During our participation last June in the X Initiative’s NO SOUL FOR SALE - Festival of Independents in New York, James Merle Thomas, a San Francisco-based team member of L’APPARTEMENT 22 from Rabat, recorded a short interview for Radio Apartment 22 between us and Massimiliano Gioni, Director of Special Exhibitions of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York. Gioni briefly talks about the 'introspective' (intead of retrospective) the museum dedicating to Zurich-born, New York-based artist Urs Fischer, opening 28 October.

The interview is part of Appartement 22's 'R22 Universe - Live From NYC' programme available online here.

As the 2008–9 artistic cycle turns for many towards a holiday exodus and 'out of office' autoresponders, below is a selection of some unseen and 'behind the scenes' moments from our projects since last summer.
Thank you to everyone y felices vacaciones!
– Latitudes



(Three images above): MCL with Lawrence Weiner during the installation of Lawrence Weiner's exhibition 'THE CREST OF A WAVE' at the Fundació Suñol, Barcelona, in October–November 2008; during the press conference; Lawrence, Latitudes and Fundació Suñol team (Sergi Aguilar, Maga Ruiz, Xavier De Luca, Mireia Arnau and Jaume Brunet) photographed by Pierre-Jean Moulis after tossing a horseshoe upon the crest of a wave.

16–19 October 2008: presentation of the Danish artist Tue Greenfort 'transparent' bins outside Frieze Art Fair, London, commissioned by the Royal Society of Arts' 'Arts & Ecology' programme.

5–9 November 2008: Leaving the 'X, Y, etc!' Videolounge in Artissima Art Fair, Torino, Italy; admiring the phenomenal long table arrangement Artissima dinner hosted at the equally phenomenal Venaria Reale.


November 2009: fourth visit to Rotterdam – evening boat trip with some of 'Portscapes' artists, site visit to the port with the Port of Rotterdam's Sjaak Poppe (Hans Schabus and Roman Keller alongside) and discussions in Marjolijn Dijkman's studio (Roman Keller and Christina Hemauer – with Ilana Halperin on Skype)


November 2009: ‘La, la, la, la: on winning and losing’ co-curator Aimar Arriola arranging a work with artist Verónica Aguilera and (below) selecting images with Fermín Jimenez Landa and Oriol Vilanova.


8 February: SKOR curator Theo Tegelaers and Jan Dibbets during the filming of Jan Dibbets' '6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective'; some of 'Portscapes' artists including Bik Van der Pol and Marjolijn Dijkman visit the beach while waiting for the tide to go up; Christiane Bosman (SKOR press coordinator) and curator Theo Tegelaers from SKOR at 'Portscapes' during Art Rotterdam opening evening.

18 February: Vena (por la) talk with (the then) Walker Art Center associate curator Doryun Chong (now associate curator at MoMA in New York)

April 2009 - The Associació d'Art Crítics de Catalunya awards Fundació Suñol for their exhibition programme (Latitudes-curated projects Lawrence Weiner's 'THE CREST OF THE WAVE' and the Land Art film programme 'A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel. Land Art's Expanded Field, 1968–2008' were part of this season)


(7 images above): First Neapolitan lunch with Simon Fujiwara and Jordi Mitjà: deep-fried maceroni; Erick Beltrán installing during 'Provenances', Umberto di Marino, Naples; preparing Simon's 'Museum of incest'; subtitling session with Nicoletta Daldanise; delightful Sicilian cuisine at Umberto's house, documenting Erick's work during the opening night and audience during Simon's performance 'The Museum of Incest: A Guided Tour' (publication here)

(5 above): Arrival day in Beijing with Ignasi Aballí; laying out the Barcelona posters for 'Scenic viewpoints'; (around 3.30am...) installation of 'Nothing, or Something' at Yintai Centre with Suitcase Art Projects artistic director Carol Yinghua Lu and Ignasi; checking the vinyl is straight with Ignasi ('El País' always at hand) and a quiet conversation with Carol on the escalators.


(2 Above): During the installation of 'The Garden of Forking Paths', Maisterravalbuena, Madrid, May 2009 and post-opening beer landscape at Maisterravalbuena office, 29 May 2009.

Hans Schabus mulls over the location for his Portscapes project, the image 'Europahaven, Port of Rotterdam, 17 Juni 2009', 15 June 2009

(2 above): At Latitudes' temporary office space during the non-profit festival 'No Soul for Sale', in New York, 24-28 June 2009 (with Michael Jackson breaking news on screen).

The Bruce High Quality Foundation in full (we are indebted to them for their fantastic 1983 Burger King set up)


(3 above) Installing Graham Gussin work during 'Sequelism Part 3. Possible, Probable or Preferable futures' in Arnolfini, Bristol (July 2009); hanging around with participating artists Francesc Ruiz and Haegue Yang as well as Nav Haq (Arnolfini curator) before dinner; and knitting lessons from Haegue at Arnolfini's bar.

[All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org]

Below a selection press articles, blogs, announcements and slideshows links related to 'NO SOUL FOR SALE – A Festival of Independents' which took place between 24–28th June in New York (if we missed any materials, please do share the link with us!).

p.s. Some sources are confused about the nature of Latitudes' space in the festival. Just to clarify, we didn't built a faux Burger King, the 'scenario' – assembled entirely thanks to The Bruce High Quality Foundation – comprised real dining furniture from the abandoned 1983 Burger King from Governors Island (see photo-documentation of the original site taken by two photographers invited in 2003 by Public Art Fund – images 2 and 3 of the slideshow).

e-Flux, June 15, 2009
http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/6898

Holland Cotter, 'Restoring the ‘Eek’ to Eking Out a Living', New York Times, 24 June 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/arts/design/25soul.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=restoring%20the%20eek&st=cse
and slideshow here http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/06/24/arts 20090625_SOUL_SLIDESHOW_index.html

Jerry Saltz, 'Saltz: Glimpse Art’s Near Future at No Soul for Sale', 24 June 2009
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/06/saltz_glimpse_arts_near-future.html

Laura Meli, 'The Anti-commerce, Pro-art “No Soul for Sale” Festival', 25 June 2009
http://www.nyartbeat.com/nyablog/2009/06/the-anti-commerce-pro-art-no-soul-for-sale-festival

Time Out Art, 25 June 2009
http://www3.timeoutny.com/newyork/tonyblog/2009/06/no-soul-for-sale-at-x-initiative

William Pym, Artforum Scene & Heard, 'Whatever Works', 26 June 2009
http://www.artforum.com/diary/#entry23170 (text)
http://www.artforum.com/diary/id=23170#readon23170 (more images)

Sunday, 28 June, 2009 (images)
http://www.16miles.com/2009/06/no-soul-for-sale-festival-of.html

23 June 2009, www.designboom.com
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/6793/no-soul-for-sale.html

Ceci Moss, 'Dispatches from No Soul For Sale: More Highlights!', 29 June 2009
http://rhizome.org/editorial/2732

During 'NO SOUL FOR SALE' we are presenting several publications and paraphernalia related to our projects, including:

– Compendium of essays, artists' projects, etc. 'Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook' (Royal Society of Arts/Arts Council England, 2006)
– Magazine UOVO #14 'Ecology, Luxury and Degradation' (The Bookmakers Ed., Summer 2007)
– Exhibition catalogue 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities' (The Bookmakers Ed., February 2008)
– Artist book by Simon Fujiwara 'The Museum of Incest: A Guide' (Archive Books, May 2009)

We also have DVDs of Jan Dibbets' recent film '6 Hours of Tide Object with Correction of Perspective' (as part of Portscapes) and a public sculpture produced in October 2008 by Lawrence Weiner on occasion of his exhibition 'THE CREST OF A WAVE' at Fundació Suñol, Barcelona (we also have the exhibition booklet available).

The Bruce High Quality Foundation also have a computer available from where visitors can burn DVDs for $5 as well as some of their publications.

Latitudes will be soon participating in 'NO SOUL FOR SALE – A Festival of Independents' (24–28 June, 1–9pm, free entrance) an event hosted by X initiative which will bring together 38 not-for-profit centers, alternative institutions, artists’ collectives and independent enterprises from Berlin, Milan, Dublin, Lisbon, Paris, Reykjavík, Hong Kong, Rabat, Trinidad, New York, Los Angeles, etc. that contribute to the international art scene by generating a diverse cultural programme.

Latitudes will set up a temporary office-base camp, transposing our daily operations while presenting our publications (exhibition catalogues, guest-edited magazines, artist books and anthologies) and other paraphernalia. The office-'scenario' will be conceived by the artist group The Bruce High Quality Foundation, incorporating dining furniture from the abandoned Burger King facility on Governor's Island, where they have recently shot 'Isle of the Dead', a zombie movie to be premiered in Fort Jay Theater during Creative Time’s 'This World & Nearer Ones' (opening June 27, 2–4pm) as well as in the X Initiative screening & performing area on Sunday 28th from 6pm.

During 'NO SOUL FOR SALE' Latitudes will also premiere the 8 minute film '6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective', the new version of a 1969 film by Dutch Conceptual artist Jan Dibbets (1941) and the inaugural project of Portscapes, the public commission series taking place throughout 2009 in and around Maasvlate 2, the 2,000 hectare extension to the Port of Rotterdam.

Participants: Artis Contemporary Israeli Art Fund (New York and Tel Aviv), Ballroom (Marfa), BizArt/Arthub (Shanghai/Hong Kong), DISPATCH (New York), Empty Purse Publications (New York), Filipa Oliveira + Miguel Amado (Lisbon), FLUXspace (Philadelphia), Galerie im Regierungsviertel / Forgotten Bar Project (Berlin), Hermes und der Pfau (Stuttgart), K 48 (New York), Kadist Art Foundation (Paris), Kling&Bang (Reykjavík), L’Appartement 22 (Rabat), Latitudes (Barcelona), LAXART (Los Angeles), Light Industry (Brooklyn), Lucie Fontaine (Milan), Migrating Forms (New York), Mousse Magazine (Milan), Next Visit (Berlin), Not An Alternative (Brooklyn), Office for Contemporary Art Norway (Oslo), Participant Inc. (New York), Rhizome (New York), STARSHIP (Berlin), Storefront for Art and Architecture (New York), Studio Film Club (Trinidad), Supportico Lopez (Berlin), Surasi Kusolwong (Thailand), Swiss Institute (New York), TART (San Francisco), The Mountain School of Arts (Los Angeles), Thisisnotashop (Dublin), Transformer (Washington, D.C.), Via Farini (Milan), Vox Populi (Philadelphia), WAGE Artists (New York), White Columns (New York).

Latitudes' participation is partly supported by the Institut Ramon Llull

–

X INITIATIVE, 548 West 22nd Street (former Dia Center), New York, NY 10011, USA [MAP HERE]
Opening Reception: June 23, 6-9 pm with a performance by Martin Soto Climent.
Opening Hours: June 24–28 2009, 1–9 pm. FREE ENTRANCE

We have just circulated our #13 newsletter (read English version or Versión española). If you would like to subscribe to our mailing list please fill your data on this contact form (see left) and choose one language. If you would like to read previous newsletters, click here.

In June we are presenting the film programme 'What are we going to do after we’ve done what we’re doing to do next?' in the context of 'The Uncertainty Principle', Capella MACBA, Barcelona (1–7 June, 11–17.30h, closed tuesdays) with films by Jordan Wolfson, Mariana Castillo Deball, Neil Cummings & Marysia Lewandowska, Chris Marker and Marjolijn Dijkman.

We are also participating in 'NO SOUL FOR SALE – A Festival of Independents, a four day festival where over 30 independent centers, alternative institutions, artists’ collectives and independent enterprises from around the world present their activities (see list of participants here). The festival will take place in X initiative's spaces in 548 West 22nd Street, New York (24–28 June, 1–9pm. Opening: 23 June, 6–9pm with a performance by Martin Soto Climent. Free admission.) + info...

We have circulated our Newsletter #12. If you would like to read it, please click here for English version or here for Spanish version.

In our forthcoming Newsletter #13 (June–July 09) we will inform you about a video programme to be screened daily at Capella MACBA (1–7 June); our participation in the festival of independent and non-profit art organisations in New York hosted by the X initiative (24–28 June) and the exhibition 'Sequelism. Episode 3: Possible, Probable, or Preferable Futures', to open at Arnolfini, Bristol on 17 July.

In the current issue of frieze (Issue 123, May 2009) you will find a review by Max Andrews on the 2nd Canary Islands Biennial of Architecture – read short report and images of the exhibition in our 8 March 2009 post.

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