Clifford Owens Demands Sex from Audience at MoMA PS1

MoMAPS1_CliffordOwens2011_Anthology(Dave-McKenzie)

This is the last weekend to see Clifford Owens first exhibition, entitled Anthology, at a New York museum – MoMA PS1 – which is comprised of photography, video, and live performance. Anthology features performances scores—written or graphical instructions for actions—that Owens solicited from a multigenerational group of African-American artists. Twenty-six major artists have contributed scores, nearly all of whom composed new works specifically for Owens and his project. This weekend will prove especially challenging when he will "demand sex" from the audience/viewer. This Sunday, for his last performance, Kara Walker has written the score: "French kiss an audience member. Force them against a wall and demand Sex. The audience/viewer should be an adult. If they are willing to participate in the forced sex act abruptly turn the tables and you assume the role of victim. Accuse your attacker. Seek help from others, describe your ordeal. Repeat."  Clifford Owen's performance commences at 3 p.m. on the second floor of MoMA PS1 this Sunday, March 12. 

[LITERATURE] What We Lose In Flowers

Karma bookstore‘s in-house publishing house just released a novella, entitled What We Lose in Flowers, by  art dealer and curator Bill Powers which tells the story of a Peter Beard, an artist in a failing relationship with a younger woman who used to date his son. The book opens with a quote from John Currin, “Culture is for old people. When you’re young you have your body, and that’s all you need,” and is dedicated to the recently deceased John McWhinnie, who introduced the artist Richard Prince (who designed the incredible DVD sticker cover) and Mr. Powers. This is actually a second book from Mr. Powers, a former editor at Blackbook, whose first was a novel titled Tall Island. You can purchase the book here.  

Shadow Land

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Shadow Land is a major exhibition of work by internationally-acclaimed photographer Roger Ballen whose work offers a powerful social critique and an extreme, uncanny beauty. The exhibition explores three decades of Ballen’s career, charting the evolution of his unique photographic style and demonstrating the contribution he has made to contemporary photography. One of the most important photographers of his generation, Roger Ballen was born in New York in 1950 but for over 30 years he has lived and worked in South Africa. In his work from the early 1980s to mid 90s he gained world recognition and critical acclaim with his powerful and controversial images of those living on the margins of South African society. Shadow Land: Photographs by Roger Ballen 1983-2011 is on view from March 30 to May 13, 2012 at the Manchester Art Gallery. 

On To The Next One

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London based artist, filmmaker, and photographer Danny Sangra presents his newest short film - entitled On To The Next One –  a "bite-size" thriller that is a bit on the darkside. Sangra has a particular love for French new wave cinema and Samuri films and has collaborated with the likes of Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton. See the film after the jump.

Paradise Lost

Raymond Unger, born in Hamburg, Germany, who comes from a family of well known painters and is well know for his fantastical, palette knife style, stands in front of his painting Paradise Lost which won the 2011 International Lucas Cranach prize. The painting will be on view as part of a group exhibition of the winners of the prize which is awarded every three years. The theme for 2011 was "human images" and dealt with societal satire and surreal alienation. The exhibition will be on view from March 9 to May 13 at the Cranach Foundation in Wittenberg, Germany.  

Cai Guo-Qiang's Gunpowder Covered Hands

In the upcoming week, more than 100 volunteers will join artist Cai Guo-Qiang to create three gunpowder drawings in preparation for his exhibition, Cai Guo Qiang: Sky Ladder, which opens on April 8 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. On Saturday, Cai and his studio set up camp at the museum to meet their volunteers and run tests of the gunpowder. Since this is the first time that Cai’s has made gunpowder drawings in Los Angeles, the artist needed to find out how the gunpowder would react to the local climate, particularly inside the galleries at the Geffen. The chemical composition, color, and shade (once it has been burned) of gunpowder vary slightly depending on the manufacturer and the region in which it is produced, and Cai wanted to know how the powders supplied by the fireworks company Pyro Spectaculars by Souza would fare.

Me Myself & I

“What do I see in Picasso that makes him Picasso?” wondered Edward Quinn, who took a large number of pictures of the Andalusian artist. Besides Quinn, many other photographers – some of whom were great names in the history of photography – Man Ray, Brassaï, Robert Doisneau, Dora Maar, Irving Penn, Edward Quinn, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Michel Sima, Richard Avedon and André Villers – also shot portraits of the famous artist, offering their own angle on his work and personality. The result is a profusion of portraits of Pablo Picasso that have become part of our collective imagery and which have contributed to building up a myth around the artist, his life and his work. MemyselfandI, Photographic Portraits of Picasso has been jointly organized by Museo Picasso Málaga and Museum Ludwig, Cologne and will be on view until May 10. After its run at MPM, it will travel to Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg, where it will be on display from 2nd August to 28th October 2012.

18 Years

Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain

It will be exactly 18 years in April since Kurt Cobain took his own life in the green house of his Seattle home in 1994. Last month he would have turned 45. Marking the occasion, two founding members of Cobain's mostly semi-lucid widow Courtney Love's band Hole will be releasing a book and a film surrounding the relationship with Kurt, the band, and the life style of drugs, and the consequences of rapid fame. Firstly, Eric Erlandson, guitarist for Hole, will will releasing a book, entitled Letters to Kurt, which is a collection of poems and free association reflecting on his suicide and its emotional ramifications. Secondly, Patty Schemel, who helped develop Hole's sound and who lived with Kurt and Courtney during some of the more tumultuous times, is releasing a film about her life. Hit So Hard: The Life & Near Death of Patty Schemel is the "portrait of the hell-and-back life of Patty Schemel" and tells the story of her terrible addiction to drugs and how it nearly destroyed her career and life. Schemel is "a true survivor of what we now know was the disaffected 'slacker' generation, Patty found herself, like her friend Kurt Cobain, embraced by the dark side. An unprecedented and unflinching inside look at one of the 90s most crucial and controversial groups." Eric Erlandson's Letters to Kurt will be released April 8th on Akashic Books. Hit So Hard will be premiering this year - first at Cinema Village in New York on April 13, with more dates to follow.

The Kings Collection

Very cool London label Fanny & Jessy just released their fashion film, directed by Danny Sangra,  which premiered at the Canon Cinema as a part of London Fashion Week at Somerset House. "Fanny and Jessy is a womenswear brand that has an underlying sense of androgyny that is more sexed-up than feminine. The brand reflects the duo’s intrinsic rural Somerset upbringing united with London’s experimental and confident youth culture."

Exotic Regrets Epilogue

Aoi Kotsuhiroi, famous for using hair, beads, bone and other such extraordinary elements in her accessories, and who uses chapters - like in a book – to release new pieces from a collection,  brings to a close a multiple chapter fashion fantasia entitled Exotic Regrets which Pas Un Autre has been following all along the way. With the  epilogue to Exotic Regrets, we are very curious what will come next from the talented Aoi Kotsuhiroi.