Michael Connor

Social sculpture for frustrated holiday travelers:

On a flight from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles in 1968, American artist Ed Kienholz (1927-1994) reluctantly checked-in an ornate, well packed Tiffany lamp and lampshade he and his wife, Lyn, had received as a gift. He had planned on carrying the items on board, but the airline insisted that it be checked-in. Kienholz was so concerned about the handling of the items that he had the airline insure the package before takeoff. Upon arrival to LAX, Kienholz discovered the lampshade shattered and irreparably damaged… After having the lampshade appraised, Kienholz submitted a formal reimbursement claim with TWA, only to have the airline refuse payment and accuse him of fraudulently packing a broken item in the hopes of recovering a cash settlement.

Kienholz … returned to LAX with a typewritten letter, a photographer, and an ax. 5 Kienholz’s letter bluntly stated: “Good morning, my name is Ed Kienholz…you broke my lampshade and I’m really unhappy…so I’m going to cause TWA an equal amount of damage. I’m going to destroy a desk for TWA.” 6 This is exactly what Kienholz proceeded to do; he destroyed the desk and, somehow, made it back to his car before being apprehended by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Full article by Damon Willick from X-Tra online.

Click image for full listing:

Donations to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign are a matter of public record. Since the passing of the bill, it has been widely noted that the CEO of Cinemark made a large donation to the campaign. Ironically, Cinemark is soon to be releasing a biopic of Harvey Milk, which now faces a boycott from the No camp - a large percentage of its audience, one might think. [Read more]

CNN took a page from the Cabinet magazine playbook today. In this video, they have graphologist Sheila Kurtz analyze doodles by Obama and Palin that have found their way into the public record. (Download Palin’s drawing here, Obama’s drawing is after the jump). [Read more]

A write up from The New Normal exhibition in Huarte, Spain that I finally got around to scanning is after the jump. The online version is here. [Read more]

The NY Times reports that Obama is going to have to give up his Blackberry when he becomes President. How will he cope? The article also reveals that George W. Bush’s pre-Presidential email address was G94B@aol.com.

Via Boing Boing: “Fox’s new reality show pilot called Smile, You’re Under Arrest features people with outstanding warrants getting tricked for the audience’s amusement before being arrested.”

Artists released 40,000 copies of a fake New York Times today on the streets of this city proclaiming, among other things, an end to the war in Iraq. [Read more]

There is an article about The New Normal by Jessica Novak in today’s issue of the Baltimore Examiner. [Read more]