Recreating Brion Gysin’s “Dream Machine” in John Nicholson’s Studio at Grace Exhibition Space

Nicholson invited me in when I couldn’t help but notice him trying to hallucinate while staring into the strange light construction in his studio. He enlightened me that you can buy the template for the contraption at St. Mark’s Bookstore and he couldn’t resist trying it out. “Gyson thought of it as an alternative to television,” Nicholson told me. Obviously the “Dreamachine” lost out in market share but may still be a leading force among the underground demographic.

According to Wikipedia: “With Sommerville, [Gysin] built the Dreamachine in 1961. Described as ‘the first art object to be seen with the eyes closed,’ the flicker device uses alpha waves in the 8-16 Hz range to produce a change of consciousness in receptive viewers.”

Grace Exhibition Space (BOS listing)
840 Broadway 2nd floor

This sculpture, “040801,” looked like it was ripped from the set of a 1970s sci-fi film — think Logan’s Run. The bizarre form was quite intriguing but with the added zing of technology it was 10x better but not yet WOW….let’s hope Abeles’ experimentation leads to some interesting artistic realms.

Max Abeles (BOS listing)
100 Thames #411

Presented at her studio at 117 Grattan St., Ann Oren’s video installation depicts a supervisor with a bullhorn trying to encourage the lazy workers to up their production of some unknown product. Oren plays all the roles in the video piece.

See more of Ann Oren’s work on her website.

Ann Oren (BOS listing)
117 Grattan #217

click to see full size

This awesome (and light) sculpture by Ben Godward is available for adoption via Bushwick’s Pocket Utopia.

I wish Pocket Utopia success at supporting a great idea…i.e. to match up artworks and those who love them…they’re calling it the Fine Art Adoption Network or FAAN (Pocket Utopia didn’t start the idea but they’re throwing their support behind the venture).

It seems easy…you want art, you apply, they decide if you deserve it and then hopefully one day you can take it home and love it to death (though I love this line on their website “However, the artist may put conditions on resale of the artwork.”).

Now, how are they going to make money?

Today’s Open Spaces festival by Arts in Bushwick was a solid attempt at generating a greater sense of community and the one day event was packed full of open studios, gallery shows, performances, video screenings, poetry readings and a neighborhood forum for “Bushwick’s diverse stakeholders.”

The cold weather probably cut into the numbers of adventurous art lovers willing to make the trek but there were a good crowd at each space and hosts were particularly generous with cookies, cheese, wine, beer and other goodies to keep spirits high and friendly. I even received a very welcome shot of rice moonshine at English Kills that was spewed out by one of the artworks by Brent Owen called “The Taxpayer” (pictured above).

Check out the full photo slide show of by tour here.

More info about some of the art at my blog.

There’s a new art zine on the scene called ArtCal and in it I review the new major mural that went up in Bushwick.

Incorporating the barrios’ German past, fire filled not-so-distant past, hipster present and still undecided future, there’s a lot going on in this color display that may be the first public attempt by members of the non-hipster community to comment on Bushwick then, now and tomorrow. Here’s an excerpt and check out the full post here:

A few weeks ago a new mural entitled, “Time Flies: A History of Bushwick” was unveiled at the corner of Woodbine and Knickerbocker in the heart of Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood. The 400-foot painting wraps around a corner and gives the site a warm inviting presence that most street corners in the area lack.

Created by artists and students from the Academy of Urban Planning, El Puente Academy, and Groundswell Community Mural Project, the mammoth project was under the direction of muralist Joe Matunis and continues a tradition that has long been a Bushwick tradition — community murals.

In 1992, an earlier mural stood at this otherwise quiet corner and symptomatic of the time, it confronted issues of drugs, crime and social justice–which grappled this community.

Fast forward to 2007 and Bushwick has changed from the front lines of the city’s drug wars to the next up-and-coming neighborhood. While the new wave of highly-educated hipsters homestead in this north Brooklyn neighborhood, “Time Flies” is one of the first public efforts by the predominantly black and Hispanic citizens of Bushwick to articulate their own thoughts about the neighborhood’s future…

Check out the full article on ArtCal.

Gallery hopping in Bushwick on Saturday — yes, you read that right, there are enough galleries now in Bushwick to “gallery hop” — I came across a new arts listing for the barrio curiously called “Gods of Mars.” I’ve included a pic of one side of the photocopied sheet.

Issue #1 is a compendium of events at six Bushwick spaces (Ad-Hoc, Bushwick Starr, Chez Bushwick, Pocket Utopia, Grace Space & English Kills) and lists 20 September events. I guess Third Ward doesn’t qualify as Bushwick?

My short list:

*Blind Spot at English Kills;
*Liquid Candy dance performance at Bushwick Starr; and
*the New Orleans short films at Ad-Hoc, as part of Second Line.

If you’re interested in listing an event, the flyer suggests to email godsofmars[at]gmail[dot]com….sadly, there is no website or blog listed.

By the way, does anyone else think the flyer is referencing Edgar Rice Burroughs’ sci-fi book?

Originally posted on hragvartanian.com