Tara Donovan, half a million dollars richer

The MacArthur Fellowship (often called the "genius grant") is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation each year since 1981, to between 20 and 40 citizens or residents of the U.S., of any age and working in any field, who "show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work." The current value of the prize is $500 000, spread out over five years. The prizes are typically awarded to those in the arts and sciences.

Notable artists, filmmakers, composers and critics who have received the award include Gary Hill (1998), Dave Hickey, John Zorn, Kara Walker (all 1997), Cindy Sherman, Allison Anders, Meredith Monk, (1995), David Hammons (1991) and Bill Viola (1989).

The 2008 recipients were announced today and include eight winners from the arts, including musicologist Alex Ross (The Rest is Noise) and sculptor Tara Donovan (whose work is pictured).

Scottish Pavilion, 2009

Todays Herald reports that Martin Boyce will represent Scotland at the 2009 Venice Biennale. It will mark the first time that the country has been represented by a single artist. "Venice is an amazing city, " says Boyce, "because it is literally floating on the water it is a very different place, and I am already beginning to think about how I will work in it. I love the fact that the Scottish show is not one of the buildings in the Giardini, the official home of the Biennale, that it is almost tongue-in-cheek, because it is whatever you want it to be; it could be set in a bar, or a gondola."

The exhibition, jointly organised by Dundee Contemporary Arts, the Scottish Arts Council and the National Galleries of Scotland, will have a budget of a quarter of a million pounds ($480 000 CDN), which will allow a "big and bold" impression.

From last week's Scotsman...

Lola

Yesterday Kelly Mark, Roula and I drove to London, Ontario, for the Lola festival. It's about a three hour trip and along the way we drove through at least a dozen towns I've never heard of, all with bigger populations than Wasilla, Alaska.

The Lola Festival (no relation to the now defunct Toronto arts mag of the same name) started out three years ago mostly as an indie rock fest, but the organizers (Andrew Francis and Paul Walde) have been increasing the number of work by visual artists each year. I had three pieces in the show - Pop Quiz was rear-projected in a few bank towers, the previously mentioned Big Bang FM, and Life and Death, which uses the lightbox of the advertising venue to illuminate a lesser-known Paul is Dead 'clue'. This is from an ongoing body of work which investigates the way fans insert themselves into rock folklore by shaping the mythology, particularly around issues life and death (Paul is Dead, Elvis is Alive, etc.). My billboard was blown down when London got the tail end of the hurricane, but I gather it's back up now.

Kelly Mark debuted a new project called The Band, which uses the marketing machinery of the music industry to promote a fictional rock band. Laurel Woodcock presented a new billboard and neon work, both using rock lyrics as her source material. David Poolman created works based on the tattoos of metal fans and Rich Jacobs created a 'rock family tree' for the Washington hardcore band Minor Threat, which I understand has already caught the attention of singer Ian MacKaye.

Do May Say Think, Polmo Polpo, and Holy Fuck played Saturday, but I had to get back for a Nuit Blanche meeting, given that the event is less than two weeks away now.

The above image is of Life and Death, which shares a lightbox with one of Kelly's many Band photos. Hopefully pics of all the works will be posted to davedyment.com in the next coupla days.

'Nother Quick Update

I've been mostly catching up on Nuit Blanche things since getting back, including some site visits with Michel de Broin, Bruno Billio and Jon Sasaki yesterday. Everything seems to be in order, thanks (entirely) to Miki Stricker and Bill Zeilstra at the city. The behind-the-scenes (and mostly thankless) work they do for this event is incredible. The above picture I took on Wednesday, from the 6 story building we're using to harness Bruno's laser. It was such a beautiful summer day that I just wanted a lawn chair and some lemonade and a nap up there.

The 100 Year Old Whisky is moving along fairly rapidly, in my absence. First of all it has been definitively decided that it cannot be called Scotch unless I am able to prove to the Scottish Whisky Association that there is a historical precedent for burying the cask. The SWA is very big on tradition. I've been hunting online, but it's doubtful I'm going to find the smoking gun, so we're going to have to go with the term "spirit". This was anticipated to a certain extent, and I actually like the word better. Coupled with angel's share and casket, we've got some nice religious death imagery happening here, to accompany the burial.

I always assumed that the tradition of burying the dead was either practical, or based on agriculture (early man recognizing the cause and effect of planting something). It turns out that it likely predates both the need for hygienic disposal of corpses and even the most rudimentary understanding of cultivation. Apparently there is no commonly accepted anthropological explanation for the tradition of interment. Even now, the World Health Organization does not mandate burial (or cremation) as being necessary to prevent diseases (unless the body carried disease before death). **

The wooden caskets for the edition are in production now, the contract approved, the label designed and awaiting production. Photos are being printed to include in the accompanying time-capsule, which has been ordered and is en-route. Last week Eric Stephen, who works in Warehouse 8, dug me this fantastic hole (below). I can't wait to see it in person. When I return I will collect more rocks (this time with a van, no more treacherous treks with a wheelbarrow), quickly install the show and then host the burial the next day. Then say my final sad goodbyes to Glenfiddich and Scotland.





**I always thought I'd want to be cremated (and take up less space) but a few years back I changed my mind, realizing that cemeteries are a nice place for squirrels to play.

"one day, let's be a pair of trees, nobody'll know...."

Deerhoof cover

CASH Music is a project began by Kristin Hersh and L7's Donita Sparks, which aims to provide "a flexible platform through which creative stake holders — artists and audiences — may interact and support one another through community". This often means making songs available for free and then passing around a virtual hat or tip jar (years before Radiohead offered their album with the PWYC model). Listeners are frequently encouraged to take the basic tracks and then remix and repost them.

Recently Deerhoof joined up, and have taken the premise a step further. In advance of their new album (Offend Maggie, out October 7th), they have released the sheet music to the lead-off single, and invite people to cover the song before they've heard it. Record your version and post it here.

Yestermorrow

I've discovered a great shelf at the boutique bookstore Monkey's Paw called Yestermorrow. I've picked up a couple of books there titled "The Next Hundred Years" - visions of the future from the past. Today on Boing Boing there's a link to an article written at the turn of the century (the recent 'turn') but never published. In it the author examines many of these predictions of the future from the past, rating their accuracy.