An exhibition exploring data visualization and database aesthetics

We live in the age of information.  Data is everywhere, buzzing all around us at any given moment.  There is so much information, that the human mind can’t possibly comprehend it all at once.  Humans have developed various systems of organization in order to understand complicated data.  Data visualization is a way to organize information and “think with the eyes”.  Images help us to see relationships, causes and meanings that we would not normally be able to see in large masses of abstract information.  Data visualization is a way to describe abstract concepts that are not physical, and give a form to an object that has none.  This exhibition explores the concept of data visualization and database aesthetics.  Artists of diverse backgrounds and media have been asked to create a piece of work based on the visualization of information.
Featuring work from:

Alison Feldish  |  Alyssa Johnson  |  Beth Heinly  |  Dennis Towers  |  George Purkins  |  Jerry Kaba  |  Jessie Hemmons  | Lee Tusman

Curated by Angela McQuillan

May 4th-23rd 2012

Opens on First Friday May 4, 2012 6pm-10pm
[FACEBOOK]

Curated by Alana Bograd

Presented as though emerging from a hiding place to view a wide variety of surprises, this special painting exhibition invites viewers to crawl out of their spaces and get to know the worlds of artists from Chicago, Dubrovnik, Los Angeles, New York City, and Philadelphia. Take a gander, have a look-see, peer and peek this one out, it’s perfect for viewing all day long.

Artists: Farrell Brickhouse, David Campbell, Marybeth Chew, Damien Crisp, Sarah Gamble, Jordan Graw, Selma Hafizovic, Todd Keyser, John Kilduff, Doron Langberg, Shanjana Mahmud, Matt Savitsky, Woohyun Shim, Keer Tanchak, and Ben Will

little berlin is proud to present an exhibit by Tyler School of Art Students Nathaniel Mell and John Shoemaker.

ESCAPEMENT  |  April 6th-21st 2012
Opens on First Friday, April 6th [RSVP on FACEBOOK]

“Time exists so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” (Albert Einstein)

The human experience orders life into a linear narrative, dissecting events and placing them into a sequence in which one succeeds the next. Yet, the mechanics of the universe present time as an aqueous medium in which chronology dissolves and events move freely about one another rather than conforming to a linear track. In Escapement, artists Nathaniel Mell and John Shoemaker present a number of works that find their commonality in a fluid notion of time and history realized through found and formed objects. Utilizing the figure as well as numerous cast and sculpted elements, Nathaniel’s work references an amalgamation of appropriated characters, narratives, and symbols with a common thread of wanderlust and disillusionment. Concurrently, John’s installations explore the mechanics of space and time through elementary machines, utilizing industrial and maritime aesthetics and materials in order to investigate the matter of objects and reveal the complexities of simple systems.

Curated by Tyler Kline

Closing Reception on First Friday, December 2nd 6-10PM
Little Berlin At Viking Mill
2430 Coral St. 19125

Artists:  Tim Eads  |  Jennifer Lingford  |  Conor Fields  |  Brian Dunn  |  Sedakial Gebremedhin  |  Lucia Thomé  |  CIPRO  |  Jim Huebotter  |  Tom Yurkovic  |  Danielle Payne  |  Marek Danielewski  |  Salvatore Cerceo  |  Skirmantas Pipas  |  Justice League of Adversaries

An ongoing experiment in serendipity inspired by the last three novels written by William S. Burroughs II, The second in a trilogy of non-linear exhibitions, The Western Lands takes its name from the third book in William S. Burroughs’ cataclysmic “Cities” saga. Ciphers, kinetic machines, hallucinatory projections, and home spun environments mark the break down and reformation of linguistics, symbolic thought, and ritual.

This collaborative installation is based on the interaction of individual vision and communal practice; the braiding of sign, signifier, and symbol will draw a thread linking visionary practice, rhythmic interpretation, and cultivation of chance.  The First exhibition, staged in 2010, of the Trilogy was “Cities of the Red Night“, images can be found here and here.

“Terrible scandal: a big pop star, in a jealous rage fueled by cocaine, grabbed his girlfriend’s Yorkshire terrier and threw it into the piranha tank. As the piranhas attacked the floundering dog, the hysterical starlet threw a heavy bronze ashtray which shattered the tank, spilling snapping fish and bloody water across the patrons as the disemboweled, screaming dog dragged its intestines across the floor. Quite a scene it was, and of course there were plenty of cameras to freeze-dry this edifying spectacle for posterity and export. It’s the little touches that make a future solid enough to be destroyed.”

— William S. Burroughs, The Western Lands, p. 37

Most of the installation was created by the artist on site, working together on their individual spaces and collaborating at porous boundaries, allowing overlap and infiltration. Skirmantas Pipas painted a Lego Last Supper Mural, overlapping with Brian Dunn’s printed security seal pasted wall installation. Danielle Payne projected video and lights with peep holes leading to Jennifer Lingford’s room of disquieted, Lynchian/Cronebergian Domestic Decay. Sedakial Gebremedhin, Mike Schultis, and Scott Cooper installed raw earth to enact a mining/Goldshlager drenched performance. Tim Eads unleashed his painting machines to build the foundation of his wind and light installation. Marek Danielewski created the interior of a crypto-sociographic Sarcophagi. Lucia Thomé pierced the space with a tilted and deformed geometric structure that dominates a surrounding workshop, and Tom Yurkovic built an illuminated stairway confronting the viewer with interior, exterior, and reflective views. Salvatore Cerceo and Jim Huebotter brought in manually propelled kinetic sculptures, Conor Fields unleashes his motor driven Das Boot madness and The Justice League of Adversaries performed original electronic composition and video project in the courtyard, where CIPRO‘s street art stream of consciousness has transformed the exterior area of the gallery.

Please join on First Friday Dec 2nd from 6-10 PM for the closing reception of this exhibition, with new music and performance.

There is an additional exhibition within the installation, bring stickers and markers to decorate the cardboard walls of the installations labrynth. Confirmed sticker and poster artist: Astrotwitch, RERIBS R, CTHULHU, JR, EBEN HOLZ, iwillnot, ZELCH, T.M., R.I., Alex Lilly, TCK, NAT, SARO, IWN, Damon Ayers, CIPRO, ALL ONE

Laura Parnes, Still of Jonestown from Blood and Guts in High School, 2004/06

Little Berlin presents an exhibition of work that refers to the condition of not meeting the desired objective of a big idea.

Curated by Maria Dumlao

Opening reception
Saturday, October 1, 2011, 6-10p

Chris Forsyth
Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib
Elaine Kaufmann
Ken Montgomery
Kristen Neville Taylor
Laura Parnes
Marissa Perel and Oliverio Rodriquez
Fabio Roberti
Fritz Welch

*The opening reception includes performances:

Never meant to change the world (Cocksucker Blues) by Chris Forsyth
The Big Idea Lamination Ritual with Egnekn, The Minister of Lamination and Andrea, The Enchantress of Bioluminosity
Untitled (Surrender) by Marissa Perel and Oliverio Rodriquez
and Fritz Welch’s installation “was it something someone said? no, it was something in my head…”culminates with a monolog

The show runs from October 1 until October 29, 2011
Gallery hours are Saturdays from 12-5PM.

Chris Forsyth performs Never meant to change the world (Cocksucker Blues),  an audio commentary/accompaniment to the ultimate document of the vacancy of the hippiedom, Robert Frank’s Cocksucker Blues.

Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib’s 1967 is equal parts film essay, performance, live teleconference and animated text, during which Veronique (the Mao-­‐adoring protagonist of Godard’s film La Chinoise) heads to Montreal with the intent to  disrupt Expo’67 is some unspecified manner and winds up witnessing an experimental film that simultaneously depicts past, present and future revolutions (from her vantage point circa ’67).

Veronique narrates this string of events, shifting between polemic and meditations on the nature of cinema and filmmaking.

Elaine Kaufmann’s Your Mother Country Appeals to You explores how contemporary advertising articulates a utopian vision as a means to further an agenda of profit and corporate power.  This project combines the imagery of Soviet posters   with the text of contemporary advertising, juxtaposing text and image to expose the emptiness of flowery corporate promises.

Ken Montgomery a.k.a. Egnekn, The Minister of Lamination performs Laminating Ritual which celebrates the transformation of the mundane into the realms of OFFICIALDOM, of ordinary into extraordinary.  Lamination is completely participatory and accessible to everyone.

Kristen Neville Taylor examines human attempts to replicate nature, specifically qualities of earth for space, inspired by the 1972 film Solaris.
Aphorisms, poetry and etc. is about the contention between science and mysticism and the challenge for technology to influence our sense perception.

Laura Parnes’ Blood and Guts in High School re-­‐imagines punk-­‐feminist icon Kathy Acker’s book of the same title.  Each video-­‐chapter presents a typical scene in the life of Janie bracketed by U.S. news events from the time period in which   the book was written.  As the viewer looks back at pivotal historical events (Jonestown Massacre, Moral Majority, Three Mile Island, etc.) connections are drawn in relation to our current political situation.

Mutually generated texts on the limitations of the body and the failures of intimacy, identity and death are the basis of Untitled (Surrender), where Marissa Perel and Oliverio Rodriguez enforce constraints on one another that elicit performative submission.

Fabio Roberti’s A Litany of Failure is a selection of archived shows of his weekly radio broadcast Strength Through Failure with Fabio in WFMU.  The broadcast is preserved and played through an 8-­‐track player.

Fritz Welch has created a sculptural installation that approaches the issue of failure in creative practice as well as in life.  He questions the validity of failure through an analysis of childhood experience and its relationship to making and  showing art.

On the night of the opening the piece, “was it something someone said? no, it was something in my head…“, will be occupied by an actor who will deliver a monologue.

Through the act of invitation we welcome three new members to little berlin: Angela McQuillan, Jean Suivan and Marissa Georgiou.

VIKING MAKERS
Alana Bograd
Ally Crow
Becket Flannery
Emily Kane
Emily Royer
Jay Hardman
Lauren Westenhiser
Reese Juel
Sarah Pater
Scott Bickmore

Opens Saturday, September 10th 4-11pm in correlation with the Miss Rock Away Armada parade.
Parade begins at little berlin’s Fairgrounds at 5pm and proceeds to Fluxspace.
More info here.
Exhibition runs through September 24th
Photos available: here.

Manya Scheps will moderate a live, online discussion concentrating on the theoretical implications of both the little berlin exhibition and net art in general. The chat will be projected on one of the gallery’s walls as the conversation unfolds. It will occur during the closing reception for the exhibition, and will serve as an ambient framing of the pieces in the show before they are powered down.

Read Manya’s essay produced for the show titled ‘Net Art: Black Sun, White Halloween’ in the digital catalog found at distributedcollectives.net

[RSVP on FACEBOOK]

Distributed Collectives is an exhibition of three web-based artist groups: Computers Club, Manifest.AR and F.A.T.  The artists in these groups are located in cities all over the globe, including Berlin, New York, London, Phoenix, Boston, Amsterdam among others – many of them have been working together closely online for years but have never met in person.  This show examines the history and structure of the groups and looks at the diverse processes and approach of the artist working on the interwebz.

Work in the show ranges from creative coding projects like browser extensions and spatial recognition, to augmented reality public art, to browser-based motion art and physical installations.

ARTISTS

Krist Wood, Robert Lorayn, Duncan Malashock, Travess Smalley, Petra Cortright, Elna Frederick, Maryann Norman, Will Pappenheimer, Mark Skwarek,  Christopher Manzione, John Craig Freeman, Lalie S. Pascual, Caroline Bernard,  Lily & Honglei, Sander Veenhof, Geoffrey Alan Rhodes , 4Gentlemen, Todd Margolis, Greg Leuch, Tobias Leingruber,  Aram Bartholl, Golan Levin, Borna Sammak

View the Online Exhibit

Read the Digital Catalog

SEE THE SHOW

There will be a closing reception on Saturday, August 27th from 6-10PM.  At 6PM a discussion group will convene to explore the ideas presented in the essay Net Art: Black Sun, White Halloween produced for the show by Philadelphia based writer Manya Scheps, editor of New Asshole.  A beer and barbeque reception will follow from 7-10PM. Please join us at little berlin, located in the courtyard at the Viking Mill: 2430 Coral Street, Philadelphia 19125.  Parking for bikes and cars is readily available.

Gallery hours are Saturdays from 12-5PM or by appointment.  Please write to berlin.little [at] gmail [dot] com to schedule a time to see the exhibition.

Distributed Collectives is curated by little berlin member Kelani Nichole.  An online exhibit and digital catalog is available at distributedcollectives.net.

The show runs from August 5th until August 27th, 2011.

“Being ‘materialistic’ does not mean sticking to the triteness of facts nor does it imply a narrow mindedness that consists in reading works in purely economic terms.”- Nicholas Bourriaud

Participating Artists:
Conor Backman, Matthew Brett, Alexandra Barao, Joanie Turbek, Masha Badinter, Sean Kuhnke and Bryan Jabs

Materialism of Encounter examines the transformation of objects and ideas as they become points of departure, reference and contact. We are able to investigate other’s relationships as well as our own relationships with elements of our landscapes and spaces by rendering them from their origins and into a state of encounter in a neutral setting.

Conor Backman re-creates pre-existing objects that are widely familiar with craft and humorist irony. Through the process of re-making and appropriating he creates a new, unfamiliar experience for these objects.

Matthew Brett creates a series of relationships between objects that are otherwise banal. Through replication, (casting, painting, carving, etc…) these recognizable, everyday objects have been frozen and rendered false. The result being physical memories in a mental landscape where the relationships between objects grow more complex and the importance of the individual artifacts fade.

Sean Kuhnke and Bryan Jabs examine the way people interact with printed material in a social experiment about the commodification of art and interactivity. Their work engages viewers through an uncommon form of distribution of printed media, investigating its role in both private and public space.

Alexandra Barao captures and appropriates elements of nature in a way that is rough and unedited resulting in a transitory and meditative video that reminds us of the comforting wonder of our immediate landscape. Her videos illustrate a time when, in a need to feel grounded, the artist begins to draw from what is directly around them for inspiration.

Joanie Turbek attempts to re-create the sensation of a rainstorm, particularly through it’s construction. The result is a setting that is soothing and familiar. Joanie approaches the re-appropriation of nature in a way that is minimal and humble, making the production and craft secondary to the actual experience that she has created, allowing the viewer to sit by the window and watch the rain.

Masha Badinter focuses on moments in her memory that she believes can be reconstructed as universal grounds for feeling. She uses elements of architecture and light to convey a past experience with an emphasis on the relationship between people and spaces. Although the narrative is from her own memory it is an open narrative that others can complete.

http://conorbackman.com/
http://www.alexandrabarao.​com/
http://mattkayhoebrett.com​/
http://www.bryanjabs.com/
http://www.seankuhnke.com/
http://joanieturbek.com/

Join us on Saturday, July 9th for an Opening Reception with a series of one-night only musical performances by Tom Viola (Navajo Land), Sgt. Quality (Andy Molholt) + other secret special performances TBA!!!!!

Thursday, June 30th, 2011, little berlin will be hosting an exhibition from The Print Center’s Artists In Schools Program, No Vacancy. We are excited to show our support and view the artwork of these high school students, you should be too.

“The Print Center’s award winning Artists-in-Schools Program (AISP) will present an exhibition of student work from the 2010-2011 school year at Little Berlin. The exhibition will feature work by Philadelphia high school students made in collaboration with teaching-artists at Kensington Culinary Arts, Martin Luther King, Parkway School for Social Justice and South Philadelphia High Schools. NO/VACANCY investigates questions of environment, architecture and portraiture in Philadelphia neighborhoods affected by economic crisis, school privatization and other changes in the built environment of the city.”
- printcenter.org

Opening reception
First Friday, June 3rd 6-10pm

Little Berlin presents an exhibit of works produced or informed by pre-institutional culture making experiences.

Established in our peripheries are bumbling excess, intimacy, play, teen angst, and the seductive allure of rock stars.

Curated by Leslie Rogers. Accompanying performance writings by Kate Kraczon.

Vince Finazzo
Jacob Lenker
Personal Pain
Vabianna Santos
Jonathan Santoro & Leslie Rogers
John Sinclair
Ken Suwabe
Hannah Walsh
Sophie White
*Awards for Excellence presented by Zac Palladino

Performance Series @ Vox Populi’s Performance Space
*dates TBA

Edward (Ted) Carey, CREATION BOOM SQUAD
Chris Golas, Meat Slicer & Stripper Pole
Beth Nixon, Antipodal Goatlegs
No Face, The Beautiful Refrigerator is Empty
Personal Pain
PuppeTyranny, The Mouth Show 2:2 Many Mouths
Joanna S. Quigley
Ric Royer, Despair, Despair, Despair
John Sinclair, Now We are Twenty-Three: a retrospective