THE THACKERY T. LAMBSHEAD CABINET OF CURIOSITIES IS OUT!

“The narrative scope and stellar assemblage of writers and illustrators…makes this a book that will be absolutely cherished by fantasy, science fiction, and steampunk afficionados alike.” – Paul Goat Allen, B&N Book Club

---An LA Times recommended summer reading selection
---Features over 60 pieces of art, including four originals by Hellboy’s Mike Mignola
---All-new Fiction from top creators in fiction, comics, and the art world

After the death of Dr. Thackery T. Lambshead at his house in Wimpering-on-the-Brook, England, a remarkable discovery was unearthed: the remains of an astonishing cabinet of curiosities. Many of these artifacts, curios, and wonders related to anecdotes and stories in the doctor's personal journals. Others, when shown to the doctor's friends, elicited further tales from a life like no other. Thus, in keeping with the bold spirit exemplified by Dr. Lambs­head and his exploits, we now proudly present highlights from the doctor's cabinet, reconstructed not only through visual representations but also through exciting stories of intrigue and adventure. A carefully selected group of popular artists and acclaimed, bestselling authors has been assembled to bring this cabinet of curiosities to life.

An independent follow-up to the cult classic The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases, a Hugo Award and World Fantasy Award finalist…

Contributors include Holly Black, Greg Broadmore, Ted Chiang, John Coulthart, Rikki Ducornet, Amal El-Mohtar, Minister Faust, Jeffrey Ford, Lev Grossman, N.K. Jemisin, Caitlin R. Kiernan, China Mieville, Mike Mignola, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, Garth Nix, Naomi Novik, James A. Owen, Helen Oyeyemi, J.K. Potter, Cherie Priest, Ekaterina Sedia, Jan Svankmajer, Rachel Swirsky, Carrie Vaughn, Jake von Slatt, Tad Williams, Charles Yu, and many more.

Order your copy from Amazon- http://www.amazon.com/Thackery-T-Lambshead-Cabinet-Curiosities/dp/0062004751/

Urbanomic is having a Summer Auction!!!

All proceeds of the auction go to support Urbanomic's journal Collapse. The lots – including original work and exclusive signed editions – have been donated by artists, musicians and writers who have contributed to Collapse or been otherwise involved in Urbanomic projects over the past few years, including:

Kristen Alvanson, Amanda Beech, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Cut Hands, Detanico and Lain, FIELDCLUB, Renée Green, Florian Hecker, Kröõt Juurak & Mårten Spångberg, Nick Land, Sam Lewitt, China Miéville, Pamela Rosenkranz, Conrad Shawcross, Keith Tilford

The PDF catalogue, which contains images and details of all works, with links to higher resolution images, and details of how to bid can be found online at http://www.urbanomic.com/auction.php

The Auction ends on June 24 so get you bids in now and support this great journal.

THE THACKERY T. LAMBSHEAD CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

My artwork will be included in THE THACKERY T. LAMBSHEAD CABINET OF CURIOSITIES Exhibits, Oddities, Images, & Stories from Top Authors and Artists. Edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, the book comes out in June from Eos Books, but you can pre-order it from Amazon now. There are a number of really great writers and artists included (see description and the table of contents below).

A stunning find beneath the famed Dr. Thackery T. Lambshead's house years after his death: a basement space lost under a collapsed floor, in which were found the remains of a remarkable cabinet of curiosities. Containing artifacts, curios, and keepsakes collected over Dr. Lambshead's many, many decades, the cabinet of curiosities took over a year to unearth, document, and catalog. Thus, in keeping with the bold spirit exemplified by Dr. Lambshead and his exploits, we are now proud to present highlights from the doctor's cabinet, reconstructed not only through original visual representations, but also through exciting stories of intrigue and adventure. (Sumptuous title pages provided by John Coulthart.)

Introduction: The Contradictions of a Collection, Dr. Lambshead's Cabinet (by the Editors)

Holy Devices and Infernal Duds: The Broadmore Exhibits

The Electric Neurheographiton - Minister FaustSt. Brendan's Shank - Kelly Barnhill

The Auble Gun - Will Hindmarch

Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny - Ted Chiang

Honoring Lambshead: Stories Inspired by the Cabinet

Threads - Carrie Vaughn

Ambrose and the Ancient Spirits of East and West - Garth Nix

Relic - Jeffrey Ford

Lord Dunsany's Teapot - Naomi Novik

Lot 558: Shadow of My Nephew by Wells, Charlotte - Holly Black

A History of Dunkelblau's Meistergarten - Tad Williams

Microbial Alchemy & Demented Machinery: The Mignola Exhibits

Addison Howell and the Clockroach - Cherie Priest

Roboticus the All-Knowing - Lev Grossman

Shamalung (The Diminutions) - Michael Moorcock

Pulvadmonitor: the Dust's Warning - China Miéville

The Miéville Anomalies

The Very Shoe - Helen Oyeyemi

The Gallows-Horse - Reza Negarestani

Further Oddities

The Thing in the Jar - Michael Cisco

The Singing Fish - Amal El-Mohtar

The Armor of Sir Locust - Stepan Chapman

A Key to the Castleblakeney Key - Caitlín R. Kiernan

Taking the Rats to Riga - Jay Lake
The Book of Categories - Charles Yu

Objects Discovered in a Novel Under Construction - Alan Moore

Visits & Departures

1929: The Singular Taffy Puller - N.K. Jemisin

1943: A Brief Note Pertaining to the Absence of One Olivaceous Cormorant, Stuffed - Rachel Swirsky

1963: The Argument Against Louis Pasteur - Mur Lafferty

1972: The Testimony of a Respected Lichenologist - Ekaterina Sedia

1995: Kneel - Brian Evenson

2000: Dr. Lambshead's Dark Room - S.J. Chambers

2003: The Pea - Gio Clairval

A Brief Catalog of Additional Items, Featuring Micro-Fictions by:

Hugh Alter, Charlie Jane Anders, Julie Andrews, Christopher Begley, Jayme Lynn Blaschke, Nickolas Brienza, Tucker Cummings, Kaolin Imago Fire, Jess Gulbranson, Jen Harwood-Smith, Willow Holser, Rhys Hughes, Incognitum, Paul Kirsch, Michael J. Larson, Therese Littleton, Graham Lowther, Claire Massey, Tony Mileman, Adam Mills, Annalee Newitz, Ignacio Sanz, Steven M. Schmidt, Grant Stone, Norman Taber, Brian Thill, Nick Tramdack, Nicholas Troy, Tom Underberg, Horia Ursu, William T. Vandemark, Kali Wallace, Tracie Welser, Amy Willats, Nadine Wilson, and Ben Woodard.

Over 60 images by: Aeron Alfrey, Kristen Alvanson, Rikki Ducornet, Greg Broadmore, John Coulthart, Scott Eagle, Vladimir Gvozdariki, Yishan Li, Mike Mignola, Jonathan Nix, Eric Orchard, James A. Owen, Ron Pippin, J.K. Potter, Eric Schaller, Ivica Stevanovic, Jan Svankmajer, Sam Van Olffen, Myrtle von Damitz, III, and Jake von Slatt.

NEW YORK TO LONDON AND BACK – The Medium of Contingency

NEW YORK TO LONDON AND BACK – The Medium of Contingency

January 18 – February 19, 2011

An exhibition and event collectively organized by Thomas Dane Gallery (London), Miguel Abreu Gallery (New York) and the vanguard independent philosophy and art institute Urbanomic (based in the UK) on the thought of contingency.

Artists in the exhibition include Kristen Alvanson, Hans Bellmer, Liz Deschenes, Thomas Eggerer, Rachel Harrison, Gareth James, Alison Knowles, Sam Lewitt, Scott Lyall, R. H. Quaytman, Eileen Quinlan, Raha Raissnia, Jimmy Raskin, Blake Rayne, Pamela Rosenkranz, Pieter Schoolwerth, Amy Sillman and Cheyney Thompson.

The event highlights of one of the most significant shifts in philosophical thought and contemporary art practice in the 21st century, that is the thought of contingency in artistic reflection/production and in new philosophies of realism. Artists whose works are exhibited in this show exemplify various engagements with the thought of contingency, a speculative imperative that marks a transition from different forms of artistic experimentation driven by meaning-dominated metaphysics of calculation and chance to alternative rigorous engagements with the reality of contingency and its formidable role not only in art practice and philosophy but also in ecological, political, technological and economic domains.

As part of the event, a discussion between Elie Ayache (market theorist), Reza Negarestani (philosopher), Robin Mackay (philosopher), Matthew Poole (curator), Scott Lyall (artist) and Miguel Abreu (gallerist and art theorist) will be held on Wednesday 19 January, 6-8pm atThomas Dane Gallery located at 11 Duke St., St James's, London SW1Y 6BN. Nearest Tube: Green Park.

The event is free and all are welcome: the event is not ticketed but seating is limited, so do arrive promptly to avoid disappointment!

For more information check the following sites:

http://www.thomasdane.com

http://www.miguelabreugallery.com

http://www.urbanomic.com/

dESIRE Gloss: A Specimen in Glossator

Glossator: Practice and Theory of the Commentary Vol 3 has just been published and is also available online: http://ojs.gc.cuny.edu/index.php/glossator/issue/view/45.

Included in the volume is a specimen of dESIRE Gloss, a collaborative commentary on a series of 100 photographs drawn from my dESIRE Project. Befitting the polysemy of the word gloss, dESIRE Gloss is designed to demonstrate the amorous relations between photography, commentary, and desire. This specimen includes gloss from Nicola Masciandaro and Scott Wilson two of the commentators in the collaborative.

Articles in the volume:

The Night Vigil of Shen Zhou J. H. Prynne

The Rhetoric of Commentary Carsten Madsen

Fourty-Four Ways of Looking at Marginalia Louis Bury

A Curious Mistake Concerning Cranial Sutures in Aristotle's Parts of Animals, or, the Use and Abuse of the Footnote Barbara Clayton

Kinesis of Nothing and the Ousia of Poetics (Part Review Essay, Part Notes on a Poetics of Auto-Commentary) Daniel C. Remein

dESIRE Gloss: A Specimen Kristen Alvanson, Nicola Masciandaro, Scott Wilson

THE REAL THING September 3, 2010 at Tate Britain

Presented by Urbanomic featuring contemporary sound, video and sculptural work, and other interventions exploring the emerging philosophical paradigm of Speculative Realism and its impact on contemporary art practice. Featuring work by artists Amanda Beech, William Bennett, Mikko Canini, John Gerrard, Florian Hecker and Pamela Rosenkranz.

Also part of the event will be a curatorial intervention in which I have also been involved (in collaboration with China Miéville, Robin Mackay, Eugene Thacker, Reza Negarestani and others): The entire collection of paintings in Room 9 which is currently themed Art and the Sublime has been relabeled according to the paradigms of speculative / weird realism, transcendental nihilism and other emerging philosophical lines of inquiry.

For more details visit Urbanomic’s website: http://www.urbanomic.com/event-uf12-details.php.

Update on Protocol Architecture

I posted earlier about the Protocol Architecture Competition. Geoff Manaugh from BLDGBLOG, one of the other judges, has written more about the Protocol Architecture competition and the group’s other projects (guided by v. progressive thinker Ed Keller). Check out Geoff’s post DOCUMENTS, MAPS, AND FILES OF A FICTIONAL ARCHITECTURE. He has included some images from the publication Protocol Architecture – Recovering Berlin (Danil Nagy, Yvual Borochov, Lisa Ekle) on his blog. You can download the book here. But the printed book is very nice if you can buy it (order here).

Transmission Annual: Hospitality

Transmission Annual: Hospitality has just been published. Hospitality edited by Michael Corris, Jaspar Joseph-Lester and Sharon Kivland is in conjunction with their ongoing Transmission series of artists’ talks organized by Sheffield Hallam University in association with Site Gallery. For more information check here: http://transmission.uk.com/.

The annual includes clusters of ‘friends’ who asked each other to participate. Contributors include: Graham Allen, Kristen Alvanson, Amanda Beech, Jerome Carroll, Clegg & Guttmann, Kris Cohen, Clare Connors, Nigel Cooke, Michael Corris, Eileen Costa, Juan Cruz, Meritxell Duran, Tim Etchells, Marcia Farquhar, Rachael Garfield, Charlie, Gere, Judith Goddard, Laura Heit, Vit Hopely, Nancy Hwang, Alfredo Jaar, Jaspar Joseph-Lester, Ahuvia Kahane, Sharon Kivland, Esther Leslie, Yve Lomax, Juliet Flower MacCannell, Robin Mackay, Marko Maetamm, Victor Mazin, Penny McCarthy, E. Elias Merhige, Forbes Morlock, Reza Negarestani, Hayley Newman, Dany Nobus, Haralampi G. Oroschakoff, John W. P. Phillips, Cesare Pietroiusti, Jeanne Randolph, Antonio Santos, Javier Santos, Naomi Segal, Roy Sellars, Blake Stimson, Thomson & Craighead, Irene De Vico Fallani, Rodrigo Villas, Nina Wakeford, Sarah Wood.

Transmission Annual: Hospitality

Edited by Michael Corris, Jaspar Joseph-Lester, Sharon Kivland

ISBN: 978-1-906441-24-1

Artwords Press London

Available Through: http://www.artwords.co.uk/acatalog/Artwords_Press.html

Open Space in Singapore

My dESIRE Project is currently included in Open Space an online and on-site exhibition exploring the theme of Open Space curated by Patricia R. Zimmerman, Nikki Draper and Sharon Lin Tay at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore with Wenjie Zhang. Open Space will be up during the International Communication Association (ICA) Conference in Singapore from June 22-26, 2010. The exhibition is shown as the digital arts exploration of the conference theme Im/Material.

Other artists/filmmakers participating in the exhibition include:

Vaibhau Bhawsar

Andreas Zingerle

Myriam Thyes

Babak Fakhamzadeh

Reclaim Land: Justin Zhuang, Sam Kang Li, Wong Shu Yun, Serene Cheong

Nguyen Bich Thuy

Alessandro Perini

15 Malaysia: Ho Yuhang, Yasmin Ahmad, Amir Muhammad, Linus Chung, Liew Seng Tat, Desmond Ng, Kamal Sabran, Tan Chui Mui, Woo Ming Jin, James Lee, Benji & Bahir, Johan John, Khairil Bahar, Nam Ron, Suleiman Brothers

Gebhard Sengmüller

For more information check here: http://www.ica2010.sg/openspace/view.html

Anonymous Materials Opening

My installation Objects 302 (made up of documents related to my chapter in Cyclonopedia) and Spell Map drawing A Thousand Ways to Die are included in Anonymous Materials an exhibition curated by Pamela Rosenkranz at Binz39 in Zürich from 4th June to 4th July, 2010 /Opening hours Thursday - Saturday, 2 - 6 pm.

Opening 6 pm Thursday / June 3rd/ 2010/ Binz39 /Sihlquai 133, 8005 Zürich

Including contributions by:

Kristen Alvanson, Kim Seob Boninsegni, Pavel Büchler, Ida Ekblad, Ulrik Heltoft, Marie Koelbaek lversen, Fabian Marti, Rachel Mason, Ketuta Alexi Meskhishvili, Lucy Pawlak, Martin Soto Climent, Mai-Thu Perret, Urs Zahn

“Anonymous Materials” brings together artists who use very different approaches in their practices. But its presentation of their works draws attention to a particular form of complicity common to them, and unfolds its consequences for our understanding of art-production. As the title indicates, the exhibition focuses on the autonomy of those materials which constitute an elemental component in the process of creating art. The show therefore explores art as a material-driven process of production so as to raise the question: How does the autonomy or contingency of the artists’ material influence or interfere with the artwork itself? In examining the conditions of art production, the show emphasizes the dynamics and ambivalence of the concept of materiality in artistic production, rather than deconstructing the meaning of the artwork by thematizing its material substrate.

Neither does this examination of materiality entail a fashionable celebration of those aesthetic effects commonly associated with processual tropes of artistic production (the presentation of raw materials, open-endedness, and so on). It does not rely upon the unfinished status of an artwork as a form of process-oriented practice. It could be said that such artistic sensibilities only exacerbate or obfuscate the enigma of materiality, semantically supercharging materiality in a way that can only be grasped by an audience hungry for meaning. Therefore, these processual tropes reestablish the authority of a privileged sentience whose correlation with meaning is ultimately a complete dismissal of both independency and contingency of materials in art production. As opposed to this approach, the artists in this show were chosen because their practices involve clear decisions towards the problems mentioned. In tracking the traces of production in the artwork, this group show could even be understood as a critical response to a current tendency to be too “sensitive” to materials; a tendency that could further be defined as an eclectic approach to the visual reminiscence of conceptual art.

The title of the show is taken from Iranian philosopher Reza Negarestani’s book Cyclonopedia: Complicities with Anonymous Materials. It refers – in an open manner – to the book’s take on the problem of ‘inauthenticity’ whereby the subjective identity of the author is repeatedly overturned and undermined by the intervention of references, materials and narrative processes which enjoy autonomy and contingent complicities of their own. The show opens up, unfolds and reinvents this problematic embracing of materiality by evoking the randomness of functionality attributed to artists’ materials and allowing a multiplicity of relations between the artwork and its arbitrary context. Systematically blocking the tendency for a ‘higher meaning’ to emerge, the show resolutely focuses on the active, contingent role of the material conditions of the artwork. The studio-like installation itself explores the process of creating art in its very contingent and disruptive character.

Protocol Architecture - Design for the Speculative Future

I had fun judging Protocol Architecture's [Recovering Berlin] competition. For more information on the competition and the entries check here: http://protocolarchitecture.wordpress.com/ Also check back soon for the announcement of the winning entries.

Protocol Architecture is a group of researchers, artists and architects based in New York City that investigates potentials for future design through the creation and analysis of hyper-fictional documents. These document sets create evidence for future scenarios that string together a specific history of political, social and technological developments.

A discussion at Columbia University GSAPP with Mark Collins of Proxy, Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG and Ed Keller of aum took place to discuss the [Recovering Berlin] entries and remote responses were posted on the site.

List of Jurors:
Kristen Alvanson, artist
Juan Azulay, Matter Management
David Benjamin, The Living
Mark Collins, Proxy
Eric Ellingsen, Species of Space and Olafur Eliasson Workshop
Bradley Horn, CCNY
Ed Keller, a|Um
Jamie Kruse, smudge studio
Geoff Manaugh, BLDGBLOG
Reza Negarestani, author of Cyclonopedia
Michael Rotondi, RoTo Architects
Roland Snooks, Kokkugia

Images of Spell Chador no. 98 in Repurposes exhibition

Repurposes

One of my Spell Chadors is in Repurposes.

Repurposes is an exhibition representing themes of reexamination and reengagement of personal and public convictions. In a time of historic change and challenge—politically, economically, technologically—how do we remake our world and ourselves? The exhibition presents 31 artists working in a variety of media—collage, sculpture, video, web, artist books, graphic design, assemblage, and more—from the U.S., U.K., Italy, Germany, Iran, and Spain. Curated by Kenneth FitzGerald, Associate Professor of Art, Old Dominion University, and Garland Kirkpatrick, Associate Professor of Art, Loyola Marymount University. A joint project of Ephemeral States and Helvetica Jones.

Baron and Ellin Gordon Galleries at Old Dominion University

4509 Monarch Way, Norfolk, VA

Saturday, March 20 through Sunday, April 18, 2010 (Opening reception: Saturday, March 20 7-9pm)

Cosmic Drapery Flag Update

An appliqué from Flag 5 of the Cosmic Drapery Flag project.

To date 109 women from Iran have added their own appliqués to six Cosmic Drapery Flags. For more images and information on this project check here: http://cosmicdraperyflags.blogspot.com/ and http://www.kristenalvanson.com/new/drapery-flags.html.

Collapse VI: Geo/philosophy

The new issue of Collapse is now available. I have a couple photos in the issue which accompany Nicola Masciandaro's 'Becoming Spice: Commentary as Geophilosophy' essay.

Contributors to the volume include: Charles Avery, Angela Detanico and Rafael Lain, Stephen Emmott, Owen Hatherley, F I E L D C L U B, Iain Hamilton Grant, Renée Green, Gilles Grelet, Manabrata Guha, Nicola Masciandaro, Timothy Morton, Greg McInerny, Robin Mackay, Reza Negarestani, Drew Purves, F.W.J. Schelling, Eyal Weizman, Rich Williams.

Following Collapse V's inquiry into the legacy of Copernicus' deposing of Earth from its central position in the cosmos, Collapse VI: Geo/philosophy poses the question: How should we understand the historical and contemporary bond between philosophical thought and its terrestrial support?

Collapse VI: Geo/philosophy begins with the provisional premise that the Earth does not square elements of thought but rather rounds them up into a continuous spatial and geographical horizon. Geophilosophy is thus not necessarily the philosophy of the earth as a round object of thought but rather the philosophy of all that can be rounded as an (or the) earth. But in that case, what is the connection between the empirical earth, the contingent material support of human thinking, and the abstract 'world' that is the condition for a 'whole' of thought?

Urgent contemporary concerns introduce new dimensions to this problem: The complicity of Capitalism and Science concomitant with the nomadic remobilization of global Capital has caused mutations in the field of the territorial, shifting and scrambling the determinations that subtended modern conceptions of the nation-state and territorial formations. And scientific predictions present us with the possibility of a planet contemplating itself without humans, or of an abyssal cosmos that abides without Earth - these are the vectors of relative and absolute deterritorialization which nourish the twenty-first century apocalyptic imagination. Obviously, no geophilosophy can remain oblivious to the unilateral nature of such un-earthing processes. Furthermore, the rise of so-called rogue states which sabotage their own territorial formation in order to militantly withstand the proliferation of global capitalism calls for an extensive renegotiation of geophilosophical concepts in regard to territorializing forces and the State. Can traditions of geophilosophical thought provide an analysis that escapes the often flawed, sentimental or cryptoreligious fashions in which popular discourse casts these catastrophic developments?

Continuing to combine and connect work from different disciplines and perspectives in innovative ways, this new volume of Collapse brings together philosophers, theorists, eco-critics, leading scientific experts in climate change, and artists whose work interrogates the link between philosophical thought, geography and cartography. This multiplicity of engagements makes Collapse VI a philosophically-rich yet accessible examination of the present state of 'planetary thought'.

Visit Collapse's website at www.urbanomic.com to purchase a copy. A PDF preview of the editorial introduction to the volume is also available on the website.

dESIRE Update

dESIRE #003100

Recent sales and a trade bring the price of one unit of desire (100 intangible desires and their photographic representations) up from $200 to $500. The last increase was in October 2008 when the price was raised from $125 to $200 due to global inflation and demand. There are still units available and I can always make more ;)

For more information on the dESIRE Project, please check here:

http://www.kristenalvanson.com/new/market.html

2009 Incheon Women Artists’ Biennale

I participated in the Women Artists’ Archive Project for 2009 Incheon Women Artists’ Biennale, Incheon, Korea in August. For more information about the Biennale, check here: http://iwabiennale.org/2009_new/eng/main/main.php

Or here: http://www.brooklynrail.org/2009/09/artseen/2009-incheon-women-artists-biennale

Vilnius Update

Images from the 5th International Artist’s Book Triennial Vilnius 2009 in Vilnius, Lithuania

The triennial includes 132 works of artists from 34 countries around the world including Jordan, Pakistan, Iran, Mexico, Cuba, Singapore, Iceland, South Africa, Canada and others.

A hand-binded catalogue has been created in an addition of 500 (all catalogues are numbered).

My spell text book

Kestutis Vasiliunas' Pr 32,29 book behind spell book

Wakilur Rahman's book (Bangladesh)

For more information check here: http://www.bernardinai.lt/index.php?url=articles%2F95034

5th International Artist’s Book Triennial Vilnius 2009

Gallery "Arka", Vilnius, Lithuania
April 30 – May 16, 2009 

Opening of the exhibition will take place on April 30th 2009, 6 p.m.

Gallery "Arka", Vilnius
Ausros vartu Str. 7, LT–01129
Vilnius, Lithuania

My Text Spell Book is included in the 5th International Artist's Book Triennial Vilnius 2009, the theme of which is “Text”. The Book Triennial will be on exhibit in multiple countries throughout 2009. The first showing was held at the Leipzig Book Fair in March.

1st International Roaming Biennial of Tehran: BELGRADE

The 1st International Roaming Biennial of Tehran's next stop is Belgrade:

URBAN JEALOUSY IN BELGRADE 

3-10 APRIL 2009 
Urban Jealousy 
the 1st International Roaming Biennial of Tehran
3rd station: Belgrade, 3rd -10th of April 2009
Curated by Serhat Koksal and Amirali Ghasemi 
Belgrade Contact : Isidora Krstic

For more information check here: http://www.biennialtehran.com/

Exhibition in Leipzig Book Fair

My Text Spell Book will be included in the 5th International Artist's Book Triennial Vilnius 2009, the theme of which will be “Text”.

The Book Triennial will be on exhibit in multiple countries throughout 2009. The first exhibition will be launched at:

5th International Artist's Book Triennial Vilnius 2009

Exhibition in Leipzig Book Fair

12-15 of March, 2009

Iakh - Internationale Ausstellung für Künstlerbücher und Handpressendrucke

HALLE 3, H 501

Leipzig, Germany 

Then it continues on to Vilnius, Lithuania in April (more info to follow).

ITCH MAGAZINE

The third issue of ITCH Magazine, addressing and exploring the $ symbol, is now out. Itch is a South African born online/offline periodical. 

I have a short photo-text sequence in the issue on what you can buy in Iran for a dollar.

You can check it out here:  http://www.itch.co.za/?article=102

New Humanist Issue 124 is now available

My photos accompany an article on Iran entitled ‘Before the Dawn’ by Nasrin Alavi in the current issue of New Humanist (issue 124 Jan/Feb 2009). Issue includes:

Editorial: Fine Lessons

Funny how atheists enjoying themselves can be so threatening to believers

Cover Stories

Power Struggle

For decades, it was the scourge of the environmental movement. But now, discovers Angela Saini, the greens are going nuclear

Features

In the burning house

In 2005 Russian artist Anna Alchuk was publicly vilified and put on trial for her involvement in the Caution:Religion! exhibition. Three years later she drowned herself. Her husband, the philosopherMichail Ryklin, reads her diaries to find out why

Bad Faith Awards 2008

Following a tough campaign and a hard-fought election, we can finally announce last year's most scurrilous enemy of reason

Before the dawn

Thirty years after the revolution consumerism and political apathy dominate Iran. But a new generation may change that, says Nasrin Alavi

Days of atonement

Visiting Israel just weeks before the current Gaza conflict, Sally Feldman found that rising religious bigotry is one of the biggest barriers to peace 

Unsafe havens

The Government is planning tougher penalties for men who use trafficked prostitutes. But who is helping the women themselves? Rahila Gupta uncovers a distributing trend 

True disbelievers

Being faith-less is no excuse for rewriting history, says Theodore Dalrymple

Regulars

Endgame: One track mind

Laurie Taylor hopes he’s not a running joke

Diary: Trump cards

Our religions game seemed to annoy everyone. Result! says Christina Martin 

Culture

Darwin's journey

For poet Ruth Padel the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great scientist is more than a historical milestone, it’s a family celebration 

Book Reviews

The Weight of a Mustard Seed by Wendell Steavenson

Nina Power considers complicity in Iraq 

Three-Letter Plaque by Johnny Steinberg

Andrew Mueller enjoys some journalism with a human touch 

The Strangest Man by Graham Farmelo

James Randerson encounters a strange legend of physics

Teenagers: A Natural History by David Bainbridge

Bill Thompson gets down with the kids 

Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie

Philip Womack barely survives the tedium of a new Chinese novel

The Artist, the Philosopher and the Warrior by Paul Strathern

Brenda Maddox enjoys some Renaissance history

Check out it out here: http://newhumanist.org.uk/1947

FACELESS MUSIC

Artist Jason Sweeney has made a 'silent film' of my flesh photos as part of his Faceless Music project. He is currently collating materials (recorded and/or written stories, sounds, noise, anecdotes, nightmares and confessionals about attempts at living a life online) and reworking them into an audio-museum project. The project is being assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council.

Check out Flesh Film here: http://ifnotforyouthenwho.blip.tv/#1629630

Serial Drapery

Please visit my Cosmic Drapery Flags Blog: http://cosmicdraperyflags.blogspot.com/

Cosmic Drapery Flags is part of a series of inter-connected works in my Cosmic Drapery Project. Cosmic Drapery Flags is a collective project in which numerous women participate in creating hanging flags (each 90 cm wide by 119 cm long) made of heavy black crepe-like fabric on which nomadic fabric is appliquéd on to both sides of the flag by means of stitchery. These appliqués and their emerging stitches turn the black fabric into an ultimate entity of syncretic drapery.

This blog has been created to document the flags' development -- track the flags, show updated embroidery work and profile some of the women who have participated in the project.

blütenweiss presents:

ANONYMOUS DRAWINGS #9

December 20 & 21, 2008

Opening: December 19th at 7 pm
Greeting: Sirgid Klebba

Opening hours: 12 - 7 pm
Kunstraum Kreuzberg / BethanienMariannenplatz 210997 Berlin, Germany tel.:0049(0)30/90298-1455U-Bahn Kottbusser Tor
more information:

www.bluetenweiss-berlin.de

1st International Roaming Biennial of Tehran Travels to Berlin

The Roaming Biennial of Tehran is headed to Berlin, check below for information on the various events related to the biennial:

The 1st International Roaming Biennial of Tehran, Berlin
20 Nov.2008 - 7 Dec. 2008
Urban Jealousy in Berlin

Openings and Opening Performances:

20 Nov. WEST GERMANY
Skalitzer Straße 133 10999 Berlin
Exhibition Opening: 7pm (Music performance Starts at 8pm)

SONATA REC ( audiovisual performance )
[-HYPH-] ( live electronics )
ERFAN ABDI ( sound art )
DJ KOSTULAH ( post punk/ussian garage /centralasia electro )
VJ GENTRIFISUAL ( Goodzilla VS Badzilla )
BALLGARD ( Tehrani Free Funk Rock Band )

21 Nov. NEWYORCK IN BETHENIEN
Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin

Performance by EMANUELE RODO ,MATTEO ROVESCIATO ,DARIO FARIELLO ( Words ,Painting ,Sax, improvisation )
In front of bethanien Building at 5pm

Exhibition Opening: 7pm (Music performance Starts at 8pm)

UTKU TAVIL ( Audio Performance )
BIJAN MOUSAVI ( Acoustic rock )
GUDUBIK ( Experimental Dub Band )
KOSTJA PICUNDA 84 ( Cello and Electronics )
2/5 BZ ( Audio-gentrifisual Performance )
ARASH SALEHI aka THE11 ( Intelligent Techno / Bandar Beats )
BALLGARD ( Tehrani funk Rock band )
JUNKTION 'NASDIA' ( Dubstep to Orientalcore Dj Set)

22 nov. GALERIE WALLYWOODS
Kulturhaus Peter Edel, Berliner Allee 125, Weissensee, 13088 Berlin
Opening 6pm (music performance starts at 7pm)

BIJAN MOOSAVI/ARASH SALEHI/ERFAN ABDI (AV Performance )
JAVAD SAFARI / KAVEH KATEB (Electronic Folk ) +ARASH KHAKPOUR and FARID JAFARI (Visuals )
UGLY AMERICANS ( Wallywoods' Punk Funk )
BALLGARD ( Tehran Free Rock Band )
GUDUBIK ( Experimantal Dub Band )
FREE JAM Session with BIENNIAL TEHRAN BAND and Guests

23 nov. ICH ORYA
Oranienstraße 22 - 10999 Berlin
Opening:10 pm

BIENNIAL TEHRAN BAND (SUPRISE ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE)
DJ NASE ( Kontra Oriental )

For more information on the Biennial check here: http://www.biennialtehran.com/

Umelec Magazine Issue 2/2008

Umelec Magazine has published a review entitled ‘Unfolding the Middle East: Kristen Alvanson’s Nonad’ (by Robin Mackay) on my ‘nonad’ exhibition in their current Issue 2/2008. Umelec is based in the Czech Republic and is published in English, German, Spanish and Czech.

Mackay begins, “In his 1998 book on Leibniz, philosopher Gilles Deleuze proposed the figure of ‘The Fold’ as a way in which a philosophy of immanence might measure the multiplicity of the uni­verse. If Being speaks in one voice, if we invoke no transcendent plane of organisation, then how can difference be articulated? Deleuze’s vision of folds-within-folds, which he discovers to be the reigning principle of the baroque, extends to labyrinthine structures enfolding infinite complexity (or implexity) without yielding to any form of transcendence. Kristen Alvanson, an American artist working in Iran, suggests that we read the Middle East, in all its obscurity, inscrutability and hybridity, in terms of such a topological model, as a fabric folded and refolded into a baffling surface where disparate elements abut unexpectedly and overlap each other in paradoxical fashion. Inversely, her recent work demonstrates how the multiple cultural codes at work in the region can be manifested through the folds of its fabrics…”

For more information on Umelec and where to purchase it check here: Umelec Magazine

For more information on work from my Cosmic Drapery Project, please visit a new section on my website which includes information on Nomadic Fabric Chadors, Spell Chadors, Cosmic Drapery Flags and Abjad-9. http://www.kristenalvanson.com/new/drapery.html

Pharmakon Library

Pharmakon Library
Created + Curated by Christina McPhee
The project is produced in association with Silverman Gallery, San Francisco.
NY Art Book Fair, October 23-26, 2008
http://www.nyartbookfair.com

My work ‘Poison In/Poison Out’ will be included in Christina McPhee’s Pharmakon Library. Pharmakon Library is an ongoing series of graphic folios created and curated by Christina McPhee. The folios comprise a series of open works by artists who address, through image and/or text, the principle of critical reversability, or proximity of poison and cure. "Pharmakon" in Greek may mean antidote, recipe, poison, drug, spell, remedy, drug, talisman, gift and paint. Each folio consists of pigment jet archival prints by three artists. Each folio is produced as an edition of three. The scale of each folio images is 13 x 19 inches each (Super B). Print stock is Epson exhibition photographic paper and Niyodo washi; and printed with K13 Ultrachrome Epson pigment inks.

The project debut will occur at the New York Art Book Fair October 23-26, 2008, with the release of the initial folios in limited edition.

with invited contributions from artists
Kristen Alvanson, Bertien van Manen, Naeem Mohaiemen, Neal Robinson, Kevin Hamilton, Mickey Smith, Elin Lennox, Dave Iseri, and Christina McPhee.

set one: spell
Elin Lennox, Mickey Smith, Neal Robinson
set two: paint
Naeem Mohaiemen, Dave Iseri
set three: recipe
Bertien van Manen, Kevin Hamilton
set four: antidote
Kristen Alvanson, Christina McPhee

For more information check:
pharmakon folio documentation pdf

click-through thumbnail index (images only)

dESIRE Update

dESIRE #003538


Due to global inflation and demand the price of one unit of desires has been increased from $125 to $200. The last increase was in March 2008 when the price was increased from $100 to $125.

For more information on my dESIRE Project, please check here: http://www.kristenalvanson.com/new/market.html

Specialten Magazine issue 22

Specialten the bi-monthly publication, has reprinted my 'Arbor Deformia' article and photography which first appeared in Collapse Vol. 4 in their new Issue 22. Along with my article, the magazine has also printed an interview on Collapse with editor Robin Mackay.

Issue 22 is the third of the hardback editions, contains a DVD disc of interviews, documentaries, art Installations, short films and music videos. This is accompanied by 56 full color pages containing text and photography relevant to the DVD. Each issue also contains a separate Ltd edition print commissioned by an artist. In this issue a Ltd. Edition Print by Irena Zablotska.

Issue 22 includes:
Bruce Webber - Film Interview
Yayoi Kusama - Documentary
Arbor Deformia – Collapse - Article
The Last Shadow Puppets - Film interview
First Place - Short Film
The Notwist - Music Video
Claire De Rouen
meet Micachu - Specialten Session
Ana Begins - Film Interview
Sigur Rós - Music Video
Fear{s} Of The Dark - Film Preview
Cut Copy - Music Video
Bon Iver - Music Video
The Object - Short Film
Blindness Of The Woods - Short Film
Closing Time - Documentary
Puppet Boy - Short Film
Drift - Short Film
and more...

For more information, check here: http://www.specialten.com/issues/22/Arbor_Deforma_Collapse.html .