Bill Bollinger was an important post minimalist sculpture in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One of a generation of people who changed what sculpture meant. [more inside]
posted by PinkMoose on May 17, 2012 - 7 comments

The most economically efficient use of a turkey is to use it for conceptual art while others starve. Generalized equilibrium theory wishes you a happy and Pareto-optimal Thanksgiving, via Cosma Shalizi.
posted by escabeche on Nov 24, 2011 - 31 comments

Rats process musical information. [more inside]
posted by idiopath on Apr 14, 2010 - 24 comments

A digital clock made of wood and operated by 70 workers for one continuous 24-hour period. "Even though the workers are trying hard to construct every single minute, they are constantly on the verge of failing."
posted by freshwater_pr0n on Dec 27, 2009 - 35 comments

Oak twig carved from dissolved recording of the heartbeat of an unborn child and the last heartbeats of a loved one, bone dust from every bone in the body, ring finger bones coated in bullet lead from various American wars, glass eyes for wounded soldiers coated with trinitite produced during the first atomic explosion, WWI cavalry boots made from a melted record of Skeeter Davis' "The End Of The World".

San Antonio-based artist (he prefers "marterialist poet") Dario Robleto crafts exquisite objects using a physical lexicon that includes bone dust, analog audio recordings, war objects and remnants of extinction. By recontextualizing these items he hopes to reverse "historical amnesia" and to reengage the past by "seeking out and sympathizing with another era's hopes and losses through its people's stories and materials." Highly influenced by music, he considers his work sampling. As he says: "you don't have to make up anything; the world is magical on its own."
posted by nathancaswell on Sep 25, 2009 - 32 comments

1 X Semana is kinda like a Spanish language version of Drawer Geeks (prev.). From the site: "We are a bunch of colleagues who every week propose a character, concept or idea to be drawn. In this Blog we share the results of our exercise." The site is relatively new, but so far, this result in the "Sea Monster" challenge is my favorite. Via.
posted by jonson on May 28, 2008 - 3 comments

...with the sun still high in the sky and his heart full of joy, Brian O’Doherty attended his own wake." The artist's alter ego was so named as a gesture of protest over the events of Bloody Sunday. Satisfied with the prospect of peace, he laid Patrick Ireland to rest. Slideshow of the wake.. Doctor, poet, novelist, art critic, journalist, film and television writer/director, pioneer in conceptual art, and author of the influential essays collected as 'Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space.' What will be the next chapter in Brian O’Doherty's prolific career?
posted by desuetude on May 22, 2008 - 7 comments

'Alien' art Artist Jonathon Keats has made abstract paintings from SHGb02+14a, a radio signal discovered by SETI@home in 2003, then dubbed their best candidate yet for an attempt at contact by intelligent aliens. Keats is also returning the favour, broadcasting his work into space from the Judah L. Magnes Museum using CB radio.
posted by jack_mo on Aug 3, 2006 - 19 comments

Conceptual dresses in leaves, feathers and more. Shoes of glass, cultural tradition and ideas.
posted by nickyskye on Jul 20, 2006 - 10 comments

The artist swallowed a pill-sized camera that photographically auto-documented its journey through his body, taking 65,000 photographs in seven and a half hours. (Alternate link, scroll horizontally.)
posted by crunchland on Jul 1, 2005 - 39 comments