YAY

Art or Idiocy? has been named one of
2005's Top 5 Art Spots on the Internet in the Newcity!

View the art lists by Michael Workman & Michael Weintstein along with all the other Top 5 of Everything 2005 lists HERE

Iconoduel is also on the list and Dan, of the dueling icons, has been offering some commentary on our recent post about Richard Kelsey’s Top Ten in Artforum. Dan brings up some interesting points, and interesting links.

Our Post is HERE

Artforum is HERE

What’s Yr Take on Yr 2005?

Everyone is doing their lists of bests and worsts for the year. Lists are fun to make & fun to read. But it is also extremely infuriating to not be able to offer opinion on them. Rather than make another list, Art or Idiocy? has decided to reverse it and provide a forum for readers to offer up their opinions.

Below are a series of catagories, feel free to post your response.

Season's Greetings from the Artist Extraordinaire and Art or Idiocy?

2005’s Best Exhibition

2005’s Best Artist

2005’s Best Gallery

2005’s Best Album

2005’s Best Movie

2005’s Worst Exhibition

2005’s Worst Artist

2005’s Worst Gallery

2005’s Worst Album

2005’s Worst Movie

All I Want For Christmas is my Scream Back

Just sitting around in the aftermath of Xmas and surfing the internet Art or Idiocy? picked up on this development in The Scream case via Artforum and BBC. Five suspects have been charged in the theft and one for receiving stolen goods. The defendants will be tried in February. There is still no trace of the looted art.

The story is here

Happy Everything to Whoever Wants It.

ONLINE NAZI PHOTOBANK Not as 'History Channel' as It Sounds

The Artnewspaper reports of a massive cache of Nazi propaganda photos being posted as an online database. What the images actually are is a lot different than you might think. They are essentially documentary photographs of murals inside of buildings from Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia and the Czech republic. It is still an interesting piece of history and a good story. The images were taken for the Ministry of Propaganda. (Which would make an ideal name for an aspiring industrial-techno-metal-goth band)

The documented art dates from the 10th through the 19th centuries. The Art Newspaper’s online version of the article is pretty sad, duplicate paragraphs, references to "see image” where there is no image. So Art or Idiocy? has taken the liberty of cleaning it up and posting it below. Along with links to the online archive. Because, yes, links to the subject of the article are also missing from The Art Newspaper version. Consider this a little Xmas gift from your uncle Werner.

Main Site: fotothek
Map Reference: Click on a country for a list of works
You have to be intuitive, and fiddle around. The site is all in German and there are no translations. But it is definitely worth exploring.


Castle
Dresden - Pillnitz
New Palace

Architect: Christian Friedrich Schuricht



Fig. ZI0700_0010: View from the rose garden
admission color: 1943/1945)

NOW, FROM THE ART NEWSPAPER

From Conservation:
Nazi photo archive goes online
Some 60,000 images of art inside German palaces and churches are now publicly available
Posted 15 December 2005

By Donald Lee
London. A Nazi archive of 60,000 digital colour images of wall and ceiling paintings in German buildings has been put online by the Central Institute for Art History in Munich in collaboration with the Photographic Image Archive in Marburg. The pictures were taken for the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda and the Department of Buildings and Monuments between 1943 and 1945.

The photographs show the interiors of 480 buildings—churches, monasteries, castles and palaces, dating from the 10th to the end of the 19th centuries—in what was the “Greater German Reich”: what are now Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia (East and West Prussia), and the Czech Republic (Bohemia and Moravia). Each photographer was paid 35 Reichmarks for each frame and was required to take six of each work. Many of the works photographed were destroyed or damaged during World War II so the archive provides an unparalleled resource for restorers.

The Nazi authorities intended to record the works in order to publicise the destructive barbarities of the Allies and to provide the means of restoration when the war was over.

After World War II, the photographic archive was divided between the Munich institute, which received some 39,000 slides, and the Marburg archive, where 20,000 slides were deposited, for safekeeping.

Photographs from the archive were most recently used to help in the rebuilding and restoration of the Frauenkirche in Dresden. The archive has been consulted for other projects where works were destroyed or severely damaged, for example, in the recreation of the Golden Hall of the Town Hall in Augsburg in the 1980s.

Now, with the complete digitalised archive online and available for free (www.zi.fotothek.org), restorers, art historians and researchers are provided with an invaluable historical record, not only of works that have been lost or damaged, but also of the condition of works in 1943-45 that have undergone subsequent changes as a result of restoration or refurbishment.

Fucking Idiot Critiques Hurricane,Gives it Good Review

Artforum, whose contributors frequently include fucking idiots, has released its “Best of 2005” issue. The art world ad section has asked “leading critics and curators to remember ten high points of the year.” John Kelsey named Hurricane Katrina as number one. Kelsey has this to say:

HURRICANE KATRINA Ask Stockhausen. As if timed for the opening of the Whitney's Robert Smithson retrospective, this was arguably less a natural disaster than a case of Land art gone horribly wrong. An environmental and political tragedy of Spielbergian proportions, Katrina produced images of the sort of "naked life" we'd previously only identified with non-sites like Iraq. The drowned ghetto, the shooting of homeless looters, the police suicides, the forced evacuations, the superdomes filled with refugees–these are visions we can only try to erase. For some reason it was impossible not to imagine the hurricane as a terrorist act. And I guess it was–Made in USA.

He added that Katrina is right up there with the architectural deconstruction of 9/11 and the social sculpture of the Holocaust.

One of those lucky enough to experience the hurricane that was "less a natural disaster than a case of Land art gone horribly wrong" first hand.

FEMA has asked Kelsey to deliver a lecture on his theories to the people of New Orleans entitled, “I Am A Fucking Idiot, and I Have No Respect For Human Suffering: You Aren’t People to Me, You Are Just Pieces of an Imaginary Artwork.” As a lead in to his talk, Kelsey plans to play Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levy Breaks.”

Two Blogs to Announce

First is Breaking Secure Hearts by the Brooklyn based Dan Juan. (aka Dan Cordua) During his time in Chicago, Dan hosted some great art events. Breaking Secure Hearts mostly revolves around New York City, with an eye towards street art and graffiti. There is also a lot of focus on the art world and radical politcs. Just what we like in a blog. So do check it out. And you can find it from now on under our “Art Discussion, Elswhere” heading to the left.

Black Cat Bone- Burning the Flesh Off Modern Art is the blog of James W. Bailey "C.S.A. (Contemporary Southern Artist) Born and Raised in the Great State of Mississippi. Born-again in the City of New Orleans."

It is pretty interesting stuff. The industrious Bailey has also gone to create blogs related to specific projects and exhibitions. You can find Black Cat Bone on our links “Artist Pages” heading.

TOP TEN: artLedge (No.1)

Navigation: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

So here we are. The final Top Ten List from artledge's TOP TEN. We hope you have enjoyed reading these. It was a lot of fun for Art or Idiocy? to search out illustrations. A final word on what it is artLedge is about:

artLedge is an experimental platform committed to presenting projects created specifically for the unique parameters of the Ledge and beyond. Exhibitions are celebrated with a festive one-night social nexus for artistic contemplation. Originating from the top of a spiral staircase that connects two floors of an apartment at 1638 N. Western, the artLedge initiative lends itself to an endless number of exhibition possibilities.

artLedge’s most recent project, transcengressdension, closed Saturday at 40000, one of the spaces in the WestTown Gallery Network.

artLedge’s Top Ten Top Ten Lists List

# 1 The (top) Ten Commandments

10) THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR'S GOODS.

9) THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR'S WIFE.

8) THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOR.

7) THOU SHALT NOT STEAL.

6) THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.

5) THOU SHALT NOT KILL.

4) HONOR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER.

3) REMEMBER THOU KEEP HOLY THE SABBATH DAY.

2) THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN.

1) I AM THE LORD THY GOD, THOU SHALT NOT HAVE strange gods BEFORE ME.

Top tens selected from the worldinterwidenetweb.

TOP TEN: artLedge (No.2)

Navigation: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 1

Rolling on, we are in the home stretch of this blogging experiment. Art or Idiocy? has been day by day publishing artLedge's TOP TEN. This artist collective brought a creative twist to our popular feature. Creating a list of TOP TENs.

Art or Idiocy? asked artLedge to create a TOP TEN list. In their own words:

artLedge is an experimental platform committed to presenting projects created specifically for the unique parameters of the Ledge and beyond. Exhibitions are celebrated with a festive one-night social nexus for artistic contemplation. Originating from the top of a spiral staircase that connects two floors of an apartment at 1638 N. Western, the artLedge initiative lends itself to an endless number of exhibition possibilities.

artLedge’s newest project, transcengressdension, opened recently at 40000, one of the spaces in the WestTown Gallery Network. Clever as ever, artLedge came up with a list of the top ten top ten lists. So check back here everyday, as a new number (and new list) will be unveiled.

artLedge’s Top Ten Top Ten Lists List

# 2 Top Ten Baby Names, Male & Female


This is a girl, named with the #1 girl name. It is a copy of a photo of someone holding a photo found on the internet. Talk about "high concept."

10) Christopher, Elizabeth

9) Joseph, Samantha

8) William, Ashley

7) Daniel, Isabella

6) Andrew, Abigail

5) Ethan, Hannah

4) Matthew, Olivia

3) Joshua, Madison

2) Michael, Emma

1) Jacob, Emily

Naming a baby Jacob? Biblical
Naming a cat Jacob Totally awesome

Top tens selected from the worldinterwidenetweb.

This Saturday, December 3rd, is your last chance to see artLedge at 40000

• Info on artLedge at 40000

• Visit WestTown.