Secret Wars
Dear Readers, Proteoscope proudly returns to your pixel screens after a monthlong break, with a new topic to go with our new exhibition. I’m Tom Miller, an anthropologist who studies sound, shamanism, and the history of science. Together with Protean creative director Tammy Pittman, I co-curated Secret Wars, the current exhibition at Proteus Gowanus. I’ll be guest […]
Signing off…
With this post I am signing off on War of Words. Thank you Sasha Chavchavadze and Tammy Pittman for letting me play in the Proteus Gowanus sandbox for the last few months. And thank you as well to all of the participating artists and readers of this blog. Out with the old…in with the new…. […]
Regrets. On second thought, make that Optimism.
Some last words in the War of Words… Regrets is the title of Stephanie Brody Lederman’s work that was in the War of Words show. And Regrets is the word I would use to describe the fact that I never got around to sharing all of the work in the show. But that’s about to […]
Reading Report
It might be considered a tradition at this point. It being an evening of readings related to the Proteus Gowanus year-long theme organized by Proteotypes’ publishers/editors (and authors) Tom LaFarge and Wendy Walker. I asked if they would do such an event during War of Words portion of the Battle year (knowing they couldn’t resist […]
Yes or No?
On indeterminacy, serendipity, fluxus, positivity and negativity—and how I learned to love surprise. Inspired by John Cage’s ideas of indeterminacy and fueled by the topic of “war of words,” I thought it might be interesting to organize a hive-mind piece that used just 2 words—Yes or No—in a virtual face-off. It was an experiment…a let’s-see-what-happens […]
Out There (3)
Out There: in which we dig up War of Words related works. Dear Lucy — a letter to Lucy Lippard from Nancy Spero in 1971. So perfect…no further words needed from me. The letter is from the Lucy Lippard papers at the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institute.
Words. And plenty of them.
(more on War of Words) Opinionated. Cranky. Smart. Funny. You could write a good deal about William Powhida’s work or you could settle with those four words and it would be ok. Powhida’s work is the kind of funny that’s painful…as they say “the truth hurts” and he dishes it out in beautiful, jam-packed, cranky […]
Redaction (-ish)
A short post that got lost in the shuffle as Sandy hit our shores (and basement): If redaction is a conscious removal of words then we can add Ligorano/Reese’s melting ice sculptures to the list. The sculptures in question are hot-topic, push-your-buttons political words created in ice, installed in public locations and left there until […]
Out There (2)
More Redaction Jenny Holzer figured high on the list while thinking about War of Words. I confess that I often utter the words “Abuse of Power Comes as No Surprise” (most often while watching/ reading the news—but perfect for so many occasions). While we didn’t get Holzer’s work for the exhibition, we did obtain a […]
Redaction Part 2
In the War of Words, removing a word can be as potent as adding one. Consider Paula Gaetano Adi’s video documentation of her ongoing performance Pica (on view in War of Words). She calls the performance “an attempt to embody a non-native language.” In this case, the word embody is used quite literally. Each […]
