The Last Pictures is rooted in the premise that the communications satellites orbiting the earth will ultimately become the cultural and material ruins of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, far outlasting anything else humans have created. Inspired in part by ancient cave paintings, nuclear waste warning signs, and Carl Sagan’s Golden Records of the 1970s, Paglen has developed a collection of one hundred images etched into a gold-encased, silicon disc and sent into orbit as both a time capsule and a message to the future. The selection of images is influenced by four years of interviews with leading scientists, philosophers, anthropologists, and artists about the contradictions that characterize contemporary civilizations. Consequently, The Last Pictures engages some of the most profound questions of the human experience, provoking discourse about communication, deep time, and the economic, environmental, and social uncertainties that define our historical moment.

While the satellite-mounted artifact of The Last Pictures awaits deciphering by future civilizations, the project will be shared with audiences on Earth via a display at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, planned for fall 2012. Paglen and Creative Time will also present a series of artist talks, a website, and an accompanying book co-published by University of California Press and Creative Time Books.

In partnership with The New York Public Library’s LIVE from the NYPL program, Paglen and Creative Time will present an evening of performances and conversations with leading scientists and philosophers to debut the project in New York City’s Bryant Park, coinciding with the EchoStar XVI satellite launch in September 2012.

The new website for artist Tom Sachs’ SPACE PROGRAM: MARS is live: http://tomsachsmars.com
Don’t miss the “Zine, Blog, and Videos” page for rich media content from Tom Sachs and his studio.

SPACE PROGRAM: MARS (opening May 16) is co-organized by Creative Time and the Park Avenue Armory.

The new website for artist Tom Sachs’ SPACE PROGRAM: MARS is live: http://tomsachsmars.com
Don’t miss the Zine, Blog, and Videos page for rich media content from Tom Sachs and his studio.

SPACE PROGRAM: MARS (opening May 16) is co-organized by Creative Time and the Park Avenue Armory.

Immigrant Movement International: Year One will take place from 6:30 to 7:45PM in the Rose Auditorium at The Cooper Union School of Art, located at 41 Cooper Square on the corner of 3rd Avenue and East 7th Street. No RSVP is needed; seating available on a first-come, first-served basis.

It’s that time of year when I stop to reflect on things for which I’m grateful: health; beauty (never enough of it!); a broadening spectrum of what we call art; the unexpected revolutionary spirit expanding in the world…

And of course, Creative Time.

Now more than ever, we need organizations like Creative Time, a groundbreaking nonprofit that has never been afraid to take on challenging issues—from gay rights to diversity in the visual arts—and that always privileges the artist’s voice. As a former trustee, collaborating artist, and longtime friend of the organization, I have seen first hand Creative Time’s commitment to bringing important art to places of real need and to realizing artists’ dream projects. Just this month, Creative Time screened my film, Untitled, for an entire day to an audience of thousands—all for free.

But in order to realize what the New York Times has called “philosophically provocative,” free projects like this fall’s blockbuster Living as Form; Cuban artist Tania Bruguera’s yearlong residency in Corona, Queens, Immigrant Movement International; and the consistently sold-out Summit, Creative Time needs your help. A gift from you this holiday will help Creative Time bring 40+ artists from around the world to the 4th Creative Time Summit; it will help launch Tom Sachs’ mission to Mars, Space Program 2.0; and it will help us bring the artist’s voice back into the mainstream through our seminal media platform, Artists on the News.

And if that’s not enough, consider this: if this year’s appeal raises $25,000, Bloomberg Philanthropies will approve Creative Time for a grant of $50,000 in 2012. This means your donation will be more impactful this year than ever before.

If you believe in the power of art to catalyze social change, if you believe that artists’ voices matter in society, then support Creative Time in 2012.

Thanks,
Jim Hodges

When you make a tax-deductible contribution of $25 or more to our 2011 Annual Appeal, you get to tell us in two words what you think is “right” and “wrong” with the world today. In January, Steve will turn your woods into traffic-stopping signage in downtown Brooklyn. And, if you donate $500 or more, you get to keep your hand-painted sign after the project is deinstalled! It’s an unprecedented opportunity to support Creative Time and participate in a groundbreaking art project at the same time.

And remember, your gift could mean twice as much this year—if we reach our goal of $25,000, every dollar will be matched by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Make you money talk. Donate to Creative Time!

Following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government in 2003, Iraqis have taken ownership of the symbols of his regime. Many of the opulent artifacts found in his fallen palaces are now sold openly in the markets alongside monuments and state buildings. For Spoils, Rakowitz has acquired plates—including rare pieces of Wedgewood china once owned by King Faisal II—from Saddam Hussein’s palaces that date from during and before his rule. As symbols of the past, they represent the rich history of a place long misunderstood by its invaders.

At Park Avenue Autumn, Rakowitz collaborated with Chef Kevin Lasko on a culinary experi­ence that explores the tensions between the diner’s tongue, the sweetness of Iraqi date syrup, and the complicated, even bitter, provenance of the dishware. A classic Iraqi dessert, Debes wa Rashi (date syrup mixed with tahini), serves as the base upon which tender venison—referencing the American tradition of the deer hunt—is served. Dates, a food deeply revered in Iraq, have sustained a recent history that echoes that of the country and its people. Nearly all of the date syrups available in the United States originate in Iraq, but today are usually labeled as a product of Lebanon due to the continuing repercussions of United Nations sanctions that were dropped in 2003. Date palms have decreased in number from 30 million before the Iran-Iraq War to less than 3 million since the current one.

Spoils, like the date itself, links the United States and Iraq through the timeless experience of food as well as the more recent link of conflict.

Experience the dish this fall at Park Avenue Autumn, located at 100 East 63rd Street, through Saturday, November 26, 2011.

MAKE A RESERVATION

“At a time when the pressures of the art market continue to increase, it is so important to recognize artists whose commitment and practice extends beyond the art world by transforming communities in need, engaging broad publics, and inspiring a younger generation of artists.”

— Anne Pasternak

As we always say at Creative Time, public art isn’t just heroes on horseback or crafted objects on blank white walls. And so we are thrilled to have the opportunity to honor an artist whose work transcends the pressures of current market forces to inspire and impact diverse audiences. The 2011 Leonore Annenberg Prize for Art and Social Change will be awarded to Dutch artist Jeanne van Heeswijk at this year’s Creative Time Summit on September 23rd. Generously supported by the Annenberg Foundation, this $25,000 award is presented annually by Creative Time to an artist whose work has been devoted to instigating social awareness and harnessing the communicative power of art to engage communities around important public issues. Previous recipients of the Annenberg Prize include the Yes Men (2009) for their ongoing efforts to raise awareness around critical social issues through their media-savvy interventions and Rick Lowe (2010) for his work on Project Row Houses in Houston, which has become a model for the integration of the arts into a neighborhood infrastructure.

The 2011 prize recipient was selected by a panel of three international judges: curator Christine Tohme of the Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, curator Hou Hanru of the San Francisco Art Institute, and former Air America Radio host and GRITtv founder Laura Flanders. Van Heeswijk is recognized globally for her intensive, long-term commitment to community organizing and social involvement as artistic practice. Her work integrates artists, designers, architects, software developers, governments, and community members in the planning and realization of cultural production, the creation of new public spaces, and the remodeling of existing ones.

The award will be presented by Creative Time Board Member Elizabeth K. Kabler following a video keynote address by artist and performer Laurie Anderson. Tickets are available through NYU Skirball Center’s online ticketing and box office.

Lead project support for the Creative Time Summit is provided by the Annenberg Foundation, the Asian Cultural Council, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Deutsches Haus at NYU, the Dutch Consulate, the Panta Rhea Foundation, the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding. Support for student and artist attendance at the Summit is provided by Education Patron Agnes Gund.

READ MORE ABOUT THE PRIZE

Explore, read, eat, dance, discuss, stretch, barter, and engage directly with the artists, activists, and citizens currently shaking the foundations of art discourse.

Visit creativetime.org/livingasform for a complete schedule of events taking place at the Living as Form exhibition space in the historic Essex Street Market and throughout the Lower East Side.

WATCH THE VIDEO
LEARN MORE
EVENTS SCHEDULE

Solutions received from the global network of think tanks included establishing legal waiting zones, guerrilla bus adverts promoting Immigrants, asking police to “highlight the differences between the cop’s world and the real world,” and baking lessons in Queens, among many others.

The Ghana ThinkTank then went to work implementing these solutions, whether they seemed brilliant or impractical in Corona, Queens. See photos and descriptions of their actions at www.ghanathinktank.org, follow them on Twitter or come out to Queens to see (and help out) in person!

The Ghana ThinkTank was founded in 2006 by Christopher Robbins, John Ewing, and Matey Odonkor. Carmen Montoya joined the project in 2009.

Follow the project with the hashtag #FaustosWitness or by following @JillMagid beginning August 8. Magid’s tweets will continue until the end of the trial.

The talk will explore the challenge of defining what constitutes “art” and “activism” in relation to Living as Form, Creative Time’s fall exhibition exploring over 20 years of cultural works that emphasize participation, dialogue, and community engagement at the Lower East Side’s historic Essex Street Market. The talk, co-presented by the Cooper Union School of Art, will be followed by an open discussion with the audience, moderated by artist and educator Doug Ashford.

The talk is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

READ MORE ABOUT LIVING AS FORM
RSVP VIA FACEBOOK

Expected Presenters include:
Alternate ROOTS, Laurie Anderson, Appalshop, Common Room, Cybermohalla Ensemble, Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency, Jeremy Deller, Darren O’Donnell, Laura Flanders, Theaster Gates, Hou Hanru, Jeanne van Heeswijk, Shannon Jackson, Long March Project, Alan W. Moore, My Barbarian, Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK), Ted Purves, Gerald Raunig, Navin Rawanchaikul, Katerina Šedá, Chemi Rosado Seijo, Andreas Siekmann, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Ultra-red, United Indian Health Services, Urban Bush Women, Voina, Dan S. Wang, WochenKlausur, and Women on Waves.

Tickets are on sale now. Get yours today! creativetime.org/summittickets.

To explore this question, Horvitz (@davidhorvitz) will produce a hard copy of every tweet containing the hashtag #VadeMecum (the phrase is Latin for “go with me” and denotes a reference book designed to be carried). On June 24th, he will carry the materialized tweets by train from San Francisco to Washington, DC, following the route of the first transcontinental telegram, and then submit the collection to the Library of Congress.

During the trip, Horvitz will tweet his observations and reflections on the journey, as well as on the history of communication technologies, by sampling from A.C. Baldwin’s 1853 book The Traveler’s Vade Mecum, which contains 8,466 prefabricated sentences intended to aid travelers in sending letters home by telegraph. The sentences each carry a four-digit code that allowed writers to construct longer messages within the limited information capacity of the then-new medium.

View and participate in the project by using the hashtag #VadeMecum. Tweet a message to be given a journey between Friday, June 17 and Thursday, June 23.

READ MORE AT CREATIVETIME.ORG/TWEETS

In & On references classic flavors and scents of summertime and focuses on bringing the body’s sensory portals into closer relationship through texture, smell, and taste. Fresh, local ingredients, provided by community-owned urban farm program EATS, combine to create a series of three distinct seasonal items on the menu, each accompanied by a handcrafted natural skincare product made from a combination of the same ingredients. Upon ordering one of the In & On dishes, diners are offered a sample of the complementary skincare product to try at the table or take home.  By taking part in In & On, diners can explore the interconnection between their bodies and the environment that surrounds them.

The three pairings include: “Siren’s Breath,” a cocktail of crop cucumber vodka, peach tea, and may chang, with a corresponding facial mist made of lemon balm, peach, may chang essential oil, and black tea; “Scales and Skin,” a coffee-cured Hamachi and ginger pickled black plum appetizer, with a corresponding salt sugar scrub made of coconut coffee, coconut oil, brown sugar, and sea salt; and “Sown Within,” a Montauk tilefish, lavender mustard broth and artichoke entree, with corresponding lavender soak made of lavender and lemon essential oils, ground mustard seed and sea salt.

Experience In & On at Park Avenue Summer, located at 100 East 63rd Street in Manhattan, through September 4, 2011.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A RESERVATION

The series will continue through July 2011 with new projects by artists David Horvitz and Jill Magid. Using Twitter as both an artistic tool and a site for public performance, each artist will carry out a project in collaboration with their audience that unfolds as a Twitter stream.

READ MORE AND PARTICIPATE AT CREATIVETIME.ORG/TWEETS

Living as Form kicks off on May 18 with “Considering Useful Art,” a free public talk by curator and art historian Claire Bishop, Associate Professor in the Ph.D. Program in Art History at The Graduate Center, CUNY, moderated by Mariam Ghani, artist and teacher at The Cooper Union School of Art. The event is the first in a series of talks surrounding socially engaged artistic practices, offering an opportunity for artists and audiences to raise key questions and further discussion around this complex field of cultural production.
“Considering Useful Art” will be held on Wednesday, May 18 from 6:30–8:00pm in the Rose Auditorium at The Cooper Union, located at 41 Cooper Square in New York City. All Living as Form talks are free and open to the public. No RSVP is required. We look forward to seeing you there!

Lead project support for Living as Form is provided by the Annenberg Foundation; the Danish Consulate; the Lambent Foundation, a project of the Tides Center; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

CREATIVETIME.ORG/LIVINGASFORM

Artist and activist Ai Weiwei is an internationally regarded figure who has fought for artistic freedom and for freedom of speech throughout his distinguished career, envisioning and shaping a more just and equitable society through his work. He has been missing since his arrest on April 3rd in Beijing. Referencing the spirit of his work, 1001 Chairs for Ai Weiwei calls for his immediate release, supporting the right of artists to speak and work freely in China and around the world.

In New York: Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, 520 12th Avenue, Manhattan

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Lead project support provided by the Annenberg Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Rockefeller Foundation New York City Cultural Innovation Fund.

Follow the project online at:

IMMIGRANT-MOVEMENT.US
FACEBOOK.COM/IMMIGRANTMOVEMENT
TWITTER.COM/IMMIGRANTMOVE

AA Bronson, a New York-based artist best known for his 25 years with the artists’ collective General Idea, has spent a lifetime queering the cultural world. Here he joins up with Toronto-based artist and academic Peter Hobbs to spin a tale in images and words of five performances, all titled Invocation of the Queer Spirits. From 2008 to 2010 Bronson and Hobbs brought together small groups of men—in Banff, New Orleans, Winnipeg, Manhattan, and Fire Island—in a secret group ritual that was different every time and yet always the same. Invoking the “queer” and marginalized histories of each site, the men performed something that Bronson has characterized as “a hybrid between group therapy, ceremonial magic, a séance, a circle jerk, and a quilting bee.” This book explores each site in five chapters of photographic images, primarily by AA Bronson, together with a brilliant and often humorous reflection on queer animals, forest rangers, shamanism, and park sex by Peter Hobbs. A group of drawings by Chicago artist Elijah Burgher completes the volume.

Queer Spirits is available for purchase at Dashwood Books or on the Creative Time website at www.creativetime.org/store.

Traveling in a limousine painted as a school bus, BHQF will visit university art departments, art schools, art institutions, and alternative spaces across the nation, bringing together concerned educators, artists, arts administrators, and—most importantly—students to brainstorm on the future of art schools. What are they for? How should they be organized? If not for careers, what is the essence of art itself? These fundamental questions have long haunted artists, and the BHQF are interested in putting the questions back in the hands of students across America.

BHQF will kick off the trip on March 29 from 6:30–8:00pm at the Cooper Union in New York, and continue on to institutions in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, Denver, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland.

Teach 4 Amerika will include a combination of dynamic public rallies and intimate conversations, hosted by local partners in each city.

FOLLOW ALONG AT TEACH4AMERIKA.ORG

The award presentation, held during the College Art Association Annual Conference, is open to the public and will be followed by a discussion with the audience about the ongoing need for socially engaged art in the public realm.

For more information contact PAD Membership Coordinator Juilee Decker.

Become a member and celebrate Valentine’s Day Creative Time-style with the Spin Art Valentine’s Day Double Trouble Party, DIY spin art, art inspired bites, a series of “Creative Time splash” cocktails with St. Francis RED wine, on Wednesday, February 9 at the sexy BES restaurant.

For more information contact Danielle at danielles@creativetime.org

I think you’ll enjoy exploring some great new features, some of which include:

— An archive of cutting-edge art projects since 1974, searchable by title, year and artist;
— A newsfeed featuring the latest updates on upcoming projects and events at Creative Time, in the art world, and in the communities of our artists and supporters;
— A new calendar of what’s coming up. Creative Time has an answer for what to do to celebrate Valentine’s Day (hint: it involves spin art and red wine), where to catch a screening of Vik Muniz’s Academy Award-nominated documentary Waste Land, and much more.

As always, Creativetime.org will continue to engage our audiences with the artists’ ideas, processes, and projects through interviews, imagery, and our interactive project microsites. So log on and start exploring! We look forward to your feedback—please let us know what you think at helpdesignthesite@creativetime.org and help us make the site even better for you.

Yours, as always,

Anne Pasternak
President & Artistic Director