The Pass It On Project is a documentary film by Melissa Nicolardi and Kalim Armstrong about education, race, and the relevance of the Civil Rights movement in America today. A three-year labor of love, it is finally being screened this weekend through Filmwax. There will also be a Q&A with the featured students, teachers, and filmmakers.

The Pass It On Project will be screened this Saturday, February 4, from 6 – 8 pm at The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, 53 Prospect Park West.

Molly Donahue, formerly of the band Love Story, recorded her first solo album this year, entitled Metal Alvin, which is due out at the end of this month. In addition to this, Molly also has a photo blog where she records her life separated into different segments- namely, “eats,”(food) “out of doors,”(nature) “animalia,”(animal friends) “noir”(spooky landscapes) and “people and places.” Friend, fan, and fellow flower girl, Frances Tulk-Hart, sat down with Molly to discuss the inspiration behind her new project.

Frances Tulk-Hart: Hey Molls, I had so much fun shooting you for your new up and coming album, Metal Alvin. Can you tell us a bit about it starting with the rather obscure name? Where did Metal Alvin come from?

Molly Donahue: I had a blast shooting, too. Metal Alvin just sort of came out of nowhere one night, hanging out with Renn and Jason (Love Story band members) and leaving obscure comments on websites. I guess you could say I used it as a ghost name and it just sort of stuck. I like the way it looks on paper and think it rolls off the tongue nicely. People will hate it or not understand it and that’s okay. Such is life.

Frances: What was the inspiration behind the album?

Molly: I’m at a place right now where I’m really missing the woods and open land and the quiet, and i think that is pretty evident in the songs. Oh, and birds. They make quite a few appearances throughout the album…

Frances: This is your third album, but your first solo album. How was it working on your own as opposed to collabing with  your old band “the love story”?

Molly: The Love Story was pretty magical. We fed off of one another easily and songs just formed out of thin air, no composing required. That’s a pretty special thing and made it really easy to be in a band. It helps that they are two of my dearest friends. But I started out as an extremely shy musician. Still am, actually. My dad was my only audience until I began sending Renn Cassettes via snail mail. This album has been a long time coming. It’s very quiet in comparison to The Love Story, which is on purpose.

Frances: You are also a rad DJ. Which band or singers do you think you have a similar sound to? And where do you play?

Molly: Hmm… Vocal-wise I’ve been compared to everyone from Dolores O’Riordan to Siouxsie. They’re both huge compliments but I don’t hear it at all. I just hear myself. It’s hard to separate yourself from your own voice. And Metal Alvin live? We shall see. I have mind-buckling stage fright.

Frances: If you could have any pop star, dead or alive, over to your house for a dinner party, who would it be?

Molly: Oh man, Kurt Cobain. I was 14 when Nevermind came out. That’s a shape-shifting age. How about I go with the less cliché answer and say Liz Phair. Exile in Guyville is a perfect album, start to finish. Her lyrics are brilliant. and she inspired me to learn to play the guitar.

Frances: If the race for the presidency ended up being between Sarah Palin and Kim Kardashian, who would you vote for?

Molly: Ha! Wow. That’s a nightmare in the making. Politics are so depressing. If I have to choose I say Kim Kardashian. I’d rather the earth be plastered in makeup than covered in an oil slick, though I guess they are essentualy the same thing. Humans can be such monsters!

Frances: And finally, what was your New Year’s resolution? Did you figured one out?

Molly: Just to live long and prosper. Is that a Star Trek quote?

You can buy a CD, download an MP3, or buy a cassette by clicking here (yes, you read right. You can still buy a cassette).
Photos by Frances Tulk-Hart

This clever ad campaign is for the College of Creative Studies, an art school in Detroit. Clever, but oh how true. Click “Read More” below for additional images.

Caris Reid is one of the most creative people around. She creates, curates, writes, dances, sings, sends coded messages and does all sorts of cool things (including contribute to Dossier.) When we put on an week-long party during fashion week and asked everyone to host an event, Caris was one of the first to respond by offering up a guided Reiki session with Randi Ditman-Ibrahim. Oh, and she also curated an art show based on hypnosis. So it came as no surprise to me to find out that Caris is now teaching a collage class, or two collage classes; one for children and one for adults. This week, participants will cut, paste, and pass in the tradition of the surrealist parlor game, Exquisite Corpse. Expect wine, scissors, and stacks of vivid imagery. You are welcome and encouraged to bring some of your own inspirations, but it’s not necessary. To add to the fun, all of this takes place at The Oracle Club, a members-only throwback to surrealist literary salons, which got a nice write-up in the Times. The room the class takes place in has beautiful lighting, tall ceilings, huge plants, and is the perfect backdrop for creativity. And if you are feeling like you have no creativity, don’t worry. I am sure Caris will let you borrow some of hers.

The class for adults is every Tuesday at 7:30 pm. The classes for children is every Saturday from 9:30am-10:30am for ages 6-8, and 11am-12pm for ages 9-10. All classes are $20 per person, and are located at The Oracle Club, 10-41 47th Ave in Long Island City. To reserve a spot, email: theoracleclub@gmail.com

Image: Collage made by students in Caris Reid’s class

Photographer Katja Rahlwes describes her images as “Cool Women, or better: Femme Intense.” She re-phrases the perception of the female gaze, with her own unfaltering approach to shooting women who are in command of every shot. Her glamazonian subjects often subvert the idea of the classic pinup. Katja has contributed to independent publications such as Self Service, i-D, Dutch, Butt and Made in USA. She has also created works for the fashion houses Celine, Chloe, Miu Miu, A.P.C, Maison Martin Margiela and Gucci. Katja’s closest relationship to date has been with Purple. Her most recent collaboration was the Full Moon supplement for issue #16, comprised of childhood pictures, Polaroid snapshots and a number of her own collection of vintage postcards. The zine is rendered with a combination of black and white images next to a neon orange colourwash. With her numerous editorials, intimate still-life pieces and self-portraits, Katja’s images make for a rich portfolio.

Natasha Arnold: How did you acquire a taste for fashion photography?

Katja Rahlwes: From an early age I was drawn to imagery through magazines. I’d cut out everything that triggered an emotion in me, made me dream, escape or move. I still have a huge collection of bits and pieces, photo cut-outs, postcards, entrance tickets.

Natasha: How did you develop your attachment to still-life photography?

Katja: It’s a very personal process for me to work on stills, I really love that moment when I start setting up a scenario, it’s quiet, there is suspense. My aim was to inject some new sense to it. It all started when I took more and more pictures of my personal environment. I did that to remind me of ideas or situations or set ups I liked. It was a sort of diary memo work. I then discovered the magic of mini photo sets, the way you would set up a situation inspired by the items you photograph. Great design has a lot of soul, so a fabulous pair of shoes can lead you in quite a storyboard.

Natasha: You’ve had a strong connection to independent publications throughout your career. What is your main drive behind this line of work?

Katja: Basically, independent publications allow you to develop your groundwork. You are more or less free to let run your creative thoughts. There is also something quite confidential about it, you work close with a team of people and you sense the passion everybody has for what they do, that is so important. Some magazines can become your house of thoughts.

Natasha: You have worked a lot with Purple. I loved your recent supplement. Can you talk us through the ideas behind the display of intimate childhood Polaroids and vintage postcards?

Katja: That book is a collaboration with Olivier Zahm and I guess we are still looking for who I am. I think we all are driven by a moment of time and images we never forget or helped us form a point of view. I am, for sure. I collected the vintage postcards at the time they were absolutely not vintage but they are today. Postcards help me to capture a moment of me being somewhere no matter where and what I do. A postcard is always the ideal representation of something. At least, I would say that is the intention of a postcard. For me, I sense a lot of loneliness from a postcard too. It really makes me think.

Natasha: In your formative years you worked as a fashion illustrator, fashion stylist and studied fashion design at Studio Berçot. With such a multi-disciplinary background, is there a path outside of photography you’d like to pursue?

Katja: I don’t know, but it is true I am thinking about it a lot, “What is my next step?” I love furniture and lamps, I would love to be able to just buy everything I discover in that domain and furnish a big house or an entire village!

Natasha: Who are your art heroes and why are they important to you?

Katja: I was actually really blown away by a recent show I saw in Paris at The Museum of Modern Art by Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch. I thought to myself: if you come up to such a high point of realization about our today’s today, what’s next? How can you move on and not go crazy? Super hyper lucidity, they are quite strong out there.

Natasha: Could you pinpoint your personal influences?

Katja: Really everything has an influence on me. Essentially it would be my dilemma and my strength.

Natasha: Living between Paris, London, New York and then your home of Frankfurt- are there any tangible differences between each city? Do you have a favorite?

Katja: No, no favorite, but a place like Frankfurt am Main is nice because it’s a ‘wannabe big’ city with all the wannabe clichés of a branded city like Paris or New York, but then its very provincial too. Those elements are very touching to me. I gain new headspace when I go there. I am currently working on a book called Paris am Main, the romantic drama of messed up perspectives.

Natasha: What is your stance on the fashion industry today?

Katja: There is a lot to say, it’s a very reactive ground. I think its best to keep it in the open.

Natasha: Do you think there is something a female photographer can access that male photographers cannot?

Katja: I wonder is it really about making the difference? Because I think the work you do is due to the individual and the therefore each approach is different.

Natasha: What is next for you?

Katja: Going back to work!

All Images, Katja Rahlwes

Obama made an appearance at the Apollo last night for a fundraiser, also attended by Al Green. Channeling the Reverend, the President sang a few lines of Let’s Stay Together. It reminded me why I liked Obama so much four years ago.

Born and bred in London, Phoebe Collings-James creates multidisciplinary works in sculpture, illustration, photography and video. Her art is thought-provoking, provocative and demands a reaction from the viewer. The twenty-something artist has exhibited in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, Beirut, Mexico, New York and most recently at the Miami Art Basel RiffRaff show. Phoebe was recently featured on Purple Television, alongside her friend Karley Sciortino AKA Slutever, with their film Tit Prints, an homage to Warhol star Brigid Berlin. Up next, she will come to New York to hold a residency at The Still House Group’s Red Hook Gallery in March 2012.

Natasha Arnold: Is there a tangible chain of events which led you to art – or do you feel it is engendered?

Phoebe Collings-James: For as long as I can remember it is the only thing I have been compelled to do. I always enjoyed escaping in to other worlds and making things when I was younger. My house was full of music and dancing all the time which might explain why I like using sound so much, my dad had a ridiculous subwoofer in the living room that would make the whole house shake. He also had a darkroom upstairs, where I spent a lot of time in watching him work. I went to art school when I was 18, first to Byam Shaw then Goldsmiths. They were both eye-opening experiences but I am definitely happier outside of that system, it can be quite claustrophobic. It feels like a lifetime ago now.

Natasha: I read a tutor at Goldsmiths deemed your ink drawings of bestiality to be pornographic and highly offensive, I’d assert that just because someone is offended it does not make them right. Would you say attempts to teach art within an academic framework are futile?

Phoebe: I was livid when I first found out! Institutions are such funny things, some people seem to get fossilised in them and progress just passes them by. It was sad because I had really respected the work of that tutor and those drawings were quite clearly far from pornographic, most definitely not offensive. I don’t think education is ever futile. But I did have such a polarized experience of art school. On the one hand I had experiences like you have described, with old-fashioned ideas that ran all the way from what I was making to what I was wearing and the color of my hair. But then I also had some of the most stimulating conversations about art that really challenged and encouraged me.

Choke on Your Tongue, 2010

Natasha: Would you say your work is deliberately provocative?

Phoebe: I want it to have an impact on the viewer, I want them to be able to engage with it and as a tool quite often it helps to be a little provocative. Sometimes I think about it like a puzzle with a few missing pieces. I don’t want to give away the whole story, just make suggestions to encourage a thought or feeling. My work is not definitive, an important part is for people question what they are seeing, how it makes them feel and why, I want people to enjoy the experience. Whether it be emotional, silly, disgusting or even boring.

Natasha: Does London play a role in your creative output?

Phoebe: I grew up here, so London has my heart. Most of my friends and family are here. It is a very hard city, especially at the moment. The country is being crippled by cuts which makes it hard to stay optimistic at times. Saying that, I did feel very proud last week when I heard that 2 million had gone on union strike. Many of those people including my mum were under huge illegal pressure from their bosses to stay at work, so it must have taken a lot for them to make that stand.

Natasha: Do financial implications affect your work?

Phoebe: It some times affects the speed at which things can happen which is frustrating, but things always work out in the end.

Natasha: You have mentioned that music is a key influence to your artwork. What are you listening to at the moment?

Phoebe: Coastal Grooves by Blood Orange is great. I bought it as soon as it came out and have probably listened to it every day since. Sun Araw are getting to be another favorite too, I really want to work with them- maybe they will see this! Little Dragon is also fantastic. As for older stuff I started listening to Archie Whitewater’s Steam again recently, which I love. There really are too many to say! My Ipod is on all day so I am constantly flicking.

Natasha: Who are your art heroes?

Phoebe: I always find myself looking backwards, perhaps partly because works tend to build in pertinence over time. Particularly to the 70’s, artists like Carolee Schneemann, Stephen Dwoskin, Lynda Benglis, Yoko Ono…I could go on and on. Vito Acconci’s Seedbed is another work that springs to mind. I was actually speaking with Brenden from Still House quite recently about some work on show from that period at MOMA, I think it was from their permanent collection. We were both saying what an affinity we felt with the work they were making. I definitely have a feeling we are at a similar point now of massive social and technological change.

Natasha: More general influences?

Phoebe: Sun Ra, John Cage, Merce Cunningham and Rebecca Horn are all people I look to a lot. I think that growing up with a constant stream of TV, computers and cinema has had a massive affect on the way my brain processes and creates imagery. There is a pace to it that requires immediacy both when making the work and experiencing it. I sometimes find it hard to concentrate on art films for more than a few minutes, which is something that has probably filtered into my work. It is the predicted sensory overload of my generation I suppose. Having been saturated with digital screens we constantly require more to be sensually fulfilled.

Natasha: Did this observation act as a catalyst to your piece ‘Broken Hearts Requiem’?

Phoebe: Very much so. The gallery was shoebox small and as it reached crescendo the sound was so hypnotic that despite the near deafening wails people watched it through to the end. I was having quite a traumatic year whilst making that piece and the thought of sitting in front of a computer blubbing over a tiny, grainy youtube video seems ridiculous now. But actually, finding comfort in the inanimate, as futuristic as it sounds is the reality we are living in. I guess that’s what video often strives toward. Making the inanimate, animate.

Broken Hearts Requiem, 2011

Natasha: How does the Internet inform your work? Do you feel it has had a positive effect on the art world?

Phoebe: The Internet is a contemporary life force; it is incredible and naturally has a positive effect on art. Ultimately my work does come from life, I am looking at how we communicate fears and desires but I do find its possibilities very exciting.

Natasha: What does Art Basel mean to you?

Phoebe: Art Fun. I have never been, I have a picture of sunny skies and art dealers falling off boats drunk! The experience of viewing work at art fairs is usually pretty sterile, I think most artists I know going out there are planning shows that try to break away from that.

Natasha: With Charles Saatchi recently describing the art buying world as ‘vulgar, eurotrashy and masturbatory,’ do you care about your audience and who buys your work?

Phoebe: Well he would know, wouldn’t he? It’s yet to be something I’ve had very much contact with. Luckily all of my works have gone to happy, art loving homes. And it definitely makes a difference because, to go back to what I was saying earlier, art really should be about a conversation. There is no need for that to stop at the gallery.

Natasha: You had a piece in the show ‘Riffraff’ with the Still House Group in Miami. What did you exhibit?

Phoebe: I showed a piece called Splitting of the Phallus, Making of the God. It is a phallus splayed through the seam, swinging from a noose.

Natasha: What message do you hope to communicate from that piece?

Phoebe: The description creates quite a violent image but in reality it almost resembles some sort of bone. I was interested in the historical symbol of the phallus as protector, against evil spirits, as a protector of women and children. It is about breaking myths, freeing us from the shackles of certain charms and traditions. The split phallus is an effigy, a mini monument to the free.

Splitting of the Phallus, Making of the God, 2011

Natasha: What motivated you to join The Still House Group?

Phoebe: I love them! I went to visit their studio when I was in New York this year and I was really impressed by their attitude and the art I saw. They are working from an incredible space in Red Hook at the moment, it’s the size of a football pitch, right on the dock. I am going to do a residency with them in March next year and I can’t wait.

Natasha: Would you say your gender is pertinent to your work?

Phoebe: I don’t think there is an artist alive or dead whose gender doesn’t colour their work to some degree. I wouldn’t say it was pertinent but it is certainly visible.

Natasha: Is the reaction to your work notably different when you exhibit in cities outside to London?

Phoebe: I have really noticed it when works have been shown in London and then taken to another country. When I showed Primates last year in Berlin the reaction was far steelier than in London. People were not just uncomfortable but in some cases found it very offensive. And that’s where the power of suggestion comes in to play, the shame and disgust that are felt are dependent on the viewers’ own perception of what they are viewing and the connections they make.

Natasha: What are you working on next?

Phoebe: Lots of things all at once! But I am really excited about a new work I am making with Matthew Stone. It’s a performance piece that will happen in a Hammam in Marrakech during the Biennale early next year.

Top Image: Phoebe Collings-James by Tom Ordoyno

Sexily titled Tailgates and Substitutes after a Bob Dylan song, the group show at Thierry Goldberg includes the work of twelve artists ranging from sculpture, to painting, to photography. Many of the artists in the show are working with abstracted forms in various mediums. The idea of substitution aptly has a connection to abstraction; many of the artists are exploring the space between when meaning is emptied out of something and when our minds fill it back up.

The work of Joyce Kim and Ellie Krakow play with the perception of viewing in the split second void that occurs during substitution. Kim has two pieces in the show that combine minimalist sculptural and painting gestures with pieces of framed text that are heavily narrative. On first approach, Traces of Gold XII is a piece of loose leather hung above a rectangular canvas that has been treated with iron, and a piece of wire that connects from the top of one to the bottom of the other- creating a beautiful negative shape on the wall. Squatting down to read the text piece that is propped on the ground, a specific but yet paradoxically vague snippet of a story emerges. Immediately following reading the text you start to evaluate the objects, painting, and pieces that are making the installation in a new representational way, the imagination starts to fire to make connections. The balance Kim has struck in making minimalist installation transform through text into objects that seem like evidence of the story, but open enough that not every viewer is finding the same story, is compelling. Krakow photographs ancient bust sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum, showing them side-by-side; one-figure remains, while the other is erased. The closeness of the silhouette from one to the next at first seems like the same statue but subtly you find they are different bust. By showing us a full bust and then vacating the next one, Krakow is able to evoke history and its relationship to time and representation by focusing on these past relics. There is a sobering moment when it is possible to find yourself in the voided space, one day knowing that you and your life will be the relics.

By naming the show Tailgates and Substitutes there is a possible recognition and understanding of how artist and viewers make work, all through a process of alliances and having one thing take the place of another. The landscape photographs of Hannah Whitaker rub close to abstraction. By de-contextualizing a close view of land and reduced elements, she seemingly winks as it becomes figurative and extremely sexy. White snow runs diagonally down a dark mountain or minimal mounds of snow appear to be sucked into the rolling land.

Tailgates and Substitutes is on view through January 22 at Thierry Goldberg, 103 Norfolk St, New York.

Starting today, the Abrons Art Center is hosting a ten-day long festival of contemporary performance called American Realness. Combining many different aspects of experimental performance art including dance, traditional theater, drag shows and concerts, the festival has over 46 performances of 20 productions. There is also a bookstore and a pop-up cafe to provide respite for those hunkering down for the daily marathon of performance art.

Although all of the artists look like they will prove to be amazing, especially on my radar is The Heather Lang Show by Eleanor Bauer and Vice Versa, which is being billed as a “double one-woman show,” that somehow incorporates QVC, spirituality and drag. Did I mention there is voguing? I am imagining stand up comedy meets Paris is Burning meets Jerry Springer. Let me explain, Heather Lang, by trade is a professional dancer working in tons of the top Broadway shows, who also happens to be one of funniest people I have ever met. She is super pretty but isn’t afraid to get ugly and pour milk on her face to make you laugh. I’ve seen her do this. The press release says to expect talk shows, critiques on cultural identity and of course, drag. I’d put my money on this being a pretty awesome and entertaining show.

Performances are January 5 at 10pm, January 8 at 6pm, January 11 at 11pm and January 15 at 9pm at The Abrons Arts Center, Underground Theater, 466 Grand Street, NYC. Tickets are available here.

Parasimpatico, a multimedia exhibition that recently concluded, is the first major solo exhibition in Italy by Pipilotti Rist, a boundary-breaking Swiss artist. Her installations, which transform the medium of film by reinventing language and employing expositive procedures, have been exhibited worldwide at musuems including MOMA in New York and Centre Pompidou in Paris. By tapping into her audience’s emotions, Pipilotti creates a nebulous space between dreams and reality that connects basic human instincts with spirituality.

Photographs by Paola Foresti

The artist, Pipilotti Rist.