Chto delat? (2003-2007)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Chto delat/What is to be done? was founded in early 2003 in Petersburg by a workgroup of artists, critics, philosophers, and writers from Petersburg, Moscow, and Nizhny Novgorod (see full list of participants on the web site) with the goal of merging political theory, art, and activism.

Since then, Chto delat has been publishing an English-Russian newspaper on issues central to engaged culture, with a special focus on the relationship between a repoliticization of Russian intellectual culture and its broader international context. These newspapers are usually produced in the context of collective initiatives such as art projects or conferences.

The group was founded in May 2003 in Petersburg in an action called “The Refoundation of Petersburg .” Shortly afterwards, the original, as yet nameless core group began publishing a newspaper called Chto delat/What is to be done? The name of the group derives from a novel by the Russian 19th author Nikolai Chernyshevsky, and immediately brings reminiscences of the first socialist worker’s self-organizations in Russia, which Lenin actualized in his “What is to be done?” (1902). Chto delat sees itself as a self-organizing platform for cultural workers intent on politicizing their “knowledge production” through reflections and redefinitions of an engaged autonomy for cultural practice today.


The platform Chto delat is coordinated by a workgroup including following members: Olga Egorova/Tsaplya (artist, Petersburg), Artiom Magun (philosopher, Petersburg), Nikolai Oleinikov (artist, Moscow), Natalia Pershina/Glucklya (artist, Petersburg), Alexei Penzin (philosopher, Moscow), David Riff (art critic, Moscow), Alexander Skidan (poet, critic, Petersburg), Kirill Shuvalov (artist, Petersburg), Oxana Timofeeva (philosopher, Moscow), and Dmitry Vilensky (artist, Petersburg).
Chto delat works through collective initiatives organized by “art soviets,” inspired by the councils formed in revolutionary Russia during the early 20th century. These “art soviets” want to trigger a prototypical social model of participatory democracy, translating an open system for the generation of new forms of solidarity into the realm of contemporary cultural work. The “art soviet” takes on the function of a counter-power that plans, localizes and executes projects collectively.

Usually, this process results in artistic interventions, exhibitions, or artworks (video films, radio plays, performances), which, in turn, trigger new issues of the newspaper. Most of these projects have a two-fold intent: on the one hand, we are interested in the translatability and actualization of left theory (classical Marxism, post-structuralism, post-operaism, critical theory) and artistic practice (situationism, documentalism, urbanism, realism) under post-Soviet conditions and how this relates to parallel efforts elsewhere. On the other hand, we have also often focused on actualizations of the potential of the Soviet past repressed in the course of Soviet history, floating signifiers that need to be captured and used before they are subsumed totally by the present mode of production.

To give a few examples: in 2004-2005, Chto delat carried out an artistic examination of a working class neighborhood in Petersburg, attempting to actualize the communitarian utopias of its constructivist urbanity through the community, adrift with an enactment of Debord’s derive. This research into the Fordist utopia of the late 1920s and its incomplete, uneven transition to late capitalism was presented in two exhibitions and a newspaper. Another actualization of the Soviet legacy can be found in the project “Builders” (2005), in which the group restaged a classical socialist realist masterpiece from the late 1950s, which then falls apart and comes back together. In September 2006, Chto delat collaborated on a project called “Self-Educations”, an international exhibition and seminars-program at the NCCA in Moscow, dedicated to alternative, community-based forms of self-learning as emancipatory practices.

All of these projects have been accompanied by newspapers. 17 newspapers have been produced so far. The newspaper is fully bilingual (English/Russian). The editorial process draws artists, critics, activists and philosophers into a heated editorial debate, which results in theoretical essays, art projects, open-source translations, questionnaires, dialogues, and comic strips. This take-away publication is distributed for free at congresses or exhibitions, social forums and rallies where it reaches a broader cultural public. A complete set of issues, as well as documentations of art projects and current information can be found on this site.

David Riff and Dmitry Vilensky


Since 2003, the workgroup Chto delat has been publishing a newspaper. The newspaper is edited by Dmitry Vilensky and David Riff in collaboration with the workgroup Chto delat.

The newspaper is bilingual (Russian/English), and appears on an irregular basis (roughly once every 2 months). It varies between 16 and 24 pages (A3). Its editions (3,000- 9,000 copies) are distributed for free at cultural events and exhibitions by its producers. A visual documentation of the newspaper’s production and distribution can be found in the Art Projects section here.

Each newspaper addresses a theme or problem central to the search for new political subjectivities, and their impact on art, activism, philosophy, and cultural theory. So far, the rubrics and sections of the paper have followed a free format, depending on theme at hand. There are no exhibition reviews. The focus is on the local Russian situation, which the newspaper tries to link to a broader international context. Contributors include artists, art theorists, philosophers, activists, and writers from Russia, Western Europe and the United States.


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at 12:49 PM  

Mary Ann Caws - The Eye In The Text (1981)
Friday, October 19, 2007

The Eye in the Text: Essays on Perception, Mannerist to Modern (Princeton Essays on the Arts Series: No. 1)

Mary Ann Caws is Distinguished Professor of English, French, and Comparative Literature at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and has taught at Barnard College, Princeton University, and the Université de Paris at Jussieu. She has held Guggenheim, NEH, and Getty Fellowships, experienced (delightfully) two residences at Bellagio, and served as the President of the Modern Language Association and the American Comparative Literature Association. She has published a series of illustrated biographies: on Dora Maar (Picasso's Weeping Woman), on Virginia Woolf, on Marcel Proust, on Pablo Picasso (particularly in his relation to poets), and on Henry James, and writes mostly about the subject of art and text (The Eye in the Text; Robert Motherwell with Pen and Brush; Glorious Eccentrics: Modernist Women Painting and Writing). She has published a memoir (To the Boathouse), written on and translated French poets (André Breton, Yves Bonnefoy, René Char, Robert Desnos, Paul Eluard, Pierre Reverdy, Tristan Tzara) and found herself Surprised in Translation. For some odd reason, she enjoys editing anthologies (the HarperCollins World Reader; Surrealist Painters and Poets; Surrealist Love Poems; Surrealism; and the Yale Book of Twentieth Century French Poetry.).

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at 8:45 PM  

Mark Von Schlegell - High Wichita (2007)
Monday, October 8, 2007

Mark von Schlegell's fiction scrambles the codes of traditional science fiction and fantasy with high literature and philosophy into a psychedelic weave of theory and pulp tradition.

In High Wichita you are, roughly said, led through the process of dealing with aesthetic artifacts in the future.


Share this via demonoid or karagarga. Mark von Schlegell is published by Semiotext(e) & Pork Salad Press among others.

at 12:48 AM  

Bert Könighofer & David Kleinl - Notes on Breakcore (2006)
Thursday, October 4, 2007



Features:
Aaaron Spectre/Drumcorps, Ambassador21, Amtrak, Baseck, Bong-Ra, Christoph Fringeli, Nicolas Chevreux (Ad Noiseam rec.), Dan Doormouse, Dev/Null, Dj Scotch Egg, Drop The Lime, Eiterherd, Electric Kettle, Hecate, Hrvatski, I:Gor, Jason Forrest, Kid606, Knifehandchop, LFO Demon, Mike Paradinas(u-zig), Parasite, Pure, Rotator, Society Suckers, Tim Terror + Rik Mayhem, Venetian Snares, Xanopticon, mm.

Karagarga / Demonoid.

at 5:27 PM  

6 documentaries about the work of Christo & Jeanne-Claude (1987-2003)

Deborah Dickson - Christo in Paris (1990) / Karagarga / Demonoid

It took Christo & Jeanne-Claude ten years to get permission from the Parisian government to to wrap the famous Pont Neuf in Paris, France.


Albert Maysles, David Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin - Running Fence (1978) / Karagarga / Demonoid

This video documents the creation of a 24-mile silk fence which runs through Marin and Sonoma countryside to the (and into the) sea, that Christo erected in the '70s. Much of the 58-minute running time it taken up by his local fights to get permits and permission to run through ranches, over roads, and into the beach property.


Ellen Giffard, Albert Maysles & David Maysles - Christo's Valley Curtain (1974) / Karagarga / Demonoid

 Short and to-the-point documentary covering Christo's first large public work - the bright neon-orange valley curtain in Colorado, which spanned the gulf between two small mountains.


Henry Corra, Albert Maysles & Grahame Weinbren - Umbrellas (1994) / Karagarga / Demonoid

1760 umbrellas were put up by Christo & Jeanne-Claude close to Interstate 5 near Gorman in California in Oct 1991 (for only 3 weeks).


Albert Maysles - Islands (1987) / Karagarga / Demonoid

Using 6.5 million square feet of floating pink fabric, Christo and Jeanne-Claude encircled eleven islands in Miami's Biscayne Bay, extending the perimeter of each island by 200 feet. An elaborate undertaking that involved legions of contractors, engineers, attorneys, and seamstresses, Surrounded Islands also required extensive consultation with marine biologists and ornithologists. Ultimately, the project benefited its surroundings: Christo and Jeanne-Claude's crew removed forty tons of garbage from the uninhabited islands.

Evoking hibiscus flowers and flamingos, the vibrant woven polypropylene fabric was sewn to correspond to the contours of each island. As the unfurling began on 4 May 1983, the islands themselves seemed to bloom. The artists and their crew of 430 surrounded the last island three days later. Remaining on view for two weeks, the work was visible to the public from the causeways, the land, the water, and the air.



Albert Maysles - Interview with Christo, Jean-Claude and Albert Maysles (2003) / Karagarga / Demonoid


at 1:43 PM  

Chris Burden - Documentation of Selected Works (1971-74)
Monday, October 1, 2007


This video consists of 11 works by Chris Burden, whom throughout the video explains what we see as well as sharing thoughts on some of the more general issues regarding representation of performance. Included are Shoot (1971), in which Burden allows himself to be shot in the arm; Bed Piece (1972), in which he stayed in bed in a gallery for twenty-two days; and Through the Night Softly (1973), in which Burden is seen dragging himself over shards of broken glass. Also included are: 220 (1971) Deadman (1972) Fire Roll (1973) Icarus (1973) B.C. Mexico (1973) TV Ad (1973) Back to You (1974) Velvet Water (1974).

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at 10:22 PM  

Francis Alÿs - Nightwatch (2004) & Seven Walks (2005)
Friday, September 28, 2007

The Belgian artist Francis Alÿs collaborated with the National Portrait Gallery to create a piece generated by the gallery's state-of-the-art internal CCTV system.

Alÿs released a fox, called Bandit, into the deserted gallery at night. Seen from the high viewpoint of the security cameras, the fox looks a little puzzled among all the paintings of the great and the good. Like the guards, the fox is out of context; an intruder, observed dispassionately.


This rip includes two videos from his 2005 pieces "Seven Walks" in London. This video shows the artist rattling a stick along railings of the crescents in Regents Park. This may not sound promising but as this lone figure wanders at variance with the surrounding buildings, the effect is subtly disturbing.

Karagarga; Nightwatch and Seven Walks. Demonoid; Nightwatch and Seven Walks.

at 2:53 PM  

Supersilent Discography
Friday, September 21, 2007

Over 3 hours totally improvised deathjazzambientavantrock from new limitstretching quartet featuring members and ex-members from Terje Rypdal Skywards, Farmers Market, Motorpsycho, Deathprod and Veslefrekk.

Supersilent 1-3 at Karagarga.

New, quite stunning recordings from the quartet spearheading the new wave of Norwegian jazz. Colourful, dynamic and more varied than their debut, it combines improvisation and electronics, without a drumloop or computer in sight.

Supersilent 4 at Karagarga.

Producer and member Helge Sten (Deathprod) went through some 30 hours of live recordings to come up with this 70 minute collection, including selections from Oslo, London and Bologna. Mostly a calmer, more reflective side of Supersilent that those familiar with their concerts might have experienced. As always an utterly thrilling experience in the art of improvised soundcreation and even more difficult to define than before.

Supersilent 5 at Karagarga.

Supersilent have been a solid cornerstone in Rune Grammofon since the very beginning and are seen by many as the very essence of the label. From the monumental hardcore blizzard storms of "1-3" to the elegant electrojazz of "4" and the almost quiet soundscapes of "5", this new album is where the sum of all things Supersilent comes together in a shape of almost epic proportions. Like "1-3" and "Scorch Trio" it was recorded at Athletic Sound in Halden, Norway. More than ever it appears clear that their music lives in a no man's land between the genres, somewhere between rock, electronica, jazz and modern composition. As with all their recordings and live performances, everything here is improvised. That most of the music on "6" appears to be written or at least arranged, is testament to the high, almost telepatic level they work at . Needless to say, there are no overdubs. Often being labelled jazz because of the improvising aspect of the music and the fact that three of the members come from a jazz background, with "6" they are just as likely to attract followers of bands such as Goodspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Rós, King Crimson, (late) Talk Talk or Popol Vuh.

Supersilent 6 at Karagarga.

Note: This is ONLY the audio from the dvd. The dvd can be found here.

Finally we can present this longawaited treat of a concert film. The sold out concert took place in Oslo in August last year and was beautifully captured by Kim Hiorthøy and friends to 16 mm black and white film, and later edited by Hiorthøy. The sound was recorded by Athletic Sound and mixed by Helge Sten. Needless to say, it looks and sounds fantastic. The concert itself was rewarded a six out of six review at the time in Norway´s major national paper Aftenposten. You get the complete concert, 109 minutes, 6 tracks, in the same order as on the night, there are no overdubs or repairs. And there is no bonus material, not even a menu. This is a conscious decision by the director, artist and label. We wanted it to work like a cd, with instant access to the concert material and individual tracks. Both sound and picture has been coded in the best possible way. It´s a DVD-9 (as opposed to the more normal DVD-5), meaning it´s a dual layer disc with more space for information and therefore better picture quality. In addition to the standard Dolby Digital, there is also a DTS sound option for those with players equipped for this. Please note that we now have both a PAL version and a NTSC version available. NTSC is generally used in North America, Central America, Japan and Taiwan and some countries in South America and Asia. Today NTSC versions will play in most PAL territories while it might be more difficult the other way around. Apart from this coding, the versions are identical. Please note that it is your own responsibility to order the correct version for your player.

Supersilent 7 at Karagarga( audio/dvd).

Helge Sten, Ståle Storløkken, Arve Henriksen and Jarle Vespestad celebrate 10 years as a groundbreaking quartet with their first studio album in almost 5 years. Their music lives in a no-man's-land between the genres, somewhere between rock, electronica, jazz and modern composition. Yes, we say composition because when listening it´s not far fetched to think it could have been, although everything here is improvised, as it has always been with Supersilent. With ”8” they have yet again re-invented themselves, exploring more abstract and mysterious pathways and ending up even further away from traditional categories.
The album is produced by Deathprod and mastered by US mastering guru Bob Katz.

Supersilent 8 at Karagarga.

Demonoid links will be added later.

at 11:29 AM  

Olga Neuwirth - Lost Highway (2007)
Sunday, September 16, 2007

Lost Highway is a composition that decidedly lives from the transformation of physical spaces, diverse inner and outer spaces, into sound spaces. In performance, this is achieved through various, three-dimensional sound projections, which surround the audience with playing, live-electronics, and virtual acoustics, resulting in different experiential relationships from within and without, close by, and from a distance. The illustrations of these sound spaces and notes naturally are only an attempt to approach the experience in the theater. Fortunately, the possibilities of surround-techniques have come to our aid, which envelop the listener with alternating, overlaying sound-strata. Thus, the present production was intended to be mixed for 5.1 surround.


Olga Neuwirth participates in Documenta12 with a work called '…miramondo multiplo…'. The piece consists of a video along with various bits of sound, which fills the somewhat intimate room at Neue Gallerie. Screenshot from the video below.


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at 9:30 PM  

Havblik Audio - Heroes Of September (2007)
Thursday, August 30, 2007

Havblik Audio is a danish duo based in Copenhagen. Their sound scape primarily consists of sounds related to the ocean; water, seagulls, fishing boats, etc. This is a limited cd-r release containing a 24min. track.

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at 12:26 PM  

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