Brooklyn Doorbells

© 2008 harlan erskine

Recently, one cold night I found my doorbell had frozen over. I guess the night before it was raining or melting and then it all froze over. I took this pic to remember the freeze of that night and the nights to come. Its been a cold winter up here more like the winters of high school. One year I remember all of central park froze over is this amazing sheet of ice several inches thick. Several teachers were hurt trying to enter the park to bust students for smoking. After school we would steel cafeteria trays and ride them on the hills.

New York based photographer, Kai McBride, hauled an 8x10 view camera around brooklyn in 2005 photographing Brooklyn Doorbell much like my frozen doorbell above. I wonder what a 8x10 image of a surface like this looks like in a proper print. I quite enjoy Kai's latest project Facing Tampa which riffs on the real estate advertising so ubiquitous around Florida.

©Kai McBride Facing Tampa, 16x16 inches, silver gelatin print

Another Emerging Photographers Auction

Sarah Palmer, Smog, South Mountain, 2008 E1DA

Daniel Cooney Fine Art is staging their second Emerging Photographers Auction via iGavel. The bidding began on January 2nd and will end on 21st. It's interesting to see the online space for 'art' photography grow. I don't think ultimately this will be the new way that people buy art. It seems like it might be degrading the value of art and moving it more into commerce. Sure its easier, more accessible to a wider audience and as convenient as buying is on eBay but it doesn't make economic sense to buy at auction a piece in an edition that's not sold out. How can value be determined when there are still 5 or more prints unsold? I'm all for selling art prints online in the right way with open and set prices. It just seems a little ahead of the game to auction an editioned print before the edition is sold out.

Either way there are a bunch of good pictures included from a large group of Photographers: Juliana Beasley, Timothy Briner, Nina Buesing, Tom Chambers, Megan Cump, Clayton Cotterell, Adrienne De Boer, Matt Eich, Sam Falls, Jon Feinstein, Mark William Fernandes, Amy Finkelstein, Lucas Foglia, Kyle Ford, Chuck Hemard, Oded Hirsch, Whitney Hubbs, Michael Itkoff, Dave Jordano, Christopher La Marca, Nyra Lang, Shane Lavalette, Pixy Liao, Walter Lockwood, Jennifer Loeber, Oz Lubling, Sara Macel, Jay Matthews, John Mann, Eri Morita, Carolyn Monastra, Nik Mirus, Sarah Palmer, Lydia Panas, Toni Pepe, Bradley Peters, Jeffrey Rich, Nadine Rovner, Noel Rodo Vankeulen, Shen Wei

You can bid on the Auction or just browse and watch the spectacle/experiment(?) of the commerce of emerging art.

on to the next...

Douglas Gordon, 24 hour psycho back and forth and to and fro, 2008. Video installation with two screens and two video projections, 24-hour loop, Courtesy the artist. Installation view, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2008.
© The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York. Photo: Kristopher McKay.
January 6, 10 a.m. - January 7, 10 a.m. Rotunda Floor, Free

So, here we are, 2009 space monkeys and flying cars and all. Its an exciting yet anxious year for me - finishing school and re-entering the working world at a time when people are suggesting our economy is tanking more then it ever has in my lifetime. So what do we do? celebrate? turn off the TV try to read the news a little less and hope Obama can jump start this economy with a full on Keynesian / New New Deal Plan.

On the bright side - there are no lines for bread and institutions like The Guggenheim are still very much alive and kicking out interesting events like the tomorrows-

from the Press Release:
24-Hour Program on the Concept of Time
Tuesday, January 6, 6 p.m. through Wednesday, January 7, 6 p.m.
Download a PDF of the 24-Hour schedule.

On the occasion of the exhibition theanyspacewhatever, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum will present a 24-hour event concentrating on the concept of time in its myriad philosophical, psychological, biological, sociological, poetic, aesthetic, and economic manifestations. Constituting a multi-disciplinary approach to the subject, the program will bring together artists, architects, scientists, philosophers, historians, engineers, filmmakers, musicians, and other cultural producers.
...
Also on view:
Douglas Gordon
24 hour psycho back and forth and to and fro
January 6, 10 a.m.-January 7, 10 a.m.
Rotunda Floor, Free

Serpentine Gallery Marathon Archive
New Media Theatre
Tuesday, January 6, 6 p.m. through Wednesday, January 7, 6 p.m.
Download a PDF of video descriptions.

I am really looking forward to this event but I am not sure when to go. anyone else going or have suggestions? I am really interested who will be staying up for the 4:30 - 5 am presentation by curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, maybe it will be me?