From The Believer, a great article by C.S. Leigh on the way cinema is evolving.  With the decline of movie theatre attendance, and a move towards digital viewing on ever more portable devices, the time when a viewer was trapped in a nearly one-on-one dialogue with a film is fading away.  We can now pause, rewind, skip ahead, and sometimes altogether ignore a movie.  We can perform other tasks, like texting or surfing the internet while “watching” a movie – moving our attention back and forth from the screen.  The power of a film/filmmaker to hold our attention, and thusly, to physically activate our viewing experience is drained from this contemporary form of viewership.  We no longer have to sit through the full 484 minutes of Andy Warhol’s “Empire” (that anyone would ever want to is beside the point) or even Michael Snow’s less lengthy, 45 minute ”Wavelength”, we can simply throw it on in the background or catch the highlights on YouTube.

Below are some highlights from the article, but you should definitely read it in full, which you can do by clicking on this link:
http://www.believermag.com/issues/200903/?read=article_leigh

Be sure to read to the end of the article, where Leigh lays out a hilarious example of when cell phones meet black & white films from the 60′s in an Atom Egoyan short.

“You could also have a very different relationship with a film depending on where and with whom you watched it. An audience at a university cinema in L.A. had a solemn, nearly funereal reaction to Pasolini’s Salò, based on Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom (they seemed uncertain whether they had just witnessed a film or a crime); later, I watched the same film at the Accattone in Paris with an audience that couldn’t stop laughing.

…

As cinema becomes more portable, more easily created, and less difficult to acquire, it also runs the risk of forfeiting one of its greatest attributes—its physicality. Its necessary exertions.”

- C.S. Leigh (from his article ”Contemplating the New Physicality of Cinema” in The Believer, March/April 2009)

Practice. Experiential. Performance. Happening. Research. Based on. Politics. Place. Political. Investigation. Series. Way in which. Developed. Civic space. Art. Work. Provide. Experience. Visual. Problematized. Created. Elements. Experience. Senses. Images. Sense. In the case of. At this time. Information. Access the work. Documenta. Cocking a gun. Great success. Sold. Museum. Press. Disappointed. Conversation. Create. Experience. Space for discussion. Given. Deliver. Work. Engage. Commitment. Separate. Art world. Social timing. Visualization. Unstable. Renegotiation. Status. Statement. Body art. In a way. Agreement. Legal. Negotiate. Timing. Document. Imagination. Institution. Outside. Providers. Privileges. Capsule. Dressed. Surrounding. Symbol. Interesting. High profile. Curators. Weird, but not weird enough. Oh, this is art. Events. Public space. Strategies. Impacts. Project. Encounter. Workshop. Announcement. Situation. Show. Camera. Invite. Discussion. Event. Opening. Enter. Monkeys. Eagles. Problematic. Solve. Useful. Symbolically effective.  Actual. Solve. Re-stage. Areas. Manifestation. Revolt. Techniques. Museums. Situation. Not artists. Performance. Sold. Transform. Liberated. Economically. Persecution. Denouncing. Liberation. Equality. Liberate. Equal. Co-creator. Highly politicized. Audience. Space for discussion. Enter. Aspects. Not so comfortable. Political art. Preconceptions. Duties. Approaching. Uncomfortable. Panel discussion. Conflict. Aspect. Actually. Control. Social spaces. Preconception. Unresolved. Play a lot with memory. Authorship. Authority. Distribution. Capitalism. Planted. Attack.

Gagosian. Obrist. Wirth. Zwirner. Lowry. Curiger. Serota. Broad. Goldberg. Pinault. Weinberg. Deitch. Weiwei. Gund. Pacquement. Vidokle, Aranda & Wood. Nauman. Glimcher. Ruf. Lévy & Mnuchin. Blazwick. Goodman. Spiegler & Schönholzer. Gladstone. Jopling. Kelley. Sherman. Joannou. West. Brown. Fischli & Weiss. Cohen. Blum & Poe. Pasternak. Abramovic. Arnault. Pinchuk. López. Murakami. de Cisneros. Slotover & Sharp. Enwezor. Higgs. Sehgal. Hoffmann. Sprüth & Magers. Koons. Logsdail. Coles. Gorvy & Cappellazzo. Meyer & Westphal. Philbin. Hirst. Perrotin. Richter. Bourriaud. Marks. Kittelmann. Ringier. König. Buchholz. Kapoor. Birnbaum. Webster. Christov-Bakargiev. Boros & Lohmann. Celant. Cattelan. Rauch. Groys. de Alvear. Ropac. Rugoff. Miro. Saltz. Zabludowicz & Zabludowicz. De Carlo.  Paley. Peel & Gertler. Smith. Saatchi. Neuger & Riemschneider. Cristiani, Fiaschi & Rigillo. König. Schneider. Tsong-zung & Hsu. Daskalopoulos. Tiravanija. Tillmans. Hoor Al-Qasimi & Persekian. Gioni. Renfrew. Wallner. Kalmár. Tohme. Podnar. Dee. Chang. Bruce High Quality Foundation. Heller.

That which I was responding to. Didactic. Process. Speaks to. Information. Material. Experience. Embodied. Installation. Laying. Projection. Space. Reverie. Engages. Opens-up. Image. Appearing. Ground. Points. Reversed. Systems. Comprehend. External. Viewer. Construct. Building. Twinkling. Sensual. Calculated. Discernible. Direct. Rupture. Formulated. Proposing. Activity. Quantitative. Shift. Status quo. Describes. Pragmatic. Gesture. Programmatic. Proposal. Work. Materiality. Social structures.

Reaction. Rules. Object. Visitor. Person. Formulated. Basic. Repopularised. Template. Formally. Organized. Chaotic. Unstructured. Interested. Aesthetic. Motifs. Chosen. The way that. At some point. Reading. Nonsensical. Passage of time. Simply. Artifact. Forgery. Contemporary. Render. Suggests. Documents. Sort of like. Very much. Defined objects. Questionable. Process. Redrawing. Abstract. Marks. Undefined. Remembering. Imperfection.

Studio. Midnight. Dropped. Beer. Latest work. Hand-rendered. Fluorescent. Apocalyptic. Heavy metal. Expertly executed. Expressions. Suburban. Diverted. Adjacent. Jam. Rockers. Amplifiers. Steven Shearer. Remarkable. Facility. Virtuosity. Ability. Magical. Mastered. Craft. Adolescence. Basement. Stardom. Draw. Ultimatum. Art school. Reputation. Geometry. Notions. Expressivity. Figurative. Produced. Bodies of work. Indisputable. Ideologically. Enlightenment. Modernism. Construction. Fitted. Derived. Suggest. Activity. Pursue. Aesthetic. Ethos. Module. Problem. Structures. Affect. Sublimation. Primitive. At odds with. Invokes. Figure. Youth. Rebellious spirit. Modification. Autonomous. Naively utopian. Cynical capitulation. Exhibited. Collectively. Minimalism. Pop Realism. Andy Warhol. Affirmative. Consumers. Gleaned. Iconic. Feminized. Pubescent. Portraits. Dubious. Text-only. Interpreted. Presentations. Self-portraits. Confusion. Richard Prince. Re-victimizing. Subjects. Relation. Identification. Negotiate. Pioneered. Rauschenberg. Cady Noland. Sloppy registration. Precise. Mechanical reproduction. Sigmar Polke. Richard Prince. Martin Kippenberger. Ostensibly. Picasso. Paradigmatic. Canvas. Grainy. Substrate. Jackson Pollock. Cathartic. Death metal. Prefab. Frenetic. Series. Research. Heat-laminated. Monochrome ground. Snapshots. Proletarian. Symbols. Appropriating. Violation. Emblematic. Referencing. Lumpen. Formal. Documentary. Unresolved. Caravaggio. Sacred. High modernism. Autobiographical. Anthropological. Gerhard Richter. Ruse. Beaux-arts. Composition. Affectation.

the first is my friend Jacquelyn’s blog, Music That Resonates.  it’s a music blog, and Jacquelyn’s definitely the person to go to for info on new and interesting music.  she was the music supervisor on my short film, The Gesture, and is the head of music licensing at Core Music Agency.

the second is the blog of a new friend of mine (who I met through Jacquelyn), Kate, and it’s called Lady Business.  supposedly it started out as a forum for Kate to express her thoughts on feminism, and has expanded to include many of her other interests. she’s also a photographer and the site allows her to showcase her work.

thirdly and finally is the blog for the gallery i’m currently employed at, Winsor Gallery.  the blog is a way for the gallery to showcase its artists’ accomplishments and publicize events and goings on that are of interest to us. example: one of our new artists, Vancouver based Fiona Ackerman, just had her work in the yearly art sale, The Cheaper Show (all art, $200! = the cheaper show!) and was showcased with an interview in The Block, an online magazine.

so, my good friend aneil has launched his culinarily inspired blog entitled “make your own butter“.  as the name suggests, aneil’s blog is an exploration of the world of food from a do-it-yourself, back-to-basics sort of mind set.

to date, he’s got recipes for homemade butter, sauerkraut and a traditional punjabi dish called subzi.  with only three posts so far, not only has he already lived up to his blog’s name, but also its byline: “a blog about punjabi cooking, home-made dairy products, mason jars and so on.”

experimenting with homemade food, like making his own butter, yogurt and sourdough starter (for sourdough bread), is something i’ve always admired in aneil.  knowing that, it’ll be very interesting to see what he publishes online.  whatever he chooses to share with us, i’m sure it will be unique and enlightening – even if we only ever read about making our own butter, rather than having rely on our (probably very rusty!) churning skills or whatever the process requires these days (aneil suggests a food processor).

ken lum, untitled (cushionpainting), 1990

marcel duchamp, fountain, 1917

sherrie levine, fountain (after marcel duchamp), 1991

edgar degas, young spartans exercising, 1860

attila richard lukacs, the young spartans challenge the boys to fight, 1988

My review of Stuart Lemoine’s short play, The Exquisite Hour, which just closed at the 2010 Vancouver International Fringe Festival can be read here, at Sad Mag.

Sad Mag is a local (Vancouver), independent quarterly arts and culture magazine.

so, i’ve been baking a lot lately, as i’ve had a bit of time on my hands, and cakes have been my main area of interest.

ina garten is known for her decadent, yet simple, recipes – and her cakes are no exception.  i’ve been making her “lemon yogurt cake” for years, but just recently tested out her “beatty’s chocolate cake” recipe.  the chocolate cake is super rich, with strong hints of coffee, and a delicious buttercream icing, and made the perfect birthday cake for a friend of mine.  i took both recipes from ina’s cookbook, “barefoot contessa at home”.

just last night, i decided to give another cake recipe of hers a go – her “carrot and pineapple cake”.  it calls for a pound of shredded carrot, and a whole lot of vegetable oil as the main fat, and it’s really worth the extravagance.  i happened to have the carrots already in my fridge (a great excuse to use up the last pound of a 2 pound bag!) and the only ingredient i had to run out and purchase was the cream cheese for the ridiculously amazing icing (which calls for 3/4 of a pound of cream cheese, 1/2 a pound of butter and a full pound of icing sugar!)

it turned out perfectly!  i omitted the raisins and the pineapple, as some of those who will eat the cake are not particular fans, but i kept in the walnuts and it really made little difference.  the beauty of the cake is in the batter and the shredded carrot which adds a great texture and flavour.

i shredded the carrot using my food processor with the grater attachment – this makes the process a whole lot simpler and faster.

as far as baking cakes goes, this one is a relative breeze, as the oil, eggs and sugar just get beat together without the fuss that goes into the usual creaming of butter, sugar and eggs.  the trick is to sift the flour so that it’s light and well-aerated, before adding it to the wet ingredients.  and not over mixing the batter before adding the carrot.  it’s also essential to sift the icing sugar before adding it to the butter and cream cheese, as this removes all the clumps of sugar and make the finished icing nice and smooth.

in the end, ina’s “carrot and pineapple cake” recipe delivers a dense and rich cake that will not disappoint!  it’s almost worth it for the icing, alone!