Monthly Archives: February 2009

Dumpster Divers @ Noyes Art Museum, Hammonton, NJ

Hammonton NJ is the self proclaimed blueberry capital of the world with a wonderfully quaint downtown district which has truly suffered from Wal-Martization.  Art to the rescue with the Noyes Museum occupying a lovely space with bright windows and unbroken sight lines.  The mysterious Dumpster Divers have been on display with a lavish installation of mixed media works of art that excites the senses and stirs old memories.  Saturday is the last day at the Noyes but then a lot of the work will move to 734 South Street, Philadelphia where the Dumpster Divers have taken over a vacant store front on the hippest street in town.

dumpster divers carol cole 

Carol Cole, “New Beginnings“, mixed media.  DoN was drawn into the luster of the paper mache eggs with the opalescent knobs, spikes and arrow forms creating a frame of strangeness; very desirable, chic and modern.

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Ellen Sall, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds“, mixed media. 

dumpster divers Betsy Alexander 

Betsy Alexander’s crosses made from cds wonderfully mixes the magic of contemporary music distribution with ancient symbols.  Music was once held secret and sacred by the churches who recognized the power of aural input to influence behavior.  Betsy’s crosses sing a contemporary song with visual cues and signs, symbols and silence speak volumes. 

dumpster divers Aldy Cole

Alden Cole, “Eros Ex Machina”, mixed media @ The Noyes Museum gallery in Hammonton, NJ.   

 dumpster divers Aldy Cole 

Alden Cole’s, Divine Lorraine series is on display at various locales.  Cole’s use of wood is lavishly skillful, real love is applied to the surfaces of his creations. 

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Burnell Yow!,La, Va, Ra, Ya“, mixed media @ Noyes Museum in Hammonton, NJ. 

Nikon Small World Exhibit @ The Wistar Institute

The only rule for the Nikon Small Worlds Competition is the shot has to be through a microscope but it helps if you use a high end confocal microscope with high-res digital camera.  Over 2500 scientist/artists entered the competition with the top 25 on display at the Wistar Institute, 3601 Spruce Street.  James E. Hayden of the Microscopy Core Facility explained to DoN and an audience of Photographic Society of Philadelphia members how new technology allows the scientist to photograph biologic or crystal microscopic objects in layers of depth of field focus which then are combined into a single image almost as simply as using Photoshop (on steroids).  Shot MRI style in thin layers, the level of magnification and detail is amazing.  Hayden explained how the discovery of transgenic mutation of cells to use fluorescent genes from jellyfish have replaced toxic dyes allowing better images of “reality”.  DoN has come across transgenic art before with Eduardo Qac’s Transgenic Bunny but these photos take the ouvre to a new level of sophistication and beauty.   

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The red blob is a carbon nano-tubule which is stronger and harder than diamonds or steel; the bug is a beach sand flea.  

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15th place, Wim van Egmond, Microscopic Museum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.  “Radiolarians, fossil shells”, (160x).  Differential Interference Contrast.

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Scientist/artist James E. Hayden of the Microscopy Core Facility in his office at The Wistar Institute with the many magazine covers on which his photos have appeared.  Hayden’s office is deep underground so that vibration is minimized when using the sensitive microscopes. DoN was shown an experiment underway in which live bacteria were being photographed through a microscope every five minutes for seven days, which will be a record if the bacteria don’t die first.

The Nikon Small World Exhibit is open through March 13th, weekdays 9AM – 5PM.

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Eric Kalkman, Dr. Tamily WeissmanBrainbow“, and Monica Pons @ The Wistar Institute. 

 

Don Miller @ Nexus – uniNtended uses

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The Pulsewave ROM invitations are an ongoing series of artistic collaboration created each month to promote Pulsewave, a New York City chip music event. Each month a uniquely designed and coded NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) or Commodore 64 program is released. These invitations can be played back on the classic consoles or viewed on modern computers via emulation. They serve as distinctive promotional material while paying homage to the classic invites created by demoscene programmers of the 1980s and 1990s. 

The ROM invitations are the very essence of unintended use: commercial gaming and computer hardware subverted for DIY promotion of underground music events. The punk scene has its photocopied flyers attached to telephone poles–and the chip music scene has its electronic flyers plastered on TV screens and computer monitors.www.no-carrier.com/ 

DoN lifted this info from the Nexus website which features an excellent survey of the exhibit. 

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Installation view of uniNtended Uses @ Nexus Gallery

Photographic Society of Philadelphia @ City Hall 3/5/9 @ 5:00 PM

DoN Brewer Photographic Society of Philadelphia @ City Hall 

 

DoN Brewer Photographic Society of Philadelphia @ City Hall

 

Download the pdf for the upcoming exhibit of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia @ City Hall.