An Excerpt: Psychogeographic Destination Kit
Why Unknow? All around us is a mysterious landscape which occupies the same spatial dimensions as the one we are intimately familiar with. The unknown is everywhere intertwined with the known; to see it, we only need break our own habits. Take a wrong turning one day. Navigate by mismatched maps. Get on a train without […]
Unknown Destination Kits Are Here
The Bureau of Unknown Destinations’ “Psychogeographic Destination Kits” are ready at last. Having given away over a hundred rail trips to the adventurous, The Bureau now expands operations by giving travelers the means to unknow their own destinations. Everyone is invited to download a kit and test it out. The Psychogeographic Destination Kit is offered […]
The Wayfarers: Films on Solitary Migration
On Tuesday evening, Proteus Gowanus featured three filmmakers in our screening, “The Wayfarers: Films on Solitary Migration“, part of the ongoing series based on Proteus’ year-long theme of Migration. All three films documented the diverse American landscape in their own way while revealing the directors’ intentions for embarking on their trips. Kevin Gallagher’s piece about […]
100 Tickets, 100 Unknown Destinations: a New Phase Begins
Since January 12, the Bureau of Unknown Destinations has offered temporary displacements to members of the public seeking to experiment with their migratory impulses, as part of our yearlong Migration theme. We are now delighted to announce that the Bureau has given away its 100th free round-trip ticket for a daylong train adventure. You may wish to […]
Material Meaning
At the opening of Object Migration on January 12, the second show in the migration year of Proteus Gowanus, I witnessed something unusual to such an event: quiet contemplation. Lining the bookshelves and encircling the room are objects contributed by participants who were invited to lend an object to the show and include with it […]
ELLIS ISLAND (Now & Then): A Review
On Tuesday, January 3rd, Proteus Gowanus hosted their first event of the New Year: a film exploration of Ellis Island. The evening began with a special magic lantern show guided by Barbara Mathé of the American Museum of Natural History. The Museum has a collection of magnificent glass slide photographs taken on Ellis Island by […]
Borderland Crossings & Liminal Zones with Duke Riley
On November 14, Proteus Gowanus hosted a talk by artist Duke Riley. This Migration event was held in conjunction with Portland State University’s Art and Social Practice program. For these two groups of interest, Duke chose to speak in depth about the research and process of two of recent works, “Reclaiming the Lost Kingdom of […]
The Reanimation of Gowanus
Randy Dudley (American, born 1950). Gowanus Canal from 2nd Street, 1986. Oil on canvas, 34 x 63 5/8 in. (86.4 x 161.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchase gift of Charles Allen, 87.31. © artist or artist’s estate I recently visited Proteus Gowanus to see their Migration show, which includes photocopies of a portion of The The […]
Migratory Media
Proteus Gowanus hosted the first screening of our yearlong Migration Film Series on Tuesday, November 1. Migratory Media, An Evening of Appropriation and Experimental Animation, focused on the migration of visual data throughout multiple mediums and across timelines. The program of shorts included films from two filmmaking eras that produced breakthrough work using computers: the […]
Part II: Liberators and the Liberated
It is often said that history is written by the victors (“Speciesists,” cry the inchworms, “we thread the trees but no one reads!”). It is hard to know, however, who the victor might be in the case of the sparrow migration. While accounts in the document (Excerpt of the Source of the English Sparrow, Manuscript […]
