[-empyre-] Week 2: introducing Zach Blas, Daniel Lichtman, and David Baumflek

[Renate Ferro]

Dear _empyre subscribers,

I'd like to begin week 2 of November on -empyre- soft-skinned space: Viral
Economies: Hactivating Design by introducing our guests.  We met Zach Blas
last fall at a Virilio Conference in San Francisco.  While we have been
following Daniel Lichtman's work for a number of years, we met David
Baumflek at Exit Art when he and Daniel invited us to participate in their
Institute for Aesthetic Research.  Zach, Daniel and David will be making
posts about their recent research and projects. While they will be our
special guests this week we are hoping that they will continue to
participate in the remaining weeks of our topic as their schedules permit.

Zach Blas (US) is a PhD student in literature
<http://literature.aas.duke.edu/>
& Information Science + Information studies <http://isis.duke.edu/> at Duke
University<http://www.duke.edu/>. He holds a MEA from the Design | Media
Arts Department<http://dma.ucla.edu/>at the University of California Los
Angeles <http://www.ucla.edu/>, a post-baccalaureate certificate from the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago<http://www.saic.edu/>in the Art and
Technology Studies Department <http://www.artic.edu/webspaces/ats_mfa/>,
and a Bachelor of Science from Boston University <http://www.bu.edu/> in
film <http://www.bu.edu/com/ft/film/index.html> and philosophy
<http://www.bu.edu/philo/>.

Artists David Baumflek (US) and Daniel Lichtman (UK) have worked together for
several years investigating the role of cultural production in
contestation or continuation of Neo-liberalism. Recently, Baumflek and
Lichtman have organized a series of collaborative, discussion-based
projects investigating their own positioning within the circuits of
distribution and legitimation of aesthetic objects and ideas. Their
project How To Stay Free, focused on Milton Friedman's documentary Free To
Choose, took place at the University of Trash exhibition at Sculpture
Center in New York this summer. Their project The Institute for Aesthetic
Research, produced in conjunction with Exit Art, in New York, is currently
ongoing. Their projects have been written about in such publications as
the Village Voice and Flavorpill. Baumflek and Lichtman work in New York
and London.

Looking forward to Week 2,  Renate

Renate Ferro
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Art
Cornell University, Tjaden Hall
Ithaca, NY  14853

Email:   <rtf9 at cornell.edu>
Website:  http://www.renateferro.net


Co-moderator of _empyre soft skinned space
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyre

Art Editor, diacritics
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/dia/