Double Vision Presents Cabaret Voltaire DVD release on The Grey Area/Mute Oct. 4th in the UK, and Oct. 5 in North America.

On its original release in 1982, "Double Vision Presents Cabaret Voltaire" was one of the first independent long form videos ever made and features fourteen visual representations of Cabaret Voltaire tracks including 'Nag Nag Nag', 'Obsession' and 'Diskono'.

The communications company Double Vision was founded by Cabaret Voltaire and Paul Smith in 1982, initially as a vehicle for this particular release but also with a view to releasing affordable music based video for a fraction of the price.

Further releases included Throbbing Gristle, Derek Jarman, The Residents, Einsturzende Neubauten, Chris and Cosey (cti), 23 Skidoo, Tuxedomoon and many others. To help finance and compliment the video releases, records by Cabaret Voltaire, Chakk, Lydia Lunch, Arto Lindsay, Clock dva, The Hafler Trio and Eric Random helped to turn it into a forward thinking record label which organised various audio visual events and club nights around England. The label continued throughout the 80's and left behind an interesting legacy of experimental visual arts and music.

Also to be released by Mute in October, Laibach Anthems, a special 2CD hardbook package featuring the best of Laibach's anthemic songs, previously unreleased material and a 40 page booklet containing paintings, photographs and writing on the band by Alexei Monroe. A DVD is scheduled for release later in the month, and Laibach will tour North America in November for the first time in more than six years. Check here for dates.

+ a flurry of other Mute releases here.

976 tonight at Lit [downstairs]: italo, elektro and nu romantique with Katya Casio and Inform3r of Hong Kong Counterfeit, Chupacabras and your hosts Gibby Miller and Dave Elliott.

Lit is at 93 2nd Avenue between 5th and 6th, New York City
976 is every Wednesday in the basement, 11pm-4am and always free!

details at Make Out Club

from the Metro Times Best of Detroit 04

Best roaming monthly dance party with attitude: Les Infants Terribles

Calling their free pseudo-club experience dorkwave, this loose collective of DJs, producers, promoters and new-media oddballs is really just a bunch of talented music geeks who enjoy behaving badly. And, yes, that self-destructive behavior you might witness is unchoreographed. Some of the players: Jon Ozias, who co-produced Untitled with Ghostly International; Rob Theakston of the micro-tech production team ThinkBox and Michael Doyle, the Web prankster who powers Burnlab.net, an online zine with attitude read by intellectuals and anti-intellectuals alike. Check www.burnlab.net for locations.

Many thanks! It feels good to be loved.

Details for the October edition of Les Infants Terribles to be announced in the next couple days, as well as the next UNTITLED event and other upcoming Dorkwave adventures around town. Stay tuned.

in the "not sure what to make of that" department: i just saw an episode of "the real world" and was surprised to hear the opening bars of a track from geoff white's aeroc album...is this the beginning of the apocalypse?

side note, google-ing aeroc i came up with this

i also just caught a live solo/acoustic performance of alan sparhawk of low at the mercury lounge in nyc last night. it was hands down one of the most memorable shows i've been to. alan nervously smoked a joint from a crowd member then proceeded to ramble on about various things and play completely baked-ly for the next couple of hours...i have video if anyone's interested

Maybe I just missed it when it was put online earlier, but Mathew Jonson's set from Movement weekend brings back some fine Untitled-inspired memories.

Cranbrook makes the list of 12 must-visit architectural wonders according to MSNBC/Budget Travel. (I concur.) More recently built destinations here.

Richard Branson is all over the news this week. The question is, will his gigantic head fit inside his new spaceship?

planes
trains
spaceships
and mp3s

Something red states and blue states can finally agree on: Bush is al-Qaeda's candidate of choice. Who's up for a global holy war? Yee-haw!

Getting serious for a moment: I don't want to make light of the war on terror (er, "dealing with the al-Qaeda threat" to be more accurate and less catch-phrasey,) but how does the president not realize he has played right into Bin Laden's hands... his deranged and obvious master plan to divide the world and cause endless war? Al-Qaeda could not be more ecstatic that we are destabilizing the entire middle east (and are directly causing more anti-Americanism than they could dream of) with the invasion of Iraq. They didn't even have to prompt that. We did it all our own. What a gift. I thought the United States responded correctly in Afghanistan with a focused operation, but that needed to be coupled with a deep self-examination and a whole-hearted effort to eliminate the root causes of terrorism and anti-American sentiment. It was a matter of simply behaving in a more fair and humble manner... things we knew we should have been doing anyway. We of course did exactly the opposite. The opposite of common sense. The opposite of what Jesus would do. Not that I claim to be a biblical scholar or religious at all, but I got the point of the new testament in catechism... something George W. Bush apparently missed entirely. I've come to realize that the president is not actually just a sleazy businessman, but he truly believes everything he says and is driven by a self-righteous idealism which has no room for subtlety or self examination. An idealism that can only be described as fanatical. He's one paranoid, power-hungry, sick-in-the-head zealot (character descriptors, not name-calling) who is neither a good conservative or a good christian. I actually appreciate, or at leat understand many basic republican principles about unobtrusive government, fiscal responsibility and liberty, but can't understand how any republican can support this administration's policies which fly in the face of the party's core values.

With that, I direct you again to Erroll Morris' brillaint Switch ads.

The United States is a great nation. I want to stop being ashamed. I want it back.

"Stoned slackers?" According to Nielson Media Research, Viewers of Jon Stewart's show are more likely to have completed four years of college than people who watch "The O'Reilly Factor."

Well, duh.

Transcript at Wonkette / Comedy Central's irony deficiency.

MacArthur Award recipients announced.

[via Marc at Archinect]

In regard to the Depeche Mode post, it truly pains me to criticize the Schmode camp, but do they really think lame knock-offs of MK12 and Nicola Kuperus will go unnoticed? All the style and none of the substance and subtlety. That video for Enjoy the Silence 04 is horrible (not to mention the remix itself,) and as SV4 puts it so eloquently, "Get a new look, Client... who the fuck is Client?"

Be original, please. We know you can. (Or at least don't be so obvious.)

Depeche Mode is releasing a new remixes album featuring current remixes of DM classics. You can check out the Enjoy The Silence '04 video on VIVA TV in Germany. I'm guessing it was done by MK12.com, or at least a studio that has a deep affinity for the Faint's Agenda Suicide.

Also, Client (on Andy Fletcher of DM's label, Toast-Hawaii) have released a new single, 'Radio', and album 'City'. City features guest vocals by Martin Gore.

de Animaris Walking Rhinoceros Transport and other incredible walking sculptures by Theo Jansen.

[via Beverly Tang]

We're trying to love you, seriously, but quit whinig for Christ sake... freak.

[via MCR]

Steal Our Look / Buy Our Munch

The third Interpol Space opened in London yesterday, joining gallery-esque marketing hubs in New York and Los Angeles. If you haven't heard about this, read the official statement:

The space will not be a museum to the band but rather an interactive experience. The interior and exterior will be completely inspired by Interpol, with the bands' artistic friends and acquaintances running the Interpol aesthetic through their own unique filters: from limited edition poster set and space design/art prints by Shepard Fairy (Obey/Giant), to a custom neon sign designed by Lite Brite Neon (Brooklyn, NY), to ten band commissioned short films to a host of other things.

I'm still trying to figure out just how facetious or serious the mega-branding of Interpol is. It's not very "indie", but my guess is that's the point. Opening a gallery space to sell your personal aesthetic is freaking brilliant. Actually, that's been Jon Ozias' premise behind UNTITLED all along: "we will tell you what to wear, what to listen to, what to drink, how to act, what to buy, and you will thank us for our insight." I know it sounds disgusting (because it kind of is) but it's what every magazine, DJ, indie boutique and multinational corporation does anyway. Really, that's what this very website is all about: for some reason people read Burnlab because they trust our aesthetics, and we're arrogant enough to believe we have something to say. :) UNTITLED is just blatant about it, and there is definitely some humor in the honesty. We sure are jealous Interpol beat us to the gallery concept. Just you wait for the UNTITLED magazine... that and the 100,000 sq. ft. Burnlab concept store in a Wes Jones designed apparatus opening above the former Halcyon space in Brooklyn. Blade Runner will be playing 24 hours a day on a giant outdoor screen to a loop of the bass line from Bella Lugosi's Dead. A second location will ocupy the top four floors of the Broderick Tower in Detroit, where Run.Stop.Restore will be playing records continioulsy.

In case you were wondering, the other Interpol is still looking for The Scream. Seriously, what do you do with a painting valued at well over $50 million? eBay?

Reminder that this Sunday is the Detroit Art Parade.



This creative parade experience will take place on September 26, 2004 beginning at noon. Pledged participants will travel on Woodward Avenue from the DIA to Ferndale (9 Mile) in their most creative costumes on foot and on bike and pulling non-motorized floats while raising money for local arts and cultural organizations through obtained pledges. Inspired by DAM Executive Director Aaron Timlin's "Got Art?" fundraiser trek from Detroit to New York City in the summer of 2000, this event gives participants the opportunity to handcraft an alter ego, become a handmade inanimate object, or induce any other identity for the day.

The Free Press ran a second story on Detroit area bloggers after a flood of e-mails pointing out the exclusion of several Motown blog institutions such as Whatevs, DetroitBlog and our friends Motor City Rocks from last week's column profiling "the state's best blogs".... none of which I have ever heard of. Of course Burnlab is still nowhere to be found, but we're not exactly local in nauture, and I'm not sure most Freep readers would get it anyway. (Who am I kidding - we love attention.) I do think Rob more than deserved a mention though. I see a third article on the topic in the near future.

Jon O, Swervo, Allen Gooodman and I are going to see Mouse On Mars at The Stick tonight. See you nerds there.

Break out the tinfoil hats, God is sending someone a message.

A candid look inside the studio and minds of Diller Scofidio + Renfro from Newsday.

I just love them more all the time.

[via Archinect]

CAN YOU HEAR US NOW
3:30-5:30PM
U OF D MERCY CALLAHAN HALL
4001 W. MCNICHOLS

Mayors from over twenty cities, county commissioners, state legislators, members of the US Senate and Congress and Governor Jennifer Granholm will be in attendance to address and be called upon to tackle the following issues:


HEALTH CARE-Granholm will be asked to expand discount prescription drug programs to cover all uninsured Michigan residents, and state senators will be asked to support legislation providing equal coverage for mental health.


JOBS- The State Director of Economic Growth will be asked to set aside a certain percent of state tax credits for companies that generate jobs in older urban areas.


PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION- Wayne and Washtenaw County Commissioners will be asked to support funding proposals to make improvements to busing systems and improve access for the elderly and handicapped, and to invest in rapid transit along the I-94 and Woodward corridors.


Other issues that will be addressed include civil rights, crime reduction and land bank use/development.


Admission is absolutely free, but a ticket for admission is required. For further information or tickets, please contact Stephanie Hoffman via email at (sahz@umich.edu).

Matador Records knows Interpol is a great band with a fantastic new album that's going to make them lots of money, but I can't help feeling the website for Antics is way over the top.

Seriously, have you collected all the 'buddy icons'?



(The photo of Carlos counting money does hint that the postpunk posterboy marketing angle involves a tongue and a cheek.)

Incredibly, I managed to miss this one when it came out in June. There are no excuses, because it's quickly moving up my all time favorite albums list: Two Lone Swordsmen's latest LP The Double Gone Chapel is (and this is a huge statement) possibly one of the best postpunk albums ever. Imagine Cabaret Voltaire, Tones On Tail, Joy Division and Pornography-era Cure with a mature production quality unheard of in those days. Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood have the Warp DNA in their blood and an originality not always shared by their nostalgic peers, which creates an unexpected and satisfying blend of proto-goth funk and a contemporary sense for dark dance music that builds on 25 years of history and refinement. As one Amazon reviewer stated, "this is not only a safe buy, but an absolutely essential release." It's going to be doing serious battle with Let's Suffer and They Were Wrong, So We Drowned when its time to compile Review 04. Buy it directly from Bleep. (Huge thanks to Jon O for pointing this one out!)

I also picked up (via iTunes) the new Faint album this week. I haven't had proper time to fully digest it, but it does take a more dirty, low-fi angle akin to the no-wave mash-up of Blank Wave Arcade and is much more mature than the wonderfully fun but often grandiosely cheesy Danse Macabre. I'm eagerly anticipating their October 9th show here in Detroit with super-geniuses TV on the Radio.

lungfish. LUUUUUUNGFISH!!!!! And some other kinda cool bands that make Plaslaiko wet himself:ATP-LA

I love The Black List.

OK, so i know Googling yourself is like totally 2002, but whatever. I'm screwed if anyone ever tries to vet me, and discovers this guy.

Project Rebirth chronicles the rebirth of Ground Zero with video, journals, images, interviews, background info and a time-lapse film that is being shot from six cameras over the course of ten years. An extraordinary project documented on a beautiful website.

On the subject, I don't think I've mentioned here an experience we had in New York a few weeks back. After visiting the new PATH station at the World Trade Center site, Shannon and I wandered over to the Skyscraper Museum. The small museum has a nice collection of drawings, models and artifacts from buildings in New York and around world, as expected. What I didn't know is that they have the original model of the WTC that left such a huge impression on me seeing it as a child at my father's office (that would be Yamasaki Associates.) I can't quite express or expect anyone to understand the impact seeing it again had on me, compounded by the still fresh memory of the actual building and its subsequent absence filling the front windows of our former Brooklyn walk-up, but I would encourage everyone to go spend some time with it. That's all.

Niketown Detroit is scheduled to open by Christmas in the Campus Martius area. The 9,209 sq. ft. concept store will open across the street from the weakest magazine selection of any Borders bookstore in the country, the only Kinko's I know of which is not open 24 hours, Au Bon Pain hocking nasty overpriced sandwiches to the Dockers set, and a Hard Rock Cafe (no comment needed.) I know this is probably a good thing for downtown Detroit economically, but half-assed mallification of such a unique part of the world is not exactly the most creative route that could be imagined. Distinctive, quality businesses like Oslo point in the right direction for downtown Detroit, but they are small, and sadly few and far between. The notion of a rust belt Greenwich Village sprouting out of abandoned skyscrapers is perhaps as flawed and foolhardy as G.W.'s address to the United Nations yesterday, but one has to dream. I know I probably sound like some whiney Adbusters type (I do have no love for the likes of Nike,) and understand the city needs mainstream anchors to get investment flowing, and Michigan is simply not the most sophisticated place on earth. I only hope all the development does rub off in smarter, edgier ways and we don't turn an opportunity for greatness into a billion dollar exercise in the mundane. That wouldn't be very cool.

Curbed ponders the difference between bodegas, groceries and delis in New York. They defined grocery correctly as "unlike a deli or bodega, is required to have three or four large bins of rotting produce for sale." There are a few simple differences between a deli and a bodega: a deli is either a small grocery or large bodega defined by a meat counter, generally for large handmade sandwiches that are exquisite to eat on the subway around four in the morning, while bodegas are generally a bit more cramped and dirty, feature staples such as a dial-up ATM machine, a wide range of malt beverages which may be purchased at any hour of the morning, and usually one of those yellow painted aluminum awnings with the mismatched color light bulbs. It is also difficult to find imported chocolates at a bodega, but there is no shortage of 3-pack condom choices and "performance enhancers" with clever names. I hope this settles the question.

"This is not a book."

Speaking of M1/DTW (see yesterday's post), the 10th edition of the Michigan Architecture Papers is now available, featuring Diller+Scofidio's Eyebeam Building. MAP 10 was designed by M1/DTW and features a painstaking printing and assembly process that allows the owner to view it in either book or poster format. We suggest getting it directly from UofM/Taubman College. The university press doesn't seem to have it online yet, but you can contact them directly at micharchpapers@umich.edu. There are two different spiral binding colors in circulation and a limited run of 300 double packs available through Taubman College. Of these, 30 will include a "golden ticket" which entitles the owner to a super rare clear spiral edition signed by Diller+Scofidio... for the truly diligent collector. I'll have a detailed review at one of our parter sites as soon as I get around to photographing it properly.

"Preserving the Future": The Cooper Union has launched a nice website for its new academic building designed by Morphosis.

Foreign Policy Magazine's series of short essays on the world's most dangerous ideas.

Last night 3/5 of team dorkwave made an unannounced guest appearance at Mike Trombley's awesome new weekly rock'n'roll dance party at the Eagle in Detroit. Mike has been officially recruited into the dorkwave army, and frankly, his record collection puts us all to shame. Watch for future collaborations, and check out the heppest party in town every Sunday night at the Motor City's most infamous leather bar for the hottest tracks this side of NYC.

Our friends at M1/DTW have launched a brand new website. Clever navigation, nice photos and great work. Check it.

No minute like the last: Detroit area residents are encouraged to check out an extraordinary show at 9pm this evening at Xhedos in Ferndale. "New York City's angriest yodelling banjo player" Curtis Eller will be spinning American Gothic tales about Amelia Earhart, snake handling, Buster Keaton and elephants with the dark intensity of Sixteen Horsepower, the inexplicable charm of P.T. Barnum, and the surreal atmosphere of a Coney Island freakshow interpreted by the Brothers Quay and seen through the bottom of an absinthe bottle.

Performing with Mr. Eller tonight will be singer/songwriter, multimedia artist and fellow New Yorker Thomas Truax. Truax performs with a guitar and mechanical sound sculptures created from found objects, and crafts eerie lullabies and rock melodramas. Generating an aesthetic something like a combination of Tom Waits, Marcel Duchamp, Nick Cave and Elliott Earls, or simply a freaky genius New York City subway busker, Truax claims to be "an illegitimate son of Screamin' Jay Hawkins and a mad scientist of experimental music." Perfect.

Programming shakeup at WDET to include more muisc and less NPR programs. I don't know how I'm going to handle the drive to work without Tavis Smiley, but at least more people will get to hear Liz's program in her slightly more prime time slot.

Seven Fallacies in Architectural Culture

A very interesting essay by Douglas Kelbaugh FAIA, Dean of the Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, University of Michigan. Many of these points span all disciplines of design.

[via Archinect]

RIP Johnny Ramone.
He's on his way to punk rock heaven; punk rock hell looks much like this.

There is no better way to accept your mortality than whipping up a batch of deep fried Oreo cookies.

Oktoberfest in Munich: beer, lederhosen, Richie+Magda, Paul, Carl.
Did I mention beer?

This Thursday night is the last installment of Spectral Sessions in NYC, with Matthew Dear, Broker/Dealer and Ryan Elliot.

Thursday 9.16.04
$5 cover / Open vodka bar from 9-10pm
APT 419 W13th St. NYC, NY 10014 (P) 212.414.4245

Last time to see the fun flyer: front | back

The Cooper Union unveiled the design for its new academic building by Morphosis yesterday. This will be the first built work in New York City for Thomas Mayne and co. It features the firm's current signature vocabulary of folded metal and glass planes, and an articulately convoluted atrium.

If you're obsessively following the pollsters, you know John Kerry recently overcame G.W. in projected electroal votes, but is still trailing in most polls. These things change by the minute, and are really not all that reliable. Consider there are seven million U.S. citizens living overseas, and polling of absentee voters in nearly non-existant. I don't know the intricacies of how these work with the electroal college system, but consider that absentee ballots equate to a population about the size of New Jersey. I'm personally baffled that the race is still as tight as it is, considering what a mess the current administration has made of everything its touched. The strongest economy in history has been turned into is in complete shambles, most of the world hates us, and good American kids are dying every day in Iraq for all the wrong reasons. Bush certainly isn't winning people over with his charm and eloquence... what gives?? What I can say is John Kerry isn't impressing me whatsoever of late. Hearing him talk about Iraq and the war on terror in the same breath makes me queasy and wonder why the hell we couldn't nominate someone like Wes Clark... at least someone who didn't step in line and vote for this obviously misguided and downright criminal war. As I've stated before, Sadam is one disturbed motherfucker who deserves whatever retribution the Iraqi people see fit, but this war has a lot less to do with that than it does with personal vendetta, profits for U.S. corporations and a really twisted form of idealism that assumes the people of the world want their very own WalMart and Applebees on every corner, and all the mind-numbing anti-culture that comes with it. I'm still going to vote for Kerry. Unfortunately there aren't any realistic options. Alan Blevins expresses my sentiments better.

While I'm yapping about politics, check out Josh Marshall's blog. [Thanks to Rob.]

Also consider this: there will be several supreme court seats opening up over the next four years. If George W. Bush wins a second term, it is almost certian that Roe vs. Wade WILL be overturned. Welcome to the stone age, friends. That alone should be more than enough reason to vote for John Kerry.

Through Dec. 5, "The Photography of Charles Sheeler: American Modernist" at the Detroit Institute of Arts. "This exhibition is the first major retrospective to focus exclusively on Sheeler's photographic work, including more than 100 pieces, many with unique ties to the city of Detroit. ... 'Sheeler's innovation in merging art and industry was as revolutionary as the era itself,' said DIA director Graham W. J. Beal."

And with the 10-year federal ban on assault weapons expiring, the NRA reminds us that law-abiding citizens can once again pick up their very own Street Sweeper to stash under the bed for "hunting ... and most importantly, self-defense." The revolving cylinder semiautomatic shotgun should not be confused with the "Do The Dew" Street Sweeper, which (at a mere $44!) appears nearly as deadly. Quite the opposite of what Detroit wanted from our leaders in Washington.

Dally in the Alley, Detroit's favorite bohemian block party is This Saturday (as in tomorrow.) Live music will include the The Demolition Dollrods, The MyDols, Ryan Elliott and many many more. Stop by the 647 Stage (647 W. Forest Ave., a.k.a. Jon Ozias' porch). We'll be fixing some coctails and playing records on this sunny September afternoon.

Ah, but first and foremost, get in the festival spirit (or spirits as it may be) tonight at Les Infants Terribles. We're now at Third Street Saloon, smack dab in the middle of things. Come get your robot on with Team Dorkwave.

A survey of 34,330 people in 32 countries found only one in five would vote to re-elect US President George Bush to a second term.

Following up to Liz's post...for those needing a quick primer as to what is going on there is an excellent Salon article that is worthy of your time. Click for the free day pass if you don't have a subscription (which pays for itself btw. amazing stuff).

"Imagine this: I'll walk into a bar and ask for a girl's number, then break out my phone," he said. "How could you say no to that?"

Sony just announced the ultimate nightclub/concert camera. The DSC-M1 automatically records five seconds of QVGA MPEG-4 video with full stereo sound before and three seconds after the still image is snapped, creating a complete record of the sights and sounds of the moment. The video and still images are stored as two separate files, but played back as one in the camera.

Tokion magazine has announced their 2nd annual Creativity Now conference happening October 2-3 at the Cooper Union in NYC. Speakers include Italian actor and director Asia Argento, Brian Eno and Carl Craig, not to mention about a dozen other influential characters from the art, music, design, fashion and political arenas. Weekend admission is a measly $80, and if it's anything like last year's conference, it'll sell out soon.

loss for words.

oops.

RESFEST NYC 2004 digital film festival opens this Thursday. Our pal Jimmy Edgar will be performing at the opening reception.

Real underground cinema: can Paris get any more awesome?

[thanks to Scott, via Archinect]

"Reinvention: Rouge Photographs by Michelle Andonian" at College for Creative Studies' Center Galleries in Detroit from Sept. 11-Oct. 23. Opening reception on Friday, Sept. 10, from 6-8 p.m. Photographs "documenting the evolution of the automotive industry through the past, present and future developments at the Ford Rouge Complex."

On a lighter note, we have America's new pastime. Learn more and buy your own.

A brief review of An Evening With Siouxsie at The Majestic in Detroit:
Too often going to see favorite bands from much younger years is a sad experience, but sometimes the artists in question have eerily not lost an ounce of energy or poise, as it was with Bauhaus' 1998 tour, was certainly the case with Sonic Youth's most recent tour and is the case with Ms. Sioux and partner Budgie currently. After the terrible Banshees album The Rapture and some hit and miss Creatures releases over the past ten years, the team is back in form like its 1982. Maybe they're back on a diet of blood and heroin, or maybe just working out like 26 hours a day... no matter. Despite the rather corny name for the tour, it was actually a Creatures show with three or four classic Banshees tracks thrown in for good measure. The addition of Japanese Taiko master Leonard Eto brought the tracks form the widely overlooked Hai! album to life, and Budgie proved himself again as one of the most brilliant and innovative percussionists working in modern music. Most importantly, and this is no overstatement, Siouxsie can still go toe to toe with the likes of Bjork in terms of physical presence and ability to command an audience. Plus she can move better and kick higher than me (in dead sexy costume) and spouted sassy punk attitude with great English charm. See the Creatures website for remaining tour dates. Highly recommended.

Since 2002, four local interdisciplinary teams have been commissioned to study and document urban shrinking processes in the urban regions of Detroit (USA), Manchester/Liverpool (Britain), Ivanovo (Russia), and Halle/Leipzig (Germany). Each site stands as an example of a specific form of shrinking: In Detroit, the issue is the consequences of suburbanization; in Manchester/Liverpool, of deindustralization; in Ivanavo, of postsocialism; and in the greater Halle/Leipzig region, several of these factors are compounded. People from various disciplines, including urban geographers, cultural experts, architects, journalists, and artists, take part in the work.

Congratulations to Mitch Cope (of Tangent Gallery) who curated an exceptional Detroit show for the Shrinkng Cities project exhibition, which opened to a full house in Berlin last night with diverse work from both established and emerging artists. The work represented contemporary Detroit without overplaying the 'abandoned building' cliche (you win Gina), my favorites being: Mitch's 'Fortifications' drawings, Jody Huellmantel's video on the relocation of graves from the city to the suburbs (post-mortem white flight), and Chris McNamara's 'Magic City' video / pinball installation. Of course there was the obligatory Heidelberg project review and a multi-story slide to keep the kids out of trouble. I'm not sure who attached the illuminated potted plant to the outside building, but it was a brilliant reference to the all too common sight of nature reclaiming the city.

Although the project focused on topic more than the individual artists work, the show managed to capture current aspects of each city and relegated the heavy background information to a timeline on the groud floor. One of the more fascinating projects was from Further A Feild, the transformation of a subsidized apartment tower in Manchester into artist's installations as each one was vacated, leading up to the building's condemnation. Shrinking Cities will be up until November before it hits the road - and may yet come to Detroit.

Next Les Infants Terribles in one week at an all new location!

Our Back to School / Pre-Dally in the Alley Party will be at the legendary dive bar Third Street Saloon, in Detorit's University District. Joining Theakston, Jon O and myself will be Mr. Mike Servito, who made a huge splash in New York last week. Maybe he'll even drop The Reflex again....

Please note it's still free, but we will be ending at 2am sharp, so get there early to get your robot on at this fabled Motor City drinking institution. (Stumbling distance home for many Detroit hipsters we might add.)

hot link of the day: New York No Wave Photo Archive

Four years of bringing the world closer

(Thanks hardac)

being recently arrived in detroit and here for another week and a half, then in nyc from the 23rd for a week, i'm looking forward to seeing how this whole nyc vs dtw thing is all about, and then comparing them with my hometown bcn and ldn (london?) where last sunday i had the luck to catch madga and richie hawtin destroy (almost literally with the amount of bass) the end club in soho and james lavelle explode the notting hill carnival...sounds like a good use of my time

Remember like two or three years ago when I mentioned doing a print version of Burnlab? Well, we've kind of brought the idea back out of purgatory, but with a twist and a more defined concept. UNTITLED, as you know, is a brand Burnlab is closely tied to, concieved by our own Jon Ozias and executed in tandem with the second most foresighted record label on earth, Ghostly International. (You know I'm too much of a Mute junkie.) Anyway, Jon O and I are in the preliminary phases of putting togeteher "UNTITLED, the magazine" - most likely an anual - full bleed glossy, in the spirit of such blatant self-promoting rags like Sony Style, Martha Stewart Living, and Vice. We feel that UNTITLED is a brand that deserves to be exploited, and we're looking to you - our loyal and brilliant readers - to exploit us. We're seeking contributions for scene reports from cities around the world, fashion, architecture, graphic and product design exposes, interviews with musicians and designers that embody the UNTITLED aesthetic, and pretty much anything on the leading edge of culture and counterculture. Please stick it in th back of your mind and contact me (you know where) with ideas. We're looking to get to print by the end of the year, for the UNTITLED 2nd anniversary. Yes, we're riding on the momentum of two absolutely killer parties in New York, but there is so much more to come form the brand over the next few months. Watch this space for details.

Ars Electronica 2004 opens in Linz tomorrow, celebrating 25 years of tracking and nurturing the digital revolution, analyzing the social and cultural effects of digital media and communications technologies from critical as well as utopian, artistic and scientific perspectives. Coinciding with conferences, exhibits, performances and parties is the CyberArts exhibition of the 18th Prix Ars Electronica winners. On display will be Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen's Listening Post, Thomas Koner's Banlieue du Vide and many more. Among the festival's highlighted events, Golan Levin and Zachary Lieberman will be performing The Manual Input Sessions, a wonderfully playful audiovisual performance which explores the possibilities of of gestural language in an augmented-reality shadow play.

Thank you, Mike D.

Also, if anyone wants to get any more agitated about the GOP? Check out who headlined their party last night. A librarian who thinks she's qualified to comment on stem cell research like a policy expert, and an action hero turned stand up comedian. Just watch the first three minutes of each speech, if anything to just watch how cute and cuddly Dick Cheney is.

Maybe I'm an idealistic softie, but this ad actually makes me cry every time I watch it. Possibly because it reminds me of my mom (though she would never vote for George Bush.)

Connie Cominsky "Proud".mov

See all of the powerful "Switch" ads by Academy award-winning documentary film director Errol Morris (who also happened to direct Apple Computer's Switch ads) here, as featured in last week's New Yorker magazine.

Also, I'm passing the following message from MoveOn to all our Detroit area readers. I'm elated that the country is finally angry enough at the disastarous state of both domestic and world affairs to make a big impression on the mainstream media, but there's a lot of important stuff we can do with very little effort to get the destructive Bush agenda out of Washington. Even Republicans should be infuriated that the current administration has betrayed your core values with massive spending and intrusive policies. G.W.'s term expires soon, but we all need to do our part in critical swing states like Michigan to ensure we don't have four more years of fear, war, ecological rape, deception, and catastrophic national debt.

Dear MoveOn member,

Last week, we launched Leave No Voter Behind, our huge, ambitious battleground-state plan to turn out over 400,000 new voters for Kerry. As you know, Michigan is one of the most important swing states in this election, and it could go either way. Together, we can win it for John Kerry. But it's an "all hands on deck" situation, and we all need to help.

On September 2, 2004, we're holding an urgent community meeting to discuss how folks here can play a key role. At the meeting, MoveOn staff will explain how we can turn out dozens of new voters in each of our neighborhoods, with help from new technology and folks in non-battleground states. Even if you're not certain you can commit to being part of this program, please come - we'd love to share our plan with you and get your feedback. Here are the details:

Leave No Voter Behind Kickoff Meeting

Thursday September 2, 2004
7:00 PM
The Birmingham Unitarian Church
38651 Woodward Ave
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304

If you can come, please sign up at:

http://action.moveon.org/lnvb/

If you can't make the meeting but would still like to play a key role in this campaign, please click here:

http://www.moveonpac.org/lnvb/

Florida taught us in 2000 that just a handful of votes can decide a presidential election and the fate of a nation, and it may come down to a handful again this year. Through personal contact with voters as a part of Leave No Voter Behind, you can make that difference. Together we plan to take our country back. This is our chance to make history - with your help.
Please join your neighbors in launching this exciting new program in your community.

We've done bake sales. We've done house parties. We've run great ads. Now it's time for the home stretch - getting out each and every vote where it counts.

Thanks for everything that you do.

Sincerely,

- Adam Ruben, National Field Director
Erin Eccleston, Michigan Field Organizer
MoveOn PAC
August 31, 2004

As much as we love to discuss music and design and subcultures here at Burnlab, this is something that really counts for the greater socitey. See you all in Birmingham Thursday at 7. If you're not in Michigan, see the MoveOn PAC site for ways you can get involved.

Cheers