Artist Organized Art Non-Profit Works With Artists & Institutions To Support Artist Organized Media, Events & Cultural Education By Strategic, Collaborative & Financial Means

Joshua Selman performing ‘Personal Effects’ at Shelter 209 in Tel-Aviv Israel, 1995

In 1995 I performed Personal Effects at Shelter 209 in Tel-Aviv. Working with Tamar Raban was a high point of my experience with Israeli art culture and with my time at Construction In Process. The Shelter 209 resource was exemplary of artist organized art as is Tamar’s commitment. Thank you for that experience Tami.

August 2, 2003

Dear Friends,
In the early morning hours of June 24th the public building in which Performance Art Platform was situated burned down completely. The five-story structure completely collapsed, leaving no physical evidence of our ever having been there and of our fifteen years of activity, both in Shelter 209 and, in the past two years, at our new Performance Art Platform.


After the initial shock, we, the members of the ensemble and I, have decided to make the best we can of the state of events, by renewing our creative activity as soon as possible. We are currently seeking a new venue to work in, as well as funds with which to replenish our supplies, including the Performance Arts Archives we had started to put together, both Israeli and international, documentation of all of Shelter 209, including Dan Zakhem’s performances, etc.


So, we wanted to let you all know the situation we’re in. Also, if there happen to be any bits of documentation of any of our work that you may have and could send us a copy of, or press clippings that are relevant to us (all of that has been burned down too) please let us know. We are, of course seeking any aid in restarting our activities, so any ideas and suggestions would be highly appreciated.


I am currently preparing a new project with our ensemble of ten inter-disciplinary artists, including Israeli Jews and Palestinians, which deals with the parallel historical narratives in neighboring co-existence.

Looking forward to collaborating with you again soon,
Tamar Raban

Our new postal address is:
Shelter 209 – Performance Art Platform
P.O.B. 6747 Tel Aviv 61067
E-mail: miklat@zahav.net.il Tel: 972-3-6812091 Mobile: 972-54-995580

Amber has brought this to my attention: “In former times if you couldn’t organize art here, you could go across the street. Now there is no street.” [Bloomberg has put a price on New York’s sidewalks. How far will his selling of public space go?] Note the homogenizing of public culture to distill a uniquely private benefit.

hi
OK I am in Spain
We are staying in 12th century monastery
It is over the top here
I produced my wine two days ago and used specialy designed labels.
It was a bit of a suspense for me because the labels show torture devices used by Spanish Inquisiton in 16th Century.
I was afraid that they will hate it..LOL
The owner got a bit stiff when he saw it, but my smooth talking friend Paco sailed us out of the trouble..LOL
Today we shot a comercial for my wine which is called The Spanish Blood. I play a vampire who shows up in the young girl bedroom and proceeds to bite and drink her blood.
All very pro, with lights and the crew
In the last shot, I stand with a bottle in my hand and say, Don´t Drink Blood, Drink Wine…LOL
There is a never ending supply of wine and [***] here
We end up in the Church after midnight everyday , fool around and make music and perform.
Last night we did a prformance on 10 cell phones, drums and flamenco dancer. I will perform my dub hymns and songs on Friday in the Church again.The freedom here is the key. If I want to do something like this in Polish or American church
they would lock me up ..LOL
This part of Spain is very intense and has a great vibe.
Bunuel and Goya come from here and the whole area is known for witchcraft and witch conventions..so I feel home here..LOL

kisses

Maciej

hello friends in your situations I in mine in Barrytown New York. I am just encountering a shipment of work from Germany delivered to Jess and Josh in Upper Red Hook. I am of two minds now, astonished to see so much of what I did in paper and cloth from more than a year ago, and then, what shall I do with all these objects and panels so I don’t have it insinuating on my new works in the space or in my mind. Oh my. I want to send it all to Venice but Emily can’t take it right now. I have trouble storing work away.

I want to show these things to us. Maybe the thing to do is open my Barrytown shop to all of you to visit! I’ll make an art show and I’ll make a soup and we can sit in the back yard and look at the upended tree. It’s only 2 hours from New York city. Contact me on the Artist Organized Art common document. Write and visit. It’s all here.

the other thing is the Fluxus in Nice, south France for early September. I can take a few things in my bag but we will do alot of performances. Just be sure to show us what you are doing and don’t leave it stored forever in a barn somewhere. There is always more where that came from. When I get back from Nice I’ll tell you what happened. I have enjoyed reading what people are doing here alot. Clearly Josh has a great idea here.

also, read Walter Benjamin’s Arcades.

What a good timing with the opening of this website!
We, Paco Simon and I, are just practising artist organized art in the Monastery of Veruela, Zaragoza, Spain: we are organizing Cambio Constante IV, a yearly visual arts event in Zaragoza, Spain.
We have invited 15 artists this year, among them Suzy Sureck, who already mentioned the event in her contribution. Also are here Maciej Toporowicz, Hartmut Boehm, Monika Brandmaier, Yaacov Hefetz, Sharif Waked, Christopher Snee, Jon Tarry, Susken Rosenthal, Benoit Maubrey, Sally Gutierrez, Alberto Andres, and now I have to go quick and get from the train station Josip Bace and Bozo Jurjevic.
(…That is what artist organized art really means…) So I will continue tomorrow to tell about the event here and insert some images.
Ginevra Godin

The Artist as organizer; as outpost to the only way of pure observation of the moment. This is an energy that has fueled me and many others into action. I began work inputing and organizing all the written texts by and of Lucio Pozzi in 1988 at 142 Greene Street in Soho after meeting him at the School of Visual Arts. Lucio was my earliest mentor as an artist activist, organizer and contemporary renaissance thinker. This is where New Observations was made. The brain child of Lucio and a small group of friends who got together in the early 80s and started making a magazine. It’s premise was to invite a different guest editor for each issue. Eventually artists submitted proposals for issues as well. In it’s 20 year+ run as an artist organized contemporary art journal it published the voices of thousands of artists nationally and internationally and was a place where “artists speak for themselves.” I eventually became the Art Director and General Editor, when Ciri Johnson left around 1990 and Lucio turned the magazine over to the able hands of Diane Karp. Lucio remained very much involved in the publication to the end. I think the last issue came out in the Fall of 2001. I would love to see both Lucio Pozzi and Diane Karp contribute to this site.

The guesture of invitation is a key element of the artist organizer. As with the events of Construction in Process, an artist would invite one other artist to participate. This site and medium is very well suited to the moment and a welcome outlet and container for the artist’s voice here and now.

Thank you for inviting me to participate in this exciting venue.
More to come.

Erika Knerr

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