What's Happenin?!http://www.caseywhat.com/happenin/en-US2012-02-13T16:51:35ZSquarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Just a spoonful of sugar...http://www.caseywhat.com/happenin/2012/1/26/just-a-spoonful-of-sugar.htmlcaseywhat2012-01-26T20:06:58ZRebecca Mir and I are doing a series of workshops called Superhelpfulfragilistic Experientialdosage this spring and summer. We've just put up our kickstarter, which Threewalls is featuring on their curated page. Help us help the world with more articulate artists who can present their ideas without all the jargon. With a small pledge you can reserve your space before the workshop opens to the public or pre-order a copy of the book from the workshop.

]]>(insert metaphor about layers of an onion)http://www.caseywhat.com/happenin/2011/12/17/insert-metaphor-about-layers-of-an-onion.htmlcaseywhat2011-12-17T18:54:03Z

Earlier this fall, I spent some time inhaling freshly chopped onions and then holding tiny vials up to my face to collect the tears. You see, I wanted those tears to be authentic, and they certainly are. Now you too can buy my record along with one of the vials and a custom sleeve from Iceberg and Sorcery.

Iceberg and Sorcery is a collaboration between myself and Rebecca Mir. After years of working together, we decided to put our art and magic into this online emporium. We typed our names into an online anagram generator to come up with the name. Now, this storefront is a place for us and a handful of guest artists, to promote and sell our wares, with a particular focus on artist books, prints, and other designed goods.

]]>Notes from the underground pool.http://www.caseywhat.com/happenin/2011/10/31/notes-from-the-underground-pool.htmlcaseywhat2011-11-01T00:00:48ZDearest Grizzlies and Californians,

As I finished my rave review of the California Hotel on yelp today, I realized I hadn’t sent you guys any postcards. So as a token souvenir here is a brief summary of my stay. I spent the week exploring, tinkering, and eating at every taco joint encountered. In the end, I am leaving the hotel with a slight sunburn, lots of ideas, and a couple of projects (some finished, some not.)

Let me give you the juicy details:

1. I made the bed into a piece, which you could choose to set up for openings and such. The comforter has a quote from Maggie Nelson on the left hand side, “Loneliness is just solitude with problems” and one the right side of the bed there is a pillow with a permanent head indentation. A reminder of my presence.

2. The phone has several messages for all of you. When you arrive please press * twice (sometimes three times if you don’t press hard enough) to turn it on. When you’re finished listening –it’s around 7 minutes total- or if you need to go pee, just press * again to stop it. It’ll pick right back up when you return.

3. I started to create a video of the bed vibrating in morse code. It is not finished yet, but I hope to have it for you before the end of the show. I will mail it to Lauren when done, so that you guys can watch from the comfort of that bed.

4. Saturday’s open hotel time started off slow, but picked up by the end of the night. I made a little time lapse of the event… starting with the three of us watching transformers (most ADD movie ever, not a single shot over 4 seconds long and I have no idea what happened) and ending with us turning off the lights to head towards town.

 

I'm thrilled to be a part of this show. It's awesome to collaborate with all of you grizzlies, to work through each and every hair-brained scheme with Derya, and to be a part of Lauren's amazing space. Stay tuned for more photos and finished video. Enjoy November, and I’ll see some of you at the closing!

Sincerely,

Casey Droege



]]>A Californian Hotelhttp://www.caseywhat.com/happenin/2011/9/27/a-californian-hotel.htmlcaseywhat2011-09-27T19:58:39ZThe Grizzly Grizzly collective recently invited me to participate in a show with them at Public Fiction (the museum of). "A Californian Hotel" will transform the LA museum into a hotel with a rotating cast of East-coast artists who will perform, create and vacation in the space.
Sarah Kate Burgess, Mike Ellyson, Dennis Matthews, Matthew Alden Price, Mike Richison, Cindy Stockton-Moore, Mary Smull, Josh Weiss and myself will take part in the show, which goes up October 10th and closes on November 26th.
Thanks to the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council for providing me with an Artists Opportunty Grant to cover this project.

]]>Thanks for being awesome.http://www.caseywhat.com/happenin/2011/9/2/thanks-for-being-awesome.htmlcaseywhat2011-09-02T19:00:04ZI mean it. So as a thank you, go ahead and get 15% off on any of my books at Lulu. Just use the coupon code AWESOME305 at checkout to save up to $25 until Sept. 30th.

]]>Broadcasthttp://www.caseywhat.com/happenin/2011/8/23/broadcast.htmlcaseywhat2011-08-23T12:29:41ZCOME TO OUR PARTY, DRESS IN WHITE performs this Friday for at San Fran's Make Hang space in North Beach. 8pm sharp! Free! Come see what Christine and I have been working on and make sure to wear white.

MAKE, HANG, BROADCAST.

Lighter, faster, dual-core. Does life really look better in HD? In BROADCAST, an hour-long performance installation, two players sit facing each other at a small table in the center of the room, typing/tapping continuously on respective iPhones. Each player’s text—generated independently of the other—appears projected on the opposing player’s chest. Social isolation becomes newly amplified, cast as a biproduct of technological tools, in this strangely intimate setting. How are we perceived/received in an age where mobile devices as multipurpose communication tools are ubiquitous?

 

 

]]>Come to our party, dress in white.http://www.caseywhat.com/happenin/2011/8/14/come-to-our-party-dress-in-white.htmlcaseywhat2011-08-14T14:48:12ZChristine Choi and I named our collaborative explorations COME TO OUR PARTY, DRESS IN WHITE mostly so we could have a party where everyone would actually dress in white. After our week-long residency in Future Tenant's gallery space, we finally did that... and everyone agreed that is was pretty awesome.

We pulled hundreds of songs that had lyrics directing the listener to move in a certain way - "Shake it like a Polaroid picture", "Strike a pose", "Pop lock and drop it"... We showcased some of the fine music videos from these songs in tiny mobile projections. The lyrics became a scrolling "red carpet" video and interactive slideshow. But best of all, DJs Mary Mack, Square Peg, and Drop That took all the songs and mixed them into a serious dance party allowing visitors to move their bodies in any which way they pleased.

Thanks to everyone who helped us pull off the party and big ups to those who shook their tail feathers.

Check out our upcoming San Francisco performance BROADCAST at Make Hang in San Francisco August 26th.

 

]]>tracks of my tearshttp://www.caseywhat.com/happenin/2011/7/18/tracks-of-my-tears.htmlcaseywhat2011-07-18T22:26:07ZOne of the projects I've been working on while in residence at threewalls is a collection of stories about every song that has made me cry. ever. I could really only come up with 8 of these, but they're definitely interesting. Ranging from One Tin Soldier to Ace of Base's Don't Turn Around. I've recorded all of the stories and now am ready to have 100 LPs pressed with accompanying letterpress covers. Thanks to Gotta Groove Records, Artnoose, and now YOU (!!!) this project can come to life. Check out my kickstarter campaign and by all means... feel free to help.

]]>Like a fat kid love cakehttp://www.caseywhat.com/happenin/2011/7/3/like-a-fat-kid-love-cake.htmlcaseywhat2011-07-03T22:37:15Z...is my new book. It's a response to Stephanie Brooks' Love is a Certain Kind of Flower, her 2010 project cataloging metaphors of love pulled from poems. Like a Fat Kid Love Cake is a similar indexing of metaphors, similes and general ideas of love pulled from decades of popular R&B/Hip-Hop songs. The incredibly rare mention of flowers in these hits led me to nix some of the categories Brooks created including “Love is like a flower,” “Love is often moss or mossy” and “Love likes bodies of water” among others. However the overt relationship between hip-hop, pop culture, and product placement inspired more appropriate categories for the genre, “Love is sporty” and “Love likes Luxury Conglomerates.” 

Find the book online here or check it out at threewalls until July 30th.

 

]]>Either/Or/Bothhttp://www.caseywhat.com/happenin/2011/6/20/eitherorboth.htmlcaseywhat2011-06-20T21:14:57ZJust arrived in Chicago and spent the day getting used to the fact that for the next few weeks I can sit here and make whatever I want... and so I am. You can come see some old work, and maybe a new piece in person at the opening of Either/Or/Both on July 1st at threewalls, where I'm honored to be showing with some great artists including Stephanie Brooks.

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