Drawings by Steve Lambert and Packard Jennings are in the October 2008 issue of The Believer Magazine. The drawings are excepted from Wish You Were Here: Postcards From Our Awesome Future.
Yearly Archives: 2008
The Department of Fill in the Blank
24×18 inch poster
edition of 1000
produced for Creative Time’s Democracy in America exhibition
This poster was produced during my fellowship at Eyebeam and is released freely into the public domain. Download a fullsize pdf of the Department of Fill in the Blank.
1000 copies of this poster, a long with art supplies, chairs, tables, and a wall to post the finished drawings on, were installed in the Park Avenue Armory for Creative Time’s Democracy In America exhibition. Visitors were encouraged to create their own vision for a reformulated Department of Defense including the Pentagon building and the staggering 450+ billion dollar annual budget.
See also Lawrence Livermore Plans
Democracy in the Age of Branding at Vera List Center
This show includes WhyTheyHate.US
Ours: Democracy in the Age of Branding
October 15, 2008 — January 30, 2009
curated by Marisa Olson
Vera List Center
The New School
New York, NY
This exhibition is a multi-disciplinary investigation of democracy as a brand, positioning this form of governance in terms of marketing and market shares, design and visual concepts, and consumer culture and agency. Timed to coincide with the final stages of the American presidential elections, the exhibition also seeks to reflect on electoral process in this country.
At a moment when the catchword “democracy” is ubiquitous and evoked by a plethora of regimes internationally, ranging from Egypt’s dictatorship to America’s corporation-financed bicameral system, this exhibition looks at design and packaging of the notion of democracy, and how it became a consumer brand. The works by practitioners from various fields will examine this phenomenon and uncover possible reasons for it, thus indirectly also indicating a path to reinvigorate the concept. Graphic and visual design, information processing and mapping feature in the exhibition as well as sculptures and installations. A conference is planned to examine these processes from the point of view of sociology, anthropology and political science, possibly leading to the publication of a book.
The exhibition launches the opening of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design. It harkens back to the beginnings of The New School, founded in 1919 in order to improve the lot of humanity and bring academic research to bear on the moral and material advancement of people. Today, such a practice-oriented approach makes the exhibition the natural receptacle for trends in contemporary art and design practice that emphasize interdisciplinary collaborations, (virtual) social and political agency of the Web, and knowledge production. The exhibition is a co-production between the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School and Parsons The New School for Design.
Add-Art working in Firefox 3
After months of trying various things that didn’t work, we found something that did work. And now, Add-Art works in Firefox 3. See art instead of ads. Get it.
September 12, 2008
Conflux 2008 – Instant Grant Program
This project was a developed in collaboration with students at the Hunter College IMA Program in the Spring of 2008. We’ll be repeating it for this year’s Conflux Festival.
The project was inspired by Jon Rubin’s $100 assignment.
See more at:
GenerosityFoundation.org
WPFolio: a WordPress theme for artists
WPFolio is a free WordPress theme designed specifically for visual artists. Visual artists who have a range of experience with the web (from none, to lots) and want a website that is easy to update and works as a pedestal for their work. (No one should notice the pedestal, the focus should be on the art that it supports.)
I’ve talked to too many artists who don’t have a website or aren’t able to update the one they have. WPFolio is intended to lower the barriers that prevent artists from making and controlling their own web presence.
The project was completed in the Eyebeam OpenLab with the hard work and dedication of Patrick Carey and fancy coding from Jeff Crouse and Mushon Zer-Aviv. The theme used Taly’s Click! theme as a starting point.
WPFolio is free and open source.
$100 Drawing
ink on paper
6 in x 9 in
“$100” sells for $100. There is also an edition of 10 archival pigment prints. The prints are the same size and as near an exact reproduction as possible. The prints are priced progressively, starting at $50 and increasing as the edition is depleted. I will maintain contact with all buyers and track the resale value of each piece.
The original is sold. The prints are currently selling at $65.
See also $30 Drawing.
“Will You Marry Me?” in San Francisco Chronicle
The San Francisco Chronicle included an image of “Will You Marry Me?” in a story about Invisible Venue on the front page of the Datebook section.
Save the date for Democracy In America: The National Campaign
I’m working on a participatory installation for this one. Plan on coming by. It’l’ be worth it.
EXHIBITION AND SPEECH SERIES WITH OVER 40 ARTISTS, INCLUDING:
Erick Beltrán, Center for Tactical Magic, Critical Art Ensemble and the Institute for Applied Autonomy, Annabel Daou, dBFoundation, Hasan Elahi, Feel Tank, Luca Frei, Chitra Ganesh & Mariam Ghani, Group Material, John Hawke, Sharon Hayes, Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung, InCUBATE, Magdalena Jitrik, Matt Keegan, Jon Kessler, Olga Koumoundouros & Rodney McMillian, Steve Lambert, Ligorano/Reese, Pia Lindman, Rachel Mason, Carlos Motta, Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere, Trevor Paglen, Cornelia Parker, Jenny Polak, Steve Powers, Greta Pratt, Paul RamÃrez Jonas, Red76, Duke Riley, Martha Rosler, Dread Scott, Allison Smith, Chris Sollars, Chris Stain, Mark Tribe, United Victorian Workers, Chu Yun, and more.
Q&A in Dwell Magazine
In October 2008’s Dwell Magazine there’s a short Q&A with me. I sat down and answered these in about 10 minutes after they sent them over. One question they asked didn’t fit in the magazine, so I’ll include it here:
Where do you see your profession in twenty years?
2028: We won. I’m retired. The debate centers around the following: it takes more than 24 hours to be seen by a doctor in the National Health Care System, many still have to use public transit instead of walking to work, and the dividends aren’t higher at their Food Co-op.
I must say I do enjoy this drawing of me. I think I look like some kind of hippy outlaw on par with Michael Reynolds.
Dwell Magazine, October 2008, pg 64
Dwell Magazine October 2008
Steve Lambert in Dwell Magazine