Stelarc

If your not already familiar with the artist Stelarc, then prepare to be mesmerized/disgusted/impressed or any other of the many reactions his work can produce.

Artist Statement:
Stelarc is a performance artist who has visually probed and acoustically amplified his body. He has made 3 films of the inside of his body. Between 1976-1988 he completed 25 body suspension performances with hooks into the skin. He has used medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, Virtual Reality systems, the Internet and biotechnology to explore alternate, intimate and involuntary interfaces with the body. He has performed with a THIRD HAND, a VIRTUAL ARM, a STOMACH SCULPTURE and EXOSKELETON, a 6-legged walking robot. His FRACTAL FLESH, PING BODY and PARASITE performances explored involuntary, remote and internet choreography of the body with electrical stimulation of the muscles. His PROSTHETIC HEAD is an embodied conversational agent that speaks to the person who interrogates it. He is surgically constructing an EXTRA EAR on his arm that will be internet enabled, making it publicly accessible acoustical organ for people in other places. He is presently performing as his avatar from his SECOND LIFE site.

This post will showcase one of his more recent pieces, Ear on Arm.

"I have always been intrigued about engineering a soft prosthesis using my own skin, as a permanent modification of the body architecture. The assumption being that if the body was altered it might mean adjusting its awareness. Engineering an alternate anatomical architecture, one that also performs telematically. Certainly what becomes important now is not merely the body's identity, but its connectivity- not its mobility or location, but its interface. In these projects and performances, a prosthesis is not seen as a sign of lack but rather as a symptom of excess. As technology proliferates and microminiaturizes it becomes biocompatible in both scale and substance and is incorporated as a component of the body. These prosthetic attachments and implants are not simply replacements for a part of the body that has been traumatized or has been amputated. These are prosthetic objects that augment the body's architecture, engineering extended operational systems of bodies and bits of bodies, spatially separated but electronically connected."

Spotlight: Eleni Dimaio

Eleni Dimaio's works are at once playful and arresting.  Reminiscent of childhood simplicity and comicality, they serve as catalysts of present state contemplations.  Her usually innocent subject matters are perverted but controlled and provocative.  Among her work, one finds themselves considering the shallow nature of a society that allows so much of itself to be influenced by value judgments and material aspirations.

All of her works are functional in some way or another, always inviting viewers to become part of the work.  A twisted clown sculpture brandishing a mirror doubles as a mask with peep holes directing viewers to an image of themselves as the outsider.  A decapitated seal yielding a mirror where it's wound should be and lying in a pool of glitter blood creates a similar eulogy for the less fortunate or adverse.  She also makes traditional clay forms like vases and dinner plates, but all in her own vein (see baby vases above).

Eleni has a knack for maintaining an optimistic and satirical attitude on top of it all.  I usually don't go for work like this, but there is something raw and honest about them.  They are strange but natural, playful and contemplative.  Keep an eye out everyone.

Eleni is a ceramics artist currently living and working in Cleveland, OH.  She received her BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art this year.  She is an awesome person and a killer friend.  To view her c/v, more of her work, or to contact her, visit her blog:

Eleni Dimaio's Rainbow Connection

Noise-o-Rama

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) Cleveland is hosting another exciting MoCA Mix after having a long hiatus of musical events. This particular night will be super exciting being that Aaron Dilloway (co-founder of Wolf Eyes) and local sound guru Flux Monkey (Bbob Drake) will be performing!!

I'm super excited to attend this FREE event. It's also very refreshing to see institutions like MoCA endorsing this type of music as well as supporting NE Ohio artists in their endeavor to create such things.

The event will be Wed. August 4, 2010 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland.

For more info on Noise-o-Rama click this:

http://mocacleveland.org/current_events.php?event_id=243

To check out Flux Monkey click this:

http://fluxmonkey.com/index.htm

To peruse Aaron Dilloways record label click this:

http://www.hansonrecords.net/

Jeff Koons Interview

Great interview with Jeff Koons:

http://www.artreview.com/video/interview-with-jeff-koons

Such lax wisdom from one of the art worlds most interesting contenders.