for LEL on her birthday

I will always be grateful we met and still get to share a stretch of the road Lindsey, because like susan sontag says: "You can hope that you have found yourself among largehearted people, passion is a beautiful thing, and so is understanding, the coming to understand something, which is a passion, which is a journey, too."

A mi amiga Lindsey en el día de su cumple, le dije que siempre estaré agradecida al compartir una parte aunque sea del camino con ella, por que en las palabras de susan sontag: "La esperanza es la de encontrarse con gente de corazón grande, por que la pasión es una cosa hermosa, como el entendimiento, el llegar a entender algo, que también son pasiones, y parte de la travesía."

in america

dr. trincado radio, live transmission

Did I tell you about mirrorball.fm?
It feels like what joy division says:

Well I could call out when the going gets tough.
The things that we've learnt are no longer enough.
No language, just sound, that's all we need know
to synchronise love to the beat of the show.

And we could dance.

Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, to the radio.
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, to the radio.
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, to the radio.
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, to the radio.

taller gurfein maculan

silvia gurfein y valeria maculan convocan a artistas de todas las disciplinas a participar de sus clínicas de análisis de obra. Se trata de un encuentro semanal en el que cada integrante del grupo muestra su trabajo y plantea sus dudas e inquietudes.

La intención es hacerse buenas preguntas que colaboren con el crecimiento y la afirmación de cada artista. La mirada y la reflexión como estímulo para desarrollar un lenguaje propio.

Dentro de las actividades programadas está previsto el encuentro con artistas invitados, clases teóricas, ejercicios de escritura sobre el propio trabajo y guías sobre el proceso y ejecución de proyectos.

solicitar entrevistas y más información a:
4866-1780 / 4855-7499
gurfeinmaculan@hotmail.com

the sisterhood of the bitch part 13

Se, cosí come sono abietta e vile
donna, posso portar sí alto foco,
perché no debbo aver almeno un poco
di ritraggerlo al mondo e vena e stile?

If I, who am a vile and abject woman,
nevertheless bear such lofty passion within me,
why should I not have my share of telling it to the world,
and my portion of wit and style as well?

Si yo, siendo vil y abyecta mujer,
sin embargo soy capaz de llevar tan noble pasión,
por qué no tendría el poder también de retratarla,
y con mi porción de talento y de estilo?

gaspara stampa, 1523-1554

photo by girlontape, exhibited as part of my GIRLADELICA show in REDgalería, march-april 2009

girl loves decadence

You know I just love tokyo decadence... I number it among my top ten flix of all time, because it includes all the elements that turn me on esthetically, morally, psychologically, and in every other way:

a tragic love story, prostitution, existentialism, S&M, feminism, class struggle, and unbelievably classy broads... all in this superlatively elegant package. Kinda like vivre sa vie... except in color and Japanese style.

Every time I watch this movie I am reminded of the person who first recommended it to me, in New York back in '98: the one & only ted hope... my cinehero! They sure don't make producers like him anymore.

And last but not least, I particularly love this scene because... see the vibrator she uses as a mike? My girlfriends gave me the very same one for a bridal shower present - New York, circa 1996. Except mine was pale pink.



Queremos tanto, pero tanto tanto a tokyo decadence... entre mis top ten pelis para siempre, por que reune todos los elementos que me encantan esteticamente, moralmente, psicologicamente, y sensualmente:

una historia de amor trágica, la prostitución, el existencialismo, el S&M, el feminismo, la lucha de clases, y mujeres de belleza espeluznante... todo eso, en un vehículo superlativamente elegante. Bref, una suerte de vivre sa vie, sauf que en color y al estilo japonés.

Cada vez que vuelvo a mirar esta obra maestra, recuerdo a la persona que me la recomendó (NY, circa 1998): ted hope... mi cinehéroe! Ya no se fabrican más productores como él.

Y dulcis in fundo, amo esta escena en especial por que... ven el consolador que usa de micrófono? Mis amigas me regalaron el mismísimo modelo antes de mi primera boda (NY, circa 1996). Pero en rosa pálido.

invitación

lecturas!

Charly Gamerro
Laura Ramos
Miguel Vitagliano

jueves 8 de abril 20hs
escuela del sol cramer 450 (y jorge newbery)

dancing kat

stef de 7 à 9

Cada vez que visito el taller de fotografía de guillermo ueno hay alguna joya por ahí: la semana pasada, cierto librito en francés sobre marguerite duras -mi heroina de todo forever- con fotos de los lugares donde ella solía pasear... escribir... cranear, como diría inspector Ce.

Y ayer, proyección de la maravillosa peli autobiografica de
agnès varda que, cual cinemadeleine, me teletransportó hacia tiempos/espacios del girlPasado que había imaginados perdidos para siempre y que, volviendo con sus cantos de sirena, me susurraron al oído: "europa... le cinéma... escribir... rodar... tu gente... las playas mediterraneas... "

y todas estas cosas me inspiraron a decir, como la heroina de cleo de 5 à 7: "Il me semble que je n'ai plus peur... il me semble que je suis hereuse."

the comfort of strangers

Riding a bus in Buenos Aires yesterday, the elderly Argentine woman sitting next to me overheard me speaking in English on my cell phone, so she asked me where I'm from. Since I LOATHE and ABHOR hearing that question, I was about to snap her head off... when something about her made me relax and go with it.

So we struck up a conversation: it turns out she lived in New York for 15 years, then in Austin, Texas for another 15 years, and recently moved back to her country of origin because... having developed complications from a "pre-existing condition," she'd suddenly found herself unable to face her medical bills in the US.

"Do you miss the States?" I asked her.
"Terribly," she said. "All my friends are there."

She asked why I live here... and I explained that I left New York after 13 happy years when I decided to start a family, and didn't have the guts to schlepp it like my other freelancer friends had done: not getting insurance until their fifth month of pregnancy to save money... lying to qualify for Medicaid... fighting hostile corporations, whose plans never covered you when the shit hit the fan anyway...

Plus it was the post 9/11 Bush era: we marched against the invasion of Iraq - NO BLOOD FOR OIL - but the forces of darkness were in utter, totalitarian control, the panicked American citizenry, spellbound like rabbits in the headlights, bowing to their every abuse of power. It had become clear that no one was going to be able to stand up to the sociopaths in the White House...

...and the only real and present item on everyone's agenda was the next terrorist attack: not if, but when it would happen. We watched the carnage in Madrid, then London. Obviously New York was up next: every subway a potential booby trap, every elevator ride to my 25th floor office a Russian roulette... And I wanted to have kids. And giving birth in a hospital without health insurance could run me 20 grand if, let's say, I happened to need a Cesarean. So I left.

Shit! I had no idea anything remotely like Obama was in the cards; certainly not in my generation. And yet there were those pesky Americans, at it again: confounding everyone's expectations, they kicked the evil junta out of the White House in the most spectacular possible way...

...and night before last they passed a universal health care bill. And President Obama sent me a nice thank you email for my civic efforts - yes, I hassled all my American friends to step up for health care reform. And it worked.

(The President even invited me to co-sign the bill - they're gathering the names of everyone who worked on the campaign as we speak. I asked if I could sign it even though I'm not a US citizen... they haven't gotten back to me on that one.)

And, what the hell: it makes me happy, even though I'm not there in person to reap the benefits. And though I can afford health care in Argentina, I never did have children after all - long story, not worth going into here -

"You should thank God for that," my bus companion cut in firmly. "Argentine men are way too machista. Take my word for it. You must never, ever shack up with one."

"Oh, no," I replied. "I've learned that lesson too."

i take my time to dream and to reflect

I do not follow theories but rather trust perceptions and feelings. I don't want to show things but to give people the desire to see.

Me tomo el tiempo de soñar y reflexionar. No sigo teorías; confío con las percepciones y los sentimientos. No quiero mostrar las cosas, sino darles a los demás el deseo de ver.

agnes varda

it was a dark and stormy night...

"All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. For after all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog."

"A lo largo de su vida trató de ser una buena persona. Falló muchas veces... por que a fin de cuentas, sólo era un ser humano. No era un perro."

snoopy

the way we were...

...in New York in the 90s i.e. before peyton became an international electropop diva, christopher became a world-renowned video artist, and stef hit bottom as the infamous girlontape.

And no, it has not gone to their heads: we're still friends after all these years.

In these pictures, the terrible three prep for their weekly pilgrimage to the magical, unforgettable, majestical dance floor of the one & only DJ junior vasquez...

...who said: "When I began to DJ it was because I wanted to connect to everyone. I wanted music to bring us together and allow us to share that light that exists in all of us."

And so it goes: one house, one love. I still remember it... don't you?

I'll never do it again... I promise...

"I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless and sensual ease. I amused myself with being a flaneuse, a dandy, a woman of fashion. I surrounded myself with the smaller natures and the meaner minds..."

"Me dejé llevar por largos períodos de sensualidad sin sentido. Me entretuve con la noche, el glamour, la superficialidad de la inteligentsia como del lumpenproletariado. Me rodée de naturalezas chicas y mentes mezquinas..."

girlontape, paraphrasing oscar wilde

a letter from the president

stefania --

For the first time in our nation's history, Congress has passed comprehensive health care reform. America waited a hundred years and fought for decades to reach this moment. Tonight, thanks to you, we are finally here.

Because of you, every American will finally be guaranteed high quality, affordable health care coverage. Arbitrary premium hikes, insurance cancellations, and discrimination against pre-existing conditions will now be gone forever.

My gratitude tonight is profound. This struggle became a test of whether the American people could still rally together when the cause was right -- and actually create the change we believe in. Tonight, thanks to your mighty efforts, the answer is indisputable: Yes we can.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

freedom

"No one ever told me what to do, and no one tells me now."

patti smith


photo: steven sebring for the new york times

kat by stef

From the first moment I handled my lens with a tender ardor, and it has become to be as a living thing, with a voice and memory and creative vigor.

julia margaret cameron

anteanoche, la mode

Backstage con la gran diseñadora argentina araceli pourcel en el Desfile Bicentenario: dos siglos de historia nacional contados a través de la moda, con cada diseñador interpretando una época, todo a beneficio de la red solidaria.

Lindo concepto, un bajón los Fiats estacionados en la fucking pasarela cual constante irrupción del presente mercenario en el pasado que se pretendía evocar; y velo piadoso sobre el ballet del Teatro San Martín con Las Cuatro Estaciones de Vivaldi bizarramente intervenidas por secuencias de tango: casi me explotó la cabeza como
los marcianos en Mars Attacks cuando escuchaban cantar a la viejita.

Los artistas - como siempre lo han hecho, siempre lo harán - lograron, entre tanta torpeza conceptual, crear oases de dicha estética: puro ensueño
fin de siècle los diáfanos vestidos de laura valenzuela (el 1900), un tour de force magistral las arquitecturas hechas sastrería de pablo ramírez (los 50, of course) y dulcis in fundo: araceli (los 90) con su visión siempre única, poética e inspiradora.

invitación

DIE FUGE - LA CUEVA DE CRISTAL

ZAYNE ARMSTRONG
BJÖRN BENEDITZ
HELLA GERLACH
AKADEMIE ISOTROP
FERNANDA LAGUNA
GASTÓN PÉRSICO
ROMAN SCHRAMM
SCRIPT
STARSHIP
CECILIA SZALKOWICZ
MALTE URBSCHAT

inauguración sábado 20 de marzo • 19h • mark morgan perez garage • thames 2293 A

DIE FUGE - LA CUEVA DE CRISTAL es parte del proyecto Reunión de Hella Gerlach, Gastón Pérsico, Roman Schramm y Cecilia Szalkowicz. Realizado con el apoyo de ifa - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen.

woman's best friend

Es cierto que el hermoso perro negro que me recibió y acompañó en mi estadía cumpleañera en la playa es un ser entrañable y me costó irme sin saludarlo: justo cuando llegó el taxi, él se había ido de paseo. Así me escribió hoy su dueño: "Ivan te extraña mucho y te buscó por dos días."

***

During my recent beach trip I totally fell in love with the hotel's black dog: every morning he would sit next to me as I ate breakfast & rest his head on my lap. He also came to visit me in my room a couple of times, and last but not least he gracefully sat in on my
birthday photo shoot. Today I received this message from his owners: "Ivan misses you, he looked for you for two days after you left."

adelanto/teaser

il merito delle donne, p. 161

Libero cor nel mio petto soggiorna,
Non servo algun, né d'altri son che mia.
Cosí negli anni verdi, e nei maturi,
Poiché fallacia d'uom non m'interrompe
Fama e gloria m'attendo in vita, e in morte.

A free heart dwells in my breast.
I serve no one, belonging only to myself.
So in my green years as in my maturity,
My path unencumbered by male treachery,
I may expect fame and glory, in life as in death.

Un corazón libre mora en mi pecho.
No soy la sirvienta de nadie, sólo a mi misma pertenezco.
Así en mis años verdes como en los maduros,
Sin varonil falacia entorpeciendo mi camino
Fama y gloria espero, en la vida como en la muerte.

moderata fonte, 1555-1592

VOLVIÓ/HE'S BACK

Volví de viaje un día antes por que me llamó una desconocida de capital diciendo que le pareció haber visto a este sujeto en la plaza cerca de casa... y cuando subí a la terraza me recibió sentado igual que en esta foto, pero flaco... sucio... la voz entrecortada por el hambre: "Hola soy tu regalo de cumple, dame de comerrrrr!" Un mes y dos días desaparecido Marley, la gata que te parió!!

***

I was at the beach a five-hour bus ride away on the Argentinian coast when I got a call from a stranger in Buenos Aires, responding to one of the zillion flyers I'd posted around my hood: "I think I saw your cat in such & such park," so I came home a day early i.e. today, my birthday.

I greeted what's left of my four-footed family... ran to the park to look for him: no luck... came home with a heavy heart... unpacked... made coffee... was about to go online,

when almost as an afterthought I went up to the terrace: the sorry-ass ritual with which I've begun and ended every day this past month since Marley decided to go on a rooftop walkabout.

I opened the door... and there he was, sitting neatly in his library lion pose as if he'd never left. "Happy birthday bitch... now what's for dinner?" he said.

44

What better way for a pisces to spend her birthday than taking pictures by the ocean with a friend?

***

El día de mi cumpleaños no faltó nada: arte... amigas... y el gran azul.

photos:
kathrin ziegler
styling:
girlontape
dog:
ivan
location:
heiwa

DIE FUGE - Portrait II

Die Fuge - Portrait II es parte del proyecto Reunión de Hella Gerlach, Gaston Pérsico, Roman Schramm y Cecilia Szalkowicz; realizado con el apoyo de ifa - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen.

Inaugura el sábado 13 de marzo de 2010
de a 16 a 20 hs

Abierto también el lunes 15 de marzo
de 12 a 19 hs

Floreria Flor-art
Sarmiento 4081
Buenos Aires
Argentina
Contacto: 15 3 297 8150

----

DIEGO BIANCHI
HANNA BRANDES
ROBERT ELFGEN
HELLA GERLACH
LAS VIOLETTAS
BRIGIT MEGERLE
CECILIA PAVON
MAXIMO PEDRAZA
ALINA PERKINS

ROMAN SCHRAMM
AMY SILLMAN

stef by kat

invitación

me quedé largo rato

Lucas Boll
Leandro Ibarra
Mariana Kasses
Marianela Portillo
Paz Rocco
Joaquín Soler

música:
roman giudice

inauguración el sábado 13 de marzo • 18hs • formosa • delgado 1235

the sisterhood of the bitch part 11

Did I ever tell you how much I adore my friend Nicollette? This bold Trinidadian-raised, New York-based beauty has more style in her little finger than all Manhattan put together could ever hope to achieve and that's not all: she writes... she curates... she rages.

I'll never forget the first moment I laid eyes on her, circa 2000: she was organizing an erotica reading series at the Remotelounge on the Bowery, and I showed up with one of my short stories. She wore a scarlet babydoll dress, and pretty much knocked me out at first sight. The rest is herstory...

In this picture, Nicollette in fierce Marc Jacobs hangs out with the forever awe-inspiring
Chuck Close at the Armory after party at MoMA. "Seeing Chuck puts a smile on my face every time," she said. As seeing her face puts a smile on mine.

photo:
mary ann strandell

if wishes were paintings

In my six years in Buenos Aires I've had the honor of meeting many artists whose work I admire, but not many who make me feel that, without question, I wish I had one of her paintings on my wall so I could look at it every day.

Painter
silvia gurfein is one, and she opens in a group show of women artists in the rosario contemporary art museum on March 4. I wish I could be there to see it... and that is my wish for today.

***

Parafraseando el antiguo proverbio inglés que "si los deseos fueran caballos, los mendigos serían jinetes"... girlontape dice: "si los deseos fueran pinturas, tendría un gurfein en mi pared."

Esta gran pintora argentina inaugura mañana en una
muestra de artistas mujeres, por la curadoría de roberto echen, en el museo macro de rosario.

image: "Have you fed the fish today? Have you made your wish today?"
by silvia gurfein
2006
oil on canvas
150 x 150 cm
private collection, Puerto Rico

baby, i'm from new york

chelsea hotel arts initiative in collaboration with beez and honey present:

empire state of mind
a group exhibition introducing a generation of artists for the new era of art

titled after the famous
jay-Z and alicia keys hip hop song that has become this generation’s NYC anthem

(just as Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” was for a different generation)

empire state of mind includes artists whose work exemplifies NYC and its international and ethnic diversity.

***opening reception: Monday March 1, 6-9 pm • closing party: Sunday March 7, 6-9 pm***

photo of curator, goddess and girlontape bitch sister
nicollette ramirez and guests by kristin anderson

the pain of fleeting joy



do you remember nadja?

remember
galaxy craze lying on the floor in b/w whispering
"i can't believe I'm letting you do this to me..."

remember elina löwensohn
by the juke box in max phish?

oh almereyda... how do I love thine cinema?
let me count the ways.

the age of innocence, p. 161

"The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend."

"La verdadera soledad es vivir entre tanta gente bien intencionada que sólo te pide fingir."

edith wharton

photo by
kathrin ziegler

les femmes, le cinéma

PRIMERA EDICIÓN FESTIVAL MUJERES EN FOCO

OBRAS SELECCIONADAS

Circularidad - Zona Desconocida - Mujeres migrantes, mujeres con derechos - Esporte: Sustantivo feminino – Esposos - Esta cajita que toco tiene boca y sabe hablar – Raíces - A golpe de tacón – Madre – Tapologo - Juntos es mejor - Ya pasó todo – Reyita - Cous cous - Enemies of happiness - Sólo Sueños – Secretos - Antiguos sueños de mujeres Kichwas - Il corpo delle donne - La mujer mediatizada, Presencia femenina en los medios argentinos - Ovillos de Lana - A(lar)ma de casa - Mémoire a la derive - La ropa sucia - Heloise - Estampa Española – Starkiss - Descubriendo el amor – Hineini - Servicio2 - Claroscuro – Translatina - Ya no más - El fin del silencio - Él dice – Penalty – Positivas - Con dos años de de garantía - La Ramona - The Murmuring - Mujeres de la Shoá - Victoria - Lilya 4-ever - La Polaca - Esbozos silenciosos - Soy Meera Malik - La cámara oscura - Houna y Manny - Cholita Libre - El último verano de la boyita – Maquilápolis - Licencia número uno – Nina - Galerianki - Ana y Mateo - Carta a mi Hermana – Lucy - Las feas del bajo - Satellite Queens – Soupirs d’aime - Poste restante - Mujeres Cruzando Fronteras - Tambores de Agua – Water