Five Ways to Help Make it into Spring

by Leo Kuelbs

Berlin

The world seems to be moving in two different directions. On the one hand, the virus seems to be fading, the weather warming, and people are becoming themselves again. The other side is the ongoing war, the recent devastating earthquakes and seemingly new normal grinding shifts towards totalitarianism. Boy, the old days of Bill Clinton’s sexcapades are now an amusing memory of more innocent times. Though the Jefferey Epstein stuff still haunts…

Here in Berlin, most of us are shaking off the lock-down blues and loss of self-confidence that came along with it. Yes, a lot was lost, but the resilience of people creeps back, despite the guilt of being lucky enough to not have it a lot worse than we (momentarily, at least) do. So, as we hopefully offer our supplications that no other shoes drop on us soon, we can take a look forward to a new era. Towards that end, we offer you a non-complete set of suggestions to help ease you into post virus times. Remember, we are not therapists over here, but, we do try to be supportive! Take a deep breath…

1. Do Not be Afraid to Reset your Personal Boundaries: Speaking from experience, the virus years have taught me a lot about the people in my life. I have found myself closer than ever to many, while others have become weird question marks.

I am not going to get into great detail, but along with having learned to let go of overly worrying about situations beyond my control, I also learned to take charge of the situations I can control. Boundaries regarding exposure to toxic behavior have been re-established. Also, some have re-established their boundaries with me. I am at peace with this. I actually feel a lot better. I freed up some band width, which is being deployed in healthier pursuits.

2. Take a Look at the Health and Drinking Situations: A LOT of people have quit drinking. Also, A L:OT of people now smoke weed. NYC smells like a hippy’s bedroom in 1969...only the pot is a lot stronger. I am just saying that many of us went down a virus-fueled rabbit hole. It’s good to wake up from all of that and watching your chemical intake, as well as getting into the gym, or running, or however you work out, it is really important. What’s good for your body is good for your mind. Also, it’s kind of trendy! Get into whatever parts of the healthy trend that do it for you!

3. God, Whatever Happened to Reading Books? You know what I am talking about. I have so many beautiful books sitting on the shelf that I WANT to read. Instead, I while away the hours on Youtube, trapped in an algorithm that offers me the same 300 videos, along with a drip…drip…drip…of other crappy stuff. In my mind, I justify this by saying to myself, “we didn’t have computers before…”. What a crappy answer. Working on this one.

In my mind, I justify this by saying to myself, “we didn’t have computers before…”. What a crappy answer. Working on this one.

4. Avoid Group-think and Remain an Individual: Too many hours in front of Youtube or Fox News might just turn you into a digital Zombie. The online world is there to stimulate you, pressing your “tasty buttons” constantly. You can wind up addicted to the brain chemical rush. Be careful or you will only be able to communicate with those who are digging the same Q-Anon style-vibes. You might wind up in rooms of mirrors interacting with near clones. Like a bunch of rats in the same maze. It’s easy and grossly comforting to go back to the safe maze, but you can lose touch with those in their own TikTok, and other worlds. Letting empathy dwindle is not healthy. Being overly informed from limited sources and only the like-minded can be dangerous and creates a greater sense of “the other.” How about community gardening, square dancing, book clubs, a band…? Anything that brings in “other” and respected views.

5. Learn to Embrace Change and Sadness: Almost everyone has experienced change during these years. Loss is normal. It’s natural. It cannot be avoided. You may need to learn to be happy and take advantage of those times when things are peaceful in your world. Why would anyone want to make problems when things like a war or poorly constructed buildings collapse during an earthquake, can take over your world at any time? Or the loss of a parent, a relationship, a friendship?

In order to get back into “normalish” life, situation depending, you might honor the rough stuff, do the grieving. Do it well. Don’t rush it. I have found it useful to try to appreciate the depth of the sadness. It might be that honoring the depth of it might reflect the opposing vibes and help build your ability to feel happiness, when it comes. Articulating those depths, illuminating these feelings that (hopefully) are not there all of the time, may help make a more articulate, useful person.

I hope that wasn’t so bad! Maybe go listen to some tunes and do some dancing now before we dig into the rest of this month’s International Paneling! Whew…

Shorty of the Month: "Rollerskater," by Lindbergh Palace (n’Conduit); video by Domenico Barra

It’s music video time! This tasty video by Domenico Barra uses a great cut by Lindbergh Palace (N'conduit), aka Alex Hamadey, as its inspiration. From the “SoundxSight" Music Video Project",” which began during those drab and lonely virus days. The project was an attempt to connect artists from different parts of the world during those lonely months. Maybe this is a good one to put on while you make some coffee and get ready to dive deeper into this issue…?

Full n’Conduit SxS Playlist

POETRY PLACE for March 2023!

by Nicole Callihan

Brooklyn

Someday I’ll love Nicole Callihan

After O’hara/ Reeves/ Radar/ Vuong

And it might as well be today, as I admire

how she got up a little before dawn to read

and she drank her coffee black and gave blood

from each of her calves to feed a mosquito

or two, then walked along Warren Street

with three friends and looked into the Hudson

and had no desire to throw herself in,

and didn’t throw herself in, didn’t even joke

about throwing herself in, was relieved to find

it’s been years since she’d even consider

throwing herself in, and also, there was a tree,

a weeping willow, and a story of a woman

who’d planted one so near her house

that it might never grow, but that it grew,

if not much, some, and some sometimes

is enough, and then, with her friends,

she ate egg and ham and cheese on bread

while the rain started falling, and the friends

and her, they hurried back to the house

where the rain fell even more, and under

the covered area, she sat with a Pilsner

and wondered when she might love herself,

and decided that this seemed a very good day,

what with the birds and the stained glass

and the bubbles of beer on her tongue

and down her throat. It is something

to be alive. It is something to be alive

and get up a little before dawn to read

and have black coffee and not mind

that the bugs are biting and pay no heed

to the way the river calls or that the rain

may at any minute start to fall. It is something,

so very something, to hear this particular bird

chirping, to say to a friend, what kind of bird

do you think that is, and for neither of you to know,

but to sit together and let its song inside you,

while more distantly, a car’s tires travel

along a wet road, taking its occupants elsewhere.

I’ll eat a peach from the paper bag and let myself

fall a little deeper in love with everything I desire,

which is this. This moment. This this-ness.

Run for the Hills, AI is Coming to Steal Your Art!

by Horster

NYC

The computer fad of the month is ChatGDP. You have no doubt seen crowds of despairing middle managers with looks of hopelessness as they feel the coming layoffs that will finally affect them. Tons of news stories are appearing, like the news that ChatGDP, beyond human intelligence, will bring the end of the earth-like type of movie villain computer bent on subjugating humans and enslaving them to its will. But we must ask the most critical question, "How will ChatGDP affect the arts?"

Although our society does not always appreciate it, the world of art is the research and development playground of our culture. It affects all of us through its never-ending creative innovation. Art, because it is innovative, stands apart from what AI brings to the table.

That said, there will be artists who use AI in exciting ways to forge things not based on an algorithm of patterns of previously created images. That's just what artists do. Not long ago, photographers rejected Photoshop because it replaced the artistry of dodging and burning in a darkroom. Today, Photoshop is the norm, providing new avenues of creativity that darkrooms could not.

Interestingly enough, in image processing AI, small incremental changes remove the blur on an image. The AI runs against a blank image, which somehow improves the quality and detail of the processed image. In some ways, that blank image seems metaphorical, like the old maximum that there is no greater fear for an artist than a blank canvas.

Emotions are things an AI does not experience. Instead, it imitates human feelings by compiling images or musical compositions attributed to evoke that emotion. The fact that it can do this is fascinating. However, the AI constructions often fall into the tropes and clichés an artist would avoid, sometimes with hilarious results, like when the AI goes totally off the rails, jumping styles. That said, we are in the early days of AI. Over time, and with the correct data sets, things will no doubt get better.

In the world of art and music, collectors and fans desire the analog human aspect of a work of art. To them, a work of art produced by an AI may be an outrageous anomaly, like an elephant's paintings.

Certainly, the world of commercial illustration has been hit hard over the last decade or so. The easy availability of cheap stock art and the ability to hire illustrators in remote locations for small sums of money has caused a lot of erosion in the business. Now, art directors are finding that AI can generate a "good enough" illustration on any topic generated by a few-word summary of an article. So for basic graphics, AI will replace some illustrations and photos, particularly when art directors need to keep costs low. That said, this shouldn't happen in the better publications that want quality art that connects to the deeper ideas and emotions in the article.

To find out more about some beta AI image, music, and search sites, you only need to look on the internet, where you will find a number of free demos to check out. For this article, I ran several pieces of text to create images through an AI generator. Of course, I can only show them here by paying for their use (I guess the AI has electricity bills to pay). You should check out the AI yourself and prepare to be surprised and perhaps amused.

Update – This just in. AI image generators are putting illustrators out of work, and apparently, they are lawyering up!

Update – This just in. AI image generators are putting illustrators out of work, and apparently, they are lawyering up! They are fighting the AIs, which can produce art in their styles and deprive them of work. These artists are going to congress to fight for laws to protect their styles from being copied. The New York Times also mentions a program that artist can use to confuse the AI and make their art harder to copy.

Of course, the difficulty that illustrators will discover in court is proving damages (actual work monies lost to the AI). Under US law, derivative works that do not attempt to be direct copies or forgeries are probably not protected.

So, illustrators! Run behind the barricades made of office cubicle parts! Join your comrades, the middle managers, and fight! At the New York Times, they have fingers-crossed that the journalism AI generators are not coming next!

The AI Response:

by an AI Applicaiton

The Internet

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly advancing in the modern world, and it is no surprise that it is beginning to affect the arts as well. With the use of machine learning and neural networks, AI is becoming more capable of creating original artworks and assisting artists in the creative process. In this article, we will explore how AI will affect the arts and what it means for the future of creativity.

AI-generated art is a relatively new field that has gained significant attention in recent years. With the ability to analyze patterns and learn from existing artworks, AI algorithms can create original pieces that resemble those made by human artists. These AI-generated artworks can range from digital paintings and sculptures to music and poetry. However, the question remains: is AI-generated art really art, or is it simply a product of an algorithm?

Many people argue that AI-generated art is not true art because it lacks the emotional depth and human experience that is necessary to create something truly meaningful. They argue that art is about the creative process and the personal expression of an artist's ideas and feelings. However, others believe that AI-generated art is just as valid as any other form of art because it is the result of a creative process that involves making choices and selecting from a wide range of possibilities. They argue that the final product is what matters, not the method by which it was created.

One area where AI is already making a significant impact is in the creative process itself. Many artists are using AI as a tool to assist them in their work. For example, some musicians are using AI to generate new musical compositions, while others are using it to help them write lyrics. Similarly, some visual artists are using AI to generate complex patterns and designs, which they then use as a starting point for their own work. This use of AI allows artists to explore new ideas and approaches that they might not have otherwise considered.

Another area where AI is having an impact on the arts is in the field of art conservation. AI algorithms can analyze and detect changes in artworks, such as discoloration and fading, that might not be visible to the human eye.

Another area where AI is having an impact on the arts is in the field of art conservation. AI algorithms can analyze and detect changes in artworks, such as discoloration and fading, that might not be visible to the human eye. This technology can help preserve artworks for future generations and ensure that they remain in their original condition.

However, there are also concerns about the impact of AI on the arts. One concern is that the use of AI may result in a loss of originality and creativity in the arts. If AI algorithms become too good at generating art, it may become difficult for human artists to compete. Another concern is that the use of AI may result in a homogenization of art, as algorithms generate similar patterns and designs. This could lead to a loss of diversity in the arts.

In conclusion, the impact of AI on the arts is still in its early stages, but it is clear that it will have a significant impact on the future of creativity. While there are concerns about the loss of originality and creativity, AI can also be a valuable tool for artists to explore new ideas and approaches. As AI technology continues to develop, it will be interesting to see how it is integrated into the creative process and what new forms of art will emerge as a result.

The Way We Wine: Dornach Vineyards

by Alberto Salvi

Mannheim

The last bits of winter are to be enjoyed in the mountains, some time spent in South Tyrol. Skiing holidays are always a good chance to visit mountains vineyards.

I was hosted by Patrick and Karoline at Dornach, far more than just a winery. They have made their land the bliss of the biodynamic agriculture, where you can breathe the harmony of humans, animals and nature in pure coaction, with mounts designing the landscape all around.

With dry walls parting the land, terraced vineyards have been there for almost two centuries, dominated by a building originally meant to become a castle. As soon as I arrived, I could see the magic in the kids playing with baby goats, welcoming us to their farm.
Karoline did show us around the fields, disclosing with extreme passion their view of keeping nature’s balance, along of course with their viticulture techniques.

The goats eat the right amount of wild grass, which will attract insects to pollinate along with beekeeping bees.

Donkeys help with the hard work and fertilizing, the hens they give… eggs.
The aim of pursuing a kind of circular economy on the farm is the fuel driving these people every day.

These varietals are simply crosses between other different vigorous and robust varietals, in order to obtain the best traits from each of them, enhancing their resistance characteristics. Crosses plainly made according to the classic vine breeding method.

The entire wine production is certified by the international Demeter biodynamic standard, a movement born a hundred years ago during the industrialization of the agricultural processes, bringing the vision of a “whole farm” where diversity ensures resilience.

Among the selected varietals, PIWI (pilzwiderstandsfähigen) ones are taking the scene. They are literally ‘fungus-resistant’ recently introduced varietals that can ensure a high protection against fungal diseases, significantly decreasing the amount of plant protection products as fungicides.

These varietals are simply crosses between other different vigorous and robust varietals, in order to obtain the best traits from each of them, enhancing their resistance characteristics. Crosses plainly made according to the classic vine breeding method.

Patrick then introduced his work in the vinification process. The will to use only natural origin products during viticulture and vinification is also a firm dogma.

As being my personal stand against extremization, I would here note that synthetics elements are nowadays depicted as utterly evil, even though they can be organic as well and sometimes less harmful than natural elements; especially when it comes to heavy metals: natural, but toxic on different levels.

What pleasantly impressed me was his technique of correcting the wine with itself, harvesting the same vineyard at three different moments: The young, fresher and delicate, the medium with more balanced characteristics, and the belated, more sugary and then alcoholic. These products are then blended, every year in different specific ratios, since every year the environmental conditions are providing him different fruits. Based on this idea, the labeling is now so iconic: ordinal numbers, will refer to a single and non-repeatable experience.

The holiday ended in Trento drinking authentic Teroldego, the grape variety born on soil wet by a dragon's drop of blood, but that is another story.

3 Questions with…All-rounder, Josh Graham

This is a repeat from a past issue, but we are so thrilled about knowing this wonderful person that we just had to offer it to you again, in case you missed it. Recenmtly, Josh’s work could be seen on a new Ringo Starr release. Oh my! But Josh has been part of so many other wonderful projects you might not be aware of. I highly recommend this great interview!

Suspended in LIGHT

JA Mann

Invasion of the Shapes!

Image and text by Mark Bailey

Minneapolis

If you believe the news, the US has recently been invaded by shapes. First, a Chinese balloon as big as an apartment building was floating over Montana. After drifting across the country, the balloon was shot down by a fighter jet. On its own, the episode was unspectacular. But when a few other unidentified objects were also shot down over the US and Canada in short order, the situation tilted into weirdness.

There was an object the size of a small car shot down over Alaska. And another that may have been a cylinder shot down over the Yukon. Then there was an octagon over Lake Huron that apparently took a fighter jet two tries to shoot down. These technically unidentified flying objects were a far cry from the UFOs we all know and love. It would surprise me immensely to learn that extraterrestrials of any variety were involved with their flights. Even so, the string of incidents gave me pause.

My imagination is now running wild with the idea that shapes are just floating around in the skies above us.

My imagination is now running wild with the idea that shapes are just floating around in the skies above us. Are cylinders and octagons and small-car-sized objects now a normal part of the composition of our atmosphere. What if they are? What if the world is that strange?

Whatever the case may be, the invasion of shapes is probably of no great consequence. For me, it has been little more than an amusing diversion from sluggish crypto markets. The biggest NFT project I worked on last year finally hit the market and sales are disappointing. Tech companies are laying off workers left and right, a trend that will likely continue as long as interest rates keep increasing.

There is a part of me that wonders if the introduction of these mysterious shapes into our news cycles wasn't intended as such a diversion. The big balloon news broke just as two major stories were coming into focus. First, Seymour Hersh published an article on Substack describing how the US blew up the Nord Stream pipelines. Around the time this story broke, the disastrous chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio was beginning to unfold.

Although Hersh is perhaps the most reputable investigative journalist on the planet, his story was met by US media with crickets, then denials. The train derailment that spilled toxic polyvinyl chloride in Ohio was the predictable result of Norfolk Southern cutting corners on safety in the context of frighteningly lax government oversight. But the causes of that disaster were neatly glossed over in all of the initial reporting I encountered.

Instead of frank reporting on these important developments, the media focused on a balloon, then on shapes. This misdirection may not have been deliberate, but I find it disappointing nonetheless. All things considered, I feel ambivalent about the possibility that an invasion of innocuous shapes is underway. The Hersh revelations and the Ohio disaster seem imminently more concerning.

Mark's Blog

Sharing NFT Culture Across Platforms

by Adrian Pocobelli

Berlin

Since December, as part of my Artist Journal YouTube channel where I showcase new digital art NFTs, I’ve begun hosting Twitter Spaces each Wednesday at 9:30 am EST in order to let the community respond to ideas that are brought up on the show. We’ve discussed several topics from AI art to different definitions of Glitch to contemporary art trends, collecting and more.

On Feb. 15, I hosted a Space with French NFT pixel artist Gogolitus on why he started making pixel art and some of the ideas behind his work. Sometimes pixel art is seen as simplistic and for children, but as you’ll hear in this excerpt from the conversation, Gogolitus is quite profound and philosophical in his approach to art making and the reasons that he does what he does.

***Andreas Gefeller, Pear Tree, 2010, Inkjetprint***

Artist in focus: Düsseldorf based photo artist Andreas Gefeller

by Dirk Lehr

Berlin

Düsseldorf is the epicenter of artistic photography in Germany. The German Photo Institute is currently being set up there, which as a central facility is intended to safeguard the nation's photographic heritage and make it accessible. The most important contemporary photo artists live and work here: Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth. And the next generation has long since followed in their footsteps. One of them is Andreas Gefeller, to whom a retrospective is currently being dedicated in the NRW Forum Düsseldorf. Out of Sight is the name of the exhibition in which around 70 works from the past 23 years can be seen. It brings together works from all of his creative phases to date, from Soma to Supervisions and The Other Side of Light to the current series Dust.

He creates perspectives that otherwise remain hidden from human perception. Perspectiveless underwater views of a deserted swimming pool or the grandstand of a horse racing track after the end of the event with all their legacies, such as paper waste and drinking cups.

Andreas Gefeller

NRW Forum

Afterlife - The Stalag VIIA Former War Prisoner Camp in Moosburg

Images and text by Sandra Ratkovic

Berlin

What's left? What is still visible? What's being hidden beneath new layers? What breaks out again?

The Stalag VII A in Moosburg/Bavaria was one of the largest prisoner of war camps in Germany during World War II. After liberation by the Allies, it served as an internment camp. Later, Germans who had been expelled from their homeland (the so-called „Heimatvertriebene”) were housed in the camp. Since the 1960s, "guest workers" from foreign countries (Gastarbeiter) --mainly from Turkey an Yugoslavia- have been accommodated in the buildings.

After the last residents moved out in 2017, the historic barracks were sealed by the city and are no longer open to the public. Only a few barracks of the Stalag still exist. Most of the buildings have been demolished and new buildings have taken their place. In Moosburg, the so-called "Neustadt" area was created - where the prisoner of war camp used to be.

Photographer Sandra Ratkovic had the opportunity, for the first time, to document in detail the abandoned interiors and objects that bear witness to the past life.

She also portrayed former residents and documents the remaining barracks in their current urban and social context.

History of the building

1939 to 1945: One of the largest German prisoner of war camps
1945 to 1948: Allied internment camp for officials of the Third Reich
From 1948: Accommodation for returning refugees (Heimatvertriebene)
From the 1960s: Apartments for guest workers (Gastarbeiter), e.g. from Turkey and Italy

PICTURES OF THE STALAG AREA TODAY: