Archive for November, 2008

“Street Art, Street Life” Panel Discussion at Aperture, December 3rd at 7 pm

From the Aperture website:

Street Art, Street Life
Panel Discussion

7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The New School
Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12th Street
New York, New York
(212) 229-5353

FREE
Panel discussion featuring artists from the exhibition Street Art, Street Life (currently on view at the Bronx Museum of the Arts), including Barbara Moore, Martha Rosler, and Jamel Shabazz. Moderated by Whitney Rugg, Curatorial Fellow at the Bronx Museum.

This event is part of the series Confounding Expectations: Photography in Context presented in collaboration with Vera List Center for Art and Politics and Parsons the New School for Design.

Related exhibition on view at the Bronx Museum of the Arts:
Sunday, September 14, 2008–Sunday, January 25, 2009
This exhibition, organized by guest curator Lydia Yee, examines the context of contemporary photography and the street as a venue and source of inspiration for artists from the 1950’s through today.

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Public Art opportunities for photographers in Arizona; deadlines December 12

Readers of this blog will know what a fan I am of public art – the widest possible audience (next to the WWW), no admission fee, open all hours… Rebecca Blume Rothman, Public Art Project Manager for the City of Phoenix has shared these CALLS FOR ENTRY deadlines for commissions to create new imagery for projects in Arizona (edited here to feature just photography):

CURRENT ARTIST OPPORTUNITIES:

HISTORIC PHOENIX LANDMARKS PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT
Deadline December 12, 2008

PHOENIX 360
Deadline December 12, 2008

WATERWORKS PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT
Deadline December 12, 2008

HISTORIC PHOENIX LANDMARKS PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT

BACKGROUND
The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture’s Public Art Program is seeking a photographer to create a portfolio depicting historic Phoenix landmarks. As Phoenix continues to develop and expand, this portfolio of images will become a valuable resource for residents, planners and scholars interested in seeing the finest examples of the City’s historic structures and spaces. A selection of the images will be framed and included in the City’s permanent collection. In addition to being exhibited in city buildings, the photographs will be used online and in educational publications to create awareness of the Office of Historic Preservation’s programs.

The completed portfolio should demonstrate the photographer’s vision and document some of the city’s more notable historic landmarks. The landmarks will be selected from the Phoenix Historic Property Register in consultation with the City’s Historic Preservation Office. The number of landmarks will be determined through discussions with the artist, the Phoenix Office of Historic Preservation and the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture.

Photographers working with analog and/or digital methods are encouraged to apply. Materials used to produce final portfolio images must be archival to ensure long-term storage and exhibition potential. The final portfolio must be either 16” x 20” or 20” x 24” for exhibition. The selected photographer will be asked to submit a digital copy of the portfolio in addition to a hard copy, for future publication purposes.

BUDGET
This project has an estimated budget of $35,000.The available budget must cover all costs related to the artwork including artist fee, production, fabrication, framing and scanning of images.

ELIGIBILITY
This project is open to professional artists residing in Arizona. Priority may be given to artists who have not yet received a commission with the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture. City of Phoenix employees, selection panelists and panelists’ immediate family members, are excluded from participation on these projects.


APPLICATION DEADLINE
The postmark deadline for this project is Friday, December 12th. Applications not received in person by 5 p.m. local time or postmarked by this date will be returned unopened and will not be considered. Mail or deliver applications to:

Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture
Public Art Program
ATTN: HP Landmarks
200 W. Washington St., 10th Floor
Phoenix, AZ 85003

SELECTION PROCESS
Artists may be selected directly from initial submitted applications, or the selection panel may elect to interview a limited number of finalists from among the initial applications. The primary criteria for selection will be previous artistic accomplishment as demonstrated in slides of previously completed artwork, and initial approach to the project as demonstrated in the artist’s statement.

SELECTION PANEL
The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture convenes a new selection panel for each public art project. The selection panel will include a community member, a representative from the Historic Preservation Office, artists and other arts professionals. Staff from the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture Public Art Program does not vote. It facilitates the selection process.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
All submissions should include the following:

1) One copy of a current resume, no more than two pages in length and printed on white paper in no less than 10-point font. (Panel members will be obligated to review only the first two pages of each resume.)

2) Fifteen digital images of completed artwork, formatted as follows:
jpeg format, up to 200 dpi, maximum 600 x 800 pixels, presented on a PC compatible CD-ROM. Name files with artist name and number per image list. (e.g.: smith_1.jpg, smith_2.jpg). Please note that excessively large files will not read on the City’s computers and will be cause for disqualification.

Please ensure that all files that you send electronically have been scanned by up-to-date virus scanning software. Incoming files with detected viruses are automatically deleted by the City of Phoenix computer system. The City assumes no responsibility or liability for undelivered or deleted files and emails.

3) One copy of an annotated, typewritten image list identifying images by number and listing media, size of the work (H x W x D), title, date and a brief description of the artwork if necessary.

4) A letter of interest, no more than one page in length, addressing initial approach to the project and any past experience working on commissions or assignment.

5) Three professional references, including telephone numbers, email contact, and mailing address.


6) A self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with sufficient postage for the return of slides/CD if desired. Applications submitted without SASE will not be returned and will be destroyed upon completion of the selection process


DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL ARTWORK. Applicants are strongly encouraged to only send duplicate slides and to retain a complete copy of their application for their records. Late applications will not be considered. Do not bind materials. Every effort will be made to ensure the safe handling of materials submitted. However, the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture and the City of Phoenix will not be responsible for any loss or damage.

QUESTIONS
For more information or a copy of this publication in an alternate format, contact Rebecca Blume Rothman at phone: 602-495-0893, City of Phoenix TTY Relay: 602-534-5500, or email: rebecca.rothman@phoenix.gov.

PHOENIX 360

BACKGROUND
Phoenix today is a far cry from the farm center seen in panoramas photographed a century ago. Its once low buildings surrounded by crop fields and desert have morphed into housing, wide streets and high rises in a constantly changing skyline. Using early documentary and panoramic photographs as a starting point, an Arizona photographer will be commissioned to update the wide view of Phoenix, creating one or more panoramas depicting the character, change and growth of America’s fifth largest city.

This project is open to all Arizona photographers and is best suited for those with a unique interest in landscape, place, and history. The selected artist will work with the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture and the Phoenix Downtown Development Office to determine sites to document. The finished portfolio would become a valuable historical record for future residents and historians of downtown. The photographs will be framed and exhibited in public areas of city buildings. Additional funds may be requested in the future to publish the photographs and exhibit them on the Web.

Photographers working with analog and/or digital methods are encouraged to apply. Materials used to produce final portfolio images must be archival to ensure long-term storage and exhibition potential. The final portfolio must be either 16” x 20” or 20” x 24” for exhibition. The selected photographer will be asked to submit a digital copy of the portfolio in addition to a hard copy, for future publication purposes.

BUDGET
This project has an estimated budget of $35,000.The available budget must cover all costs related to the artwork including artist fee, production, fabrication, framing, and scanning of images.


ELIGIBILITY
This project is open to professional artists residing in Arizona. Priority may be given to artists who have not yet received a commission with the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture. City of Phoenix employees, selection panelists and panelists’ immediate family members, are excluded from participation on these projects.


APPLICATION DEADLINE
The postmark deadline for this project is Friday, December 12th. Applications not received in person by 5 p.m. local time or postmarked by this date will be returned unopened and will not be considered. Mail or deliver applications to:

Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture
Public Art Program
ATTN: Phoenix 360
200 W. Washington St., 10th Floor
Phoenix, AZ 85003

SELECTION PROCESS
Artists may be selected directly from initial submitted applications, or the selection panel may elect to interview a limited number of finalists from among the initial applications. The primary criteria for selection will be previous artistic accomplishment as demonstrated in slides of completed artwork, and initial approach to the project as demonstrated in the artist’s statement.

SELECTION PANEL
The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture convenes a new selection panel for each public art project. The selection panel will include a community member, a representative from the Phoenix Downtown Development Office, artists and other arts professionals. Staff from the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture Public Art Program does not vote. It facilitates the selection process.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
All submissions should include the following:

1) One copy of a current resume, no more than two pages in length and printed on white paper in no less than 10-point font. (Panel members will be obligated to review only the first two pages of each resume.)

2) Fifteen digital images of previous artwork that demonstrates a clear artistic vision and the ability to explore a subject in series, formatted as follows:
jpeg format, up to 200 dpi, maximum 600 x 800 pixels, presented on a PC compatible CD-ROM. Name files with artist name and number per image list. (e.g.: smith_1.jpg, smith_2.jpg). Please note that excessively large files will not read on the City’s computers and will be cause for disqualification.

Please ensure that all files that you send electronically have been scanned by up-to-date virus scanning software. Incoming files with detected viruses are automatically deleted by the City of Phoenix computer system. The City assumes no responsibility or liability for undelivered or deleted files and emails.

3) One copy of an annotated, typewritten image list identifying images by number and listing media, size of the work (H x W x D), title, date and a brief description of the artwork if necessary.

4) A letter of interest, no more than one page in length, addressing initial approach to the project and experience in exploring landscape in a photographic series.

5) Three professional references, including telephone numbers, email contact, and mailing address.


6) A self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with sufficient postage for the return of slides/CD if desired. Applications submitted without SASE will not be returned and will be destroyed upon completion of the selection process


DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL ARTWORK. Applicants are strongly encouraged to only send duplicate slides and to retain a complete copy of their application for their records. Late applications will not be considered. Do not bind materials. Every effort will be made to ensure the safe handling of materials submitted. However, the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture and the City of Phoenix will not be responsible for any loss or damage.

QUESTIONS
For more information or a copy of this publication in an alternate format, contact Rebecca Blume Rothman at phone: 602-495-0893, City of Phoenix TTY Relay: 602-534-5500, or email: rebecca.rothman@phoenix.gov.

WATERWORKS PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT

BACKGROUND
How was it possible for the City of Phoenix to thrive in a desert? Where does our water come from and how is it brought to our homes and businesses? The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture’s Public Art Program seeks a photographer to explore these questions by creating a portfolio of fine-art images that document the modern practice and history of water delivery and processing in the desert. A selection of the images will be framed and included in the City’s permanent collection. In addition to being exhibited in city buildings, the photographs may be published in a postcard book and on the web, or used in conjunction with future public service messages concerning water in the desert.

This project calls for a photographer who combines a significant artistic vision with a clear investigative approach. The selected artist will work with the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture and the Phoenix Water Services Department to determine sites to document.

Photographers working with analog and/or digital methods are encouraged to apply. Materials used to produce final portfolio images must be archival to ensure long-term storage and exhibition potential. The final portfolio must be either 16” x 20” or 20” x 24” for exhibition. The selected photographer will be asked to submit a digital copy of the portfolio in addition to a hard copy, for future publication purposes.

BUDGET
This project has an estimated budget of $35,000.The available budget must cover all costs related to the artwork including artist fee, production, fabrication, framing, and scanning of images.


ELIGIBILITY
This project is open to professional artists residing in Arizona. Priority may be given to artists who have not yet received a commission with the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture. City of Phoenix employees, selection panelists and panelists’ immediate family members, are excluded from participation on these projects.


APPLICATION DEADLINE
The postmark deadline for this project is Friday, December 12th. Applications not received in person by 5 p.m. local time or postmarked by this date will be returned unopened and will not be considered. Mail or deliver applications to:

Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture
Public Art Program
ATTN: Waterworks Photography
200 W. Washington St., 10th Floor
Phoenix, AZ 85003

SELECTION PROCESS
Artists may be selected directly from initial submitted applications, or the selection panel may elect to interview a limited number of finalists from among the initial applications. The primary criteria for selection will be previous artistic accomplishment as demonstrated in slides of previously completed artwork, and initial approach to the project as demonstrated in the artist’s statement.

SELECTION PANEL
The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture convenes a new selection panel for each public art project. The selection panel will include a community member, a representative from the Water Services Department, artists and other arts professionals. Staff from the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture Public Art Program does not vote. It facilitates the selection process.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
All submissions should include the following:

1) One copy of a current resume, no more than two pages in length and printed on white paper in no less than 10-point font. (Panel members will be obligated to review only the first two pages of each resume.)

2) Fifteen digital images of previous artwork that demonstrates the photographer’s individual vision+ and abilities to explore a photographic subject. The format should be as follows:
jpeg format, up to 200 dpi, maximum 600 x 800 pixels, presented on a PC compatible CD-ROM. Name files with artist name and number per image list. (e.g.: smith_1.jpg, smith_2.jpg). Please note that excessively large files will not read on the City’s computers and will be cause for disqualification.

Please ensure that all files that you send electronically have been scanned by up-to-date virus scanning software. Incoming files with detected viruses are automatically deleted by the City of Phoenix computer system. The City assumes no responsibility or liability for undelivered or deleted files and emails.

3) One copy of an annotated, typewritten image list identifying images by number and listing media, size of the work (H x W x D), title, date and a brief description of the artwork if necessary.

4) A letter of interest, no more than one page in length, addressing initial approach to the project and past experience in exploring a photographic subject and working on commissions or assignments.

5) Three professional references, including telephone numbers, email contact, and mailing address.

6) A self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with sufficient postage for the return of slides/CD if desired. Applications submitted without SASE will not be returned and will be destroyed upon completion of the selection process


DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL ARTWORK. Applicants are strongly encouraged to only send duplicate slides and to retain a complete copy of their application for their records. Late applications will not be considered. Do not bind materials. Every effort will be made to ensure the safe handling of materials submitted. However, the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture and the City of Phoenix will not be responsible for any loss or damage.


QUESTIONS
For more information or a copy of this publication in an alternate format, contact Rebecca Blume Rothman at phone: 602-495-0893, City of Phoenix TTY Relay: 602-534-5500, or email: rebecca.rothman@phoenix.gov.

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December 5th, 7:30: Barbara Bosworth and Klea McKenna speak at San Francisco Art Institute

PhotoAlliance presents:

Friday, December 5, 2008
San Francisco Art Institute Lecture Hall 800 Chestnut Street San Francisco, Ca (at Jones Street)
7:30 pm

Barbara Bosworth is professor of photography at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston.

Her images concern our interaction with nature and the environment. Using a large-format 8 by 10 inch view camera to capture portraits of hunters, national champion trees, compelling extended landscapes and extraordinary moments from the every day.

“Barbara Bosworth’s photographs are graced with an uncommon elegance and intimacy,” “The expansive sweep and clarity of her prints open the landscape before us with a deceptive agility, but it is in their richness of experience and sensation that they are so compelling.” Toby Jurovics, Curator
Earlier this fall I had the great pleasure of walking through Barbara’s recent exhibition “Earth and Sky” at the Smithsonian Art Museum with curator Toby Jurovics – a complete delight – don’t miss this link to that show, and don’t miss this lecture!

The Introductory Presentation for this evening: KLEA McKENNA. who also explores the landscape in her work.

Introductory Presentation by Klea McKenna

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Exhibition in Minneapolis honors Curatorial Legacy of Carroll T. Hartwell

“Masterpiece Photographs from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: The Curatorial Legacy of Carroll T. Hartwell

Saturday, October 4, 2008—Sunday, January 25, 2009
Harrison Photography Gallery 365
Free Exhibition

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts holds the Upper Midwest’s most significant permanent collection of fine photographs. Numbering about 10,000 photographs, it covers the entire history of the medium, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day.

This exhibition features the fifty most salient and fully-realized photographs in the museum’s holdings. It begins with a 1845 salt print by the English inventor William Henry Fox Talbot and ends with a 2002 color portrait by Alec Soth, from his series “Sleeping by the Mississippi.” In between, the genres of documentary photography, photo-journalism, and street photography are well represented in the show. Included are Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” and Arthur Rothstein’s “Dust Storm,” both iconic images from the Great Depression. Among the most recognizable pictures are Edward Weston’s “Pepper No. 30” (1930) and Ansel Adams’s “Moonrise, Hernandez” (1941). The names of other photographers represented reads like a Who’s Who? of photography: Berenice Abbott, Diane Arbus, Eugene Atget, Richard Avedon, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Lewis W. Hine, Man Ray, W. Eugene Smith, Alfred Stieglitz, and Paul Strand.

This exhibition marks the first time the MIA has presented such a select grouping of its most important photographs together. The exhibition and its accompanying publication commemorate the significant collecting legacy of Carroll T. (Ted) Hartwell, the founding curator of the department, who died in 2007. It reveals Mr. Hartwell’s critical eye for singular historical pieces as well as his belief in the influence and vitality of accomplished living photographers.

Major support for this exhibition is provided by Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison, Elisabeth J. Dayton, Cy and Paula DeCosse through The Minneapolis Foundation, Walt McCarthy and Clara Ueland, Frederick and Virginia Scheel, Harry M. Drake, Martin and Lora Weinstein, and Myron and Anita Kunin.”

Readers of this blog will recall my remembrance of my mentor Ted Hartwell, first posted on July 11, 2007.

I hope many of you will have the great pleasure of seeing the collection that Ted built, much of it through the generosity of the photography community he inspired in Minnesota.

Aperture published “The Making of a Collection” in 1984 celebrating this wonderful collection.

This exhibition is on view until January 25th, 2009; see related events on JANUARY 15th, including a tour of the exhibition with curator Christian A. Peterson. A must! Christian has worked in the department alongside Ted since the early 1980’s; his insights on the making of this exhibition will be wonderful to hear.

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Benefit for Santa Fe’s “Photo Teens” Program: Photographer Reza and author Sebastian Junger lecture in Santa Fe on December 4th at the Lensic

National Geographic and the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops present

AN EVENING WITH NOTED PHOTOGRAPHER REZA
AND BESTSELLING AUTHOR SEBASTIAN JUNGER
7 p.m. Thursday, December 4
The Lensic, Santa Fe’s Performing Arts Center

The Santa Fe Photographic Workshops partners with National Geographic to
bring together the award-winning photojournalist and humanitarian Reza and
bestselling writer Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm and Fire,
for an evening of spectacular images and compelling conversation.

Reza has devoted his life to bearing witness through his camera to the
struggles and hopes of oppressed people around the world. Culled from a
30-year chronicle of his travels to places of conflict, this remarkable
photographer will share with the Santa Fe community a selection exquisite
images that pair turmoil with hope, joy with despair.

Joining Reza is Sebastian Junger who has traveled the world in his pursuit
of covering life on the edge as a photojournalist for such publications as
National Geographic, Newsweek and Time. Following an unforgettable journey
through war-torn Afghanistan with Reza in the fall of 2000, he has written
the introduction to the recently published book, REZA WAR + PEACE, (National
Geographic Focal Point) that follows Reza’s courageous career to the
frontlines of war and areas of unrest.

The evening’s proceeds will benefit PHOTO TEENS – a program hosted by The
Santa Fe Photographic Workshops to inspire Santa Fe High School students in
their pursuit of photography.

A book signing of REZA WAR + PEACE, with a forward by Sebastian Junger, will
follow the program.

ABOUT PHOTO TEENS
Photo Teens is a fully funded program that brings photography to Santa Fe
high school students at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. The program
begins with a weeklong photography workshop each summer and continues with
three group meetings for critiques on Saturdays in October, January, and
April. Each year a new group of 12 young photographers is chosen for the
program. Michael Webb, photography teacher at Monte del Sol Charter School,
heads the program with guests from the Santa Fe photographic community
contributing their expertise. Thanks to the generosity of a local family,
there is no cost to take part in Photo Teens for the next three years.

EVENT DETAILS
Photographer Reza and author Sebastian Junger: A Conversation
7 p.m. Thursday, December 4
The Lensic, Santa Fe’s Performing Arts Center
$20, $10, $5 (students with ID)
Call The Lensic: 505-988-1234

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HCP 2009 Fellowships: Application deadline EXTENDED to DECEMBER 10

From the HCP Website:

2009 Fellowship Exhibition

Juried by Natasha Egan, Associate Director and Curator, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago

Houston Center for Photography (HCP) announces the 2009 Photography Fellowship Competition. Two fellowship recipients will be awarded $2,000 each, with one Houston-based artist designated as a recipient of the Carol Crow Memorial Fellowship. Natasha Egan will jury the fellowship selection. Each winner will have a solo exhibition at HCP in the summer of 2009.

Natasha Egan is associate director and curator of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago where she has organized dozens of exhibitions such as Alienation and Assimilation: Contemporary Images and Installations from the Republic of Korea; Consuming Nature: Naoya Hatakeyama, Dan Holdsworth, Mark Ruwedel and Toshio Shibata; Manufactured Self about how we identify ourselves through what we consume; Made in China visually focusing on the global impact of manufacturing in China; and Loaded Landscapes looking historical and contemporary sites of trauma and conflict. Egan has contributed essays to such publications as Shimon Attie: The History of Another (Twin Palms Press, 2004); Photography Plugged and Unplugged (Contemporary Magazine 2004); Brain Ulrich: Copia (Aperture, 2006); Beate Gütschow LS / S (Aperture, 2007); and MoCP’s current exhibition Michael Wolf: The Transparent City (Aperture, 2008). In addition, she teaches in the photography and humanities departments at Columbia College Chicago and juries local and national exhibitions.

Application Deadline: Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 6 pm
Notification Sent: Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Accepted Work Due: Friday, May 1, 2009
Exhibition: May 15 – June 28, 2009

Downloadable Resources

HCP_FELLOWHIP_2009.pdf
HCP 2009 Fellowship Call For Entries


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Fotoweek DC Closing Gala tomorrow night, November 22 at National Geographic Society

The closing night event for the innaugural Fotoweek DC will be held tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. at the National Geographic Society, 1600 M Street NW.

There will be much to celebrate, as the accomplishments of many created an amazing event!

Click here to reserve your ticket for tomorrow night’s closing celebration.

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Upcoming Lecture series at MoMA, begins November 25th: “The True, the Beautiful, and the Good: Reconsiderations in a Postmodern, Digital Era”

From the MoMA Adult Education page, these interesting talks on November 25, December 2 and December 9, as follows:

The True, the Beautiful, and the Good: Reconsiderations in a Postmodern, Digital Era

Theater 1 (The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1), T1

November 25
Kinds and Degrees of Truths. Moderated by Peter Galison, Pellegrino University Professor in the History of Science and Physics, Harvard University

December 2
Beauty and Its Successors. Moderated by Paola Antonelli, Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art

December 9
The Good: Seen through the Prisms of Biology, Culture, and History. Moderated by Antonio Damasio, David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience, and Director, Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California

In this unprecedented lecture series, world-renowned psychologist Howard Gardner offers an extended reflection on the concepts of Truth, Beauty, and the Good in a postmodern, digital age. Drawing from philosophy, history, natural sciences, and cultural theory, Gardner analyzes how a sophisticated understanding of the power and limitations of these concepts can come about; and how best to understand what is essential, expendable, or deceptive about truth, beauty, goodness, and their opposites.

Howard Gardner is widely considered one of the foremost psychologists working today. He is the author of over twenty books translated into twenty-seven languages, and several hundred articles. Gardner is best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be assessed by standard psychometric instruments. Building on his studies of intelligence, Gardner is also the author of Leading Minds, Changing Minds, and Extraordinary Minds. He is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Among numerous honors, Gardner received a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1981. In 1990, he was the first American to receive the University of Louisville’s Grawemeyer Award in Education and in 2000 he received a Fellowship from the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He has received honorary degrees from twenty-two colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad.

This program is supported by The Fannie and Stephen Kahn Charitable Foundation.

Purchase Tickets ticket icon

Tickets ($10; members $8; students, seniors, and staff of other museums $5) can be purchased online, or at the Museum’s lobby information desk and Film desk.

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Tonight in NYC: Phyllis Galembo speaks at NYU

At 7 pm tonight, photographer Phyllis Galembo will present an illustrated lecture: “Magic of the Masquerade: Africa and the Caribbean” at La Maison Francaise, 16 Washington Mews (corner of University Place).

Galembo’s lecture is presented in conjunction with the exhibitions “The Poetics of Cloth: African Textiles/Recent Art” at the Grey Art Gallery, “The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design Without End” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and “Shrines and Masquerades” at Washington Square East Galleries, which includes the work of Ms. Galembo.

Galembo’s major exhibition “West African Masquerade” was recently on view at George Eastman House, as well as “Masquerade, A Decade” at Steven Kasher Gallery in NYC.

To read the press release for her Eastman House exhibition, click here. To learn the details of bringing this exhibition to your venue, click here.

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BOOK COVERS! “50 Books 50 Covers” at AIGA NYC through November 28, and “Imitation, Influence…and Coincidence” on view at the Boston Public Library through December 31, 2008

Karl Baden of Covering Photography wrote to inform me of the exhibition about books currently on view at the Boston Public Library:

“Just wanted to make sure you were aware of the exhibition ‘Imitation, Influence… and Coincidence’, at Boston Public Library’s Rare Books Exhibition Space, up through December 31st, 2008. The show will appeal to anyone interested in the history of photography, book cover design and popular culture.

For those of you who live too far away to be unable to view ‘Imitation, Influence… and Coincidence’ in the real world, you may view a virtual tour of the exhibition, complete with photographs and text. It’s not the same as actually attending, but it’s probably the next best thing.

From the BPL website:
Covering Photography — Through Dec. 31 in the Rare Books Dept., Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. An exhibit of books and book covers curated by photographer Karl Baden. The exhibit explores the influence of iconic photographs on book cover design by comparing book covers from Baden’s own collection that he believes were either directly appropriated or influenced by famous photographs, with book illustrations of the original photographs, as the photographer meant them to be seen.
Being obsessed with book jacket design myself, COVERING PHOTOGRAPHY.COM, one of my favorite sites. The home page to the website/archive states “Covering Photography is a web-based archive and resource for the study of the relationship between the history of photography and book cover design. The images / book covers contained in our database may be accessed via a number of categories including by Photographer, Author, Publisher, Publication Date and Designer.”
Don’t miss reading Karl Baden’s INTRODUCTION, which I’ll paste here:
The idea for ‘Covering Photography’ first occurred to me in 2002. I had fallen into the habit of haunting secondhand bookstores, spending hours searching, mostly without success, for classic photography books I couldn’t afford when I was younger, and are now as rare as hen’s teeth. While prowling the stacks, I began to notice familiar images from the History of Photography on the covers of novels, textbooks and volumes of poetry; books whose nominal subject matter didn’t necessarily have a literal correspondence with the often iconic photographs that graced their jackets. Curious about this metaphorical relationship between cover and content, I began to assemble a collection that currently numbers more than 1,500 volumes, includes over 350 photographers, and spans the history of the medium, from Niépce, Daguerre and Fox Talbot through Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, Carrie Mae Weems and other established contemporary practitioners. Also included in this collection is the work of a number of individuals who, though not primarily known as photographers, have produced photographic, or photographically-based, work which has had an impact on the medium. Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol are two such examples. Eudora Welty, best known as a writer, is another.In the Fall of 2005, Boston College’s Instructional Design and eTeaching Services the undertook the construction of a database and hosting of a website that would allow anyone with a computer and an internet connection to access the collection via five primary categories: Photographer, Author, Publisher, Publication date and Designer.

In the year that followed, covers were scanned, data was collected and cross-referenced, consultants were consulted. Now, within the original five categories, additional information may be found regarding Image Title, Book Genre (novel, poetry, etc), Photo Genre (documentary, portrait, etc) and Group (Photo-Secession, FSA, Magnum, etc). Also noted are instances where two or more books use versions of the same image for their cover design.

During it’s transformation from photograph to book cover, the original image is often cropped, colored, reversed or otherwise altered to fit the aesthetic intent of the designer or the more practical concerns of the publisher. In some cases the image has been re-staged by another photographer, or even copied into another medium. All this manipulation prompts the question: How is a photograph, initially conceived as an independent aesthetic object, re-used as a visual cipher for a book’s subject, or as an attention-getting sales device; i.e., how does a shift in context affect a photograph’s meaning? There is no simple answer to this question. In truth, the relationship between cover image and book content runs the gamut, from strictly literal to highly symbolic.

Clearly, the main determining factor in the outcome of this porocess is the designer of the cover: Most designers rummage through monographs and anthologies of photographs as a matter of course, in search of source material and inspiration. A designer can choose to respect the integrity of an image, and use it unaltered, or simply see it as another visual prop, to be manipulated as need arises, in order to fit parameters posed by layout, typography and, last but not least, budget. (I must note at this point that I neither make nor imply any judgment concerning the ‘ethics’ of how a photograph is re-used. It is all interesting to me).

A second determining factor in image use is book content. A biography, for example, will often have a photo of its subject on the cover; whether that photo is by Richard Avedon or a more obscure talent, it’s connection to the book’s main theme is direct and precise. Similarly, books about global strife and violent conflict may employ images by Robert Capa, W. Eugene Smith, James Nachtwey or similarly well-known war photographers on their covers, but the relationship of those images to text, down to the specific war and battle, is usually a linear one. Other topics allow more wiggle room.

Metaphoric potential increases when a book’s subject involves, say, love and/or sex, particularly when poetry is the form. Verse, by it’s nature, has a more abstract relationship to literary content, and the juxtapositional possibilities of cover and subject for a volume of poetry are often limited only by the designer’s imagination. Karl Blossfeldt and Eugene Atget both seem popular choices for poetry, romance and memoir. Photos by Bruce Davidson or André Kertész contribute urban sophistication and a sense of mystery to romance and seduction, while Brassai adds a gritty realism (Photographs from Davidson’s early ‘Brooklyn Gang‘ series are by far the most popular book cover choice of his many bodies of work; his iconic image of two teens necking in the back seat of a car appears on the softcover editions of at least three books).

If a cover idea calls for nudity (or what passes for nudity in mainstream publishing), the list of photographic candidates is long, ranging (alphabetically) from E. J. Bellocq through Edward Weston. One of the most striking uses of the human form on book jackets comes from Bill Brandt’s 1961 opus, ‘Perspective of the Nude’; work from which can be found on the covers of at least a half-dozen titles.

Although the notion of how the ‘idea’ of the original photograph relates to the content of the book still constitutes the core of this collection, I have expanded the philosophical parameters of the collection to include books where the relationship is more direct. Inclusivity, I feel, is more conducive to increasing knowledge.

‘Covering Photography’ is by it’s nature a work in progress, and meant to be interactive. Titles are added on a regular basis, and commentary is encouraged, whether it refers to the site as a whole, to individual photographers or to any of the covers (every page, including the home page, contains a link to post comments). Because the site, due to my own background, emphasizes a photohistorical point of view, I am particularly interested in comments which approach the material from a literary or book design context. My hope is that this website and database may function as an alternative, albeit atypical, take on the nexus of literature, graphic design and photographic history. Karl Baden”

Note: Portions of the above introduction were originally published in Eye Magazine, Issue No. 59.

Continue reading on the site as Karl shares the “Collection Parameters” “Guidelines for Searching” and more.

Thank you, Karl, for creating and maintaining such an important archive!

PS to those in NYC: One of my favorite shows of the year, “50 Books 50 Covers” closed November 26th at the AIGA National Design Center:

This exhibition showcases selections from the “AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers” competition, which aims to identify the 50 best-designed books and book covers of the year. Selections were made by a distinguished jury and become part of the AIGA Design Archives, where images, full credits, project statements and jurors’ comments for all selections are available.

The exhibition will be on display at the AIGA National Design Center in New York.

Gallery hours:

Monday through Thursday: 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Friday: 11:00 a.m–5:00 p.m.

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