Chicana Feliz
a New Media Art Blog fighting Cognitive Dissonance to learn about New Genres of Art

Media Contact:
Roxanne Umphery-Lucas
443-263-1812

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum Presents the Special Exhibit:
A People’s Geography: The Spaces of African American Life

May 2, 2008 ? September 7, 2008

For Immediate Release:

Baltimore, Maryland (April 4, 2008) A People’s Geography: The Spaces of African American Life
focuses on the relationships African Americans have to the geography of their environment. Through the
eyes of contemporary artists, A People’s Geography imagines the spaces African Americans have
created and navigated, from slavery to the present.

Conceived as a multi-media experience, the exhibition includes photography, film, and installations that
reveal spaces sacred and profane, architectural and anatomical, public and private, which shape the legacy
of Africans in the Americas. For example, churches and barbershops have a special significance in the
cultural geography of African American experience. However, slave ship hulls and cotton fields also have
forged the parameters of a collective history and memory. The exhibition features twenty artists who
explore these varied sites of meaning. Among the artists included are Terry Boddie, Sheila Pree Bright,
Linda Day Clark, Jason Miccolo Johnson, and Stephen Marc. The exhibition spans three thousand plus
square feet, and includes a reading area and video installation space. A brochure accompanies the
exhibition.

BACKGROUND
In the transit of enslaved persons between West Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States?which is
referred to as the “Middle Passage”African captives were tightly packed into cramped ships to maximize
the number of persons transported. Contemporary artists use the image of sardine-like ship hulls to
provide a visual record of that horrific voyage in which thousands of Africans died. Once Africans arrived on
these shores, they were subjected to life in servitude in homes and on plantations. But not all enslaved
persons obliged; some sought to escape. Artists in the exhibition creatively interpret the experiences of
escape on the Underground Railroad?not a true railroad, but a network of safe spaces in which fleeing
slaves could take shelter. In tracing these places and times past, the exhibition visualizes the landmarks
and landscapes of African American journeys forward.

Although many African Americans were forced into over-crowded living quarters during and after slavery,
the home still has been a source of pride for African Americans. Home is a space for nurturing children,
caring for elders, and creating sanctuaries away from the outside world. By making and displaying quilts as
well as other functional, but decorative objects, African Americans transformed humble living spaces into
sites of beauty and admiration. Outside the home, barbershops and churches serve as key spaces for
rituals of African American life. More than a place to get one?s hair cut, the barbershop is a site of
uncensored conversations about local and national politics, about public heroes and private failures, and
about race in America. Similarly, the church has been a stabilizing force in black communities, providing
counsel and comfort to worshipers in all sectors of society. These spaces nurture our outer selves and
inner spirit.

As A People’s Geography makes evident, all of the spaces African Americans navigate are charged with
and changed by our presence. Whether it is the city streets pulsing with the sounds of teenagers or the
quiet interiors of our grandparents. homes, the spaces of our lives are filled with rhythms and textures that
speak to our shared memory and evolving legacy.

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture produced A People’s
Geography: The Spaces of African American Life to complement the Maps: Finding Our Place in the
World exhibition at the Walters Art Museum, and as part of the spring 2008 Festival of Maps in Baltimore.

INSTITUTION
The Reginald F. Lewis Museum is Baltimore’s premier facility highlighting the history and accomplishments
of African Americans with a special focus on Maryland’s African American community. Through its
permanent exhibitions, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum is dedicated to sharing the courageous journeys
toward freedom and self-determination made by African American Marylanders. Through its changing
exhibitions, the museum presents the history and culture of Africans throughout the Diaspora. The Reginald
F. Lewis Museum is located near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor at the corner of Pratt and President Streets. For
more information, please call 443-263-1800 or visit the museum?s website at
www.AfricanAmericanCulture.org

Exhibition Fact Sheet

Title: A People’s Geography: The Spaces of African American Life

Venue: The Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Baltimore, Maryland

Dates: May 2, 2008 through September 7, 2008

Description: Through the eyes of contemporary artists, A People’s Geography imagines
the spaces African Americans have created and navigated, from slavery to
the present.

Organizer: The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and
Culture organized A People’s Geography: The Spaces of African
American Life to complement the Maps: Finding Our Place in the World
exhibition at the Walters Art Museum, and as part of the spring 2008 Festival
of Maps in Baltimore.

Curator: Michelle Joan Wilkinson, Ph.D.

Contact: Roxanne Umphery-Lucas 443-263-1812

Hours: Regular museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Sunday 12:00 noon ? 5:00 pm. The Museum is closed on Mondays and
certain holidays

Admission: Admission is $8 adults, $6 seniors and students with I.D., 6 years and under
free and museum members are free. The museum box office accepts cash,
American Express, MasterCard, Visa and Discover.

Other Info: The 82,000 square-foot facility features ample permanent and changing
exhibition space; interactive learning environments, auditorium, resource center, oral history recording studio, museum shop, cafe, classrooms including a distance learning lab, meeting rooms, outside terrace and reception areas.

World Wall Mexico City SPARC 2006, originally uploaded by The City Project.

I’m with Judy baca and she told me about this latest installation.

It’s a Peace Mural and this is at the Museo de la Ciudad en Mexico DF!

Judy Baca runs this amazing center in Venice, Beach California where she specializes in “Digital Murals.”

Literally she works on digital files and then outsources the image out to a professional print shop.

What comes out is a super high resolution, larger than a billboard print out. It is so large, it literally is modernizing techniques by Siqueiros and Diego Rivera.

She is a modern muralist.

Cinco de MayPole, originally uploaded by yellowbutterknife.

This was last night @ the Echo off of Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles.

Nao’s piece involved Rosie the Riveter, This pole, The history of the May Pole and the history of Cinco de Mayo.

We had a lot of fun and nao took tons of cute pictures.

0013_087_Feb2008, originally uploaded by Emerging Design & Photography.

A benefit for

Highways Performance Space

May, 10 2008 at Highways’ 19th Birthday: “Nervous Breakdown”
1651 18th St., Santa Monica, California 90404
Cost : $30/$25

Saturday, May 10 features an eclectic mix of new performance, music, and spoken word by members of Highways’ illustrious alumni. ARTEL presents “A Chapter from The Legendary Times of Bulgakov,” an excerpt from their full-length performance The Legendary Times of Bulgakov. Levan D. Hawkins presents a new performance incorporating drama, poetry, music, and dance with “I Did it My Way,” in which, after experiencing emotional trauma, a man learns his greatest lesson from Aretha Franklin. Mira Kingsley presents an excerpt from her current full length piece, Yes is a long time, written by Sibyl O’Malley, and performed by Kingsley and Antonio Anagaran, Jr. Dorian Wood and special guest Killsonic perform “The Pond,” a three-part lullaby about an army of children who wander into a dark forest and discover a deep, dark truth. The evening also includes a new, original performance by Nao Bustamante.

Nao is performing the piece titled “Given Over to Want”.

FRIDAY
blue13 dance company
DanceGood.Damnit!!!
Naked with Shoes (Anne + Jeff Grimaldo)
Rosanna Gamson/World Wide

SATURDAY
ARTEL
Nao Bustamante
LeVan D. Hawkins
Mira Kingsley
Dorian Wood

Fri + Sat 8:30pm $20/$15

www.highwaysperformance.org

1st Annual Encuentro Xican@ & 2nd Annual Noche de FlorYCanto

because you’re down for your gente

Global

Information

Description

The Xicana/o Culture Working Group at U.C. Berkeley proudly presents:

The 1st Annual Encuentro Xican@

Friday, May 9th, 2008
9:30 A.M. – 5:30 P.M.
Tilden Room, MLK Student Union

A community gathering of activists, scholars, poets, public intellectuals, and dreamers.

Featuring:

A Keynote address by Chicano activist and scholar Dr. Carlos Munoz, Jr.

Panels on Immigrant Rights and Youth Violence Prevention

An Artist Plenary with spoken word artist Paul Flores, writer Carla Trujillo, visual artist Melanie Cervantes, and Professor Laura Perez

FOLLOWED BY

Encuentro Xican@ Dinner Reception
5:00 - 6:30 P.M. in the English Lounge (330 Wheeler)

AND…

The 2nd Annual Noche de Florycanto

6:30-9:30PM
Wheeler Hall, Maude Fife Room, U.C. Berkeley

Featuring:

Nahuatl Song opening/blessing by Xicana songstress Eutimia Montoya

A rare public appearance & reading by the legendary Chicano poet

JOSE MONTOYA

The Winners of the 2nd Annual Florycanto Chicana/o Poetry Prize

Naomi Quinonez

Achiote Press poets: Javier Huerta and Gabriela Erandi Rico

Alejandro Perez

And a special performance by: The Brown Buffalo Project

This event is wheelchair-accessible, Free & Open to the Public

For more information, please contact Marcelle Maese-Cohen (mmaesecohen@berkeley.edu) or Gaby Erandi Rico (erandi_rico@berkeley.edu)

Brought to you by: The Xicana/o Culture Working Group, The Townsend
Center, The Graduate Assembly, The Ethnic Studies 5th Account, The Center for Race and Gender, Department of English, Program in Chicano/Latino Studies, Department of Ethnic Studies, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

RUSE
performance lounge
@
The Echo
Presents :

CINCO DE MAYPOLE
Thursday May 1st
$5.00 cover
18 and over
Doors open 8pm
Performances 9pm

A celebration of all things May and Pole

Featuring performances by:

The Poor Dog Group
Ayanna Hampton
Kristina Wong
Gregory Barnett
Meg Wolfe
Anna Scott
Pat Payne
and
Nao Bustamante

arts and crafts on the patio
special surprise guests
your hosts:
The Poor Dog Group and
Marcus Kuiland-Nazario
more info:
participant_observer@yahoo.com

Marcus Kuiland-Nazario
Participant/Observer
Creative Services @
The 18th Street Arts Center
1637 18th Street
SM CA 90404
323)445-3393

www.18thStreet.org
www.myspace.com/guttershrine
www.facebook.com
www.carsla.net

If you get to be old enough, you get to be new again.
- George Burns

Of course, the test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones.
- Sebastian Horsley

To me, fashion is civilization. Pick any piece of clothing from any era and you will get an insight into the times, what people believed, how they wanted to be perceived.
- Katell le Bourhis

in upstate NY

Hi-

The Sanctuary for Independent Media is
back home! See below for Friday’s great
event featuring former Vt. Gov. Madeleine
Kunin, Thursday’s workshop on resources
available for getting your media out to the
world, and a May Day art benefit for us!

But first this fantastic news: Democracy
Now host Amy Goodman is returning to
Troy this coming weekend to help us out!

The Polk Award-winning, internationally-
acclaimed journalist will appear with her
brother, author David Goodman, to benefit
The Sanctuary for Independent Media at
6:30 PM on Sunday (5/4) at Christ Church,
35 State St. in downtown Troy. Admission
is by donation ($10 suggested, $5 student/
low income). Plenty of free parking is
available in an adjacent lot. Call (518) 272-
2390, email info@MediaSanctuary.org, or
visit www.MediaSanctuary.org for
directions and more information.

The evening begins with a screening of the
new Hudson Mohawk Indymedia
documentary “Art Not Terrorism,” a
definitive account of the whirlwind of events
surrounding the repeated censorship of
Iraqi-American digital artist Wafaa Bilal’s
recent anti-war exhibit, “Virtual Jihadi.”
This 23-minute documentary by the award-
winning producers of “Independent Media in
a Time of War” asks: what was so troubling
about this artist’s message that RPI, City of
Troy, Rensselaer County and NY State
officials decided we would all be better off
not hearing it?

Following the film, the award-winning
sister-brother investigative journalist team of
Amy Goodman and David Goodman will
talk about their travels across the country to
chronicle ways in which grassroots activists
have taken politics out of the hands of
politicians. Their new book, “Standing Up
to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in
Extraordinary Times” (Hyperion), tells the
stories of everyday citizens who have
challenged the government and prevailed!

Hope to see you on Sunday!

And, on Friday evening, we’re hosting (at
The Sanctuary for Independent Media itself)
former Vermont Governor Madeleine
Kunin. Her new book, “Pearls, Politics, and
Power: How Women Can Win and Lead”
(Chelsea Green), is a call to action for new
political engagement and leadership from
the women of America. Informed by
conversations with elected women leaders
from all levels, the former three-term
Vermont Governor asks: What difference
do women make? What is the worst part of
politics, and what is the best part? What
inspired these women to run, and how did
they prepare themselves for public life?
How did they raise money, protect their
families’ privacy, deal with criticism and
attack ads, and work with the good old
boys?

What better setting than Troy for this talk?
7 PM this Friday (5/2) at 3361 6th Avenue!

But wait! There’s more. This Thursday,
Andrew Lynn hosts the workshop “Blogs,
Vlogs & Other Useful Web 2.0 Adventures”
for folks interested in online video
production. You’ll get techniques for
compression, syndication, promotion and the
resources to learn more. Email
workshops@MediaSanctuary.org for
information and to pre-register.

We’re excited to be open again; thanks for
your support! Hope to see you soon…

-Your Friends at The Sanctuary
for Independent Media

PS Also this Thursday (5/1), the Kismet
Gallery presents its Second Annual Mayday
Political Print & Poster Art Show. The
show, which runs from 6 PM-9 PM at 71
Fourth Street in Troy, features some of the
finest radical and socially conscious work
from artists all around the country… priced
with working people in mind! And it’s to
benefit The Sanctuary for Independent
Media…

—————————–

Support The Sanctuary for Independent Media!

You can make a secure, tax-deductible online donation
(or a gift in someone else’s name) at:

https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=10330

Visit our website at:

www.MediaSanctuary.org

Looking to the West, originally uploaded by zulma.

for a bit

Lecture by Lauren Cornell: Tracing the Evolution of Internet Art

Lauren Cornell is Executive Director of Rhizome.org and Adjunct Curator of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, as well as a UCSC (University of California, Santa Cruz) Porter College Distinguished Visiting Lecturer.

In this presentation, Cornell will trace the evolution of art engaged with the Internet from the the time of Rhizome’s founding in 1996 up through its diverse, current iterations. She will present new directions and practices in the field and illuminate the underlying economics and structures surrounding this field.

Lauren Cornell oversees and develops Rhizome’s programs, all of which serve to promote and contextualize emerging art engaged with technology. She also serves as Adjunct Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Previously, Cornell worked as a curator, writer and director in New York. She worked in the Andy Warhol Film Project at the Whitney Museum and, from 2002-2004, she served as Executive Director of Ocularis, an organization dedicated to avant-garde cinema, experimental video and new media. Her writing has been published in a range of international publications and she has collaborated to produce events or exhibitions at The Kitchen, Foxy Production, Participant Inc, The Institute of Contemporary Art in London and the Contemporary Center for Art in Warsaw.

This talk is organized by Warren Sack (wsack@ucsc.edu), and sponsored by UCSC Porter College and atc@ucsc (the Art, Technology and Culture Lecture Series @ University of California, Santa Cruz)

Location: Studio C, Communications Building, University of California, Santa Cruz
Date/Time: Monday, April 28th, 6:15pm

Feminist Art Takes the City

If cities are technologies in their own right, as many locative media artists have suggested, then Los Angeles is a supercomputer. Its infrastructure of automobiles and media spectacles has predetermined the levels of mobility, privacy, and personal interaction experienced by its inhabitants, and it’s hard to imagine a public art project that could penetrate this facade. Milan-based Galleria Emi Fontana has created an initiative called West of Rome, whose most recent project breaks through this interpersonal barrier. Established in 2005, West of Rome is an LA-based program to consider the relationship between the audience and the city. They debuted by installing Olafur Eliasson’s project, Meant to be Lived In (Today I’m feeling prismatic) (2005), in a “post-modern” suburban home, and the new “Women in the City” program brings ten works by artists Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, and Cindy Sherman to the great outdoors. Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills (1977-1980) (exhibited here on billboards) ought to be right at home so close to Hollywood, but they instead take on a new life by exiting the gallery– one which underscores the ultimate isolation and masked humanity of female archetypes, by placing them among the roving masses, to be gazed at or not, as with any other billboard. Louise Lawler has reprised two older works. Birdcalls (1972-81) is a sound installation, presently installed at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, which mimics the sound of birds’ mating calls in phonetically pronouncing the names of successful male artists. At the Aero theatre (the site of the work’s original debut), Lawler screened A Movie (1979), a full-length feature film, shown sans picture, with only the soundtrack. Both works question the nature of display in contemporary art– a query Lawler has successfully pushed into a variety of different media. Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger are both intimately acquainted with mass-mediated working processes. In this instance, Holzer’s Inflammatory Essays (1979-82), Survival Series (1983-85), and Truisms (1977-79) are exhibited throughout Los Angeles in the form of posters, stickers, and LED signs “that challenge the viewer to react to the often-aggressive slogans.” This is the first time in the United States that her Survival Series texts are also translated into Spanish, to speak to the heavily-Hispanic population in Los Angeles. Kruger is right at home in the world of advertising, given that she’s long detourned ads, critiquing them in their own visual and textual language to reveal and confront gender stereotypes. For the “Women in the City” project, Kruger debuts a new video, entitled Plenty, which is a humorously subversive exploration of communication in material culture. It’s interesting to present these women in this way, because they are among the first female artists to find great success in the international art market. Ironically, by placing their work in a consumerist landscape, their original intent is thrown into relief, prying the message from the shell of its object. Visit the project’s website for a map of installations that will be up at least through the end of March. - Marisa Olson

Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Stills, 1977-1980

http://www.womeninthecity.org/

The biggest news in the Contemporary Art World Today is that Steve Kurtz is Innocent!

Detours: Help CAE installation by Finishing School, originally uploaded by finishing-school.

Charges against Steve Kurtz dropped.

It was almost exactly four years ago that artist Steve Kurtz woke up to a relentless, how-bad-can-it-get nightmare. His wife, Hope, a fellow member of the Critical Art Ensemble, had died in her sleep. When Kurtz called 911, the ambulance crew noticed the materials CAE was working with in preparation for an exhibit protesting US food policies. They called Homeland Security, who promptly arrested Kurtz and confiscated, well, everything. Via David Pescovitz at Boing Boing comes welcome news that US District Judge Richard Arcara has dropped the charges. The AP: “‘Obviously this is a weight off his back, but he still had to suffer through this for four years,’ said Kurtz’s attorney, Paul Cambria. ‘The last thing this guy is is a bioterrorist.’”

You may recall that Lynn Hershman Leeson made a film based on the case, Strange Culture (site), featuring Tilda Swinton, Peter Coyote and Thomas Jay Ryan. It screened at Sundance in 07 before David D’Arcy caught it in Berlin.

Posted by dwhudson at April 22, 2008 2:25 AM

http://daily.greencine.com/archives/005855.html

The Conspiracy Theory is:

That the reason why he was targeted as a bio-terrorist was because Steve’s Art Collective, the critical art ensemble, was creating a scientific approach to testing genetically modified corn.

What does this mean?

Well it means that Steve’s Friends were developing a way to find out if our local food or groceries or “food system” was providing us with “genetically modified foods.”

Some people thought that maybe he was getting on someone powerful’s nerves and put him through legal hell.

Today’s huge news is that, it looks like these charges were dropped but the stupid prosecutor still has the option of applealing this. So cross your fingers this jackass doesn’t spend any more government money trying to prosecute an artist.

I saw all the chicano bloggers do this so i’m going to do it as well. Thanks Ed Fuentes.

About Rubén Salazar Established in 1986, NAHJ’s scholarship fund is named in memory of Rubén Salazar. A columnist for the Los Angeles Times and news director of Spanish-language television station KMEX, Salazar was covering the Chicano Anti-Vietnam War Moratorium in East Los Angeles when he was killed by a tear-gas projectile fired by a deputy sheriff in 1970. For journalists of color, his legacy symbolizes the continuous fight to integrate mainstream media and ensure accurate and fair coverage of Latino issues. Rubén Salazar was posthumously inducted into the NAHJ Hall of Fame in 2000.

Amy Goodman & Democracy Now honor Ruben Salazar Video on Real Player 

It is my dream that one day one of my children wins the Ruben Salazar Scholarship.

SCHOLARSHIP MONEY AVAILABLE

Since the inception of the Rubén Salazar Scholarship Fund and Educational Programs in 1986, NAHJ has awarded more than $1.4 million to 525 students, including $100,000 in 2007.

With these scholarships, NAHJ encourages and assists Latino students pursuing a career in journalism. Hispanics remain woefully underrepresented in mainstream U.S. newsrooms and with these scholarships, NAHJ wishes to help more qualified Hispanic students move from the classroom to the newsroom. Apply today! The awards range from $1,000 to $5,000. Application Deadline: March 31, 2008

For more information about NAHJ’s scholarships please visit: http://www.nahj.org/educationalprograms/nahjscholarships.shtml

 other Chicano Scholarships & Internships

finally the LA Times Article about Ruben Salazar