Aalto and Daata present Animal Charms

 

Aalto Studios and Daata Editions are excited to announce their first collaborative exhibition taking place in January 2019.

ANIMAL CHARMS consists of newly commissioned artworks by Ollie Dook, Jakob Kudsk Steensen and Puck Verkade recently presented at NADA Miami during the Art Basel Miami Beach week of events.

Aalto Studios Gallery, Otakaari 7, 0210 Espoo, Finland

Exhibition: 17 January – 15 February 2019
Private View: 16 January 2019 5-7pm

More information coming soon!

https://daata-editions.com/

Image: Puck Verkade, LUCY LIVE, courtesy of the artist and Daata Editions

The artwork is a digital file, yes by Pau Waelder – a new Foreword for Daata Editions

The artwork is a digital file, yes

by Pau Waelder

A new Foreword for Daata Editions

When considering how to collect digital art, we come across two preconceptions: what an artwork must be and what digital files are worth. First, it is commonly assumed that an artwork is an object with unique attributes, original, and irreplaceable. The object routinely goes from the artist’s studio to the gallery, where it is acquired by a collector. There is no doubt that it is always the same object that trades hands, and it is finally the collector who decides where the artwork is placed and who has access to it. Conceptual and performance art has challenged this notion again and again, but the artwork always finds its way into the market and the collector’s home in the form of a more or less stable object. Thus, if an artwork (a) is not an object, (b) can be copied, (c) can be accessed or experienced beyond the control of its owner(s), and/or (c) requires a computer, software and display to be at all perceivable, some may find it “difficult,” “challenging,” or even not worth collecting. This relates to the second preconception.

Our computers, tablets and smartphones are constantly storing digital files. Most of them we have created ourselves, others we have downloaded for free or for a fee. They fill the device’s storage space and force us to either copy them to other devices, store them in the cloud or delete them. Digital files are therefore constantly moved around, copied and erased, both a necessity and a burden. In most cases, we don’t know what to do with them, they just linger in folders and hidden directories until detected by a cleanup app or simply obliterated when the device that stores them reaches the end of its service life. Digital files, therefore, tend to be considered expendable in the sense that there should always be another copy somewhere. In fact, a growing segment of the entertainment industry relies on selling access to content on digital files that we temporarily store in our devices and swiftly remove when we are done watching the film, tv series, or documentary; listening to the song or podcast; reading the book, graphic novel or magazine. Many times, the file is not even downloaded, it is streamed and thus disappears the moment it is not used anymore, without leaving a trace. When we pay for the content, we either rely on it being safely stored by the provider and always conveniently accessible or we just want to experience it and never care what happens to it afterwards, because there will always be more, newer content ready to be clicked on.

My point is that artworks and digital files seem to be incompatible, due to how we tend to conceive artworks and our daily experience with digital files. Artworks are forever, digital files are ephemeral. Artworks are unique objects, digital files are immaterial worthless copies. However, an artwork does not need to be an object. In fact, a painting is not an object, it is an image that becomes a physical object because the pigment needs to be placed on a surface and canvases make it easier than walls to create, move around and sell the images. An artwork created in a digital format (a video, sound, jpeg, gif, 3D animation, browser-based piece or what have you) is not only always a copy but also the result of a software interpreting a file on a certain display, so every time it is experienced it turns out to be, in a way, a unique performance. Of course, one has to make sure that the software works with the file and that the display shows the piece as intended, but that’s all part of the artwork being something other than a static, physical object –which would nevertheless require certain conditions of placement, lighting, humidity and so forth. Finally, the artwork may be available to others even if it is safely at home and a certificate of authenticity, kept in the safe, states that no one else owns it. Artworks have a life of their own as they are viewed in exhibitions, reproduced in photographs and videos, distributed in magazines, books and blogs. Most of the art we know and love, we have never owned and will never own – even big collectors know and love much more art than they have bought. A large part of that art we have seen through reproductions, mostly on screens. It is still part of us, and for those who were lucky, smart or powerful enough to buy it, the more people who feel that the artwork is part of them, the better. For what good is it to own something that no one else knows about, that none can appreciate, that cannot be shared?

Digital art allows us to own and at the same time share an artwork – not only its reproduction. This can raise some eyebrows and insecurities. It may be argued that if the artwork is available elsewhere or that it can be copied, it loses its value. However, in addition to what I have already stated about the nature of a digital file, let us consider what Nelson Goodman found to be the difference between an original artwork and a forgery: its history of production. A digital artwork that has been purchased from a reputable source with a valid registry of authenticity has a history of production that can be established from the artist to the collector. No matter how many copies of the artwork may circulate, only the collector – or collectors if the artwork is editioned– can claim ownership and, more importantly, become part of the history of the artwork. This is not just provenance, which will matter to the next owner, but an active involvement in the existence of the artwork, its relevance and also in supporting the work of the artist. This is where Daata Editions comes in. Daata commissions art that is sold through its online platform in limited editions. The artists are paid to produce artworks that anyone can buy with a few clicks. The buyer can download the artwork and store it in her computer, on the cloud, wherever, make copies and display them on any device she owns. The rest of us can see the same artwork – watermarked – on the platform, appreciate it, maybe feel the urge to own it too. But we won’t be part of the artwork’s history, only those who bought it do. And those who are lucky or smart enough get the first edition.

Pau Waelder is a curator, writer and researcher whose work focuses on contemporary art and new media.

https://daata-editions.com/

Phillip Birch – New Commission on Daata Editions – Office Shadow

Daata Editions are excited to announce the release of Phillip Birch’s new commissioned artworks titled Office-Shadow (Personas). Birch has produced six short films that take place on a single floor of a computer generated office building. Each video acts as a single chapter of a longer narrative which is told through the point of view of a first person perspective.

Using this perspective, Birch (b. 1978, Detroit) is utilizing the language of video game design which allows the viewer to project themselves into the space as if they are themself the protagonist. The videos draw on Jungian psychology, the mundanity of office work, the visuals of Role Playing Games and the language of Greek mythology to create a world that is at once familiar and unfamiliar.

Birch is represented by Lyles & King and his recent solo exhibitions and performances include Milespires and Reliquaries, Lyles & King, NY; Entering God Mode, Jack Hanley, NY; The Crown of Modernity, 47 Canal, NY; The Hand of God, Essex Flowers, NY; The Chair After Its Method of Implementation, Cleopatra’s, NY.

TRAILER

Elephant Magazine Interview with David Gryn on Daata Editions

ELEPHANT MAGAZINE Interview: David Gryn, Daata Editions

Text by Emily Steer

Daata Editions launched in May 2015, presenting editions by 18 artists that were available to be acquired as downloads. Over one year on, Director David Gryn discusses their latest releases, and Daata’s role in an art world that is finally coming round to the digital. New works will be released as Frieze London kicks off this week.

Can you tell me a little about the latest artworks that you’ve released? 

We have released many new artworks over the last several months, on the site we now have over 65 artists and 350 commissioned artworks. Coinciding with the Frieze Art Fair we released new sets of artworks by Ed Fornieles, Ariana Reines, Daniel Swan, Artie Vierkant, a single work each by 6 New Contemporaries selected artists — Melanie Eckersley, Hannah Ford, Jasmine Johnson, Scott Lyman, Scott Mason, Abri de Swardt — and the Daata & Artspace commission Terrorist of Love by Keren Cytter, which will be the latest artwork that is free to download. We have also just recently released new artworks at Expo Chicago by: Larry Achiampong, Casey Jane Ellison, Rashaad Newsome, Tameka Norris, Saya Woolfalk and Gutter Records selects: Jake Chapman, Graham Dolphin, Joachim Koester & Stefan A. Pedersen.

What do you look for in the artists you work with?

We look for artists who have an interest in using a variety of digital mediums. Artists whose work we perceive will speak to and engage an audience who will primarily view the work via the website. We work with artists who are known to us via the art world ecosystem and artists who collaborate well. 

Are any new or young artists particularly exciting you right now?

I visit, tutor and lecture at many leading art schools and I am mightily impressed by recent encounters with graduates: Molly Palmer, Susannah Stark, Elliot Dodds, Jonathan Montague, Alice Jacobs, Anna Grenman, to name but a few. As Curator of Film & Sound for Art Basel at Miami Beach, I get to discover new artists all the time, as many leading galleries send me links to their artists’ work and submit them for the programming that I have been curating for the last 7 years.

We have launched a new section on Daata called ‘Curated’, and this is conceived to work with other voices in the artworks and introduce artists we may not have collaborated with or even heard of before. We have started this off with curator Katherine Finerty and her exhibition Reuse, remix, recode: Digital identity politics and the Power of PL►Y, from which she has now introduced artist Phoebe Boswell to the site.

We are interested in all generations of artists, it is just that the newer generations of artists use digital means as a (generalised) more natural process — but not exclusively. I am always excited by the artists that I am working with and the potential of those I do not know. 

Although in many ways you offer an alternative to the traditional physical gallery structure, have any particular galleries or institutions taken well to the concept of Daata Editions and provided strong support? Further to this, which spaces do you feel are really embracing the digital age?

We have had great support and collaborations with a variety of leading art fairs — NADA, Independent, Frieze, Expo Chicago, Chart — and these in turn bring us in direct parity and contact with the galleries that are selected for these fairs. There are galleries such as Arcadia Missa, Seventeen, Pilar Corrias, Bitforms, American Medium, Postmasters (to name just a few from the top of my head) who really get it and treat artists using digital mediums as equal to artists using any other medium. 

We have had great support from the Hammer Museum, Julia Stoschek Collection, Zabludowicz Collection and KIASMA Finland, all of whom have acquired most of the works that were released initially on Daata Editions. 

The digital world is constantly developing, have you found that Daata is required to evolve at a faster pace than other art platforms to keep up with this?

We set up Daata to be a platform to service artists who work with digital mediums and inherently the mediums will evolve and develop, but the internet is a rather established outlet so we see it as a hyper-normal method for display and distribution and are interested in propagating this. We are not really able to predict what future developments will sweep us all off our feet, but we believe we are perfectly placed to adapt and engage with whatever comes next. 

Developments in the dot com / internet development world are super fast. But I see our project as an equivalent to websites like the Guardian or the online record store Sounds of the Universe (also designed by our designers Studio Scasascia) that provide a platform for the distribution of information and downloadable music. We are always open to new methods of collaboration and technologies. 

We set up Daata to be an online equivalent of a gallery, but not trying to be a gallery. So we need to serve artists and audiences with a long term solution. We do not have a crystal ball on how the future will unpack, but we have informed instincts and these are how we can create solutions. The surprising fastest adopters of what we are trying to do are enlightened collectors, as they are often fascinated by the new, the innovative and the unexpected.

How has the relationship between art and digital development changed since Daata began? Do you have new challenges now?

In the short time since we started I have seen a move towards a greater desire for collaboration from potentially competitive or rival platforms. As we each have our own strengths and output I strongly believe that there has to be a wide array of similar platforms, much like there are similar galleries worldwide, as we can only ever have a finite capacity and indeed budget to commission and work with a limited number of artists at any time. 

Our challenge is not about the future, but about what is around us and how we can convey what we are doing to audiences and that they can have a relationship with the artworks we distribute and display. 

What do you see in the future for both Daata and the wider relationship between art and the digital? 

Simply that the conversation of and around art made with digital mediums will move onto the conversation about the artwork and the artist — the artist is paramount and that was always the purpose of Daata, to be a leading voice and example in the landscape of online distribution platforms — and that we will be joined by many other fantastic players and their voices. 

daata-editions.com/. All images courtesy the artist and Daata Editions. 

https://elephantmag.com/interview-david-gryn-daata-editions/

Film and Sound at Art Basel in Miami Beach at SoundScape Park

Sue de Beer – The Blue Lenses

Our Hidden Futures

Film at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2015

and

The Artists Surround Sound Project

Curated by David Gryn of Daata Editions and Artprojx

SoundScape Park, New World Center, Miami Beach

December 2-5, 2015 from 6pm

FREE

Film 

Artists: Ida Applebroog, Micol Assaël, Anna Barham, Breda Beban, Sue de Beer, Janet Biggs, Pia Camil, María Fernanda Cardoso, Carla Chaim, Talia Chetrit, Liz Cohen, Rineke Dijkstra, Tracey Emin, Barbara Hammer, Suzanne Harris, Camille Henrot, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Judith Hopf, Shirazeh Houshiary, Fritzia Irizar, Jaki Irvine, Anna K.E. & Florian Meisenberg, Nikki S. Lee, Simone Leigh & Liz Magic Laser with Alicia Hall Moran, Anna Maria Maiolino, Jumana Manna, Shana Moulton, Zanele Muholi, Kristin Oppenheim with Don Maclean, Cornelia Parker, Howardena Pindell, Berna Reale, Mary Reid Kelley, Marinella Senatore, Ann-Sofi Sidén and Jonathan Bepler, Cauleen Smith, Melanie Smith with Rafael Ortega, Catherine Sullivan with George Lewis and Sean Griffin, Diana Thater, Nicola Thomas, Minnette Vári, JoAnn Verburg, Marnie Weber, Susanne M. Winterling, Chloe Wise & Claire Christerson, Guan Xiao.

Sound

Artists: Sofie Alsbo, Alice Jacobs, Mariele Neudecker, Camille Norment.

Galleries 

303 Gallery, Galeria Raquel Arnaud, Arredondo \ Arozarena, Marianne Boesky Gallery, mor charpentier, Pilar Corrias, CRG Gallery, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Goodman Gallery, Marian Goodman Gallery, Garth Greenan Gallery, Gavlak Gallery, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Sies + Höke, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Kalfayan Galleries, Kerlin Gallery, Galerie König, KOW, Simon Lee Gallery, Pace/MacGill Gallery, Lehmann Maupin, kamel mennour, Galerie Nordenhake, OMR, One and J. Gallery, Peres Projects, Metro Pictures, kaufmann repetto, Casas Riegner, Galeria Nara Roesler, Salon 94, Sicardi Gallery, Jessica Silverman Gallery, Galerie Gregor Staiger, Stevenson, Simone Subal Gallery, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Cristin Tierney Gallery, Tilton Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, ZERO…

–

The New World Center’s projection wall will be home to a selection of this year’s premiere program of films and videos titled “Our Hidden Futures.” Curated by Art Basel film curator David Gryn, Director of Daata Editions and London’s Artprojx, the lineup will highlight an international selection of emerging and established artists, encompassing a range of moving image works that illustrate the breadth of these various analogue and digital mediums.

Join us for these events in SoundScape Park. For detailed information about each event, please click here or click on the image for each program.

Wednesday, December 2

6pm | Sound work
Mariele Neudecker, Figure of 8 (Rainforest, Ecuador, sound recorded at height: 1.39m, 9.78m, 22.59m, 30.79m and 37.26m), 2015, Galerie Barbara Thumm

8pm and 9pm | Short Film programs 

Rineke Dijkstra – Marianna (The Fairy Doll)

Fairy Doll; Running time approximately 58’; the 2015 Film program will open with a selection of short works in which artists focus on single portrait to reveal nuances of the human condition.

Rineke Dijkstra, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Carla Chaim, Anna K.E. & Florian Meisenberg, Anna Maria Maiolino, Howardena Pindell.

Marinella Senatore – Speak Easy

Speak Easy; Running time approximately 78’; Speak Easy will consider the artistic use of the creative, the audience, and the allure of the arena, the theater and the theatrical to explore the unsaid or unsayable.

Simone Leigh & Liz Magic Laser with Alicia Hall Moran, Jumana Manna, JoAnn Verburg, Melanie Smith with Rafael Ortega, Marinella Senatore, Catherine Sullivan, Ann-Sofi Sidén in collaboration with Jonathan Bepler.

Thursday, December 3

6pm | Sound work

Sofie Alsbo, Close Encounter, 2015, courtesy of the artist

9pm and 10pm | Short Film programs

Catherine Sullivan – Afterward via Fantasia

Afterward Via Fantasia; Catherine Sullivan with George Lewis and Sean Griffin, Afterword via Fantasia, 2015, 60ʹ, Metro Pictures

Marnie Weber – Sea of Silence

Sea of Silence; Running time approximately 56’; works within Sea of Silence reflect on the poetic silence of the absent and, in so doing, create a louder and much more visceral language.

Marnie Weber, Camille Henrot, Shirazeh Houshiary, Cauleen Smith, Minnette Vári, Tracey Emin, Nikki S. Lee.

Friday, December 4

6pm | Sound work

Camille Norment, Toll – Dissonant Image, (Re-mixed and mastered from 2011 version of Toll), 2015, courtesy of the artist

8pm and 9pm | Short Film programs

Janet Biggs – Duet

Duet; Running time approximately 45’; Duet will present artworks that embody pairs, the split screen, duos and unions, which are found in the style of the film, the artistic process or within the narrative.

Janet Biggs, Zanele Muholi, Nicola Thomas, Talia Chetrit, Sue de Beer.

Barbara Hammer – Snow Job

Snow Job; Running time approximately 62’; selected works in Snow Job use satire to communicate messages that engage and humor us.

Berna Reale, Shana Moulton, Mary Reid Kelley, Barbara Hammer, Diana Thater, Chloe Wise & Claire Christerson, Ida Applebroog, Breda Beban, Judith Hopf.

Saturday, December 5

6pm | Sound work

Alice Jacobs, The Intent I Owe, 2015, courtesy of the artist

8pm and 9pm | Short Film programs

Janet Biggs – Vanishing Point

Vanishing Point; Running time approximately 58’; Vanishing Point will feature a selection of artworks which employ kinetic and choreographed movement to investigate the factory, machines, and the futility of war, as well as the demise of manufacturing and its consequences.

Breda Beban, María Fernanda Cardoso, Janet Biggs, Fritzia Irizar, Suzanne Harris, Anna Barham, Guan Xiao, Susanne M. Winterling, Pia Camil, Cornelia Parker.

Bikini Carwash; Running time approximately 52’; the seven works in this program will explore the great outdoors, capturing urban and rural encounters.

Liz Cohen, Marnie Weber, Jaki Irvine, Micol Assaël, Kristin Oppenheim, Cauleen Smith, Milena Bonilla.

LINKS

For the full list of films featured at Art Basel in Miami Beach in 2015, please visit artbasel.com/miami-beach/film

ABMB 2015 Film Trailer https://youtu.be/aqgSICzFuuc

Artlyst http://www.artlyst.com/articles/art-basel-announces-2015-film-programme-for-miami-beach-fair

ARTnews http://www.artnews.com/2015/10/23/art-basel-miami-beach-2015-announces-film-program/

Artlyst on Talks program http://www.artlyst.com/articles/artists-and-art-professionals-lead-talks-programme-at-art-basel-miami-2015

New World Symphony Insights Talk http://www.nws.edu/events-tickets/concerts/insights-artists-film-and-sound-with-david-gryn/

Soundcloud tracks https://soundcloud.com/david-gryn/sets/the-artists-surround-sound

New World Symphony https://www.nws.edu/events-tickets/art-basel-at-soundscape-park/

Film at Art Basel in Miami Beach: Documenting an egalitarian perspective – David Gryn interview

‘Film at Art Basel: Documenting an egalitarian perspective’

Interview with David Gryn, Curator Film, Art Basel in Miami Beach since 2011

Saudi Gazette, Mariam Nihal, Saudi Arabia, January 24, 2015

(the article is based on the following q&a)

1.      Tell us about this year’s Art Basel and the most challenging part of organizing the film sector for this year?

This year’s Film at Art Basel in Miami Beach had an underlaying vision of ‘playfulness’, the playfulness of internet gaming, online action, art making, dance and performing, colour, sound and music. This was conceived to communicate both to the galleries to consider submitting artists moving image works that were engaging and also to consider the audience in Miami during an art fair, that will want to sit and watch artists’ films that are enthralling, exciting, thought provoking and entertaining. The challenge is to encourage the majority of galleries to think about artists moving image during an art fair and to attract an audience that have so many competitive events during an art fair week in Miami. My other challenge is to encourage galleries to think about artists who are statistically underrepresented by them and think egalitarian and have a global perspective.

2.      How has film and video art developed during the course of the last decade?

Technology over the last 10 years has exponentially been enhanced, this has enabled more and more artists to consider film and video and digital platforms as other powerful mediums to use for their work. Several well known artists such as Steve McQueen, Sam Taylor-Wood have gained notoriety and are celebrated for their feature films that have engaged with Hollywood and the Film industry, therefore this aspect of an artists career, that starts with artists experimenting with film and video to make art works has a now grand vision for many artists and that making feature films is a possible natural output of being an artist. We are also firmly part of a digital, online world and the impact of that on artists work and their career is ever evolving and improving. I planned the talk with Chrissie Iles, curator at the Whitney Museum and artist Tabor Robak and Rachel Rose – titled Playfulness: artists as online gamers, surfers and armchair digital revolutionaries and this was really to give a position of where we are currently finding ourselves in artists practice and in showing this art medium too.

3.      What plays the biggest role in developing art and design?

The artists’ vision and belief in their aesthetic truth. The art fair and galleries only exist because of artists and we need to keep remembering that our role is to support their vision and enable these arenas to be platforms for their voices and how they can inspire, inform, enchant us in every way.

4.      Tell us about the greater role of film art at Art Basel.

Film at ABMB provides the art fair a platform to show works by artists that do not get seen too often at international art fairs. It also enables the general public to see durational works for free, and be part of the citywide art experience and understanding. We show work on the 7000 sq ft screening wall of the Frank Gehry designed New World Center, with a powerful 35k lumen projector and room in SoundScape Park for over 1000 people to see each of this years 8 screening programmes. We also introduced the Art Basel Film Library inside the fair this year, which gave fair goers a chance to interrogate and personally view all the films that were selected for the fair.

5.      Which artist who participated in the show did you most enjoy working with?

I enjoy the whole process of working with the galleries and their artists. This year we introduced sound to play on the amazing 160 speaker, purpose built surround sound system in SoundScape Park working with Raed Yassin, Jennie C. Jones, Larry Achiampong and Stephen Vitiello. Some artists such as Hayal Pozanti, Parker Ito, Charles Richardson completed edited works specifically for the program. I also collaborated with Tabor Robak on the programme I coined ‘The Digital Revolutionaries’ including his work, Jon Rafman, Oliver Laric and a tribute to Harun Farocki. Saya Woolfalk, Dara Friedman, Marcel Dzama, Charles Atlas, Marnie Weber, Takeshi Murata, Rachel Rose were works by other selected artists that had a great resonance with me.

6.      What is the role of art fairs like Art Basel on the medium? How does the fair help nurture the scene?

Art Basel approached me to work with them 5 years ago, to help nurture an area that needs inproving at the art fair and at all art fairs in general. Art Basel recognised the need for the support of artists mediums that do not all have immediate commercial attributes, which often get overlooked by us all during the hustle and bustle of preparing for and being at art fairs. We have to treat film, performance, sound as important and valued mediums in our art world, therefore they will become big and more valued, it is an obvious logic, but one which we all need reminding of and our constant attention.

Main image: from the Art Basel in Miami Beach, SoundScape Park screening of Charles Richardson’s ‘Rehearsal’, 2014

David Gryn, Artprojx worldwide, Curator of Film at Art Basel in Miami Beach, Curator at Royal College of Psychiatrists, Director of the Strangelove moving image festival at CSM 2015 and of a brand new Digital Art Editions model launching soon in 2015 …..

Playing with Reel Life – David Gryn interview on ArtInfo

Takeshi Murata and Robert Beatty, OM Rider, 2013, 11’39”, Salon 94, Ratio 3

PLAYING WITH REEL LIFE

Interview with David Gryn, and article

BY ARCHANA KHARE-GHOSE | NOVEMBER 28, 2014 | ArtInfo

http://uk.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1065011/playing-with-reel-life

The creative harvest at Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB) is so colossal that picking one stand-out event is an exercise in impossibility. However, despite the enormity of the art showcase, certain sectors of the ABMB — from nine that it has been sectioned into — always reap more audience mindshare than most others. The film sector is one of those hallowed events.

The film program of the ABMB 2014 is expectedly humungous in scale with over 80 films and videos to be screened. The films and video works have been selected by David Gryn, director of London’s Artprojx, who has culled out work from ABMB’s participating galleries. The showcase also includes a tribute to Harun Farocki, the Indian-origin German filmmaker who passed away recently.

Gryn speaks to Blouin Artinfo about the films being screened at ABMB 2014.

BA. Why did you choose ‘Playfulness’ as the theme of the film section for ABMB 2014?

DG: This year, my selection for the 4th edition of Film section has been driven by the notion of ‘Playfulness’: the playfulness of Internet gaming, online action, art making, dance and performing, color, sound and music. Most art making is playful by its very nature, however I have always designed the film program to consider audience engagement; the films selected reflect an exciting range of artist works that stimulate, enliven and rivet the audience, with captivating color, sound and process. This is not about showing art that is just easy to digest, but about showing art that is inherently engaging and encourages audiences to stay for an hour or three.

BA. Could you explain the selection process in detail?

DG: We have approximately 200 artist submissions from about 150 galleries at the fair. I work closely with many galleries to encourage their submissions of their artists. Galleries are usually the experts in their artists’ outputs. I see my role as a facilitator and enabler. Some galleries submit many entries and others, very few. My challenges are the galleries who do not submit at all, although some just do not represent any artists who use moving image. But my pleasure is the galleries who send me plenty.

Usually galleries who have seen the vast scale, brilliant sound and huge and receptive crowds are very happy to reapply each year. There are some galleries that I request artists from and some emerging artists that I introduce into the program.

BA. What are the most popular subjects that artists today are making films on?

DG: The internet and the multifarious worlds it intersects is an obvious subject. Art making remains at best when it is about making art but speaks to us about the essence of the human condition, without using a sledgehammer to make its point. True artists are constantly striving for a newness in their work and with the ever growing demands of making commodities, seek to turn to areas of art practice which have a difficult relationship with finance and demand an audience that actually looks, interrogates and digests their artworks.

BA. Is there a fundamental difference in the way artists approach the art of filmmaking today than it was about two decades back?

DG: The big change is the evolution over the last 20 years of digital technology. But the great artists remain few. There is a language of the internet that didn’t exist, but it is inherently about communication and it obsessively feeds our innate appetite for information and that is all about our need to co-exist with each other. Artists are now growing up with the online world as their natural language.

BA. Somehow, films by artists largely remain in the realm of documentary. Why is it so?

DG: Film and video by artists are another distinct artist medium like painting and sculpture. Filmmakers have often other concerns, however filmmakers like John Waters, Sophia Coppola, Ingmar Bergman are great artists whose art is film.

BA. At ABMB 2014, you are also going to give the talk — ‘Playfulness: Artists as Online Gamers, Surfers, and Armchair Digital Revolutionaries’. Could you explain?

DG: The title of the talk was central to my initial thinking for this year’s film programming, with a goal to have Tabor Robak speak, as he was one of my starting points. He curated the program that includes his work and that of Oliver Laric and Jon Rafman, they are leading lights amongst artists working in the digital art making sphere. I included Harun Farocki — whom I would have added anyway, but he sadly died in the process, so his inclusion is now a tribute to such a great artist, whom I spent much time with recently at the Loop Video Art Fair in Barcelona. Rachel Rose is the other artist on the panel, and her work had been introduced to me by Chrissie Iles, the brilliant curator of ‘Film and Beyond’ at the Whitney, and I am delighted she had agreed to be the moderator.

BA. Do films by artists find patrons with deep pockets just as visual arts do or is there still a financial divide between the two? 

DG: The positive financial world of artists’ films is still an evolving process. My role in doing this work with Art Basel evolved from the belief by the art fair that we still need to encourage galleries to show artists’ moving image, even if the market is very limited. It is an ever growing practice by artists — which has yet to fully find its commercial feet. This is indeed work in progress.

BA. What films would you suggest to a lay admirer of art who wants to educate himself on the subject? What is your personal all-time favourite film in the genre?

RACHEL ROSE, Palisades in Palisades, 2014

DG: There is a shot in a recent Rachel Rose film ‘Palisades in Palisades’, where the camera pans in on the flesh and v-neck part of a sweater, and you see the goosebumps next to the weave and texture of the sweater, and it is just a brilliant moment of human encounter in an artists’ work. That is currently my favourite moment by an artist film.

My advice is to regard us art organisers, curators, galleries as generally a good level of quality assurance, decision making conduits and filters to often really great work. To name any one artist would be disingenuous to others. However, to give you an answer, if Philip Guston was alive and could make films like his paintings then I would be truly happy with that, perhaps with the additional choreography of dancer Michael Clark and the melancholic balletic piano sounds of Chopin.

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/film-art-basel-in-miami-beach-2014-overview/

www.artbasel.com/en/Miami-Beach

Film Art Basel in Miami Beach 2014 Overview

Film: Art Basel in Miami Beach 2014. Curated by David Gryn, Artprojx – Overview

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/film-art-basel-announces-2014-program-for-miami-beach/

Playfulness – Wed Dec 3, 8pm

Hayal Pozanti, Wood & Harrison, Alex Rodríguez, Mark Leckey, Brian Bress, Elizabeth Price, Rachel Rose, Camille Henrot, Tomislav Gotovac, Taro Izumi, Laure Prouvost, Martin Creed

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/18/playfulness-film-program-1-at-art-basel-in-miami-beach-wed-3-dec-8pm/

Armchair Surfers – Wed Dec 3, 9pm

Saya Woolfalk, Chris Doyle, Charles Richardson, Nate Boyce, Dashiell Manley, Florian Meisenberg, Leo Gabin, CAR (Conceptual Artists Research/Michelle Grabner) and David Robbins, Clunie Reid, Jayson Musson

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/19/armchair-surfers-at-film-art-basel-in-miami-beach-weds-dec-3-at-9pm/

Ex-Romance – Wed Dec 3, 10pm

Charles Atlas, Parker Ito

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/charles-atlas-and-parker-ito-at-film-art-basel-in-miami-beach-wed-3-dec-10pm/

The Digital Revolutionaries – Thurs Dec 4, 10pm

Tabor Robak, Jon Rafman, Oliver Laric, Harun Farocki

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/21/the-digital-revolutionaries-at-art-basel-in-miami-beach-thurs-3-dec-10pm/

Radio Ga Ga – Fri Dec 5, 8pm

Bill Balaskas, Frank Heath, Wagner Malta Tavares, Vartan Avakian, Susan Hiller

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/23/radio-ga-ga-at-film-art-basel-in-miami-beach-fri-5-dec-8pm/

The Night of Forevermore – Fri Dec 5, 9pm

Ciprian Mureşan, Tomislav Gotovac, Olaf Breuning, Jose Dávila, Laure Prouvost, Maya Watanabe, Tim Davis, Marnie Weber, Hans Op de Beeck, Alex Prager

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/24/the-night-of-forevermore-at-film-art-basel-in-miami-beach-fri-5-dec-9pm/

Rites of Spring – Sat Dec 6, 8pm

Rania Bellou, Dara Friedman, Pilar Albarracín, Marcel Dzama, Ana Roldán, Brian Bress, Rashaad Newsome, Babette Mangolte, Trisha Brown, Liu Chuang

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/25/rites-of-spring-at-film-art-basel-in-miami-beach-sat-6-dec-8pm/

The Magic of Things – Sat Dec 6, 9pm

Atsushi Kaga, Brian Alfred, Hiraki Sawa, Takeshi Murata, Robin Rhode, Theo Michael, David Shrigley, Mark Wallinger, Cécile B. Evans, Brent Green

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/the-magic-of-things-at-film-art-basel-in-miami-beach-2014-sat-6-dec-9pm/

Artists’ Surround Sound at Film ABMB – Wed 3/Thurs 4/Fri 5/Sat 6 at 6pm

Larry Achiampong, Jennie C. Jones, Stephen Vitiello, Raed Yassin

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/16/sound-by-artists-at-film-art-basel-in-miami-beach/

Playfulness: artists as online gamers, surfers and armchair digital revolutionaries. Talk at the ABMB Salon – Fri Dec 5, 2pm

Chrissie Iles, Rachel Rose, Tabor Robak and David Gryn

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/25/playfulness-artists-as-online-gamers-surfers-and-armchair-digital-revolutionaries-salon-at-art-basel-miami-beach-fri-5-dec-2pm/

Art Basel Film Library

Includes all artists in the outdoor program plus

Gabriel Acevedo, Rita Ackermann, Chantal Akerman, Julien Berthier, Johanna Billing, Julien Bismuth, Botner & Pedro, Pia Camil, Stephen Dean, Elmgreen & Dragset, Haroon Gunn-Salie, Matthew Day Jackson, Daniel Jacoby, Zdjelar Katarina, Maria Laet, Pablo Lobato, Gerald Machona, Marcellvs L. De Caro Marina, Ana María Millán, Carlos Motta, Shana Moulton, Mark Neville, Jim Shaw, Alyson Shotz, Diana Thater, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Adrián Villar Rojas, Jacques Villeglé & Raymond Hains, Heimo Zobernig

selected by David Gryn

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/art-basel-film-library-2014/

11 More Musts in Miami

Auto Body

http://www.myartguides.com/art-basel-miami-beach-2014/exhibitions/item/3696-auto-body

NADA

http://www.newartdealers.org/Fairs/2014/MiamiBeach

Art Basel in Miami Beach 2014 – in general

https://www.artbasel.com/en/Miami-Beach

MEEM – Ryan McNamara/Performa

http://performa-arts.org/news/item/ryan-mcnamara-meem-4-miami-art-basel-miami-beach

Public curated by Nicholas Baume

https://www.artbasel.com/en/Miami-Beach/About-the-Show/Sectors/Public

Conversation and Salon

https://www.artbasel.com/en/Miami-Beach/About-the-Show/Talks/Salon

Bass Museum

http://www.bassmuseum.org/

Rubell Family Collection

https://www.rfc.museum/

Design Miami

http://www.designmiami.com/

The Miami Beach Cinemateque

http://mbcinema.com/

Pedro Reyes – ICA Miami

http://www.icamiami.org/

contact:

David Gryn

+447711127848

artprojx@gmail.com

http://instagram.com/davidgryn

skype: Artprojx

TRAILER

@e_flux
http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/miami-beach-2014-programming/

SoundCloud: Miami Soundscapes 2013 by Max Reinhardt, DJ on Late Junction, BBC Radio 3.
https://soundcloud.com/david-gryn/

The Night of Forevermore at Film Art Basel in Miami Beach Fri 5 Dec 9pm

Hans Op de Beeck, Parade, 2012, 11’25”, Galleria Continua

Film: Art Basel in Miami Beach 2014. Curated by David Gryn.

From December 3 through 6, 2014, Art Basel’s Film sector will include over 80 films and videos. Outdoor Screenings are in SoundScape Park on the 7,000-square-foot outdoor projection wall of the Frank Gehry designed New World Centre.

Friday, December 5, 9pm.

The Night of Forevermore

The Night of Forevermore focuses on artists who employ cinematic and theatrical tropes: Ciprian Mureşan reconsiders Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí’s Surrealist classic Un Chien Andalou (1929) through the blockbuster animation Shrek (2001), while Jose Dávila applies his signature cutout method to Sergio Leone’s classic Spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966).

Ciprian Mureşan, Un chien andalou, 2004, 51”, David Nolan Gallery
Tomislav Gotovac, Feeling 4, 2000, 3′, Alexander Gray Associates, galerie frank elbaz
Olaf Breuning, The Apple, 2006, 11’05”, Metro Pictures
Jose Dávila, The Stranger, the Stranger, and the Stranger, 2014, 2’56”, Galería OMR
Laure Prouvost, OWT, 2007, 3’20”, MOT International
Maya Watanabe, A-PHAN-OUSIA, 2008, 4’45”, 80m2 Livia Benavides
Tim Davis, La La Traviata, 2013, 12’05”, Van Doren Waxter
Marnie Weber, The Night of Forevermore, 2012, 14’45”, Simon Lee Gallery
Hans Op de Beeck, Parade, 2012, 11’25”, Galleria Continua
Alex Prager, Sunday, 2010, 1’08”, Lehmann Maupin

TRAILER

6pm-8pm Jennie C. Jones, From the Low to Higher Resonance, Sikkema Jenkins Gallery – three short works in surround sound. Selected by David Gryn.

Some related links:

http://artbasel.com/miamibeach

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com

http://facebook.com/artbasel

http://www.sikkemajenkinsco.com/

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/film-art-basel-announces-2014-program-for-miami-beach/

http://www.davidnolangallery.com/

http://www.alexandergray.com/gallery/

http://www.galeriefrankelbaz.com/

http://www.metropictures.com/

http://www.galeriaomr.com/

http://www.motinternational.com/

http://www.80m2galeria.com/

http://www.vandorenwaxter.com/

http://www.simonleegallery.com/

http://www.galleriacontinua.com/

http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/

Radio Ga Ga at Film Art Basel in Miami Beach Fri 5 Dec 8pm

Wagner Malta Tavares, Ondas Curtas, 2013, 8’52”, Galeria Marilia Razuk

Film: Art Basel in Miami Beach 2014. Curated by David Gryn.

From December 3 through 6, 2014, Art Basel’s Film sector will include over 80 films and videos. Outdoor Screenings are in SoundScape Park on the 7,000-square-foot outdoor projection wall of the Frank Gehry designed New World Centre.

Friday, December 5, 8pm-9pm,  

Radio Ga Ga

Radio broadcasting – the audible transmission of information through radio waves – is a powerful medium that has long influenced human events. Concepts of radio and waves will be explored in this program, bookended by works that draw from broadcasts that go unnoticed, such as Bill Balaskas’ cobbled together news bulletins and Susan Hiller’s translations of radio frequencies emitted by the Big Bang.

Bill Balaskas, Info, 2011, 4’30”, Kalfayan Galleries
Frank Heath, Invasive Species, 2012, 11’30”, Simone Subal Gallery
Wagner Malta Tavares, Ondas Curtas, 2013, 8’52”, Galeria Marilia Razuk
Vartan Avakian, ShortWave / LongWave, 2009, 7’13”, Kalfayan Galleries
Susan Hiller, Resounding (Infrared), 2014, 30′, Timothy Taylor Gallery

TRAILER

6pm-8pm Jennie C. Jones, From the Low to Higher Resonance, Sikkema Jenkins Gallery– three short works in surround sound.

Some related links:

http://artbasel.com/miamibeach

https://davidgryn.wordpress.com

http://facebook.com/artbasel

http://www.sikkemajenkinsco.com/

http://www.kalfayangalleries.com/

http://www.jenniecjones.com/

http://www.timothytaylorgallery.com/

http://www.galeriamariliarazuk.com.br/

http://www.simonesubal.com/here/artists/frank-heath/images/