Saturday, April 21
(Go W I D E)
Oh what a day! I can hardly wait to tell you what happens at
the end but you'll have to just work through it all and scroll your way down.
First, the final programme in the Japan Focus - an inside look at charismatic
power with Barbara Hammer's Devotion. The 5PM programme, Innocence
Regained/Innocence Disdained was a little regression therapy for everyone.
Most entries included references to poo, pee and farting. No, we were not all
at the Tom Green movie. This isn't why they're represented here but two artists
whose work didn't include scatalogical references spoke about innocence in their
work.
Meesoo Lee and his Donut Dreams.
Gregor Hagey and his Monster - the one who is coming up behind you right
now!
Gregor is also the man behind the Sex &
Death Film Festival
The programme ran from the formal (Seongho Cho's Cold Pieces)
to the hilarious (Jay Rosenblatt's Nine Lives) to the tender requiem
for a past disintegrating in Robert Todd's I Want the World, Clean.
Later in the evening at Ted's Wrecking Yard, Chicago's Califone
dug deep into American roots music with the same contempory spirit that Harry
Smith applied to his 'audiosyncratic' animations of the 1940's and 1950's. Smith's
films played during the performance for a transmedial, transgenerational collaboration.
To learn more about this unique American pioneer of film and music, click the
pic.
And now, the moment
you've all been waiting for....
Art
Dyke 2001
The anticipation
in Innis Town Hall was so thick you could cut it with...well, some kind of heavy
duty power tool.
For at least one person, the festivities were bittersweet. Preparing to relinquish
his crown as Art Fag 2000, Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay reflected on his reign
and offered encouragement to his successor.
Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay and friends. Click the pic to hear his comments.
The hosts were the Bob Barker and Carol
Merril, the Pat Sajak and Vanna White, the Regis and what's-her-name of the
ArtQueer set. Sadly, they are still arguing about who gets to be whom. In spite
of occasional comments (and projectiles) from the cheap seats (ie. the
judges) they kept everything under control.
Ladies and Gentlemen and those In Between, JANE FARROW and ROY MITCHELL (applause)
It was a tough job for the judges and
at times even for the audience.
Here are your candidates for Art Dyke 2001.
Amy Satterthwaite
Carolyn Hurren
Sophie Levy
Elizabeth Littlejohn
Martha Newbigging
Shannon Olliffe
Nas Khan
Suzy Richter
Tenacious aka T.J. Bryan
Lex Vaughn
Zoe Whittall
And
the winner of the title Art Dyke 2001 is...
(Roll your cursor over the candidates' pictures to reveal the crowning moment
at B Side with Denise Benson in the booth)
Thanks Johnny,
tell her what she's won:
Should Art Dyke
2001 for any reason be unable to fulfill her duties, the title shall confer
upon the....
And finally,
in an outpouring of love, the audience chose an Art Dyke to call their very
own. The winner of the audience-selected...
(Roll cursor over image to see winners above)
Break
@ AREA GALLERY
Three balls travel across a wooden surface
in some apparently random pattern - like the break in a game of pool not subject
to the usual rules of mechanics or geometry. But although the patterns appear
random, they are, in fact, an expression of will: the will of the hamsters in
each ball to break free. Then again, we buy these devices for caged pets as
a way to give them the freedom to play - to take a break from caged life. So
which is it - a sentence or a reprieve?
Hamsters play bumper buggy with themselves in Break by Marion Coutts.
IMAGES 2001
