Hacking the Object at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago

I have been invited to teach a BRAND NEW class at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

It will take place in the Spring semester of 2012 in the Art & Technology Department.  Just look for ARTTECH 3045!

This is an exciting opportunity to teach people how to recognize and interface with the electronic/mechanical/material potential that exists in abundance in the designed world that surrounds us.  Stop being end-users and start being hackers!

The Art & Tech Department at SAIC is an ideal place to learn and practice technology-based art.

The Art & Tech Department has a long history of supporting Electronics and Kinetics in art making.  The Kinetics Lab includes donated electronic devices and parts for repurposing (a GREAT resource for hackers!), extensive parts bins and electronics tools, and a small-but-well-designed machining shop for fabricating custom parts. It is a wonderful place to be(come) a Maker!

December 2011 updates

The Following is a quick summary of some of my activities from the past year.  Please enjoy.

1st: Solo

In the Spring I exhibited a multi-channel installation titled “Asterism_001″ at Audible Gallery at ESS here in Chicago.  In the fall I went on tour with some of the artists of the close/far family and we helped each other present live material by our projects Coppice, Quarry House, Awn, and NNN Cook at art galleries, hacker spaces and rock bars throughout the Midwest.  I built a new instrument for my sister, vocalist Meg Kramer, which we may be calling “Sister”.  Please check back for more documentation on all of these things soon.

Look out in the new year for the inclusion of some of my work in the online journal, Requited.  There will be included a portion of my ongoing text/sound work “Antiviral Exercises (Incomplete Interventions)”.

Also, for students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, check out my course – Hacking the Object.  I have been invited to teach the new course offered by the department of Art and Technology in the Spring semester of 2012.  We will be voiding warranties…

2nd: Coppice

I want to, once again, direct anyone reading this over to the Coppice site if you haven’t been there recently.  The beautiful documentation offered by our friends and colleagues as well as the thorough archiving by Noé have developed into a wonderful source of information related to the last two+ years of the Coppice project.  The material there should help anyone coming to the project develop a thorough understanding of what we have done as we prepare for what I expect will be an even busier year for Coppice in 2012.

A few Coppice highlights for the early part of 2012:

• We will be exhibited in collaboration with Mark Booth as part of his installation, THE SEA IS REPRESENTED BY AN IRREGULAR SHAPE opening Saturday, December 11th 4 – 7pm at devening projects + editions in Chicago.  We will be present for a performance of God is Represented by the Sea on January 14th, 2012 with Mark Booth and guest vocalists.
• Coppice will be sponsored artist at High Concept Laboratories for their Spring season in Chicago.  We will be developing a new installation to be presented at the end of the Spring
• Our first 7″, “The Pleaseance & The Purchase” is being released by the wonderful Italian label Senufo Editions.
• …two full lenght albums are complete…

3rd: Quarry House

Quarry House is the song-based project of myself, Jonathan James and Meg Kramer.  Formerly a studio-only project, Quarry House was able to go on tour in 2011 with other acts from the close/far family.  We released our first EP,  “THOSE”, in October.  The EP is streaming online for free, available for purchase as a digital download, and is also available in physical form as a limited edition handmade artist book.  Watch for future EP releases in 2012.

Coppice at Transistor

I want to direct people to http://dissectingadam.com/  and http://www.futurevessel.com/coppice/news  for more information about this performance.  I have a lot of updating I need to do concerning what Coppice has been up to and what this Articular Facet project is all about and how Coppice is involved, but for today, I just want to encourage people to come to Transistor (a very cool place) to see the first episode of a serial work that includes a new piece of music by Coppice.

Transistor
5045 N. Clark St., Chicago
Friday, February 25, 8 PM

Coppice Performance at New Capital 01.29.2011

The preview performance of Vinculum (Coincidence), the long-form procedural composition set to premiere at the MCA in early February, will be tonight at New Capital.  Details at the Coppice site.

Coppice/Pik
closing reception for Almanza/Crawford
January 29th, 6-9 PM
(Performance from 7-9pm)

New Capital
3114 W. Carroll, Chicago

Duplicates at ThreeWalls Friday Jan 21st.

Duplicates (Joseph Kramer and Ryan T Dunn) are performing the piece What Did I Just Say? as part of a program Friday night at ThreeWalls gallery.

January 21st, 6-9PM
ThreeWalls
119 N Peoria St
# 2D
Chicago, IL
60607

Read more for the press release:

Coppice at the MCA

In early February, Coppice will be performing a weeklong composition entitled Vinculum (Coincidence) at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.  It is a large procedural work for 2 accordions, 4 speakers, art and its audience.  We will be performing daily for periods of time during the early hours of the afternoon in the main exhibition space.  I encourage you to come watch it unfold, Feb. 8-13, 2011.

Copse at ACRE

Coppice performed Copse in a space installed at the ACRE Projects gallery in Pilsen last weekend.  The installation was a collaboration between Coppice and Alex Miller, who’s wonderful sand and latex creations helped the performance sound totally new.  This was the third version and the last performance of the piece, at least for a while.  Thank you to everyone who came out!

Check back for documentation-possibly including sound.

Another Piece About Forcing Things Through Other Things

  “October 20, 2002″ by J.M.K.

Upcoming Performance at ACRE gallery in Pilsen

Coppice will be presenting the third iteration of the multi-channel performance/installation COPSE on Friday, December 3rd at ACRE Projects, 1913 W 17th Street, Chicago, IL (a couple blocks east of Damen on 17th); opening reception 6–9 PM, live performance 7:30 PM.  We are working once again with artist Alex Miller, who provided sculptural objects for the first iteration of the piece at the Campbell House Projects’ Sound and Cultivation show.  This time we have worked together to create a collaborative installation space.  To read more about it visit the Coppice site, or check the Facebook invite here.

Performances and Releases Coming Soon

After several busy months of performing with Coppice, Y~n, Duplicates, the Current Group, Favors, the Chicago Scratch Orchestra Project, and miscellaneous groupings, I have finally reached a lull.  That means it is time to finish up some recordings and get them out into the world.  The details of upcoming releases and performances are coming soon.  But here is a little bit of information for in the meantime:

Coppice is currently preparing several releases to be announced early in the new year.  If that is not soon enough, VINCULUM has become available and can be purchased over at the Coppice web site.  Each order includes a homemade pouch, hand emboidered by Miss V from Favors.  The pouch contains several (3 or 4) single track CDs.  Currently ranging from around 15 seconds in length to 20 minutes, the discs in the VINCULUM project are meant to be played together, or in sequence, on repeat, etc.  The project is ongoing and new sonic artifacts will be cataloged and made available as part of the album in the future.  The album is both ongoing and always complete.

VINCULUM