Urban Universe :: Multimedia Forum

Video and digital art is nothing new, but if the exhibitions at the recent divafair. nyc are any indication, it is about get real brand new. Boasting new artists from the United States, Taiwan, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Mexico, China, Japan, Spain, and God knows where else, the work was nothing short of complete provocative and breathtaking. As innovative as the work was, the future of digital video art can only go more sideways, as emerging artist continue to push their respective envelopes in ways that can only be described as genre-shattering.

I reviewed the entire exhibition, but due to the depth and breadth of the works offered, urban universe will focus on the works of the 4 artists that we felt were the crème de la crème of all the gathered in NYC at the Embassy Suites 3/9-3/12/06. As part of a 5-city international tour that will also touch down in Cologne, Brussels, Paris and Taipei, divafair is at the cutting edge of this artform, and is among the world’s leaders in assembling such a diverse set of talent from around the globe. For more info, take a look at divafair.com.

Chen Chieh-Jen, Bade Area, 2005,
Production Stills
105x180cm
Exhibited at: 2006 DIVAfair, NYC; 2005 Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan

Chen Chieh-Jen’s digitally altered black and white photographs of torture scenes are among some of the most disturbing you will see in the medium. Bearing a distinct political bent focused on calling attention to the foot that is still on Taiwan’s neck, Chen’s attitude is vividly captured in this scary piece, Bade Area, that focuses on a lone man who has happened to be left alone after what we can presume was some pretty bad physical treatment. His work acts as commentary on the continued colonization of Taiwan and the gaze of the oppressor represented by the People’s Republic of China.

In his recent film work he links physical torture scenes of the body in pain with that of economic strangulation of a nation in the age of globalization.
Chen (born in 1960, lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan) creates primarily in the forms of digital imaging and video installation. His artwork reexamines the narrative form and meaning of images through a dialectic representation of image/power, photographer/subject, memory/history, reality/artifice and blending/variation, while exploring new possibilities for images and for narrative. In this manner, Chen delves deeply into people and communities on the margins of contemporary life, in an attempt to convey their living experiences and inner spiritual states.
Chen’s works have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale (2005, 1999), the Sao Paulo Biennial (1998), the Biennale de Lyon (2000), the Kwangju Art Biennial (2000), the Taipei Biennial (1998, 2002, 2004), the Shanghai Biennial (2004) and the Fukuoka Triennial (2005), the Sydney Biennial (2006), as well as photography festivals in Spain and Portugal (Lisbon), film festivals in London and Vancouver (Canada).

Hung Tung-Lu, Nirvana, 2002
Laser print, Lenticular Light-Box
160x120x15cm

Exhibited at: DIVAfair, NYC 2006

Hung Tung-Lu is the only Taiwanese artist who has done an Absolut ad. Working with lenticulars, Hung creates futuristic scenes that combine Manga images with traditional Chinese temples. In the Nirvana series, he imagines an idyllic life in the future, which is a feature of much contemporary Taiwanese art. The nostalgia for the past is overshadowed by an incredible desire for a brighter tomorrow.

About Chi-Wen Gallery, Taipei:

Chi-wen Gallery is founded by Joanne Chi-Wen Huang. Originally established in July 2004 as Taipei MOMA, the gallery officially changed its name to Chi-Wen Gallery in January 2006. Chi-Wen Gallery is the premiere gallery in Taiwan showing the best of contemporary Taiwanese art. The gallery has its pulse on today’s art while looking to tomorrow and represents artists whose work continues to grow in historical importance. Many of these artists use digital media such as Chen Chieh-Jen, Hung Tung-Lu, Tsui Kuang-Yu, Peng Hung-Chih, Wu Tien-Chang and Yuan Goang-Ming.

contact:
Joanne Huang
http://www.chiwengallery.com

Mariana Vassileva, Definition,
Video
Exhibited at: DIVAfair, NYC 2006

At first glance, this video would appear to be as simple as someone drunk pissing in the snow. This could not be further from the truth, although, my bet is on the piss. “The video is immersed in existential yearning for the expanses of time and space. Out of the white landscape of snow comes a pair of bustling feet. The term DEFINITION appears, written is golden fluid in the snow,” reads the official notes from the DNA gallery notes. Whether you believe in existentialism, you have to love the brazenness of the artist to make a piece about pissing in the snow. Existentialism has nothing to do with definition, as it is chiefly concerned with the fact of mere existence. Definition deals more with attempting to accurately describe what is conveyed from the image or concept itself. However, the starkness of the yellow in the snow lets the viewer recognize immediately that the definition is the essence of the existent. Got that?

About DNA (die neue aktionsgalerie) Gallery:

DNA, founded in 2001, is dedicated to promoting contemporary art. It focuses primarily on Berlin based international artists. The program accommodates a wide range of artistic media (painting, sculpture, video, installation and drawing), presented via innovative, interactive, interdisciplinary and multimedia projects. DNA has an international character, collaborating regularly with numerous galleries and institutions outside Germany. A crucial factor is the gallery’s location on Auguststrasse, at the heart of the Mitte district’s thriving art scene.
Prior to running a commercial gallery, the managing directors Johann Nowak and Tereza de Arruda have been working as independent curators, realizing numerous international projects, such as The Festival of Vision, Berlin – Hong Kong with The House of World Cultures Berlin, the Greek Pavillion at the Sao Paulo Biennial or the Curator’s Choice Programme of Art Frankfurt. The DNA’s objective is to provide a stage for contemporary art and stimulate the debate that surrounds it. We aim to present and foster new horizons in art, which in turn require experimental forms of exhibiting, conveying and communicating.

contact:
Johann Nowak
http://www.dna-galerie.de

Luc Courchesne, 050624-16 (Chicago), 2003
duratran digital print mounted under plexi with lexan lamination, rotational device, fluorescent bulb and transformer
24 cm diam.

Exhibited at: Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain, 2005

Courchesne showed perhaps the edgiest, most technological challenging work in the entire exhibit. Incorporating elements of the C++ program, computer generated graphics, and integrating a computer based camera, and a video game joystick, Courchesne created what can only be referred to as digital video genius. The work is essentially a 3D gyroscope, accompanied by video in which the viewer could find himself or lose herself in the work using the joystick to change orientations within the program. Fully interactive, yet eerily reminding of a movie that has yet to be made, the work continues to leave this reviewer spellbound, as it causes the mind to bend in over itself, because it is hard to believe that you can exist in a computer program, in the X-Y-Z axes without losing your mind entirely. Hands down the best work of the show, and one worth seeing at you next chance. “The Panoscopic Journal, undertaken by Courchesne in 1999, documented moments of Courchesne whereabouts as he traveled to exhibit his interactive portraits and developed immersive projection systems of his own. His goal with the Journal was, essentially then, to get familiar with the novel point of view offered by the catadioptric lens he was using. In this exhibition, Courchesne continues his Journal to question more directly this time the concept of place, of the observing subject and of the novel nature of the worlds one is now invited to step in. Nothing is less certain than these “locations” presented as “switchable” realities.”

About the Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain (PFOAC)Gallery:

Established in 2001, Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain (PFOAC) is a commercial, contemporary, art gallery in Montréal committed to showing photographic, new-media, drawing, sculpture, installation art, and works on paper by a diverse group of Canadian multidisciplinary artists that includes: Marc Audette, Alexandre Castonguay, Luc Courchesne, Michel de Broin, Jérôme Fortin, Karilee Fuglem, Louis Joncas, Marie-Josée Laframboise, John Latour, Marie-Jeanne Musiol, Ed Pien, Roland Poulin, Michael A. Robinson, Annie Thibault and Johannes Zits.

Located one block west of the Musée d'Art Contemporain, and in the heart of Montréal, the gallery provides its artists an opportunity and a venue to show exploratory, museum-quality works alongside smaller art works more suited for private collections. Through its exhibition programming, participation at national and international art fairs, publications and web presence, the gallery provides continuity to the careers of its artists. The goal of the gallery is to develop a strong collector base for its artists.

About the Gallery: :

PLAY is a gallery and a showroom for artistic projects, revealing to what extend film, video and art reciprocally influence one another. Far beyond classical gender distinctions, new narrative and visual languages form an alternative to the flood of images and their latent subliminal advertising divulgated by traditional mass media. The gallery’s goal and main interest is primarily focused on the changing of the visitor’s and contemplator’s visual patterns as well as reception channels, in order to invite and fascinate him in a positive way.
In order to do so, play invites artists, directors and cameramen to present their project ideas that will subsequently be realized for the space. Production know-how, and theoretical background of the projects are considered as equally important. This is why, a particular emphasis is given to the cooperation with universities and academies in order to elaborate such new conception during workshops with the participation of students and professors. In this very context, the best Offs coming from festivals are presented in screenings and moderated by experts.

Who's Marina Abramovic ?, 2006
Colour video on DVD from 35mm film 'Balkan Baroque' by P. Coulibeuf
4' loop

Edition:
Provenance: Paris, France
Exhibited at: Deichtorhallen Hamburg

About Pierre Coulibeuf:

Born in Elbeuf (France) in 1949, Pierre Coulibeuf lives today in Paris where he works as film-maker and artist. He was awarded a doctorate in modern literature with a dissertation on P. Klossowski and L. von Sacher Masoch.

Pierre Coulibeuf has achieved a cinematographic body of works that owns its originality to its close relation to other artistic disciplines (i.e. visual arts, choreography, literature). Crossing cinematographic genres (fiction, documentary, experimental) as well as always presenting the image with different supports (35mm projection, installation, photography) has given his simulacrum-movies the chance of inventing a place or a language closely related to other forms of art, criticizing the more established ones and questioning the ways reality has always been presented.

by Karriem Holman

Munich/Los Angeles, CA - September 12, 2006... BMW today announced the introduction of the new BMW Hydrogen 7, the world's first hydrogen-drive luxury performance automobile for everyday use. The car - a vehicle that has undergone the regular Product Development Process - will be built in a limited series and deployed to selected users in the U.S. and other countries in 2007. It is equipped with an internal combustion engine capable of running either on hydrogen or on gasoline and based on the BMW 7 Series.

Hydrogen technology dramatically reduces emissions generated by personal transport and, in particular, minimizes the emission of CO2. Running in the hydrogen mode, the BMW Hydrogen 7 essentially emits nothing but vapor. And, unlike fossil fuels and traditional gasoline, hydrogen is available in virtually infinite supply. With the BMW Hydrogen 7, the BMW Group is laying down a marker for sustainable mobility. This car will play a pioneering role in driving forward hydrogen technologies. BMW has gained an excellent reputation for significantly reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by using ultra efficient, yet very dynamic gasoline engines. Together with clean performance diesel cars and the technologically advanced hybrid systems currently under development within the BMW EfficientDynamics project, the BMW Group has a clear strategy for sustainable mobility with hydrogen as the ultimate solution.

With all the comforts and amenities of a non-hydrogen BMW 7 Series, the BMW Hydrogen 7 is powered by a 260 hp twelve-cylinder engine and accelerates from 0-62.1 mph in 9.5 seconds. Top speed is limited electronically to 143 mph. The BMW Hydrogen 7 also features a dual-mode power unit - controlled at the touch of a button - that can switch quickly and conveniently from hydrogen to conventional premium gasoline.

The car's dual-mode drive provides an overall cruising range of more than 400 miles and enables the driver of a BMW Hydrogen 7 to enjoy virtually unlimited mobility, even when far away from the nearest hydrogen filling station. This technology is a viable solution until the hydrogen infrastructure is fully developed.

BMW CleanEnergy: paving the way into the future.

The BMW Hydrogen 7 perfectly captures the essence of the BMW CleanEnergy strategy. By using hydrogen produced from water and renewable energy, such as wind, sun or hydropower, in an internal combustion engine, the car's emissions are essentially nothing but vapor. And, with this emitted water vapor, the cycle can start again and the dream of sustainable mobility without using fossil fuel resources and without impacting the earth's climate can become a reality. The complete change from a fossil fuel infrastructure to a hydrogen economy will require decades, but with the Hydrogen 7, BMW shows that bringing hydrogen technology to the road is indeed feasible.

BMW Hydrogen 7: Industrializing hydrogen technologies.

The BMW Hydrogen 7 has successfully completed the entire Product Development Process (PDP) obligatory for all new BMWs. In this process, all components of the new technology were integrated into the overall vehicle according to the same challenging criteria applied to "regular" production cars. The BMW Hydrogen 7 is not a hand made concept car, but rather, a milestone in industrializing hydrogen technologies for automotive use.

The knowledge gained in the PDP has not only made a decisive contribution to the everyday driving qualities of the BMW Hydrogen 7, but it will also significantly impact the development and production of future hydrogen car concepts, with the principle of dual-mode drive and the features of other components now going through the strict test of everyday driving practice.

Dual-mode combustion engine for enhanced flexibility.

While cruising range is a significant consideration to consumers in any car, BMW recognizes that it is of critical importance in a hydrogen-powered vehicle, because there is not yet a full network of hydrogen filling stations in the United States.

For precisely this reason, the BMW Hydrogen 7 features dual-mode drive technology and a combustion engine capable of running on both hydrogen and gasoline. The cruising range in the hydrogen mode is more than 125 miles, with another 300 miles in the gasoline mode. Thus, the driver of a BMW Hydrogen 7 is able to use the vehicle without problem even when the nearest hydrogen filling station is far away.

The BMW Hydrogen 7 clearly proves that liquid hydrogen may by all means be used as a source of energy for the production car. By introducing the BMW Hydrogen 7, the BMW Group establishes powerful momentum for the ongoing development of a supply infrastructure serving above all to set up additional hydrogen filling stations providing sustained mobility on a broad basis also in the future.

Two tanks: Smooth transitions and maximum cruise range.

To offer the longest conceivable cruising range, the BMW Hydrogen 7 comes with both a conventional 74-litre (16.3 Imp gal) gasoline tank and an additional fuel tank taking up approximately 8 kilos or 17.6 lb of liquid hydrogen. Stored in a high tech tank, liquid hydrogen offers significant advantages in energy density enhancing the cruising range of the hydrogen car.

The driver is able to switch from hydrogen to gasoline mode manually by pressing a button on the multifunction steering wheel. Because engine power and torque remain exactly the same regardless of the mode of operation, switching from one mode to another has no effect on the driving behavior and performance of the BMW Hydrogen 7.

The control system in BMW Hydrogen 7 gives priority to the use of hydrogen. And, should one of the two types of fuel be fully consumed, the system will automatically switch over to the other type of fuel in the interest of secure, ongoing supply.

Luxury class comfort for four.

The BMW Hydrogen 7 is a four-seater with the two passengers at the rear enjoying the same high standard of comfort in the world's first hydrogen car developed for everyday use as in one of BMW's "regular" luxury performance vehicles.

The BMW Hydrogen 7 comes with an unusually wide range of standard features. In addition to the high level of equipment featured from the start in the BMW 760i, the BMW Hydrogen 7 comes inter alia with climate comfort composite glazing, BMW's high-end automatic air conditioning, auxiliary heating, electric seat heating for the driver, front passenger and rear seats, lumbar supports, electric seat adjustment with memory function on the front seats, ISOFIX child seat fastenings, Park Distance Control, a rain sensor, exterior and interior mirrors with automatic anti-dazzle, Soft Close Automatic for the doors and a headlight assistant. A complete entertainment and communication package adds to the comfort a BMW 7 Series can provide.

Progress without compromises.

BMW Hydrogen 7 emphatically proves that changing over to an alternative form of energy doesn't mean missing out on superior driving dynamics and comfort. The departure from fossil fuel does not in any way mean giving up the dynamics and performance typical of a BMW. Mobility of tomorrow and driving pleasure of today are compatible, with the drive concept of BMW Hydrogen 7 being directly transferable to future models. Driving a car of this caliber will be just as thrilling in the future as it is today, but at the same time cleaner than ever before.

BMW Group: "Sustainability. It can be done."

Sustainable action and corporate success belong together. With this clear commitment, the BMW Group has integrated sustainability as part of its corporate strategy for many years and takes responsibility for its products throughout their entire life cycle - from production to end-of-life recycling. The BMW CleanEnergy strategy aims to create a sustainable future for individual mobility independent of fossil fuels. With BMW EfficientDynamics, the company enhances fuel economy with every new product while still offering the customer the best in class performance.

With recycling-optimized product design and life cycle assessment, BMW reduces the impact on the environment. The use of benchmark technologies in its clean production program significantly reduces the consumption of water and energy during the production process. There are many examples of the advantages of adhering to BMW's mantra, "Sustainability. It can be done." The benefits are enjoyed by not only the company and its associates, but also the environment and, most importantly, the customer. To learn more about BMW Group and sustainability, please visit www.bmwgroup.com/sustainability.

If you have ever heard Carl Craig(Planet E, Detroit), techno master, in the mix you understand how "hectic" his sets can become because at times he goes all over the place in his selections, leaving you sonically bewildered, yet wildly satisfied. Sometimes he plays a set with a decidedly Detroit slant to it, and other times it sounds as if he is looking to satisfy the crowd artificially. When you are privileged to hear him in a setting that he truly feels comfortable in, watch out and take cover, because you are sure to be hit with a cornucopia of some of the most eclectic techno and deep house beats available. And by the way, the set will sound like you are in Detroit, which to a techno devotee’ is the closest thing to heaven one can experience while dancing to high tech soul.

As part of a new serial, cynically called “Demon Days” (referring to the times we’re living in) and helmed by ex-RUDE movement impresario Gamall, Craig will be in New York periodically, serving as a resident jock at the APT. He returns in December, look for serious problems getting in for the uninitiated, as everyone who caught the first set will certainly spread the word.

Taking advantage of being one of the first DJ's to work out the APT’s impressive new sound system, Craig took it there, in a big way, walking us through some of Detroit’s hottest classics, including his own. He then meanders, quickly through a collection of some of today’s most insane white labels from Detroit, Toronto, NYC, London and Berlin. The result was one of the more passionate and risky sets this reporter has witnessed by Mr. Craig in many years. Deeply electro, deeply techno and deeply appreciated, he was a welcome change to the usual NYC club fare. Club legends like Francois K the host of Carl's last NYC appearance, Deep Space, stopped by to support and be blessed by the Detroit innovator as well.

Followers of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival will recall that Craig was one of the brainchilds and creative directors of that city’s groundbreaking outdoor festivals spotlighting the world’s best acts in electronic dance music. That relationship soured after political leaders in Detroit succumbed to political pressure and installed people into the process that didn’t really understand why the DEMF was important. Craig understood it, and didn’t agree with the new people brought in. He walked away in 2003, and went back into the lab, back to making great music. It was a good thing he did so, because now, we can hear the music as it should sound, funky, sexy, risky, intoxicating and rolling.

Go to www.aptwebsite.com for more info on Demon Days.

K Holman

“I wasn’t gonna do anything musical tonight, but I changed my mind,” cooed the incomparable Lauryn Hill, at one of the most improbable free concerts this reporter’s ever seen, anywhere. Sponsored by current.tv, former Vice President Al Gore’s experiment with viewer-oriented television content, the concert brought out some of our era’s heaviest hitters, from the former VP himself to such hip-hop legends as De La Soul, Slum Village, the classic funk band, fishbone, and several newcomers. But the highlight of the evening belonged to Ms. Hill, who, originally signed up to do intros on why current.tv is important and should be supported, ended her final message with the most important one of the evening: she would indeed be performing, and it would be special.

The first composition, “Ancient Love,” gave me serious goosebumps, and had me feeling like a 16 year old girl from Brooklyn. It is a safe bet to say that “L Boogie” is on her way back, and that she is taking her own sweet time. Ancient Love reminded me of why Lauryn is a seminal talent in new soul/R&B, because she transcends whatever song she feels like doing. More important, her voice is simply one of the best in the business since Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday or classic Whitney Houston. Her range and tone are incredible, and I don’t think we will ever see another one like her. ‘Ancient Love’, sure to be an instant classic once released, tells the story of how one girl’s love for her man is so old that nothing he does can stop him from making her ‘feel so good.’ She followed that with a live remix of “You just lost one,” which made the entire audience feel like it was 1999 all over again.

At the end of the day, it was a treat to see De La Soul, who gave an encore performance with “Stakes is High”, and Slum Village, my out cold homeboys from the “dirty D” who ripped it. And, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how cool it was to see legendary bassist Norwood and singer Angelo of Fishbone tear it up like it was 1985. But, if you were there, in Central Park, on a humid night in October, 2005, you felt like you saw an angel in lil’ Miss Lauryn Hill, natural ‘fro stickin’ up like 3 feet and rising, and that voice reminding you that in these days and times, that if I can just hear her voice a little more everything’s gonna be alright, like the ‘sweetest thing I’ve known.’

Rude Movements is one of NYC’s hottest monthly parties. Held at the famous APT in the Meatpaking District, they have partnered with PUMA to bring us some the phattest open bar and house extravaganzas of the year.

On October 4, 2005 at APT, Osunlade, the Yoruba, crown prince of deep and soulful, house, tore it up for a 3 hour set, complemented by the APT’s bombastic new sound system. It was truly a moment to behold, as he started it kind of mellow and ended it with a flourish.

Osunlade, used to be a fixture in NYC before he took it to another level and moved his label and studio, Yoruba Soul Records, to Puerto Rico. On this evening this Yoruba priest took us on a spirtitual journey and showed us just how deep house can be.

Instead of just giving us one sound, he made his own melange, mixing in some of his greatest hits, “Closer I Get,” featuring Marie St. John, “Natives Tongue”, “The Way”, “Don’t Change for Me”, “Gwotet”, and many others. The Osunlade sound can most accurately be described as Detroit style techno house meeting the hottest of the NY styled jazzy house. He has a huge stable of talent on his label so look out for many more blazing classics.

He is a master of fusing his sound, a London soul infused groove with Afro Brazillian and latin drum patterns and melodies. The vibe and the fact that it was a sultry 80 degrees in early October, made it a sexy coda to a hot summer season of Rude at APT.

K Holman

RESFEST 2005 started its North American leg of a 40-city world tour September 15 with a lineup of short films that were provocative to say the least.

Films by top European direction teams like the one headed up by Thibault Berland, Pic Pic Andre’, Happy, John Harden and the director of Napoleon Dynamite, Jared Hess, presented the audience with a wide range of emotional situations and showed a more humanized approach to indie films that this reporter hasn’t seen in some time.

|C-TRL Labs VJ at the After Party|
Quest Love from the Roots Spins

One of my favorites during the opening night shorts presentation was “Jane Lloyd”, a fictional documentary about a woman’s life, from her birth to her death, all in vivid digital film, centering on her name and how ubiquitous it would become. It reminded me of that old TV show, “This Is Your Life”, from the ‘60s, in which a crew flashes back your whole life in print. This one was special because this girl’s life started out so normal and so promising, and ended very bleak, as her life touched the lowest possible denominator, she became a porn star and a drug addict, going to jail for a short bid, before coming out and OD’ing, seemingly as she tries to get her life together again. It was a gripping film, at only 5 minutes approximate running time.

By contrast, La Vie D’un Chien (The Life of a Dog), captured one of the more hilarity components of human life: wondering what it would be like to be a dog. Everyone has thought of what their pets are thinking, and vice versa have longed to truly communicate with their dogs. In La Vie, a scientist stumbles on a super DNA altering drug that can change humans to dogs for extended periods of time. Hilarious by design, this flick had the entire theater cracking up when the scientist is depicted humping one of his lab subjects, Fifi. Nothing short of genius, La Vie stole the show.

There were others at the opening night of RESFEST 2005, but 11:59 wraps up my fave list. Set in the Netherlands, it tells the tale of a young Moroccan-Dutch man on a mission. It begins at 11:50 am, and ends promptly at 11:59 am. The only thing is, what you expect at the climax, is not what you get, in one of the most intelligent offerings of the evening. Designed to poke fun at the media’s obsession with Arab immigrants to Western countries, it forced the audience to come to grips with some real fears of an entire ethnic group, and it was powerful. Oh yeah, it was shot entirely with a Steady-Cam in one take. Finally, the most provocative film was Flesh, which sought to find a different angle of the September 11 tragedy that hit New York. In Flesh, all of the buildings in New York are living pornography screens depicting the basest level of flesh, represented in the media. When the planes start hitting the World Trade Center, and basically the entire hourlong ordeal is simulated, more planes come out of nowhere, and begin destroying every skyscraper in Manhattan. It was kinda scary, and so incredibly ballsy that one of the Tribeca Performing Arts Center ushers had a question about why the filmmakers would make a movie about 9/11; her brother died in the Towers, and she was visibly upset. Director Eduoard Salier told her that its was merely another look at one of the worlds tragedies, but that in no way did they intend to offend, it was another artist’s view about what really went down that day. While their answer didn’t satisfy the woman in their strong French, what was said made sense: none of us will ever be the same because of it. If youre in NYC this weekend, check out RESFEST, and see some of the best film you’re likely to see, here or anywhere else.

RES Links:

RESFEST Shorts One Promo Video
RESFEST Shorts Two Promo Video

Cinema Electronica Promo Video

By Karriem Holman

Nomadic Wax Records and World Up! partner up for African Hip-Hop event of the summer hosted by Toni Blackman

This incredible event will feature the talents of African MCs: TY (UK/Nigeria), The Ambassadoz (Ghana) and Oke (Nigeria) along with DJ Fumni and DJ Tefsa on the tables spinning African Hip-Hop Classics, Afro-beat and Afro-pop. Plus this ground breaking event will be hosted by legendary spoken word artists/hip-hop activist Toni Blackman! Plus an exclusive item raffle to benefit World Up!

Toni Blackman is perhaps one of the foremost artist/activist of her time. Committed to her life's work of elevating the culture of hip hop, Toni has positive lasting impressions on the entire fabric that is hip hop. As a performing poet, as one of the fiercest freestyle MC's, as an educator, and as an educator, Toni was raised the bar for all her peers and
colleagues. World Up! & Nomadic Wax are thrilled to work with Toni Blackman on this revolutionary event. She also cut her teeth in promotions hosted by "yours truly", at Vagabond Poetry Series in DC where we went to school. So I have to support her on "GP" (General Principal for the urban slang neophyte).

TY released his debut album "Awkward" (on Big Dada/Ninja Tune) to critical acclaim, he has grown from underground mc to an artist who is developing an international reputation. In between working on the all important second album TY is taking time to collaborate with a variety of musicians, for his album which is due out in September which includes TY and Damon Albarn on a track. And in a sense this is what makes TY's music - he allows his complexities and contradictions to shine through, allows us to see him as a multifaceted, awkward, non-boxable individual. It’s an approach backed up by a fierce some technique, one which makes the complex look simple.

Ambassadoz were once called 'third-world citizens', while others said we were 'backwards' some even asked if we still lived on trees in Africa. Truth is, with more than 7 years experience of ripping shows, the Ambassadoz made of (M.O.A & AKAN) operated solely on the underground. Eventually surfacing in the late 90s as recording artists who knew exactly what their audience wanted and what they wanted was something new. Their creation is hip-hop music that can range from hard-core to afro-funk, becoming hard to lock into a specific genre or category. This distinctive
hybrid of sound has the ability to dazzle spectators with their 'switching spit' lingo (rapping in different languages and accents) while commanding the credibility from the hip-hop elite. They bridge the gap between all
the different forms of hip-hop vernacular on stage spittin' in English, French, Twi and Pidgin.

Join us for this unique and culturally ground breaking event! Thanks to our sponsors Trace Magazine, Red Stripe, Calabash Music & Adidas originals! Brought to you by World Up! & Nomadic Wax. Free Red Stripe from 8-10pm

Event Information: Friday, August 19, 2005
8:00 PM - 3:00 AM
21+
cover: FREE | between 8 & 10pm, $5 after 10-3am.
music: Hip Hop

RSVP Email:
info@nomadicwax.com

Venue Information: Nublu
62 Ave. C
New York, NY
http://www.nublu.net
view map

Courtesy Fusicology