One & Other is a live artwork by sculptor Antony Gormley. 2,400 participants representing every region of the UK each spend an hour alone on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square for 100 days and nights.
UbuWeb was founded in November of 1996, initially as a repository for visual, concrete and, later, sound poetry. Over the years, UbuWeb has embraced all forms of the avant-garde and beyond. Its parameters continue to expand in all directions.
Graffiti artist Banksy has pulled off an audacious stunt amid tight secrecy to stage his biggest ever exhibition.
Comic book lettering has some grammatical and aesthetic traditions that are quite unique. What follows is a list that every letterer eventually commits to his/her own mental reference file.
Caia Koopman is a skateboarding, snowboarding Californian artist who does graphics for well known board manufacturers as well as paintings inspired by nature, dreams, politics and life.
I also like the work of Andrew Brandou who does paintings that could be illustrations of nursery rhymes if they weren't quite so bizarre.
Classic BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers has been named the most iconic TV comedy show of all time, in an online survey.
There are some incredible wildlife and landscape photographs by David Hoffmann on the Global Mattering website.
I must find time to go and see Ira Cohen's From the Mylar Chamber exhibition at The October Gallery
Mark Wallinger has been named the winner of the Turner Prize for his replica of the one-man anti-war protest in Parliament Square, State Britain.
I just watched this excellent Paul Rand Tribute Video which should be of interest to anyone involved in graphic design.
Mazen Kerbaj regularly posts his artwork on his Kerblog.
Check out Mark Fiore's Animated Cartoon Site.
At last year's Anarchist Bookfair I had the pleasure of experiencing one of the bizarre performances of Tony Green as Sir Gideon Vein.
Someone called Heron Stone has created some amazing fractal based imaginary landscapes which are amongst the treasures on gendo.net.
A Pattern Language has the structure of a network. It was brought together in a book of the same name by Christopher Alexander. The systematic way in which this language of architectural design elements can be used is explained fully in The Timeless Way of Building. A practical expression of the design process is described in The Oregon Experiment.
A friend recently told me about his friend Heather Sharp who does face and body painting and has a website with lots of examples of her work called Facial Attraction.
Street art hits Europe this February with the release of GRAFFITI NYC, the definitive new text on one of the most controversial, and among the most important, art forms to emerge in the past half century. The landmark book's release will be complimented with special appearances and art events in Amsterdam, Berlin and London by the author, Hugo Martinez, and three of the leading graffiti artists working today, JA, GIZ and RATE.
To catch the launch in London get along to Freedom Press, Whitechapel, at 7pm on February 22nd.
Mark Wallinger has recreated peace campaigner Brian Haw's Parliament Square protest for a dramatic new installation at Tate Britain. Running along the full length of the Duveen Galleries, State Britain consists of a meticulous reconstruction of over 600 weather-beaten banners, photographs, peace flags and messages from well-wishers that have been amassed by Haw over the past five years.
I have heard good things about footsbarn theatre.
German-born painter Tomma Abts has become the first woman painter to win the controversial £25,000 Turner Prize.
About 6 months ago I mentioned Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics. I just spotted his name again in a blog entry by Aaron Swartz called The Greatness of College Lectures (a followup to his previous entry about the awfulness of college lectures). Apparently Aaron attended a great lecture by Scott, who later explained that there are two kinds of presentations:
"monkey bars", where a presenter swings from slide to slide, explaining each one in turn, and "magic carpet rides", where the presenter simply keeps talking, confident the slides will appear underneath him to illustrate a point.
Parts of central London came to a standstill as crowds flocked to see the climax of a four-day street theatre spectacle that has gripped the city. The tale of the Sultan's Elephant featured a mechanical "time-travelling" elephant, the size of a three-storey house, and a huge puppet girl. There are lots of photos at Flickr.
If juggling is an artform then Chris Bliss is a great artist - see this amazing musical routine.
Check out Julian Beever's pavement drawings (particularly the 3D illusions).
I have just added Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics to my list of books to read.
NODE.London (Networked, Open, Distributed, Events. London) is committed to building the infrastructure and raising the visibility of media arts practise in London. Working on an open, collaborative basis, NODE.London will culminate, in its first year, in a month long season of media arts projects across London in March 2006.
Artist Steve Kurtz, of Buffalo NY, is being persecuted by the authorities who are trying to turn what could at best be a civil contract dispute over $256 worth of harmless, legally obtained materials into a criminal case which could send him to jail for 20 years. Check out the CAE Defense Fund.
I just realised that Rude Mechanicals have adapted David Rees' comic strip "Get Your War On" for stage!
A swirling image of a peregrine falcon sweeping into a flock of starlings has won Manuel Presti this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.
There will be an Illegal Art Show in London on 2005-10-23.
Artists erect giant pink bunny on mountain.
I meant to read rhythm science by DJ Spooky a long time ago and never did - something to look forward to?
Banksy has produced some brilliant pieces of art.
Indigo Arts Gallery has an excellent selection of Barber Shop Signs From West Africa.
UHC Collective exists to produce and promote quality art and graphics concerned with the fundamental social phenomena of power relations, economics and the environment.
I was at a friend's house on Saturday when they happened to tune in to BBC Radio 7 on their new digital radio, right at the start of episode 1 of Andrew McGibbon's "Routemasters" in which Bernie mistakes a time bus for the N44 to Mitcham and is transported back to 16th century Rome to rescue Michelangelo from the clutches of Raymond and Hildegard before work on the Sistine Chapel is emulsioned over. The series is perhaps best described as a comedy version of Doctor Who for radio. Check it out on BBC 7 listen again.
My knowledge of Japanese culture is pretty minimal. I have watched a few Japanese films, including Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic Seven Samurai, Kaneto Shindo's "Naked Island/The Island", and Takeshi Kitano's 2003 Zatoichi (far superior to Tarantino's attempt at the genre). I am not into comics but I liked the animated film of Katsuhiro Otomo's award winning "Akira". As far as literature is concerned the only Japanese book I recall reading is Banana Yoshimoto's excellent first novella "Kitchen", and I know a little bit about Butoh through a friend who performs with Cafe Reason. Anyway, the reason for this little roundup of things Japanese was actually just to give some context for recommending a visit to a slick Flash site called Tokyo Plastic.
I have just started a literature page in this section.
Next month the BBC will be overseeing the launch of a new "copyright license" to be used for the BBC Creative Archive.
About a million people are expected to attend this year's Notting Hill Carnival which starts today in London.
An actor who was unknown on the comedy scene until just weeks ago has scooped the Perrier Award.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe got underway today and will continue until 2004-08-30. I have only been once before but I had a great time, so if you are in the area why not check it out (but don't rely on being able to find accommodation).
The BBC has set out its "radical" vision for how it should operate in the 21st Century.
Back in February, someone pointed out this BBC article about the results of a US study which showed that regular drumming sessions at work could help employees defend themselves from stress, and lower staff turnover.
In March I noticed this BBC article about a Neolithic site in southern India where unusual depressions carved in the rocks emit deep gong-like notes when struck. The headline used the obvious pun about "rock music".
Last night I went to see an excellent production of The Black Rider at the Barbican Theatre. I don't have time to do one myself, so here is a glowing review by Dan Hill on his City of Sound website.
I wanted to mention The Black Rider on my site but I didn't have an appropriate place to put it so I created this new section on "The Arts". It is not that I have become interested in The Arts all of a sudden, just that until recently I have been mainly posting "Political" stuff.
www.zenatode.org.uk Ian Gregory 2010