Readings Section / Didier / Studio / Manchester
Tuesday 10 June, 2008 Ladies and gentlemen, a few announcements: We have launched a new Readings section. It contains full-length video recordings of Openned nights, as well as recordings of other nights in the London and Manchester areas and wherever else we manage to get to. Charles Bernstein, Maggie O'Sullivan and Sean Bonney feature prominently in the opening gambit. Didier the crow is now guarding the Journal until its launch later this year. Changes are afoot at the Studio. Watch this space. With the success of the first two Other Room nights, the Manchester site has now expanded to include the same sections and content as its London counterpart. Enjoy.
'By the early 1980s, I was playing with the early crop of home computers, such as the Sinclair ZX81 and Dragon 32. It was about this time that I discovered the esoteric beauty of computer crashes, tape loading screens, memory visualisation, loose cartridges, and what happens when you run out of 1K of memory.
My glitch art site began in July 2001. By January 2006 it had over 400 images, but then I decided to start over with fresh work. I'm slowly moving away from pure digital glitches, towards physical artworks which combine aspects of the glitch aesthetic with traditional photographic printmaking.'
Jeremy Bentham, the original exponent and inventor of Foucault's Panopticon:
'As requested in his will, his body was preserved and stored in a wooden cabinet, termed his "Auto-icon". Originally kept by his disciple Dr. Southwood Smith, it was acquired by University College London in 1850. The Auto-icon is kept on public display at the end of the South Cloisters in the main building of the College. For the 100th and 150th anniversaries of the college, the Auto-icon was brought to the meeting of the College Council, where he was listed as "present but not voting". Tradition holds that if the council's vote on any motion is tied, the auto-icon always breaks the tie by voting in favour of the motion.
The Auto-icon has always had a wax head, as Bentham's head was badly damaged in the preservation process. The real head was displayed in the same case for many years, but became the target of repeated pranks by King's College London students including being stolen on more than one occasion. It is now locked away securely.'
Somethings compelling from Frances Kruk, all things dated 01/06/08.