men’s room trans ends odor
the men’s bathroom in the eyedrum building has taken on a new look, smell, and feel.
go to everythingburnsaway to see more.
better yet, check it yrself.
piss room for readymade
tails sez the eyedrum bathroom is a blog
bathroom is disgusting and i need it and i go in there. a piss or a shit and hurried movements, for perhaps another will come in this private place,that isn’t mine..i use it.they use it to.nobody ever feels quiet clean. but this is my moment right now. i feel free on a base level in here. honesty and direct by-products of me. the walls are connections of everyone’s own little universe.
putting art in here. i realize the challenge of my serious joke. is bigger and more saturated than me. its feeling is stronger and i must acquiesce to that. i work with what is here and pull from it .Blur the reasons of why do this with an addressal of presentations and positioning. position my shit directly,this is me. am i worth noticing?
the bathroom commands me,tho. i feel the need to work to only extend it. it will force a connection back to itself, and each persons approach to it. a bathroom, a place to communicate, like a log in a commode, a blog where you comment.
i went into the bathroom to install art because i thought art placed in a bathroom,not so much curated,but editing the bathroom,an involved way that is sarcastic but serious, is trying to say something about -strangely enough-the internet. how we communicate anymore.
Know u need all u got but gimmee whatever. I’m gonna treat it like a blog. There’s no effing it up and its made for a living comment section. People will interact.destroy. steal.tag recognize. it’s bigger and endures.just is…
new diggs in the women’s
Every year the Grant Park Co-op Preschool auction brings some kind of upgrade to the eyedrum bathroom facilities. Check the new hardware!
superior hardware functionality
Good toilet reads from Parenting Magazine….
things are looking good for eyedrum
1) new toilet seats in the women’s bathroom.. and
2) Creative Loafing reports on eyedrum’s improving health!!
“It’s appropriate for Eyedrum that, even when discussing such a mundane subject as financial viability, the arts organization’s board chairman, Allen Welty-Green, speaks in terms of colors.
“Using the threat advisory scale, I’d say we were code red in July, then orange, and now we’re down to yellow,” he says. “Sometimes it takes a crisis to give you a wake-up call.”
Welty-Green is referencing Eyedrum’s mid-year near-death experience, when the organization found itself unable to scrape together enough money to pay rent — again. At the time, the board issued an S.O.S. in the form of a press release titled “Eyedrum may soon call it quits,” which threatened the potential “demise of Atlanta’s longest-running alternative art and music space.” …
Published 11.02.09
By Scott Henry
Nathaniel Bartlett marimba soundscape
I made plans attend this concert as soon as I
saw it on the calendar and I’m very glad I did.
Great sound – very spatially oriented, based
on 8 speakers in a cube configuration with full
x/y/z cartesian control over the location of any
layer in the music. The selected compositions
were not minimalist, but they were built of minimal
and succinct and precise phrases, both within
the computer generated elements and in the marimba
playing that triggered or accompanied them. All
told, a very unique and sensitive and meditative
presentation that invited some really deep listening.
Especially nice, too, that my life partner, Sally,
was able to enjoy the concert. Her chemo therapy
dosage has been reduced and the side effects are
diminishing, so she is starting to feel normal
enough to socialize a bit.
Which means that she’s also feeling more than a
bit cheated. Seems that just when she is getting
healthy enough to join me for some of the many
EyeDrum events I’ve been working or attending
of late, EyeDrum may be going away.
Seems to me that EyeDrum is an entity that simply
MUST be kept alive in some shape or form or
incarnation, because if EyeDrum is dead, I fear
Atlanta will no longer feel alive either.
peace
aaron
Gather Atlanta: kicks off at eyedrum
review: thoughts: Jeff Dahlgren
“In trying to give, you see that you have nothing…..”
Held on June 7th 2009. The first annual Gather Atlanta event.
Organized by local organizations Mint, Burnaway.org, Wonder Root,& Thoughtmarker.
approximately 300+ attended.
-The goal of this event was to bring organizations and individuals who consider themselves part of Atlanta’s art community together,so that they may realize that they are in fact together. So that they may generate dialogue.
-The reason this seemed to be in need was because,although we will all agree that the word “community” does in fact exist,creating an environment where organizations and individuals can meet under a context that seeks to consciously see the word community,and by the very act of considering what one is,define it.
-A driving reason that seemed to emerge for this being needed was a sense that the “art community” is failing to reach an audience. A significant aspect of this event was a panelled discussion- primarily about the use electronic media in an age and locale where print media is losing its presence. –The discussion revolved around the use of internet platforms to help the “art community” becoming more tuned to itself and its audience. Cinque Hicks posed great questions to start the discussion. The questions asked audience members about how long they had been in atlanta,if they considered themselves primarily an artist,if they felt part of a community….great questions to soak on. While the questions seemed benign and simple,their fundamental nature is something very worthy of allowing to sink it,be considered in terms of why they were asked…i feel ultimately the entire discussion found itself covering predictable fundamental observations. This is not to say it didnt serve a great purpose,i simply feel for that purpose to be made worthy,the types of meetings need to happen more than once a year. That way of appraoching it would eventually comfort real conversation. LOTS of conversations about conversations need to take place in order to get partial conversations taking,moments of worth to occur-within the loving gesture of it.
————————-Those that are interested will find the art.
There are those interested in art.
-Then there are those interested in art-in Atlanta.
-After this layer,many have naturally developed relationships or opinions of the various arts organizations that they relate to or do not. Each has their own process and can always discover more,true,but their actions are in process. Their process orginates from within them and that is what we work with. It is all you can work with. This process highly individuates into genres,intents of the manifestations that the word art means to others.
-Which by the way,makes me beam a little for Eyedrum, in that it was the obvious choice,the obvious available common ground to host such an event-thank you again Eyedrum! I don’t recall any acknowledgment of the use of the space,it was somewhat a given that this was the place for this to happen. This could be interpreted as “taking it for granted”-but anyways…Since i feel Eyedrum has always been about “others”,about the “community”-im sure it is okay with simply helping the community. Kind of like a soup line that gives to those in need and patiently waits for them to realize they are there to help them help themselves. Maybe I take that and run with it,pardon me-i know everyone there appreciates Eyedrum. Right?
Where were “we”? Pardon me internet art people. I mean pardon me Internet art people that not only like art,but like art in Atlanta,and then within that,care for what I,writing here as Eggtooth,am saying. I support your right to not be interested.
Here is an idea. I think it is a capital one. I support the right of Gather Atlanta to host quarterly events. But I dont think even that’s often enough. Atlanta’s art group therapy sessions need to start off hitting meetings weekly. This is not an exaggeration. This will carve it down to a core group. Those honestly concerned for an idea of “others”,the others that form us will be there.
-The goal is to faciltate dialogue amongst ourselves,to accept that that is where the focus of the conversation should go.That it is a path,not a goal-if you will. It is very easy and always will be very easy to focus on discussing what you do and what you have done to try and reach “them”,when in reality-you are often already saying these words to “them”. The sooner this truth is accepted and constructively approached-the sooner a newer bigger expanding perception of “them” will emerge. Dance like nobody is watching..right? Well,for us this should be easy!
-Look at the event that took place yesterday. The crowded room of tables,some of them displaying their products,many of them (us?)simply interested in getting the word out there that they ..we?exist. Focused on… themselves? I am not slighting people for perceiving themselves as part of a community to try and participate in and operating from that principle forward. It is natural and means well. I know we all truly do mean well and try hard.
—–This is why ultimately my interest cycles back to the writers and critics of art. I find myself excited by the level playing field that is the internet. I love that it was called as in its “wild west” days yesterday. I think this analogy implies that the future will reveal constructs that define it with rules,but i dont want to go there. The truth is,none of us wants that. Not really.
-Critics also have to attempt to establish a perceived position of,…respect.
-The process reveals itself if it directs the thoughts towards a truer sense of self. (aka: in search of shrodinger’s phoenix)
-Critics and arts writers and anyone inclined to type,be that typo on top of typo, expressing themselves about art- Their DUTY in this whole picture is to give feedback to….who? Ourselves. And who is ourselves?? Well,we’ve no choice but to realize that for the most part,we have met each other. Or at the very least,have met enough of each other that it is a place to start. A place to start considering what the other does and if there are commonalities there. If there are,foster them by joining forces and curating shows together. Even if there are not commonalities,it is a place to openly debate.
I
ndividual artists should embrace anothers work they like. Perhaps this means to not attempt to idolize them or make yourself seem positioned as something or somebody removed or inaccessible because of various conceived earned ‘statures” or needs for being careful with networking your art.
yes-Discretion takes place tactfully(or not!!! )around the tastes and focuses of what you choose to include and what not to include. Inother words,if you find someones opinion so unagreeable-say something. put yourself in relevance to them just long enough . Much of what is taking place has ot do with if we are telling people what to want or giving them what they want,and involve din that is everyones responsibility to try to be open to things we would not normally be open to-even tho i support peoples rights to not care…its a funny cycle.
All of this is a local concern. Specific to the needs of Atlanta. The goal should be to react to one another’s art.
By means of verbally critqueing in order to learn or teach,or to simply foster ideas.
-The highest form of reaction in my mind is not the purchase. In ways the purchase is the most selfish.
The creation of your own work- that carries forward the work and influence of another-is the highest and most constructive ackowledgment.
-On ideas: The best to me would be ideas being generated that are about Atlanta and NOW IN aTLANTA.
-The art critics stand in a fascinating position to all of this.
First,I don’t feel this city really has any “art critics”. It has people who report on what they see,assuming the rest of the context has already been constructed for the art to be valued within. It is about applying perspective not only to the art,but to the context it is shown in. They are creating this by the voice they establish. The art writers cannot try to be impartial reporters. It is not some generalized duty of benevolent informers, they are not some impartial mirror or a cold eye of the camera.
-Yes,the doing it for the love of it aspect is appreciated, I do not down-play this. But. They report about art and have an obligation to fully throwing their perspective into what they do. The artists they are reporting on,in theory, do as well. Give them that respect,and if you feel they have not given it to you,tell them.
-As it stands now,it truly seems there is a mirroring taking place of expectations. The fully thrown in sense of self bubbles to a perceived surface and ultimately finds everything falling flat. Its an evident cycle that always wants to assume that the advertising and maketing is to blame.
-Great art becomes mixed in with the complacent gestural reviews that take place. Nobody wants to stand up and say that somebody’s hard work,in their educated and indiviuduated opinion- failed.Especially if that person is perceived to be part of some big chain of pre-existing relations. Chances are,if they are,they need to have their playing field leveled. ( i ultimately feel there is not choice but to blame the art itself-on critical terms.)
The whole process and observing it. It says more about one’s perception of themselves in ways. I realize this as I type this. It is somewhat self-fulfilling. The simplified place to begin the change is in realizing that criticism is constructive. To observe the entire context the art exists in,to create “a lie that tells the truth” about this would even be okay! That lie being-a truth-(ahem)that….Things are changing!
-It becomes difficult because many artists would rather say what they have to say with their art. Not many artists are comfortable discussing why they create what they create in “real time”. Or online for that matter. This is why I find the role of the critic crucial. They do this for us when we cannot,and if the critic does a disagreable job-as long as it is passionate!-,it at least stages a beginning. The old axiom about any PR is good PR is true. Especially if the opinions expressed are emotionally driven and provoke emotion.
Regardless of agreed perspectives. Often ,it is vehemently disagreeable opinions that provoke dialogue-not the routine gestures of clippable print praises that go on your Aunt Bobby’s refrigerator! Those are nice and fun,but….we all know where we are. Together. Alone. With each other. And that’s plenty to start with!
-It’s okay to take the idea of community truly to a level that is only about community.The conceptual or valued varieties of context still reside within.
-Community- also considers an idea of getting together and,symbolically speaking,helping plant trees and clean up trash for an afternoon. Not being concerned with any perceived earnings or commandings of respect or even ‘safety” for your idea of yourself and the supposed image you have created. How many would be willing to take chances of being honest, tho? Are you willing to make that investment,to possibly sacrifice the gesture on top of gesture that has perhaps “earned” some of you something? (of course, in some cases those earnings manifest as …money. Grants,etc..). So that you can sit at panelled discussion tables and show by your own words how truly unaware you actually are?
To show- How you have been dedicated to a complacent expectation of yourself and a perceived goal that is a selfish illusion that you perpetuate to what is ultimately your own end.Our repeated end, So that you may reap some vampiric gestural benefit right now.
The wall to throw art against needs to be built by rippin down the fake existing one and fertilizing the rubble with honesty.good old fashioned titlliating scary puttin’ yrself out there- honesty. It starts with critical discussion of the art itself.
Burroughs wrote about the concept of a naked lunch. Seeing what is on the end of your fork for what it really is. I find this illusion of a community to be a caring one. It truly cares and is trying. I simply find that it is often in denial or confusing complacency with compassion.
—
“In trying to give, you see that you have nothing;
Seeing that you have nothing, you try to give of yourself;
Trying to give of yourself, you see that you are nothing:
Seeing that you are nothing, you desire to become;
In desiring to become, you begin to live.” —René Daumal
you know you are drunk continued
you think chaim soutine is a french inspired chinese restaurant
you wonder if amedeo modigliani is an appetizer
germany says your reputation is ruined so you can live freely now
your left ovary feels like its on a larry david sitcomm sketch
george carlin is haunting your dreams with rants about shoes
dot comms are not dot comms only butt summs
you are filming a snuff film at the atlanta motel on boulavard and I-20
there are no half popped kernals of corns in your bag of popcorn
it hurts when you itch
the water tastes like a cross between louise nevelson and cloris leachman
you can see that you are deaf
you hear trains playing miles davis and muppet skats
shrimps are skrimps not prawns or prawzkas.. and you dont have any
you feel like you have no ribs and growing gills
you are leaving the bank and forgot how you originally got there
you order a pu pu platter of daddy d’z and nick’s food to go
you have kernals of corn in your arm pits that smell like doritoes
you think your not drunk
you had a pity party with barbara walters and dr. phil while katy curick jacked off
you thought being a waiter was a job you really wanted
web like structures creep into your priveys
you had to ask someone at the dmv if its illegal to eat, chew, fart and pick boogers while driving
you think you might be asian or turning japanesa
there is a boil on the left side of your pancreas
you think you have kids in northern spain
your gums start to shake and shrink
you had underwear but not anymore
you say ouch 4 times in 3 minutes
the leftovers you ate are now looking at you and wondering….what the fuck dude?
ouch is still an issue
you have never been on meds but scott burland is on your speed dial
you cannot count backwards while touching your right chin.
it hurts to talk about hamburgers
small things mean a lot
big things mean a lot.
a lot seems like a lot but less is less
you know what not to wear
it hurts when you feel like your face is like a chicken
if you gobble gobble in the woods with a raincoat on it hurts more
you feel like an old plate of food
you search for your keys in the frezzer
the bathroom mat has some strange odor
more is more
when you find yourself chasing whiskey with chicken fat
you see rush limbaugh wash down chicken fat with a pepsi
you are shaving cookies with martha stewart
your finger nails have grown too long to even open a pepsi can
all that you want is a pepsi?
your teeth ich
you have grown a new appendage
left is right
right is left
you think necrophilia is a hobby in china and you can bet money on it
out is in
in is out
you write it down or ride under it
you are having scolding hot coffee from the majestic thrown on you
if you are eating in the bathroom with a bloody head
things are not what they seem
deja vu turns into a vu ja day
you find yourself stuck in the toilet at neiman marcus
you feel like your heart is broken until a wet gloves hits you in the head
pig nunkles taste good
you get your penis cut off in the bathroom at the IGA and still tried to buy yougert
you smell black musk incense only on isle 2 and 7
necroplilia is a sport
..and nacoplyopic negofilicatic behavior is going on when you are asleep
you like foam
you bumped into louise shaws’s Va-JJ and thought of bea arthur
there are only 6 half popped kernals of corn in you bag of popcorn
you forgot you were in the bathroom at the majestic
you think you are on a tour of sweden with shawn hannity
your teeth keep itching
you wish you had a few extra diggits on your good hand
you go on a pigdic not a picnic
you put white dog poop on a stick and yell at people at CNN
you meet heideggers anus opening the opening of openess
you are ording a ham and cheese without the ham at the greyhound bus station grill
you are in jail for narcoleptic necrophilia
you write a food porn teleplay for food network called throwdown with morning woody
you thought you had a cookie party with danger woman
you sing ‘sarah’ by journey while in the bathroom of a DC-10 on the way to new orleans
you find a bone in her boob. boob bones
saying ouch is a option for sympathy
turkey tastes like chicken
yougert is an object of desire
you think you have half a hand
you think you are flying
when you think you know what you know
you know what you know
you didn’t know that everything you know is surrounded by everything you don’t know
when you caann”t ttype wrorth a shit
you are either on the taxi or not on the taxi
you fall down the stairs and think your birth control fell out.
when someone says ‘yo mama’ and you get pissed
you went to chattavegas thinking it was actually chatta-va-va jj gus
nine times out of ten you are trapped at the majestic doing blow on your hashbrowns
lookout mountain turns into a pickle barrel
you think that week old chicken is still good
you think people actually think they like you
you can’t see passed your foot
you feel like a big ladder climed up yer bum
you drew drawrings of your bum after the fact and it was hard to see
you think you are not broke and life is great
when small meals are frequent
time is of the essence
you cant do that with one hand
you are on a bus to whaurez mexico to buy a gun and switchblade
the bus driver passes out
you feel remotely guilty about yellin “pig pie-boy” to an officer of the court
you find yourself in some bar in new smryna florida (what daytona use to to be) without a condom
you think you met your true love at the pink pony in college park
your glasses fall off when you were huffin weed with jesus
when you think you are drunk
W.C.
the chap (UK) at eyedrum and other thoughts
Must admit: there are times when i wish i didnt, i didnt have all these years and faces added to my memories. Half faces of only half of my face to say things to anyways. i went to eyedrum last night with an old friend of mine. We had seafood before.
and i looked in the closet of the men’s bathroom at the eyedrum. i had to. and it has a chair in there. that chair looks like the perfect spot to sit down
and… maybe a double dose of a big smile held for too long could kill. The place has been painted.
Hands on Atlanta volunteers!
and meanwhile outside at the same time-the dumpster runneth over. and the eyedrum has a certain feel and charge in the air that is there,that is always there..or is it in the people or is it in me..it’s probably in my head. since there is no defined collection of people only how isolated we are together.
3.24.09
I went to eyedrum last night and i saw a group play. a friend of mine told me about them and they were querkked out and glitched sounding boom boom with a dance beat.sort of. a moment of talking heads,tom tom butthole then a grumbling grooving dorkiness that i liked. a friend of mine that had a butthole baby in austin told a friend of mine about The Chap and he was convinced that we should go see them. what exactly does it take ofrme? i dunno I read about The Chap (a si have many other bands…this one i read on Artlanta Blog. blogs,internet…. and having read about them i still would not have gone. The would have come and gone and human staples would have meanered the scenery and no tree falls for no sound faces that i half know as if it would be better that i completely did not know . i could reference a theory that somebody i only an eighth knows says about knowing folks and a process called closure or proximity or herd instinct says: that’s a “group”-when it isnt.,but that would require referencing him in a context so instead i was alone in my skin crossing gravel crunch crunch i dont smoke anymore and its great but im sorry but i found The Balkans to be a test of endurance and not in some “this is experimental” sense. I waited for The Chap and found their presence and sound- (as im sure there are many nights many amazing things like this slip by me) -to be so great dammit.i like eyedrum. but that doesnt say anything about eyedrum. thank god.
the chap
jeff dahlgren (words) and nisa asokan (photos)
eyedrum :: atlanta 