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Scapegoat Journal 05 – Excess!!! (art is excess, artists are not excessive, art is not enough)

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SCAPEGOAT: Architecture | Landscape | Political Economy is an independent, not-for-profit, bi-annual journal designed to create a context for research and development regarding design practice, historical investigation, and theoretical inquiry. Edited by friends like Adrian Blackwell, Adam Bobbette, Nasrin Himada, Jane Hutton, Marcin Kedzior, Chris Lee, Christie Pearson, and Etienne Turpin, SCAPEGOAT should be considered required reading.

In the latest issue of  SCAPEGOAT, focused on EXCESS,  BCL Research Fellows, Justin Langlois and Hiba Abdallah tackle the language of excess around valuations of design, art, and civic life. This work comes alongside along work from approximately 60 other contributors (including upcoming Homework II panel organizer, Tom Provost)… and here’s the full epic list:

Contributors to EXCESS include: Ariella AZOULAY, Georges BATAILLE, Jean BAUDRILLARD, Alex BERCEANU, Diana BERESFORD-KROEGER, James BRIDLE, Melissa CATE CHRIST, Tings CHAK, Steven CHODORIWSKY, Vicki DASILVA, Heather DAVIS, Sara DEAN, Amanda DE LISIO, Seth DENIZEN, EMIL, ÉPOPÉE, FALA ATELIER, Valeria FEDERIGHI, Natasha GINWALA, HEBBEL AM UFER, Lisa HIRMER, Gary HUSTWIT, David HUTAMA, Kate HUTCHENS, Jennifer JACQUET, Martti KALLIALA, Prachi KAMDAR, Stuart KENDALL, Chris KRAUS, Abidin KUSNO, Emily KUTIL, Clint LANGEVIN, Justin LANGLOIS, Sam LEACH, Stanisław LEM, Sylvère LOTRINGER, Filipe MAGALHAES, Danielle MCDONNOUGH, Meredith MILLER, Srimoyee MITRA, Jeffrey MONAGHAN, Jon PACK, Keith PEIFFER, Rich PELL, pHgH, Rick PRELINGER, Thomas PROVOST, raumlaborberlin, John Paul RICCO, Erin SCHNEIDER, Ana Luisa SOARES, Scott SØRLI, Raphael SPERRY, Anna-Sophie SPRINGER, Antonio STOPPANI, Maria TAYLOR, Eugene THACKER, Kika THORNE, Emily VANDERPOL, Kevin WALBY, Eyal WEIZMAN, Jason YOUNG, Vivian ZIHERL, and Joanna ZYLINSKA.

The issue is now available online for purchase today. Please share with your friends and colleagues. SCAPEGOAT is an awesome independent Toronto-based journal that’s worth supporting.

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1-Day Project: “Find Something Worthwhile”

We had ordered these screen printing supplies in anticipation of using them for our upcoming Civic Maintenance project, but before we could embark on that large-scale production, we needed to test.

We got process colours cmyk and the basics for screen printing – photo emulsion and photo emulsion remover and two screens.

We haven’t screen printed since last year while we were at Martha Street Studio, and even then we had the luxury of some great technical assistance.

I haven’t shot a screen for a long time, so while the first test was a bit rough (see prints above), the second attempt on Thursday went a little better.

I ran a number of prints and then Rosina took over. Sara and Kevin also got in on the printing at one point!

She made a lot of prints.

Early days in screen printing tests — this detail in particular wasn’t our best work — but the imperfections were working for us.

We printed on a lot of different paper, pulling from magazines and old art periodicals.

Then, we pulled out the window wall that Kevin built a while ago and started to setup the prints as a grid.

I really liked some of the details and textures when things got messy.

Kevin and Rosina tackling the grid.

We ended up having to do some more prints to completely cover the window wall.

And then, the finishing touches of trimming and taping the edges.

And installed! We took down our video installation and Sam’s water-bottle planters to make way for this … sometimes we get impatient … but also, this will make it a lot easier to host the Walk-by Theatre on Mondays.

A closer look at some of the grid. This was an excellent way to spend the afternoon. And, all the better that it was the randomness of being in the space together that made it happen.

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Outpost Journal: Art, Design, and Action from the Fringes

An interesting project to look into …

Outpost Journal is a biannual, non-profit print publication on innovative art, design and community action from cities that have been traditionally underexposed beyond their local contexts. Founded in 2010, Outpost aims to give wider exposure to artists and activists from smaller cities back in more recognized centers of artistic practice and commerce, such as New York and Los Angeles.

Outpost is a journey into the creative heart of a place. Via features like Secretly Famous (profiles of the most infamous artsy locals), guerrilla engagements with tourist attractions, historical explorations, mapping projects, and deep dives into artist collectives and organizations, Outpost plans to expose the myriad ways in which unique local communities arise through creative collaboration and production.

Support it over at their Kickstarter Campaign.

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