. It is a country in decline. The power and strength, once manifested in the architecture of the American Dream, is falling apart. If buildings are strongholds of safety - a projection of a stable economy and society - it is no surprise that American architecture is depicted in contemporary art and literature as a dark, decaying mess. American Gothic is no longer the haunted houses of the deep south but reflected in urban or suburban collapse. In Bret Easton Ellis last novel ' Lunar Park' the main focus of horror was his home, an eerie reflection of his disintegrating mind. Here walls insidiously morphed from wood to stucco to wallpaper, a ghostly physical attack on Ellis’ psyche. Home wasn’t safe any more."

I wrote this a year or so back in this piece about Detroit (looking at photographer Pablo Power). The images above are of 100 Abandoned Houses in the city by Kevin Bauman.

Futo Akiyoshi

I first saw Futo Akiyoshi's polaroid pieces at Volta in Basel last year and put him in my next book. He paints each compositional arrangement before he photographs. If I was in Tokyo I'd go see some more this month:

Solo Exhibition "I have no pick-up lines"
March 13 - April 3, 2010
Opening Reception: 18:00 - 20:00, March 13 (sat)
TARO NASU http://www.taronasugallery.com

"口説き文句は持ってない"
2010年3月13日 - 4月3日
オープニング: 2010年3月13日 18:00 - 20:00
TARO NASU http://www.taronasugallery.com

Videodrome

How much is this trailer like a piece of contemporary art? I havent seen this is way too long. Hmm I so want to curate a show about VHS...