This morning I took some photos while on my way to work. This is the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago.

Frank Lambert's experimental clock from 1878

check this out; the earliest form of recorded experimental music from 1878....where where you then???

http://www.pong-story.com/lambert/

George Bush visits Kansas after tornado

President George W. Bush joins townspeople in prayer Wednesday, May 9, 2007, as he toured a neighborhood in the tornado-ravaged community of Greensburg, Kansas. At least 10 people died in the Friday night storm that destroyed nearly 95 percent of the town. Yet during Katrina, he watches thru a window on airforce one down to New Orleans. Why does he react differently to both events? Is it racial?

my new art piece

exist within your timeline
braille engraved plastic sign
2007

Where where you before you were born? We are born on such a year and then die on such a year in linear time. Did our consciousness/soul exist before and will it exist after? Or are we limited to exist just in our designated timeline?
-mc, may 1, 2007

the artist project

below are images from friday's opening at the merchandise mart's "artist project". I'll post more tomorrow.




Jeremy Tubbs

the artist project

This morning I installed my work at the Merchandise Mart. The fair opens tomorrow and I took some photos after I finished. Below is more info about the show:

The Artist Project
April 27-30, 2007---FREE ADMISSION
350 West Mart Center Lobby

Running concurrently with Art Chicago™, The Artist Project™ is a new art exhibition and sale featuring original work from independent artists. Approximately 50 established and emerging fine artists were selected to present their work as part of Chicago's legendary art weekend. The Artist Project will be a great opportunity to discover and obtain interesting and affordable art directly from a uniquely talented group of artists.

Show Hours
Friday, April 27, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
Saturday, April 28, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, April 29, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Monday, April 30, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

The Artist Project is part of Artopolis(http://www.merchandisemart.com/artropolis/) which includes the following art fairs at the Merchandise Mart this weekend:

Art Chicago: http://www.artchicago.com/
Bridge Art Fair: http://www.bridgeartfair.com/
Intuit Show: http://www.art.org/intuitshow/
The Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair: http://www.merchandisemartantiques.com/

More Protests Coming After Federal Raid

U.S. Attorney's Office To Announce Charges In Alleged Fake ID Ring

(CBS) CHICAGO The U.S. Attorney's office is preparing to announce charges in the federal raid at a discount mall in the Little Village neighborhood.

Meanwhile, as CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, activists plan to continue their protests that began on Tuesday after the raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs agents and representatives of several other agencies. Sixteen people were arrested in a suspected fake ID ring.

"We ask you to be with all of the families who've been agitated by this act of aggression in our community," an activist said during a protest on Tuesday.

Several dozen people stood together on Tuesday after the raid at the strip mall at 26th Street and Albany Avenue.

Federal agents said the target was a ring that counterfeits and sells immigration documents in the area. But many people complained that others who had nothing to do with counterfeiting were also arrested.

They took issue with the show of force, and they way they said they were treated."They came out here and they had these big guns and they were looking for people under cars and in the stores," said witness Jesus Figueroa.The local alderman also took issue with the methods used in the raid.

"It's a show of force. We believe it was done to intimidate this community. We can’t see it any other way," said Ald. George Cardenas (12th). "The number of people involved in this operation is just overwhelming."

Witnesses say up to 200 agents stormed the mall, locking it down and asking everyone inside and in the parking lot for IDs.Sources tell CBS 2 that 100 people or more have been detained. Ultimately, at least 16 were arrested on accusations of selling fraudulent documents to illegal immigrants."

(They were) selling illegal papers to immigrants so we can work, basically. That’s all we buy them for, is to work," said Little Village resident Luz Nolasco. "But apparently that’s against the law and God forbid we help America!"

One notification received by CBS 2 denounced the SWAT-style response team, and how agents locked the doors and sealed entrances and exits at the mall to make their arrests.That release also said, "Their actions are clear – (to) disrespect our community and children and to intimidate us."

The U.S. Attorney's office is expected to comment later Wednesday morning.

CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman contributed to this report.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

New 'super-Earth' found in space

Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, a world which could have water running on its surface.

The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.

Scientists made the discovery using the Eso 3.6m Telescope in Chile.

They say the benign temperatures on the planet mean any water there could exist in liquid form, and this raises the chances it could also harbour life.

"We have estimated that the mean temperature of this 'super-Earth' lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid," explained Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory, lead author of the scientific paper reporting the result.

'Is there life anywhere else?' is a fundamental question we all ask Alison Boyle London Science Museum

"Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky - like our Earth - or covered with oceans."

Xavier Delfosse, a member of the team from Grenoble University, added: "Liquid water is critical to life as we know it."

He believes the planet may now become a very important target for future space missions dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life.

These missions will put telescopes in space that can discern the tell-tale light "signatures" that might be associated with biological processes.

The observatories would seek to identify trace atmospheric gases such as methane, and even markers for chlorophyll, the pigment in Earth plants that plays a critical role in photosynthesis.
'Indirect' detection

The exoplanet - as astronomers call planets around a star other than the Sun - is the smallest yet found, and completes a full orbit of its parent star in just 13 days.

Indeed, it is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is to our Sun.

However, given that the host star is smaller and colder than the Sun - and thus less luminous - the planet nevertheless lies in the "habitable zone", the region around a star where water could be liquid.

Gliese 581 was identified at the European Southern Observatory (Eso) facility at La Silla in the Atacama Desert.

To make their discovery, researchers used a very sensitive instrument that can measure tiny changes in the velocity of a star as it experiences the gravitational tug of a nearby planet.
Astronomers are stuck with such indirect methods of detection because current telescope technology struggles to image very distant and faint objects - especially when they orbit close to the glare of a star.

The Gliese 581 system has now yielded three planets: the new super-Earth, a 15 Earth-mass planet orbiting even closer to the parent star, and an eight Earth-mass planet that lies further out.
The latest discovery has created tremendous excitement among scientists.

Of the more than 200 exoplanets so far discovered, a great many are Jupiter-like gas giants that experience blazing temperatures because they orbit close to hot stars.

The Gliese 581 super-Earth is in what scientists call the "Goldilocks Zone" where temperatures "are just right" for life to have a chance to exist.

Commenting on the discovery, Alison Boyle, the curator of astronomy at London's Science Museum, said: "Of all the planets we've found around other stars, this is the one that looks as though it might have the right ingredients for life.

"It's 20 light-years away and so we won't be going there anytime soon, but with new kinds of propulsion technology that could change in the future. And obviously we'll be training some powerful telescopes on it to see what we can see," she told BBC News.

"'Is there life anywhere else?' is a fundamental question we all ask."

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6589157.stm
Published: 2007/04/25 01:00:18 GMT

my new camera!

My previous digi cam was a Sony and i dropped it/broke in Dallas 2 months ago. I finally got around to getting another and this time I took my chances with a Kodak 6megapixel cam. The quality is decent. Check it out. These are from today on the way to and from work.

Control Room documentary

This is a great documentary on AlJazeera and the Iraq War.

art opening tomorrow!!

**OPENING TOMORROW!**
The Emergency Show:
Kim Frieders
Miguel Cortez
Jaime Mendoza
Barbara Koenen

plus flatscreen DVD: CarianaCarianne

Opening Friday April 6 from 6pm-10pm
April 6 - April 28, 2007

http://polvo.org/april2007.html

polvo
1458 W. 18th St. 1R (entrance on Laflin)
Chicago,IL 60608
hours: saturdays from noon-5pm or by appointment









"Talking CCTVs"
Computer prints, 10" x 10" each
Miguel Cortez, 2007

my new series

Who is watching you? # 1
Digital print, dimensions variable
March 2007



Who is watching you? # 2
Digital print, dimensions variable
March 2007

surveillance cameras in England

from BBC News
'Talking' CCTV scolds offenders

"Talking" CCTV cameras that tell off people dropping litter or committing anti-social behaviour are to be extended to 20 areas across England.

They are already used in Middlesbrough where people seen misbehaving can be told to stop via a loudspeaker, controlled by control centre staff.

About £500,000 will be spent adding speaker facilities to existing cameras.

Shadow home affairs minister James Brokenshire said the government should be "very careful" over the cameras.

Home Secretary John Reid told BBC News there would be some people, "in the minority who will be more concerned about what they claim are civil liberties intrusions".

"But the vast majority of people find that their life is more upset by people who make their life a misery in the inner cities because they can't go out and feel safe and secure in a healthy, clean environment because of a minority of people," he added.

What really upsets people is their night out being destroyed or their environment being destroyed by a fairly small minority of people John Reid

The talking cameras did not constitute "secret surveillance", he said.

"It's very public, it's interactive."

Competitions would also be held at schools in many of the areas for children to become the voice of the cameras, Mr Reid said.

Downing Street's "respect tsar", Louise Casey, said the cameras "nipped problems in the bud" and reduced bureaucracy.

"It gets across the message, 'please don't litter our streets because someone else will have to pay to pick up that litter again'," she told BBC News.

"Half a billion pounds a year is spent picking up litter."

'Scarecrow policing'

Mr Brokenshire told the BBC he had a number of concerns about the use of the talking cameras.

"Whether this is moving down a track of almost 'scarecrow' policing rather than real policing - actually insuring that we have more bobbies on the beat - I think that's what we really want to see, albeit that an initiative like this may be an effective tool in certain circumstances.

"We need to be very careful about applying this more generally."

The talking cameras will be installed in Southwark, Barking and Dagenham, in London, Reading, Harlow, Norwich, Ipswich, Plymouth, Gloucester, Derby, Northampton, Mansfield, Nottingham, Coventry, Sandwell, Wirral, Blackpool, Salford, South Tyneside and Darlington.

In Middlesbrough, staff in a control centre monitor pictures from 12 talking cameras and can communicate directly with people on the street.

Local councillor Barry Coppinger says the scheme has prevented fights and criminal damage and cut litter levels.

"Generally, I think it has raised awareness that the town centre is a safe place to visit and also that we are keeping an eye open to make sure it is safe," he said.

But opponent and campaigner Steve Hills said: "Apart from being absurd, I think it's rather sad that we should have faceless cameras barking at us on orders from who? Who sets these cameras up?"

There are an estimated 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain.

A recent study by the government's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner, warned that Britain was becoming a "surveillance society".

you are beautiful

I forgot that I participated in this last year. I came across the web site today. check it out: http://www.you-are-beautiful.com/15/15STATE/15State.htm

I made the letter "e"(second one) in the "you are beautiful" public art project(check towards the bottom of the web page).

I am in Chicago Magazine this month!

After Pashke We polled gallerists and experts to find out which rising art stars we should be collecting now; see their work at Artopolis or visit the galleries that represent them. By Joanna Topor Mackenzie Before you head to Artropolis-the rechristened Art Chicago, hosted by the Merchandise Mart from April 26th through 30th (for tickets go to artropolis.com)-or one of the city's other spring art events, consider this list. Chicago polled gallerists and experts to find out which rising art stars we should be collecting now; see their work at Artropolis or visit the galleries that represent them. Geoffrey Todd Smith Simply put, Geoffrey Todd Smith, 33, likes to make pretty drawings. "Sometimes people call them ‘decorative' and they use it as a pejorative, but I love it. I want to make something that's beautiful," he says, describing his hyperactive pieces that often get mistaken for digital prints. Smith, a self-proclaimed drifter currently between apartments, draws with gel pens (he favors the Sanford Uniball) on scrapbooking color paper "that teenaged girls might use," he says. The results resemble stills from early video games. "It's about shapes that I find interesting and how intricate I can make them just using my own hands," says the artist, who works while listening to music or having the TV on in the background. PRICE RANGE: $500 FIND IT: At Western Exhibitions, 1821 W. Hubbard St.; 312-307-4685. Melanie Schiff This photographer loves Neil Young, a fact that helps explain a photograph of her covering her face with the musician's self-titled LP. "He wrote his first solo album at 21," says Melanie Schiff, 29, who composed the shot and asked a fellow artist to snap the pic. "This idea of being gifted, that's something I've always had an admiration for." Part of a series dedicated to everyday beauty as well as the nostalgia of teenage rebellion, Schiff's delicately composed yet meticulous photographs capture fleeting moments such as light through CD cases, the sun setting over a bottle of Jack Daniel's, and interiors of a fellow artist's studio. "They're slow, quiet, and melancholy, but provocative," says Schiff, who hopes that the subtlety of her photos will transport viewers to that specific time and place-and perhaps inspire individual epiphanies. "I told my grandmother she could pick a piece and she wanted the whiskey bottle. That was a surprise." PRICE RANGE: $3,000-$4,000 FIND IT: At Kavi Gupta Gallery, 835 W. Washington Blvd., #2W; 312-432-0708. Deb Sokolow A few years ago, Deb Sokolow dumped her boyfriend for Rocky Balboa. "Rocky began to take the place of my own love story, because it was so much better," says Sokolow, 32. The result was a nine-foot-long, text-heavy, idiosyncratic cartoon that featured Sokolow herself as an alternative love interest for the boxer. Since then she has also dumped an unfulfilling sculpture-based studio practice and pursued her unique form of large-format diagramming-meets-storytelling. Sokolow's stories are almost always told by a paranoid narrator who is fascinated by the nefarious goings-on in the world. Subjects ripped from the headlines and whimsical themes like a pirate invasion of Chicago (Someone Tell Mayor Daley the Pirates Are Coming, now in the collection of the MCA) pepper her larger-than-life charts. Recent Hollywood interest in her work has fueled her exploration of the overlap between actors and the characters they play. "There's this sort of confusion about who celebrities really are, and I love that." PRICE RANGE: $4,000-$10,000 ($300 for smaller work) FIND IT: At Gallery 40000, 119 N. Peoria St., #2C; 312-738-0179. Gisela Insuaste The only U.S.-born member of her Ecuadorian family, Gisela Insuaste, 31, who lives in Ukrainian Village, doesn't consider herself a landscape artist. "[My work] takes into consideration physical space, emotional space, politics, culture," she says. "There's a tension that exists between these layers." Layers also characterize her twofold creative process, in which she incorporates intricate wood and wire installations (often reminiscent of tree canopies) with abstract drawings and paintings. "I've had people say, ‘Your drawings are so much better,' but I have to do both," she says. Though much of it is inspired by her family's native landscape, Insuaste's art captures the similarity of manmade and natural forms across the globe. "I am fascinated and humbled by the landscape-in Peru or in New Hampshire." PRICE RANGE: $1,000-$5,000 FIND IT: At Bucket Rider Gallery, 835 W. Washington Blvd., second floor. Howard Fonda This Evanston artist, 31, doesn't want his friends to know that he owns a lot of Grateful Dead CDs. "I have a really big jazz collection," he adds, as if to offset any stigma that may come with his previous admission. And while his current paintings depict sections of a forest, Howard Fonda explains that his work really reflects sixties counter-culture (no surprise, then, that he often references ontology and transcendentalism in conversation). "Political and social aspects of the music just lead back to my interest in Plato and Thoreau," he says. His inviting paintings of trees intersecting with grass and sky encourage viewers to ponder their place in the world the same way they would if they were "plopped down in the woods. I like the notion that any square meter of the woods is the perfect microcosm or meta-phor for the world at large," he says. "I believe that there is meaning in that." PRICE RANGE: $850-$8,000 FIND IT: At Duchess, 1043 W. Grand Ave., fourth floor; 312-933-5317. Michelle Grabner It's tempting to label Michelle Grabner, 44, as a multitasker. An established artist, she teaches at the Art Institute, writes reviews for the magazine Art Forum, curates Oak Park's Suburban gallery, and is a mom to Ceal, 2, Oliver, 14, and Peter, 19. But as far as she is concerned, "painting happens in a hierarchy over all those other things." Grabner's engrossing black-and-white spiral paintings, which start as one dot in the center of a canvas, represent her quest for order in her hectic lifestyle. Done by hand, one dot at a time, the seemingly composed structure is the antithesis of the balancing act between what she lists as "writing, running down to school, teaching art, and being with the kids." Still, she says, she wouldn't have it any other way. "Sometimes I think, What if I would just pop one thing out? Say ‘I don't do it anymore.' The other things would change drastically." PRICE RANGE: $2,500-$12,000 FIND IT: At Shane Campbell Gallery, 1431 W. Chicago Ave.; 312-226-2223. Miguel Cortez Like Polvo, the artist-run alternative gallery/project space that he cofounded in Pilsen in 1996, Miguel Cortez's art doesn't slip easily into one category. "I jump from stuff to stuff," the 36-year-old explains. "I like the freedom of [not being] tied down to digital photography or drawings." Cortez's work spans from medium-sized abstract paintings of imaginary aerial landscapes ("Whenever I come back from traveling on planes, I start sketching," he says) to sleek digital prints and small stickers that he plasters around the city. "I made anti–Alderman [Danny] Solis stickers to protest the changes I've noticed since I've been living in [Pilsen]," he says. "It seems like he's lost touch with the community." Community is something that Cortez takes very seriously: in addition to keeping a blog where he posts recent works, he also curates for Polvo and helps produce the gallery's publication. "Artists should be aware and react, not just stay in our little bubbles." PRICE RANGE: $800-$3,000 FIND IT: At Polvo, 1458 W. 18th St., 1R; 773-344-1940. Scott Stack Last year, Monique Meloche organized Scott Stack's first solo exhibition in ten years; since then, the 54-year-old Oak Park resident has been known in certain circles as the artist who sells out his shows. Still, when the younger set asks him to share the secret of his success, he claims to have no idea. "I have advice for the plan that will get you attention in your mid-50s," he says, laughing. Stack's large-scale monochromatic paintings explore the elusive nature of surveillance, a theme he subtly twists by focusing on familiar icons like Buckingham Fountain. His purple-and-green depiction of the Chicago landmark seems eerie in this age of heightened security measures, but Stack says he was drawn to it for another reason. "That Buckingham Fountain is being watched is one thing, but trying to paint cold water at night appeals to me as a painter." PRICE RANGE: $1,800-$9,000 FIND IT: At Monique Meloche Gallery, 118 N. Peoria St.; 312-455-0299.

the artist project

I am going to participate in this show. See more info below:

April 27-30, 2007
350 West Mart Center Lobby
Running concurrently with Art Chicago™, The Artist Project™ is a new art exhibition and sale featuring original work from independent artists. Approximately 50 established and emerging fine artists will be selected to present their work as part of Chicago's legendary art weekend. The Artist Project will be a great opportunity to discover and obtain interesting and affordable art directly from a uniquely talented group of artists.

Show Hours
Preview Party —Thursday, April 26, 7–11 p.m.
Friday, April 27, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
Saturday, April 28, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, April 29, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Monday, April 30, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Exhibitor Listing

The Artist Project is proud to present independent established and emerging artists.

2007 Jury-Selected Artists

Name	Web Address
Alt, Jane Fulton	www.janefultonalt.com
Baur, Mike
Beck, Nicole	www.nicolebeck.com
Brandl, Mark Staff	www.markstaffbrandl.com
Browder, Chase	www.chasebrowder.com
Buchanan, Elizabeth	www.ecbuchanan.com
Chatain, Dylan	www.fifteenthirty.com
Cortez, Miguel	www.mcortez.com
Dolan, William	www.dolanart.com
Dufault, David	www.dufaultart.com
Eaton, Charlesthomas	www.eatons.net/abrealist/charlesthomas/index.html
Fogelson, Doug	www.dougfogelson.com
Foley, Rebecca	www.rebeccafoley.com
Forster, Catherine	www.catforster.com
Frieders, Kim	www.KIMfrieders.com
Gitelson, Jonathan	www.thegit.net
Golubova, Marina
Halper, Kathy	www.kathyhalper.com
Hospodar, Loreen	www.loreenrhospodar.com
Jacobi, Catherine
Jiang, Qigu	www.qigustudio.com
Kazarian, Jackie	www.jackiekazarian.net
Klairmont, Yelena	www.yelenaklairmont.com
Koenen, Barbara	www.barbarakoenen.com
Kohler, William	www.williekohler.com
Lampert, Katherine	www.katherinelampert.com
Levant, Marianna
Lopez, Joyce P.	www.joycelopez.com
Maris Lader, Deborah	email: ink1101@aol.com
McGee, Patrick	www.adequatearts.com
McGinnis, Renee	www.reneemcginnis.com
McGoldrick, Doug	www.dougphoto.com
Miller, Sandro	www.sandrofilm.com
Miree, Royal Richardson	www.richardmiree.com
Nolet, Didier	www.caconline.org
Nudd, Paul
Pajon, Michael	www.michaelpajon.com
Preuss, Ted	www.preussphotography.com
Rautenberg, Beverly
Rezman, Monica	www.monicarezman.com
Rieger, Patricia
Roberts, Darrell	www.re-title.com/artists/Darrell-Roberts.asp
Scruby, Rusty
Sensemann, Susan	www.susansensemann.com
Siegel, Adam
Stanuga, Ted	www.stanuga.com
Sven Humphrey, Voshardt, Robyn	www.voshardthumphrey.com
Thorn, Bruce	www.brucethorn.com
Tubbs, Jeremy	www.jeremytubbs.com
Zimmermann, Jeff	www.jazim.com

photos from my texas trip

I was in a show at Mighty Fine Arts and the opening was saturday February 17, 2007. Check out the photos here: http://mcortez.com/blog/dallas07/index.htm

back to the cold....