Farmlab

Farmlab Public SalonHolly Myers + Tamala PoljakFriday, July 25 2008 @ NoonFree-of-Charge

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:24:00 +0000

Party Favors + Conversations that Never Happened

About the Salon

This summer has seen the opening in Chinatown of two exhibitions devoted to the exploration of community-based practices prevelent in the LA art world today.

"Party Favors," curated by Holly Myers, is a group exhibition exploring the party as a subject, an idea, a state of mind, and a model of artistic practice.

"Conversations that Never Happened" is an exhibition of photographs by Tamala Poljak and a series of community-based performances and events co-curated by Anna Oxygen that explore relationships and intimacy developed during the ritual of eating, asking the questions: how does community evolves through individual interaction, and how can food and its surrounding architecture facilitate such interactions? Organized independently but deeply sympathetic in their aims, both exhibitions have combined visual art with an extensive schedule of events to bring as wide an assortment of people as possible into the often static and exclusive space of the gallery, using food, drink, performance, games, and music as tools to facilitate social interaction.

Join Myers and Poljak for a discussion of the ideas behind each show, lessons learned over the course of the month, and thoughts on where the trajectory may lead.

About the Salon Participants

Holly Myers is an LA-based writer and independent curator. Her criticism appears regularly in the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weeklyand Art Review. Past curatorial projects include Possible Impossible Dimension: Six Artists on the Brink of Abstraction at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts and the LA Weekly's Second Annual Biennial.

Tamala Poljak has participated whole-heartedly in underground punk, art, and queer communities for two decades in los angeles and the pacific northwest as a photographer/artist, musician, & performer. she has been working on conversations that never happened for the past two years

Photograph by Samantha Magowan

Farmlab Public SalonMiroslav MandicFriday July 18, 2008 @ NoonFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:16:00 +0000

JOHNNY APPLESEED - WHY NOW?

About the Salon

Join documentary filmmaker Miroslav Mandic for an extended preview of "Searching for Johnny," his forthcoming film about the folkloric tree-planter Johnny Appleseed; and following the preview, a discussion about Appleseed, and his legacy.

About the Film

Searching for Johnny: The need for an idealized folk hero reflects the necessity to evoke pioneer foundations in a country eager to change and make projections for the future.

Many stories and oral traditions about John Chapman, often made up or springing out from a true hint that grew out of proportion and out of any sense of reality, for years were a sweet lullaby to children across the country. Yet, one of the most pervasive myths about Johnny Appleseed is that he never was. The notion of a myth overwhelming reality and claiming to be more truthful to a cause than the truth itself, will be an aspect which this film would embrace in all its’ controversy.

If we tried to imagine a Johnny Appleseed strolling across the contemporary American landscape - would he travel by car or peddle a canoe down the Ohio River, what would be the frontier he would try to anticipate, who would be the settlers in need of his product, who would be the hostile native people full of respect for him?

Would he be a modern farmer, growing his seedlings at a secluded orchard? To whom would he preach a highly intellectual Swedenborghian doctrine, how would it be called nowadays – Buddhism, Scientology, New Born Christianity? How would his merchandise abilities fare against shopping malls? Would his simple, raggedy outfit label him as a hippie or a bum? Would his pantheistic celebration of nature, love and respect for every living creature, turn him into an ecological activist, a Green Party authority, or an anti-globalization protester?

His contact with nature, dependence and reliance on it - particularly its’ current resonances - goes way beyond sheer refusal of a comfortable home, his supposed vegetarianism and saintly Francis of Assissi-like attitude. The notion of a human as a mere particle in the ever circulating changes in nature is sadly foreign to the contemporary rape of things natural, performed by greedy corporate world that misuses their technological clout over nature daily. We hope that this film will emanate a clear alternative to the current ways of interaction between man and nature.

John Chapman certainly was and still would be an example of American individualism, an embodiment of the existentialist philosophy that Europe brooded about, and America put in practice. According to the myth, Johnny Appleseed was a pacifist and a dreamer, someone who would sanction others’ wrongdoing by his own self-denial and claim that love alone could prevent the failure of humanity.

He made a difference back then, but would he now?

About the Salon Presenter

Miroslav Mandic is an award-winning film, television, and theater director and screenwriter.

His filmography includes: ‘Searching for Johnny’ (writer/director, documentary feature), 2008; ‘It’s Hard To Be Nice’ (story) 2007; ‘Tractor, Love & Rock’n’roll’ (screenplay) 2007; ‘borderline lovers’ (writer/director, documentary feature) 2005; ‘La Paloma Blanca’ (screenplay) 2004, 'Johnny Telluride Is Gone' (screenplay) 1997; 'A Tree In The House' (screenplay) 1990; 'Walking On The Water' (director, screenplay) 1988; 'Workers' Marriage' (director, screenplay, short) 1985; 'Rainbird' (director, story, short) 1983. He holds an MFA from Columbia University and is a Fullbright receipient.

Film stills courtesy Miroslav Mandic. Special thanks to Eleanor Infante

Farmlab Public SalonManuel CastellsOn the Occasion of Farmlab's 75th Public SalonFriday, July 11, 2008 @ NoonFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:43:00 +0000

Grassrooting the Global City: From the Wealth of Nations to the Welfare of Communities

About the Salon

Join Professor Castells for a conversation with Lauren Bon.

This special program marks the 75th Farmlab Public Salon.

About Manuel Castells

Manuel Castells is a Professor Emeritus of City Planning, University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of the book, "The City and the Grassroots," from UC Press, that received the C.Wright Mills Award and is directly related to today's Salon topic.

Under Spring Optimist BreakfastMayor Antonio VillaraigosaFriday, July 11, 2008 @ 8:15amFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:18:00 +0000

Under Spring Optimist Breakfast:
Encouraging Excellence in L.A. Civic Design

About the Salon

Join Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Lauren Bon, Professor Manuel Castells, City Commissioner York Chang, City Councilmember Tom Labonge, City Commissioner & Farmlab's Adolfo V. Nodal, & City Councilmember Ed Reyes for this morningtime presentation about civic design in Los Angeles.

The program will underscore the goal of creating the necessary conditions for consistent and long-term excellence in public architecture, public art, and urban design that best reflects Los Angeles’ international stature as a vibrant and creative cultural center.

The 'Under Spring Optimist Breakfast' is so-named because the first such program was held early in the morning in 2007 underneath the N. Spring Street Bridge on a Friday the 13th. "That's a date and time only an optimist would love," said one of that program's organizers. The upbeat moniker stuck.

This program is free-of-charge and open to the public. Breakfast served at 8:15 a.m.

Farmlab Public SalonJane Tsong & Donna ConwellFriday, June 27, 2008 @ NoonFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:16:00 +0000

Everything is Alive and Other Street Projects

About The Salon

Join artist Jane Tsong and curator Donna Conwell for a conversation.

Everything Is Still Alive is an artwork in which native California poppies were planted on patches of exposed earth from York Boulevard in Highland Park to Monterey Road in South Pasadena and San Marino. Spanning a historically working class Latino neighborhood to an upper-class enclave; where the poppies survive, orange blossoms reveal the disparate patterns of land management. More info. at the project website.

About the Salon Participants

Donna Conwell is project specialist at the department of Contemporary Programs and Research at the Getty Research Institute and serves as adjunct faculty at the University of Southern California'ss Public Art Studies graduate program. Her recent curatorial projects include From A to B, Fellows of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and The inSite Archive Project, inSite, San Diego-Tijuana. From June 2003 to September 2006 Conwell was associate curator of inSite_05 and co-curated eight public intervention projects. From November 2002 to June 2003 she was commissioning editor for Latinart.com, a web-based magazine concerning art and culture in the Americas and from September 2001 to November 2002 she served as assistant curator at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil in Mexico City.

Jane Tsong's works have appeared on the streets and in the art spaces of Southern California, the Midwest, New York City, San Antonio, and Milan. With Robert Powers, she collaborated on the Comfy City project, where the two created chairs out of abandoned streetside tree stumps. Several of these can still be seen in Highland Park. Her proposals for site-specific gardens have been finalists for public art commissions in Astoria, Oregon, the City of Ventura and the City of Los Angeles. Currently, Tsong is working on a permanent public artwork, set to open in 2011, for the Brightwater Wastewater Treatment Plant in Seattle.

Photos courtesy Jane Tsong

Farmlab Public SalonLeo LimonFriday June 20, 2008 @ NoonFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:32:00 +0000

"L.A. River CATz"

About the Salon

Chicano Artist Leo Limon invites you to see and hear his story of the Los Angeles River Catz.

About The Salon Presenter

Leo Limon's activities date back to the very formative years of the Chicano Art Movement and his work reflects the vision, aspirations and images of his surroundings and roots. For 30 plus years he has being painting the Los Angeles River Cat faces on the storm-drain covers and is involved with groups whose efforts are to revive the river as a historic region, cultural arts enclave and tourist destination.

Photos courtesy Leo Limon

Farmlab Public SalonElise Co, Sean Dockray, Chandler McWilliams & Nikita PashenkovFriday, June 13, 2008Free Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:32:00 +0000

Telic: The Public School

About The Salon

Join four members of the founding committee of The Public School for this free-of-charge Farmlab Public Salon.

The Public School is a school with no curriculum, located underneath TELIC Arts Exchange. The Public School is an open structure, or maybe a stage, on which ideas about school perform new realities. To put it another way, The Public School is invested in the idea of public space - not in the sense of state-controlled plots of land, but rather in the sense of spaces for the political.

The Public School works from within the arts institution, drawing upon its resources, engaging with its direction, and activating the diverse passions, skills, and practices of its audience. At the moment, it operates as follows: first, classes are proposed by the public (I want to learn this or I want to teach this); then, people have the opportunity to sign up for the classes (I also want to learn that); finally, when enough people have expressed interest, the school finds a teacher and offers the class to those who signed up.

In practice, this process is complicated by economics, logistics, and ideological mandates. Not all classes can be offered, and not all classes necessarily ought to be. These decisions, made by The Public School committee (a volunteer, rotating group), determine the curriculum of the school and the possibilities it allows. Here, the school is a site where competing proposals articulate new configurations for the school itself. The fundamental project of The Public School is to keep open this interface between thought and action.

There is a monthly class called "The Public School" during which the mechanisms of The Public School are presented and discussed by members of the committee. Some of the topics that have been discussed in previous months include: How are class fees calculated? What if someone can't afford these fees? What is motivating the committee? How can someone become involved in the decision-making process? How does The Public School fit into the larger ecology of "free schools"?

About Telic Arts Exchange

TELIC Arts Exchange, located on Chung King Road in Chinatown, provides a place for multiple publics to engage with contemporary forms of media, art and architecture. The space is a platform for exhibitions, performances, screenings, lectures and discussions. TELIC’s program emphasizes social exchange, interactivity and public participation to produce a critical engagement with new media and culture.

The Public School was initiated by Sean Dockray with Fiona Whitton as a project for TELIC Arts Exchange at the end of 2007. It is currently guided by the founding committee: Elise Co, Sean Dockray, John Houck, Chandler McWilliams, Naoko Miyano, and Nikita Pashenkov.

Photo courtesy Sean Dockray

Farmlab Public SalonHIT+RUNFriday, June 6, 2008 @ NoonFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 11:38:00 +0000

Live Screenprinting with HIT+RUN

About the Salon

Los Angeles silkscreen collective HIT+RUN brings their mobile screenprinting studio to Farmlab for a limited edition printing session. Choose the combination and placement of exclusive designs to create your own one-of-a-kind custom t-shirt live on the spot.

Note: If you're able and willing, then please bring your own blank (or other, if you prefer) tee-shirt to be screened. We'll have some shirts on hand for those who don't bring.

About the Salon Presenters

HIT+RUN was created in 2005 by Southern California artists Brandy Flower and Mike Crivello. A product of the contagious enthusiasm they had seen from small silkscreening parties in their homes, HIT+RUN's live T-shirt screenprinting events quickly grew, now hosted at music festivals and a variety of happenings around the world. At each HIT+RUN event, Flower and Crivello act as curators, selecting from their network of artists to compile a collection of exclusive single-color silkscreen designs. Guests personally select their own combination and placement of the designs, each graphic solely available during the single night exhibitions. Party goers interact in the screenprinting process on-site with the HIT+RUN CREW to create one-of-a-kind pieces of wearable art.

More than 100 events later, ranging from parties with Levi's, Boost Mobile, dublab, Gravis, Stones Throw, Paper Magazine, Saatchi+Saatchi, The LA Philharmonic, Guitar Center, Nike, The Fader, LACMA, The Standard, Fuel TV, Good Magazine, Hollywood & Highland, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, Filter Magazine, Spaceland Productions, Urban Outfitters, Silverlake Conservatory of Music, Rabin Rogers, Element Skateboards, Stuff Magazine, Fox, Little Radio,RTEA, Geffen Records, Ollie Magazine, Adult Swim, and Red Stripe Beer, the live screenprinting is always the center of interest. Guests stand, sometimes for an hour or more in line, in awe as Flower, Crivello and Crew juggle a collection of rare imagery.

The HIT+RUN CREW has become an expansive, ever-growing network of both underground and street level graphic and fine artists, including notable contributors such as Cody Hudson, Maya Hayuk, Kofie, Jeff Jank, Parra, kozyndan,HVW8, B+, Kime Buzzelli, Shepard Fairey, Kevin Lyons, AMBUSCH and Restitution Press. In addition, Flower and Crivello develop their own screens for each event, which are the foundation for the HIT+RUN clothing line.

Flower and Crivello debuted their exclusive, limited t-shirt collections at The MAGIC Marketplace in 2007. At both Spring & Fall conventions in Las Vegas they collaborated with a group of progressive, urban clothing lines [Crooks & Castles,Dissizit!, Obey, Fresh Jive, Rebel8, In4mation, 10 Deep, Hellz Bellz, ForeignFamily, Lemar & Dauley, Mighty Healthy and more] and screenprinted live on t-shirts for over 1000 show attendees. In October 2007 they returned to Tokyo and printed at the Japanese clothing store store Base Control in Harajuku.Planned for 2008 is the appointment-only studio featuring an expansive collection of exclusive artist designs, as well as new artist and brand collaborations. More info:www.thehitandrun.com

Farmlab Public SalonDonald Shoup, Erik Knudsen, Ali Jeevanjee, And More TBAFriday, September 19 @ NoonFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:23:00 +0000

Lots Angeles -- On Parking in L.A. and Elsewhere
In tandem with 2008 Park(ing) Day LA

About The Salon

In tandem with 2008 Park(ing) Day LA, Farmlab is pleased to present this panel discussion about the social, political, cultural, economic, geographical, and other effects of parking.

About The Presenters

Donald Shoup has extensively studied parking as a key link between transportation and land use, with important consequences for cities, the economy, and the environment. His research on employer-paid parking led to the passage of California’s parking cash-out law, and to changes in the Internal Revenue Code to encourage parking cash out. His research on municipal parking policies has led cities to charge fair market prices for curb parking and to dedicate the meter revenue to finance added public services in the metered districts.

Shoup has also worked on new ways to finance neighborhood public investments. In research conducted at the World Bank, he proposed a new way to finance these investments: allow property owners to defer paying special assessments, with interest, until they sell their properties. This proposal led to passage of California's law that enables cities to use deferred special assessments to finance neighborhood public investments.

Professor Shoup is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He has been a visiting scholar at Cambridge University, and has served as Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies and Chair of the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. --http://shoup.bol.ucla.edu/

Erik Knudsen is a program developer at the Center for Land Use Interpretation, and has collaborated on the research and production of a number of the Center’s exhibitions and programs including Pavement Paradise: American Parking Space",“On Locations: Places as Sets in the Landscape of Los Angeles”, “Ground Up: Photographs of the Ground in the Margins of Los Angeles”, “Emergency State: First Responder and Law Enforcement Training Architecture”, “Terminal Island”, and "Dissipation and Disintegration: Antennas and Debris Basins in the San Gabriel Mountains". Erik has applied a background in photography and interdisciplinary research to the Center’s unique objectives.

The Center for Land Use Interpretation is a research organization involved in exploring, examining, and understanding land and landscape issues. The Center employs a variety of methods to pursue its mission - engaging in research, classification, extrapolation, and exhibition. Since the founding of the organization in 1994, the Center has exhibited photographic and text displays at universities, museums, and community exhibit spaces across the nation. The Center also maintains a network of interpretive facilities at selected sites in the U. S.A., and conducts guided tours to compelling land use areas. The Center embraces a multidisciplinary approach to fulfilling its stated mission, employing conventional research and information
processing methodology as well as nontraditional interpretive tools.

Ali Jeevanjee has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and a Master of Architecture degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Ali has served on the architecture faculty at USC and Cal Poly Pomona, and is also serving on the editorial team of the internationally recognized website Archinect. Parking is one of Ali’s primary research interests. Ali maintains an architecture practice in Chinatown, LOC, in partnership with Poonam Sharma.

Photos: (Top) Courtesy Ali Jeevanjee

Farmlab Public SalonEvangeline Ordaz-Molina, Jose Delgado, Janet Favela & More+ Live Mariachi MusicFriday, May 30, 2008Free Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Sun, 25 May 2008 16:21:00 +0000

Mariachi Plaza and Hotel: Where the Music Still Lives

About the Salon

On the site of an old Mexican land grant, itinerant Mariachi musicians keep alive the Mexican roots of California, and are the soundtrack of present day Latino Los Angeles.

This salon will feature a discussion of the role geographic place and housing has played in sustaining this important part of Los Angeles history and the urban development that threatens its survival.

In addition to a musical performance by the Mariachis themselves, panelists will include Mariachi music producer and promoter Jose Delgado, and staff of the East LA Community Corporation, an affordable housing developer who is in the process of preserving and renovating the historic Mariachi Hotel as affordable housing and cultural space in an attempt to increase economic development opportunities for the Mariachis

About the Salon Participants

Sergio Mendez is a violin player and member of the group, Mariachi 2000; he lives in Boyle Heights. Jose Delgado is a mariachi music producer and promoter. Evangeline Ordaz-Molina is a co-founder of the East Los Angeles Community Corporation (ELACC). Janet Favela is mariachi organizer at ELACC; Isela Gracian is ELACC's Director of Community Organizing.

More information on participating mariachi musicians TBA soon...

Photos courtesy ELACC; top photo by Miguel Gandert

Help WantedDigital Media Archivist

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:27:00 +0000

If interested in position, then please send cover letter and resume (no attachments) to: info [AT] farmlab [DOT] org
No phone calls, please.

Overview:

Responsible for assessing, selecting, organizing, preserving and providing both immediate and longer-term access to archival information key to Farmlab’s (The Studio’s) work. Uses a variety of automated and manual archival systems to accommodate a diversity of materials (digital, documents, images, maps, photos, films, audiotapes, physical objects, etc.)

Key Accountabilities:

Collaborates with all members of the Studio staff to evaluate and select items for permanent historical archives. Organizes, stores, preserves and provides server-based access to archived materials

Prepares images of appropriate resolution, along with accurate captions and credit information, for team members’ distribution to news media and in response to other extra-organizational requests

Prepares digital media for offline and online workflow and distribution in a variety of exported formats

Keeps abreast of technological advances in electronic information storage and archival standards, protocols and systems. Determines most suitable storage alternatives for diverse materials, including digital, documents, images, maps, photos, films, audiotapes, physical objects, etc

Maintains and upgrades archival systems on an ongoing basis. Ensures that proper documentation and procedures are developed to reflect changes

Catalogs and maintains complete and up-to-date documentation on archived materials. Ensures that descriptions and procedures are written in such a way that members of the staff, outside institutions and the public can effectively use relevant portions of the archives. Responds to inquiries and provides assistance to people seeking access

Provides documentation for rights to publish archived materials and ensures that captions, credits and attributions are accurate

Works closely with Annenberg Foundation Archivist to maintain consistent and congruous digital asset system policies and procedures

May conduct research on topics related to the Studio’s archived work. May assist in organizing exhibits and displays

Performs other related duties and special projects as assigned

Supervisory Responsibilities:

None

Primary Interactions:

Regular contact with members of the Studio and Annenberg Foundation (LA Office) staff

Regular contact with the Studio Manager

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Deep understanding of the vision/mission/values established by the Trustees of the Annenberg Foundation

Deep understanding of the Studio’s history/vision/projects and ability to recognize the potential historical and research value of materials to be archived

Knowledge of basic archival principals and procedures

Expertise with server + digital asset management software (Aperture, Lightroom, iPhoto, iTunes, etc), workflow, and equipment

Experience with meta-tagging of digital media

Strong research skills

Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail and accuracy

Excellent written and oral communication skills

Strong critical thinking, analytical and problem-solving skills

Tact and ability to work effectively with colleagues and outside stakeholders

Strong project management skills

Familiarity with the special requirements and circumstances of the non-profit sector

Ability to balance priorities in a multi-task environment

Ability to effectively use a variety of standard office software applications (e.g., Word, Excel)

Strong team orientation and ability to work interdependently

Persistence, initiative and follow-through when completing independent tasks

Education and Experience:

Bachelor’s degree in history or archival/library/computer science plus 3 years of archive experience – or an equivalent blend of education and experience. Production studio experience (photographic + video) a plus.

Driver’s license

Working Conditions:

Works primarily in a studio environment but may also spend time on site visits or in public venues – use of computers requires hand/wrist motion and visual focus – requires extensive review of written and visual materials and archival documentation.

If interested in position, then please send cover letter and resume (no attachments) to: info [AT] farmlab [DOT] org
No phone calls, please.

-- Posted May 27, 2008

Farmlab Public SalonMichael Dear, Hector Lucero & Jaime Riuz OtisFriday May 23, 2008 @ NoonFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:23:00 +0000

Tijuana and Los Angeles
OR: Why international boundaries no longer matter in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands

About the Salon

The twin cities along both sides of the international boundary between Southern California and Baja California have always been intimately connected from birth to the present day. Despite current tensions over immigration, the LA-Tijuana metropolis now represents a 'transborder' world.

As one binational citizen observed: "The border has disappeared from my life. I forget which country I am in." Salon participants will examine the history of Baja and Alta California, and how the current explosion of artistic and cultural life in Tijuana reveals a different understanding of future U.S.-Mexico relations.

About the Salon Participants

Michael Dear is a Professor at the University of Southern California.
Hector Lucero works in the Cultural Affairs office, State of Baja California, Mexicali.
Jaime Riuz Otis is an artist based in Tijuana.

Photo captions:

(Top:) View of the new 'primary' fence at San Luis, just south of Yuma. 30-feet high and made of steel plates, the fence's 'doorway' (pictured here) is sealed shut and houses one of the 1892 boundary monuments. There are secondary and tertiary fences as well as the primary. The secondary is also 30-ft high, but made of un-climbable fencing that allows no purchase by fingers and feet; the tertiary fence is simply barbed wire. The extent and magnitude of this new walling has to be seen to be believed!

(Bottom:) The cemetery in Holtville, Imperial County, where unidentified/unclaimed bodies of migrants are buried. There are currently over 1,600 markers.

Photos and text courtesy Michael Dear

Farmlab Public SalonSean Percival, Kristen Rutherford, & Stephen JohnsonFriday, May 16, 2008 @ NoonFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:00 +0000

Identity and Virtual Space
(Or, "Are We Our Avatars?")

About the Salon

Join Percival, Rutherford, and Johnson for an examination of the affects of technology on our perceptions of identity and space. Speakers will discuss the meaning of relationships, fame, experiences and community in a virtual world. What does it mean for something to "happen" in a virtual space? Can you "know" a person through his or her avatar?

About the Salon participants

Sean Percival (Sean Voss in world) is the author of “The Second Life Travel Guide" from Que Publishing, a detailed guide to over 100 locations in Second Life. As a child Sean Percival dreamed of flying cars and the immersive technology painted on the big screen by Hollywood. While neither have truly materialized some 20 years later we’ve come just a little closer experiencing both in the form of the virtual world of Second Life. In this world the flying car isn’t even necessary, your avatar can fly just fine without it. In fact why fly when you can simply teleport to your next virtual destination? Second Life provides the platform for users (known as residents) to create their own forms of mixed reality. This of course can take on an infinite amount of experiences, perhaps best described by Eric Rice (a longtime resident) as "Massive Multiplayer Photoshop." The millions of these residents create everything you see in-world, from fantasy landscapes to corporate buildings and virtual art. In a world with few limitations 3D art helps to drive an endless amount of stories and unique experiences. More info: seanpercival.com.

Kristen Rutherford is a writer and actress from New York , so don't be surprised if she asks you how much you pay in rent or mortgage. It's not a rude question in Manhattan. She was the lead actress in ilovebees, one of the most popular and groundbreaking Alternate Reality Games to date, and most of the players - who call themselves "beekeepers," are still convinced that she's a rampant A.I. and are terrified by the sound of her voice. She is still heavily involved in the ARG community and is avidly following The Dark Knight ARG, The Lost Ring ARG, and has launched her own team of "beekeepers" in zeFrank's Colorwar2008. She is currently a staff writer for Attack of the Show! on G4, and the writer and producer of a web series that she's not allowed to talk about, so don't ask. In her spare time she likes to make up fake gang initiation rites and enjoys talking at her husband and their two dogs Dr. Doom and Shenanigans.

Images courtesy Sean Percival (top, bottom) and Kristen Rutherford (middle)

LA Weekly's "LA People 2008" Full of Farmlab Friends

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:12:00 +0000

On newsstands and online now, the annual "LA People" edition of the LA Weekly is full of salutes to and from folks with one-degree-of-separation to Farmlab.

This blog is surely forgetting a few people right now -- so apologies in advance. But here's at least a handful of the honorees, with a brief noting of among their Farmlab strands:

Elsa Longhauser and the Santa Monica Museum of Art have collaborated with Farmlab multiple times, including SMMOA's acquisition of Farmlab's Junker Garden #4.

Mojow & The Vibration Army were the house (travelin') band during Agbins on Skid Row delivery day, Saturday, June 16,2007. The LA Weekly write-up begins with a scene of the duo from that date.

Juan Devis produced and filmed this feature for kcet.org.

Joshua White took these photos of the Farmlab wildflowers project and of a junker garden and neon sign. (See first, fourth shots on the page.)

Writer, critic, and curator Holly Myers, who contributed various profiles to this "LA People" issue, wrote this about Farmlab in the Los Angeles Times.

Writer Linda Immediato, who likewise contributed various profiles to this issue, wrote about Farmlab in Angelino magazine's "Best of" issue (no link found).

Writer, critic, and curator Doug Harvey, who, yup, contributed various profiles to the issue, reviewed Not A Cornfield in the Weekly.

Also: Farmlab and NACproject artist Lauren Bon was featured here in the Weekly's 2006 edition.

Farmlab Friends In The News

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:51:00 +0000

Various news stories about the work being done by past Farmlab Public Salon speakers have appeared of late. A small sampling of these articles include:

"Boyle Heights Goes Upscale,"a Los Angeles Times column about changes to the historic eastside L.A. neighborhood, features quotes from Evangeline Ordaz-Molina, who will lead the 5/30/08 salon, titled, "Mariachi Plaza and Hotel: Where the Music Still Lives."

"Saddled With Legacy of Dioxin, Town Considers an Odd Ally: The Mushroom," A New York Times piece about the work of mycologist and 4/13/07 salon presenter Paul Stamets

"Cut the Grass, Plant an Edible," A San Francisco Chronicle about the projects of artist and 12/15/2006 salon presenter Fritz Haeg. Also mentioned in the Chronicle: 5/25/07 salon presenters Fallen Fruit, and, yes, Farmlab.

"Activist Turns L.A.'s Traffic Islands into National Parks." a large, full-color feature about 3/28/08 salon'er, Islands of LA, that ran on the front page of Sunday's Los Angeles Times calendar section.

Stuffed and Starved author Raj Patel, who spoke at Farmlab on 4/25/08, saw his book included in a "Critic-At-Large" essay about the current state and future of the global food supply in the New Yorker magazine. (No direct link available.)

Tree People founder Andy Lipkis, who spoke at Farmlab on 8/24/07, featured in the Washington Post tale," The Greening of America." And last but not least on this brief round-up,

"X Prize: $100 Million for Clean Fuels," from Business Week, one of a spate of stories about recent competition-based philanthropy work done by the 11/2/07 salon team.

Little Help?Farmlab Seeking Oral Histories, Past Images of Area 'Under Spring'

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Sat, 03 May 2008 22:08:00 +0000

For an ongoing project, the Farmlab team would like your help.

If you have stories to share about the distant or recent past history of the area underneath the Spring Street Bridge, then please call, email, or stop by and let us know.

The area we're referring to is located directly behind our offices, and adjacent to rail tracks and the L.A. River. We're particularly interested in the area underneath the bridge -- the space we call 'Under Spring.'

As we've previously posted on this blog, we're also still very interested in any video, film, and photos that predate the year 2006.

If you can help, or know anyone or any place that might be able to, please contact the Farmlab office and ask for J.R.

Thank you,
The Farmlab Team

Farmlab photos by Sarah McCabe and James Goodnight; Not A Cornfield Photo Illustration by Steve Rowell

Farmlab Public SalonGoran DjordjevichFriday May 9, 2008 @ NoonFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:56:00 +0000

SITES OF MODERNITY
Antiquario dell Statue and Museum of Modern Art

About the Salon
Join Goran Djordjevich for a preview of his upcoming exhibition, SITES OF MODERNITY: Antiquario dell Statue and Museum of Modern Art. The show will take place this June, at the Oberwelt Gallery in Stuttgart, Germany.

About Sites of Modernity
Some time around the year 1503, Pope Julius II placed the Apollo statue, which was in his possession, into the newly built Vatican garden named Belvedere. Soon after, the Laocoon group was excavated and brought to the garden as well. Then came other statues: Torso, Nile, Cleopatra, Venus, Comodus as Hercules, Tiber, etc. Those had been mostly broken marbles scattered around in various private palaces or buried for many centuries. Now, put on display together in the enclosed garden, they became exhibits, as if in an open-air wonder camera. Unlike the other wonder camera collections, this one was dedicated solely to the statues from ancient times. Those fragments from the past, placed among the orange trees and in specially built niches, emerged as a completely new sight for the contemporaries. This was a sight that had never been seen before. Soon it got the name Antiquario delle Statue, and that was the moment when the Antiquity was born. However, this particular display of the statues from the past became also the new vision of the past. Being the most novel invention of the time, this represents the birth of Modernity as well. Those statues were the first works of art and the first modern works of art. Thus the Belvedere Antiquarium itself was not only the first museum of art, but also the first museum of modern art. Since that moment, the Antiquario dell Statue, directly or indirectly, shaped the concept of art and art institutions throughout the entire Western World, for the next five centuries.

In 1929 The Museum of Modern Art opened in New York. After Pio-Clementino and the Louvre museums, this was the last important offspring of the Belvedere impulse. Being international in scope, the idea of Modern was to collect and exhibit the best and most advanced art of the time. At the 1936 exhibition Cubism and Abstract Art, instead of the dominant 19th century paradigm based on National Schools, the museum's founding director Alfred Barr introduced the idea of International Movements. This completely changed the character of the modern art narrative, and retroactively, the History of Art in general. And this is the narrative that has been shaping the art world ever since.

Today the old Belvedre collection of statues is in the Vatican Museum, while the most important collection of modern art is in the Museum of Modern Art. And today these two museums are both museums of antiquities. The exhibition Sites of Modernity brings together to life the fading memories on these two most important museums of modern art: Belvedere Romanum and Museum of Modern Art. --Goran Djordjevich

About the Salon Presenter
Goran Djordjevich is a former artist in recent years known as the Doorman of the Salon de Fleurus in New York. He was also Technical Assistant at the exhibitions: "Salon de Fleurus" at the 2002 Whitney Biennial, "International Exhibition of Modern Art 2013" at the 2003 Venice Biennale and "Americans 64" at the 2005 Venice Biennale, "50 Ans d'Art aux Etats-Unis"
at the 2007 Biennale de Lyon, and "What is Modern Art?" at the Kunsthaus Bethanien in Berlin 2006.
More info: www.whatismodernart.de

Images of Belvedere (top) and Pope Julius II (bottom) courtesy Goran Diordjevich

Farmlab Public SalonMarco KusumawijayaFriday May 2, 2008 @ NoonFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:41:00 +0000

Imagining Jakarta

About The Salon

Imagining Jakarta is a collaborative workshop by architects, poet, musician, graphic designer, photographer, and sculptor to reflect and develop alternative visions on some issues and spaces in Jakarta. Through a story of its process (a series of workshops) and product (a visual and audio exhibition), some problems and future possibilities of Jakarta are explored.

About The Salon Presenter

Marco Kusumawijaya, an architect by training, is a professional and activist in the fields of architecture, environment, arts, cultural heritage, urban planning and development with more than 20 years of experiences in places all over Indonesia. He has worked as architectural designer, urban designer and planner, researcher and consultant of urban management and urban governance. He has worked with private sector, governments, international and local NGO’s, international agencies such as the British Council, the World Bank and UNDP.

He also volunteers as a resource person and practical worker on urban issues for a number of NGO’s. He writes frequently for a number of print media in Jakarta, while his opinions are often requested by print and electronic media, as well as by several public institutions and citizens organizations. He contributes to journals and books on urban issues. He lectures in diverse fora: government-related policy formulation fora, training of NGO activists, training of members of parliaments, trainings of Buddhist monks, universities, and community-initiated advocacy and action planning exercises. His special interests include sustainable urbanization, urban studies of Jakarta, city and the arts, and social changes towards sustainability.

In 2001 he started Green Map (www.greenmap.org) in Indonesia. He has published three books on architecture, urban studies, heritage, and citizen movements in Indonesia, and translated one book (David Bornstein, How to Change the World, Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Oxford University Press, 2004) into Indonesian. With the Imagining Jakarta program, he explored the new area of the relationship between culture and urban development with a group of artists and architects. His latest assignment with UPC (Urban Poor Consortium) – UPLINK in Aceh, May-December 2006, was the planning and early stage of reconstruction of 23 villages (with 3,331 houses) in Banda Aceh and nearby coastal subdistricts. He is currently (2006-2009) chair of Jakarta Arts Council (www.dkj.or.id)

Image courtesy Marco Kusumawijaya via he MAK Center

Recent Photos of Farmlab and Under SpringSpring 2008

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:54:00 +0000

[FOR PAST PHOTOS, PLEASE CLICK HERE

Captions (From top, down)
Mariachi 2000 performs during the recent Public Salon titled, "Mariachi Plaza & Hotel: Where the Music Still Lives."

From "Plant a F.L.A.G. (Farmlab Agbin Garden)" -- a work in progress also located on the park's north side.

Outside Farmlab's headquarters, high above a Junker Garden, a neon sign reads, "Another City is Possible."

Marco Kusumawijaya speaks with guests during a recent weekly Public Salon. Kusumawijaya's presentation was titled, "Imagining Jakarta."

During the April, 2008 Los Angeles Art Weekend, participants take a walk through the north side of the Los Angeles State Historic Park. Tended by the Farmlab team, this northern acreage is home to Cornhenge, the anabolic monument, as well as to a seasonal fireworks of flora, the planned result of hydroseeding at the conclusion of the Not A Cornfieldproject.

Said fireworks, in full bloom, with downtown's skyscrapers behind them.

Water towers and more, also from "Plant a F.L.A.G.

Another of Farmlab's neon signs -- this one has since been moved from the garage to its current home at Underspring, where it is part of an installation work-in-progress.

Sunrise in the Owens Valley, where Farmlab and associated team members continue to visit regularly, studying, learning, and listening.

Photo credits: Joshua White photos for Farmlab (third from top and fourth from top), and Farmlab photos by Sarah McCabe (second from bottom) and Kate Balug (all others)

Farmlab Public SalonRaj PatelFriday April 25, 2008 @ NoonFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:09:00 +0000

Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System

About the Salon

Join author Raj Patel for a discussion of his new book.

Stuffed and Starved is a startling exposé of the global food system and how activists are gaining ground against its corporate control.

Half the world is malnourished, the other half obese-both symptoms of the corporate food monopoly. To show how a few powerful distributors control the health of the entire world, Raj Patel conducts a global investigation, traveling from the "green deserts" of Brazil and protester-packed streets of South Korea to bankrupt Ugandan coffee farms and barren fields of India. What he uncovers is shocking-the real reasons for famine in Asia and Africa, an epidemic of farmer suicides, and the false choices and conveniences in supermarkets. Yet he also finds hope-in international resistance movements working to create a more democratic, sustainable, and joyful food system. From seed to store to plate, Stuffed and Starved explains the steps to regain control of the global food economy, stop the exploitation of farmers and consumers, and rebalance global sustenance.

About the Salon Presenter

Raj Patel, former policy analyst for Food First, a leading food think tank, is a visiting scholar at the UC Berkeley Center for African Studies. He has written for the Los Angeles Times and The Guardian, and though he has worked for the World Bank, WTO, and the UN, he's also been tear-gassed on four continents protesting them.

Praise for his recent work includes:

"One of the most dazzling books I have read in a very long time. The product of a brilliant mind and a gift to a world hungering for justice."
-Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine

"Patel's broad treatment helps laymen connect the dots, [and] hear the voices of those [at the bottom] of the food chain."
-Time Magazine

"A book full of insight, that makes and important contribution."
-The Guardian

"Magesterial's the kind of book from which you emerge enlightened, surprised, angry, and determined."
-The Independent

Photo courtesy Raj Patel, via Jen Angel

Panel Podcast Features Farmlab's Bon

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:10:00 +0000

Earlier this year, Farmlab's Lauren Bon was among the participants in a public discussion held downtown, at the Los Angeles Public Library's Central Branch.

Titled, "The Height of Ambition: New Development Downtown," the program was part of the Library's "Aloud" lecture series. The panel was moderated by Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne, and in addition to Bon also featured charismatic developer Dan Rosenfeld (Urban Partners LLC), as well as Martha Welborne (Grand Avenue Committee) and Brian Girard (Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates).

A free-of-charge podcast of the evening is available.

Image via lapl.org

Farmlab Public SalonAlexis BhagatFriday, April 18, 2008 @ NoonFree Admission

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:28:00 +0000

"Radical Cartography"

About the Salon

Join a conversation with Alexis Bhagat, one of the editors of "An Atlas of Radical Cartography." Bhagat will discuss the implicit politics of cartography and "radical cartography" as an explicitly political practice, and examine in detail some of the projects included in "An Atlas."

Artists (and maps) featured in the book include:

*An Architektur (Geography of the Departure Center - Furth)
*Center for Urban Pedagogy (New York City Garbage Machine)
*Ashley Hunt (A World Map in which we see...)
*Institute for Applied Autonomy with Site-R (Routes of Least Surveillance)
*Pedro Lasch (Route Guides)
*Lize Mogel (From South to North)
*Trevor Paglen & John Emerson (Select Rendition Flights 2001-2006)
*Brooke Singer (The US Oil Fix)
*Jane Tsong (The Los angeles water cycle...)
*Unnayan (Untitled Marginal Land Settlement)

About the Salon Presenter

Alexis Bhagat is a writer, sound artist and activist. He is the co-editor (with curator Gregory Gangemi) of Sound Generation, a collection of interviews with contemporary sound artists and composers (Autonomedia, 2008).
More info: www.nadalex.net

Image courtesy Alexis Bhagat

EPFC Youth Film FestivalSunday, May 18, 2008 @ 2-10pm

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:11:00 +0000

For more information, please visit the Echo Park Film Center website. (This is not a Farmlab production.)

Cluster, In Concert @ Under SpringWith Lucky Dragons(Presented by Donuts)

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:45:00 +0000

The iconic German band, Cluster, will perform at Under Spring on Thursday, May 22, 2008.

Cluster is said to be making only their second-ever Los Angeles appearance.

Also on the night's bill:

Lucky Dragons (Los Angeles) Mi Ami (San Francisco), DJs Lovefingers & Nitedog, DJ Pickpocket & Live Visuals by AC, plus a DIY Fashion Show featuring a local designer. Presented by Donuts.

For more information, including ticket prices and show time, please visit the official website.

The time of the show will be announced soon by DONUTS, the evening's organizers.

(This program is not a Farmlab production.)

Farmlab Pair Interviewed on "Off Ramp"

noreply@blogger.com (not a cornfield / under spring / farmlab) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:58:00 +0000

Farmlab's Lauren Bon and Salvador Bautista were interviewed last week by journalist Jon Rabe for his radio show, "Off Ramp."

The subject of Rabe's piece: The wildflowers blooming in the Los Angeles State Historic Park -- which are both a legacy of Bon's Not A Cornfield, as well as an example of a lower-cost, budget-crunch alternative for reinvigorating other browfields, citywide.

The Off Ramp episode aired locally in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 5, 2008 @ noon, and Sunday, April 6, 2008 @ 8pm, and is now available as a free-of-charge podcast by visiting here.

(Make sure to click on the 4/5/08 program. And note that Bon and Bautista's segment with host Jon Rabe ocurrs about 52 minutes into the hour-long show.)