Megan and Murray

ICA in Boston

This room hangs below the museum (see above).

The Institute for Contemporary Art in Boston's new building by glow-in-the-dark architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, as well as their current all-star line-up of exhibitions make the ICA an uncommon afternoon delight.

Additionally, their typography makes my socks whiter.

Current exhibitions include Philip-Lorca diCorcia (ends soon: Sept 3), Louise Bourgeois, Dave McKenzie (ends Oct 28) and Accumulations, the second installation of the ICA's permanent collection. Philip-Lorca diCorcia's images are stunning, Bourgeois is Bourgeois, McKenzie avoids any real risk and Accumulations has at least one thing you'll hate and one thing you'll love.

The Oldest Song We Know Opens Sept. 11

Our solo exhibition, The Oldest Song We Know, opens at Qbox in Athens, Greece on Tues., Sept. 11. The show consists of photos, an installation, and the video that we made during our residency on the island of Tzia over the summer. The title of the exhibition refers to the soundtrack of the video, a rendition of the Epitaph of Seikilos, which is the oldest known complete musical composition with lyrics, dated around 200 BC.

The song is inscribed on a tombstone found in modern Turkey in the late 1800s. It's thought that Seikilos, the songwriter, wrote it as his wife's epitaph. The inscription reads: I am a tombstone, an icon. Seikilos placed me here as an everlasting sign of deathless remembrance.

The lyrics to the score read:

While you live, shine
Don't suffer anything at all;
Life exists only a short while
And time demands its toll.

Looking for Studio Space in Providence

We've been lucky enough in the last few years to stumble upon some pretty great studio spaces in both Los Angeles and St Louis. Los Angeles has the infrastructure of a well-established art community, which can anticipate artists' studio needs and provide for those needs accordingly: but you generally have to pay big bucks for a space. St Louis has great unused industrial spaces that are rough, raw and cheap, but you have to put up with wearing snowsuits in the winter while working (no heat) and you have to be willing to improvise when it comes to those important studio elements such as walls.

Providence seems to be unusual blend of both ends of the spectrum: plenty of huge, affordable industrial spaces, in addition to a thriving artist community well-schooled in resourceful adaptive real estate solutions. We were at first hoping for some sort of live/work situation — there are plenty around — but have instead opted to live and work separately. We've signed a lease on a place to live and are now turning our attention to finding a cheap, big, work-only studio space. Any leads?

Transition to Rhode Island 1

We knew months ago that we were moving to Providence and would, of course, need a place to live. We also knew we would be overseas until late in the summer, forcing us to either find a place several months early or crash into Rhode Island with a last-minute home hunt—a strategy that seemed better months ago than the last few days of hectic (read: frantic) searching, calling and searching.

Greece Project: The Oldest Song We Know

Our current project, created in Greece for the Qbox Gallery in Athens, is now complete. The project, titled The Oldest Song We Know, contains a video (which features the actual oldest known song, found on a Greek tombstone), three photographs and an installation. The opening is September 11 at Qbox. We'll post final images after the opening.

Since completing the project last week, we've arrived back in the states and moved to Providence, RI: our new home. As soon as we get our feet on the ground, we'll write on Providence, Boston and general East Coast art interests.

Driving to the East Coast: Nashville Parthenon

[source]

[source]

We're back from Greece and left Texas yesterday for a three-day drive to our new home in Providence, RI. First stop: Nashville, Tennessee. Where they have a full-scale replica of the Parthenon, including a reproduction of the missing 42-foot statue of Athena. The building is also, apparently, the city's art museum. We're shooting for making it to Harrisburg, PA today, but we're going to drive by the Parthenon and get some pictures. Since we just saw the one in Greece, see how America's Parthenon compares.

Greece: Building the Installation (5)

60% finished. We're now working on a title for the work.

Greece: Building the Installation (4)

Here's the installation 40% finished. The installation, at Qbox Gallery in Athens, shares the space with our projected video so one of its design restraints is to functionally block the light from the screen. Of course it won't block it 100% so we're trying to find a sensitive balance between darkness (for the video) and lightness (for the installation).

Greece: Building the Installation (3)

It's about 25% done in this image. The foam we're using plays with the light well. The stencil we're using to cut the foam is a trash can lid--which makes us laugh.

Greece: Moving the City Through the City

This morning we hand-carried the city on the Athens Metro to the city's center.