[ B l o g / / Archive]


Punk Memorabilia Auction at Christie's 
An auction at Christie's in New York usually wouldn't get me excited a great deal, interested in Art History as I may be. But Sale 2063 not only sounds like a great name for a mystery novel, it could nowadays also be the title of a dusty piece of legendary 12" vinyl. Given the simple sub-title "Punk/Rock", Christie's is putting together a pretty insane collection of items up for auction.

My most favorite item is Lot 336, the original artwork for Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill LP-Cover by David I Gambale (I think now I know why there's an "I" in the BB-Diamond!!). I am seriously in awe, the mere possibility that this unique thing could be baught for money and placed above a mantle-piece is just stealing my breath. Estimate $20,000 to $30,000 Dollars. I somehow doubt this will be pinned onto the wall of some squat in Bristol.

Also of note is this British newspaper poster (Lot 72, below), while in fact, for an estimated 1,500 bucks you get 2 more posters, that are equally important and historic, if not more so. GROUCHO MARX DIES and ELVIS LIES IN STATE. Don't tell me you think of these headlines as boring.



There are items in there that you might expect, things by Raymond Pettibon, Blondie and DEVO, but there's also newer, more recent artists involved, like a set of skateboards designed by Frank Kozik (Lot 126) and toys by KAWS. The latter is something I usually wouldn't consider punk nor rock.

But then again, it is a varied auction, and it makes a point at starting right at the roots of punk, with handbills and other memorabilia for Johnny Cash, Billie Holiday, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. Wait, Jimi Hendrix? Zappa? Captain Beefheart? The Monkees, MC5 and Van Halen? Nirvana and Cindy Sherman? I think we've come full circle.

There's also a couple of pretty tedious things, but come on, 4 Hardcore T-Shirts that include Bad Brains and a Dead Kennedys Tour T-Shirt ("Mowing Down Australia '83"), a bargain at an estimated $700. Anyone want to pitch in?



kultplay.hu reports about Krach the Robot 

Even Comic Books Are Weighing In On Presidential Campaign 
DC is wrapping a series called "DC Universe Decisions." It could lead readers to believe that the heroes might pick a side, but the truth is more subtle. The heroes pick sides in a tight presidential race, but the candidates are fictitious. Of course, a little reading between the lines might reveal the character's true feelings.


Link



Cloning dogs for love and profit 
"They're clones," Lou Hawthorne replies. The woman smiles as if Hawthorne's joking, but he's telling the truth; all three puppies were created at a commercial animal laboratory in Korea using tissue collected in the late 1990s from Missy, a beloved mixed breed that belonged to Hawthorne's mother and died in 2002. Part collie, part husky, part who-knowswhat, these rambunctious mutts are the most expensive pets on the planet, the end result of a 10-year project that has cost approximately $25 million. In May 2008, Hawthorne announced that his biotech firm, BioArts International, plans to offer five pet owners a chance to genetically Xerox their canine companions. Aspiring clone owners would participate in a series of online auctions, and the bidding would start at $100,000.
Link



Hexapodmeisterschaft, A Dancing Decapitated Head Robot 



A group of Austrian high school kids built this dancing decaptiated robot head. Yeah!
Link



The Final Countdown on KazooKeylele 

God Hates Signs 



My friend Mike crashed the GodHatesFags protest, I documented.



The McCain Family Newsletter proudly endorses Barack Obama for president 
The latest Republican to jump ship? The McCain family itself.
Link



Krach the Robot: First album, free! 
monochrom content info
Krach the Roboter enjoys cooking and Sudoku. And making music, of course! Download its first mini-album for free!



Link / album



Profession: "Victim" 

Profession: "Victim"
Originally uploaded by schroettner
Oh man. I never read trashy newspapers because I just can't handle it, even if it means that I miss out on gems like this one. Thankfully my friend Werner blogs stuff like this.



The anatomy of the first video game 
"Tennis for Two" created in 1958, was a science experiment.



Image: William Higinbotham's "Tennis for Two" was played on a 5-inch oscilloscope screen at the 1958 Visitors Day Instrumentation Division exhibit.

Link



American Dream a Biological Impossibility, Neuroscientist Says 
What if people are biologically unsuited for the American dream? The man posing that troubling question isn't just another lefty activist.

It's Peter Whybrow, head of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior at UCLA.

"We've been taught, especially in America, that happiness will be at the end of some sort of material road, where we have lots and lots of things that we want," said Whybrow, a 2008 PopTech Fellow and author of American Mania: When More Is Not Enough. "We've set up all sorts of tricks to delude ourselves into thinking that it's fine to get what you want immediately."
Link



Why humans are so quick to take offense, and what that means for the presidential campaign 
Study the topic of "taking offense" and you realize people are like tuning forks, ready to vibrate with indignation. So why do humans seem equipped with a thrumming tabulator, incessantly calculating whether we are getting proper due and deference?
Link



Memoirs Of A Qubit: Hybrid Memory Solves Key Problem For Quantum Computing 
An international team of scientists has performed the ultimate miniaturisation of computer memory: storing information inside the nucleus of an atom. This breakthrough is a key step in bringing to life a quantum computer - a device based on the fundamental theory of quantum mechanics which could crack problems unsolvable by current technology.
Link



When did the Earth turn green? 
Photosynthesis was thought to have evolved by 2.7 billion years ago – but it seems the original evidence was contaminated.
Link



The ekonomics of Fantasyland 
In reality the US is not now a capitalist nation, at least not in the classical sense of the word capitalism. Since the time of Reagan (and perhaps nascent since WWII), the US has become a military-socialist nation, or as some call it to point out how this variant of socialism is mechanized, a military-Keynesian nation.
Link



"Kiki and Bubu and The Shift" @ Simultan 04 Festival 
monochrom content info
"Kiki and Bubu and The Shift" will be shown at the Simultan 04 Festival in Timisoara, Romania (October 23-25, 2008).



Hey Man. I do not condone drinking or hating your girlfriend. 



...but it does have a ring to it, doesn't it?

I found this on Ricky Adams' website, an incredibly good photographer from Belfast. I like his vibe, he doesn't crop or alter his images in any way, so it's quite in the vein of Glen E Friedman and Pat Graham, so it's right up my alley.



His gallery on Leeds is amazing.

Link



Viennese Zombie Brood: Pictures? 
monochrom content info
October 18, 2008! First pictures!





But we will continue updating our collection...
Link



Arse Elektronika Anthology "pr0nnovation?" on Amazon Europe 
monochrom content info
You can now order our Arse Elektronika Anthology "pr0nnovation?" via Amazon Europe.
Link



Mark Dery blogs about "pr0nnovation?" 
monochrom content info
Pr0nnovation? Pornography and Technological Innovation, an anthology of lectures from the first Arse Elektronika conference (which I keynoted, in San Francisco, in September 2007), published by the legendary underground press Re/Search in conjunction with conference organizers Monochrom, an "art-tech-philosophy collective" based in Austria.


Link / Mark Dery's blog



monochrom at 1st CCAlps Salon 
monochrom content info
monochrom will be part of the first CCAlps Salon (Creative Commons Alps Salon) on October 23, 2008, 7:30 PM @ netculture space, Museumsquartier, Vienna.
Link



John Cleese about the US Presidential Election 2008 

Jonathan Mann Explains Financial Crisis 

LHC Cocktails 
CERN has delayed their particle collision tests a bit, but we are still collecting LHC themed recipes. What better way to spend your last night on earth before the LHC rips a hole in space-time?
"THE LAST ROMANCE" DESCRIPTION The relationship starts off sweet and pleasant. But sweetness gives way to underlying desperation and torment. It leaves you hurt and fucked up. Good thing the world is ending. INSTRUCTIONS Pour 750 mL John Jameson Irish Whiskey into a larger glass jar that can be sealed. Add one can of peaches, juice and all. Take 6 Habanero peppers, slice them once, three quarters of their length starting at the tip and add them to the mix. Close the jar and allow the mixture to sit for 24 hours in a cool dark place. Remove the peppers and plums. Place an unused coffee filter in a siphon and use that to pour the liquid back into the Jameson bottle; be careful not to overfill. Serve the remaining liquid over ice (as cold as the scourge's heart) and reminisce about lost love as you watch the end of the world.
If you have an LHC recipe to share email dfine -at- monochrom.at



Reminder: Viennese Zombie Brood 

International Year Of Polytheism: In Amstetten 
monochrom content info
A concept on tour!

The International Year of Polytheism will be guest in Amstetten, Lower Austria. We will present an "evening for polytheism".



Thursday, October 16 2008: 8 PM @ Cafe Kuckuck, Amstetten.



Frank Rich: "The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama" 
Frank Rich's excellent column about "fear".
All's fair in politics. John McCain and Sarah Palin have every right to bring up William Ayers, even if his connection to Obama is minor, even if Ayers's Weather Underground history dates back to Obama's childhood, even if establishment Republicans and Democrats alike have collaborated with the present-day Ayers in educational reform. But it's not just the old Joe McCarthyesque guilt-by-association game, however spurious, that's going on here. Don't for an instant believe the many mindlessly "even-handed" journalists who keep saying that the McCain campaign's use of Ayers is the moral or political equivalent of the Obama campaign's hammering on Charles Keating.

What makes them different, and what has pumped up the Weimar-like rage at McCain-Palin rallies, is the violent escalation in rhetoric, especially (though not exclusively) by Palin. Obama "launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist." He is "palling around with terrorists" (note the plural noun). Obama is "not a man who sees America the way you and I see America." Wielding a wildly out-of-context Obama quote, Palin slurs him as an enemy of American troops.

By the time McCain asks the crowd "Who is the real Barack Obama?" it's no surprise that someone cries out "Terrorist!" The rhetorical conflation of Obama with terrorism is complete. It is stoked further by the repeated invocation of Obama's middle name by surrogates introducing McCain and Palin at these rallies. This sleight of hand at once synchronizes with the poisonous Obama-is-a-Muslim e-mail blasts and shifts the brand of terrorism from Ayers's Vietnam-era variety to the radical Islamic threats of today.

That's a far cry from simply accusing Obama of being a guilty-by-association radical leftist. Obama is being branded as a potential killer and an accessory to past attempts at murder. "Barack Obama's friend tried to kill my family" was how a McCain press release last week packaged the remembrance of a Weather Underground incident from 1970 — when Obama was 8.

We all know what punishment fits the crime of murder, or even potential murder, if the security of post-9/11 America is at stake. We all know how self-appointed "patriotic" martyrs always justify taking the law into their own hands.

Obama can hardly be held accountable for Ayers's behavior 40 years ago, but at least McCain and Palin can try to take some responsibility for the behavior of their own supporters in 2008. What's troubling here is not only the candidates' loose inflammatory talk but also their refusal to step in promptly and strongly when someone responds to it with bloodthirsty threats in a crowded arena. Joe Biden had it exactly right when he expressed concern last week that "a leading American politician who might be vice president of the United States would not just stop midsentence and turn and condemn that." To stay silent is to pour gas on the fires.
Link



Google refuses to put monochrom Google Talk on YouTube 
monochrom content info
As you know I was invited to give a Google Talk at the Google Campus in Mountain View -- and in fact I did a 45 minute lecture performance on July 15. I decided to talk about "Context Hacking: Some Examples of How to Mess with Art, the Media System, Law and the Market" (a talk I already presented at ETech 2008 and various other cons) and it went really well. It got great feedback from attending folks.

Well, I waited for the talk to appear on Google's YouTube stream. And waited. And waited. People actually sent me emails and asked me if I faked the Google Talk. Faking a Google Talk? Oh my, no.

What could be taking them so long?

I asked a friend at Google and it seems a director in the Global Communications and Public Affairs office does not think the content of my talk is appropriate for uploading to YouTube. Quote: "Given the level of profanity, sexual content, and shocking images in it, I do not think it is appropriate for the Google Tech Talks channel on YouTube."

Oh wow.

I guess I briefly mentioned our conference Arse Elektronika, our international conference dealing with sex and technology. Well yes: that's uuhmm kinda "sexual". But what's the shocking images? Maybe Toetse? And what about the profanity? Using the terminus "fuckin'"? Or was it to profane to mention that the Google Campus architecture looks like a neoliberal version of Logan's Run? Or the fence thing?

The irony: part of my talk is dealing with the hard struggle to subvert and provoke in an societal late capitalist environment that actually wants you to be subversive and provocative. Maybe I proved myself semi-wrong...

Anyways... if you want to see the video I suggest to send Google's Global Communications and Public Affairs office an email and ask for a CD. Or better yet, send a handwritten letter with your return address (snail mail freaks techies out) to: Google, Global Communications and Public Affairs, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View.

Cheers!



Sarah Palin: When Politics Go “Aawww!” 
Over at the always enjoyable Posthuman Marxist blog, Bonni Rambatan writes on the phenomenon that is vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin:
For us Lacanians, the real problem is of course how this Palin political structure is possible at all. Slavoj Žižek has often mentions that the real question of Palin is how she becomes the first truly feminine character to enter the political sphere — were Hillary Clinton, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, etc. not in fact strong, masculine leaders in a female body? It is Palin that is the first to truly mock the phallocentrism of politics — mocking not only the dominance of men but also the masculinity of the field of politics itself. It is here that the Democrats failed and let the Republicans play left. I would even go as far to claim that the Palin phenomenon is an insult to the much-celebrated rise of Obama and Hillary: not only that African-Americans and women can now run for president, but even a totally inexperienced ex-beauty pageant can now run for vice president! Perhaps it is not us getting more open and tolerant; perhaps it is only the US politics that are polished to look as if that is what is happening by the Democrats… Palin just manifested such paranoia in a single blow.
 Discussing Palin is a lose-lose situation for the left from another point of view as well: Not only did a large part of criticism from Obama supporters come in the form of anti-progressive and anti-feminist stereotypes, critizing her almost inevitably leads to playing the game of the society of the spectacle. It's not about politics being driven by interests, it's discussing an Internet meme. LOL, pwned.

Link



San Francisco Chronicle about Arse Elektronika: "Why Machine Sex?" 
monochrom content info
Violet Blue (San Francisco Chronicle) goes deep undercover to find out why women like to have sex with machines, and why people pay good money to watch.
As this year's international sex and technology conference Arse Elektronika 2008 hit its stride last Saturday -- that's Folsom Street Fair eve here in San Francisco – I found myself on a panel discussing "The Erotic of the Machine" with six men and a sizable audience. The men were an assembly of artists from the Bay Area and Seattle to Austria and France, along with a sex machine maker, a sex machine pornographer and a spokesperson from San Francisco's Kink.com, where the most famous sex machine site hails from. (That's F-ing Machines.com, also here in San Francisco.)
Link



The Cracked Ambience: new and recommended sounds for your personal space 

monochrom & Laughing Squid Drinkup at Lucky 13 
monochrom content info
Join monochrom and Laughing Squid for drinks at Lucky 13 in San Francisco tomorrow, Wednesday, October 1st at 8pm. It's your last chance to hang out with the monochrom crew before we head back to Vienna (via Jamaica).



Link




[The Archives]

03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004   04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004   05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004   06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004   07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004   08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004   09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004   10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004   11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004   12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005   01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005   02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005   03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005   04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005   05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005   06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005   07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005   08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005   09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005   10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005   11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005   12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006   01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006   02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006   03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006   04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006   05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006   06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006   07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006   08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006   09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006   10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006   11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006   12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007   01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007   02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007   03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007   04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007   05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007   06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007   07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007   08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007   09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007   10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007   11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007   12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008   01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008   02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008   03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008   04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008   05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008   06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008   07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008   08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008   09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008   10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008   11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008   12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009   01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009   02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009   03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009   04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009   05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009   06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009   07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009   08/01/2009 - 09/01/2009   09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009   10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009   11/01/2009 - 12/01/2009   12/01/2009 - 01/01/2010   01/01/2010 - 02/01/2010  







.
.
.
.
.






















.
.
.
monochrom is an art-technology-philosophy group having its seat in Vienna and Zeta Draconis. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science, context hacking and political activism. Our mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom has existed in this (and almost every other) form since 1993.
[more]

Booking monochrom:
[Europe]
[USA]

External monochrom links:
[monochrom Wikipedia]
[monochrom Flickr]
[monochrom blip.tv]
[monochrom GV]
[monochrom Youtube]
[monochrom Facebook]
[monochrom iTunes]
[monochrom Twitter]
 


Soviet Unterzoegersdorf / Sector 2 / The Adventure Game

Climate Training Camp

Krach der Roboter: Hello World!

Slacking is killing the DIY industry (T-Shirt)

Carefully Selected Moments / CD, LP

Freedom is a whore of a word (T-Shirt)

#fullboycott

International Year of Polytheism 2007

Santa Claus Vs. Christkindl: A Mobster Battle

Could It Be (Video clip)

Pot Tin God

Hacking the Spaces

Kiki and Bubu and The Shift / Short film

Kiki and Bubu and The Privilege / Short film

Kiki and Bubu and The Self / Short film

Kiki and Bubu and The Good Plan / Short film

Kiki and Bubu and The Feelings / Short film / Short film

Sculpture Mobs

Nazi Petting Zoo / Short film

The Great Firewall of China

KPMG / Short film

The BRAICIN / Short film

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf / Sector 1 / The Adventure Game

I was a copyright infringement in a previous life (T-Shirt)

Brave New Pong

Leben ist LARPen e.V.

One Minute / Short film

Firing Squad Euro2008 Intervention

RFID Song

A tribute to Honzo

Lessig ist lässig

I can count every star in the heavens above -- The image of computers in popular music

All Tomorrow's Condensations / Puppet show

Bye Bye / Short film

Revaluation

PC/DC patch

Proto-Melodic Comment Squad

myfacespace.com

The Redro Loitzl Story / Short film

Hax0rcise SCO

Law and Second Order (T-Shirt)

They really kicked you out of the Situationist International?

Death Special: Falco

Applicant Fisch / Short film

When I was asked to write about new economy

Taugshow #6

Taugshow #7

Taugshow #9

Taugshow #10

Taugshow #11

Taugshow #14

Taugshow #15

Campfire at Will

Arse Elektronika 2007, 2008, 2009 etc.

The Void's Foaming Ebb / Short film

Remoting Future

When you / Short film

Elf

Free Bariumnitrate

Toyps / Typing Errors

ARAD-II Miami Beach Crisis

The Charcoal Burner / Short film

Digital Culture In Brazil

Hegemonchhichi

Nation of Zombia

Lonely Planet Guide action

CSI Oven Cloth

Dept. of Applied Office Arts

Farewell to Overhead

Google Buttplug

Fieldrecording in Sankt Wechselberg / Short film

Dark Dune Spots

Campaign For The Abolition Of Personal Pronouns

Zeigerpointer

Space Tourism

In the Head of the Gardener

Entertainment (Unterhaltung) / Short film

Cthulhu Goatse

Nicholas Negroponte Memorial Cable

Coke Light Art Edition 06

Experience the Experience! (West Coast USA/Canada Tour 2005)

April 23

Overhead Cumshot

Irark / Short film

Wart

Instant Blitz Copy Fight

A Patriotic Fireman

A Micro Graphic Novel Project

Noise and Talk

The Exhilarator

H&M

SUZOeG Training / Short film

The Flower Currency

Gastro-Art/Gastrokunst

A Holiday in Soviet Unterzoegersdorf

How does the Internet work?

Paraflows 2006 and up

Special Forces

Coca Cola

About Work

Turing Train Terminal

Me / Short Film

Massive Multiplayer Thumb-Wrestling Network

Doormat

Some Code To Die For

The Year Wrap-up

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf Metroblogging

Project Mendel

Display, Retry, Fail

Manifesto of Ignorantism

Actionfilm

Towers of Hanoi

Heisenberg

Opto-Hedonism

Every Five Seconds an Inkjet Printer Dies Somewhere

Milk

Mobutobe

Brandmarker

We know apocalypses

452 x 157 cm² global durability

A Good Haul

Blattoptera / Art for Cockroaches

Minus 24x

Gladiator / Short Film

Eden

An attempt to emulate an attempt

Paschal Duct-Taping

Laptop Crochetication

Russka

Somewhere in the 1930s

Soul Sale

The Department for Criticism against Globalisation

Dot Smoke

Georg Paul Thomann

Nurgel Staring

War On

Let's network it out

Nude

Mackerel Fiddlers

Whales

Disney vs. Chrusov / Short film

Bulk Mail

Easter Celebrations

Mouse Over Matter

Condolence for a Crab

Force Sting

Turning Threshold Countries Into Plows

System

A Noise

A. C. A.

Hopping Overland

Achy Breaky Heart Campaign

Hermeneutic Imperative III

Holy Water / Franchise

Roböxotica // Festival for Cocktail-Robotics

Spears

Engine Hood Cookies

Ikea

The Watch

Creative Industry 2003

This World

Cracked Foundation For The Fine Arts

Sometimes I feel

Fit with INRI

Growing Money

Catapulting Wireless Devices

Buried Alive

Illegal Space Race

Magnetism Party

Brick of Coke

1 Baud

Scrota Contra Vota

Direct Intervention Engine

Oh my God, they use a history which repeats itself! (T-Shirt)

Administrating:

Dorkbot Vienna





.
.
.
.
.