That’s Random
My favorite magazine, The Wire has finally gone dually digital this month. The even more exciting thing is that in doing this they are offering a Free Trial Issue to peruse before you buy. You may notice that in this particular issue that Emmy Hennings review of my triMIX project appears on page 80 at top left. After 25 years of amazing journalism they have really put a face to the underground, truly responding to the most edgy and vibrant music on Earth.
Does anyone beside me remember France Joli? I can’t hear you….Well, I do, and have been completely haunted by the memories of ‘79 all day. “Come to me, when your world is empty and cold……” (erp)
On my way to the studio today there in the middle of Water Street lay a strewn set of pink rosary beads. The color was off to me, but I later wondered why. Does color matter when counting prayers? It reminded me of a childhood memory of sitting quietly at an abbey as many veiled ladies murmured on for what seemed to be hours in some strange tongue (Latin). Pink is actually a traditional Italian color for these beads after a moment of research. Seeing these also reminded me of another song, this one from the 90’s called Counting the Rosaries by Book of Love.
Atlanta’s Drain Magazine has just released Cruelty which includes a review I penned earlier this year.
This issue led by Olivier Chow and is dedicated to cruelty and its visualization in art, culture and politics. One of the chief concerns of this issue is the legacy of Abu Ghraib. Abu Ghraib is explored from a variety of angles: through an essay by Adrian Parr which discusses the controversial Abu Ghraib paintings of Gerald Laing. Cruelty and its relation to the state of exception and the work of Giorgio Agamben is discussed by Kim Paice. We are also proud to introduce an analysis of the psychology of cruelty by the French psychoanalyst Dominique Cupa, whose work is here accessible in English for the first time. A review of the work of the Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar discusses his engagement with the traumatic visualization of famine, war and genocide in the Sudan and in Rwanda. The horror vacui themed Drain exhibition Blank is reviewed by TJ Norris. These artists explore a number of themes related to cruelty such as authority, the war in Bosnia, collective violence and video games, the alienation and fragility of the subject in the threatening non-space of hospitals, everyday melancholia mediated by the TV screen.