LONGITUDES

Longitudes cuts across Latitudes’ projects and research with news, updates, and reportage.

Newsletter #29 – January/enero 2011


LAST WEEK...
'The Last Newspaper' exhibition at the New Museum continues until 9 January. As a partner organisation Latitudes edited the exhibition catalogue over the course of 10 weeks from a micro-newsroom installed in the exhibition space. The catalogue is now available from the New Museum Store ($15, $13.50 for museum members).

IN JANUARY 2011...
Curators of the exhibition 'Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller: United Alternative Energies', Aarhus Art Building, århus, Denmark, 22 January–3 April 2011.
Opening: 21 January, 5pm.

Curators of the Laboratorio 987 2011 season,
MUSAC, León: inaugural exhibition 'Amikejo: Pennacchio Argentato' (29 January–27 March 2011), opening on Saturday 29th together with MUSAC's exhibitions: The Mission and the Missionaries by Georges Adéagbo, Desaparecidos by Gervasio Sánchez, The Uneasy Subject by Akram Zaatari, and Un modo de organización alrededor del vacío. Brumaria Works#3 Expanded Violences.

IN FEBRUARY 2011...
Professional Encounters, 'Curating Emerging Artists', ARCOMadrid 2011, 18 February.

ALSO IN FEBRUARY 2011...
'Exposition Internationale des Art Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes & des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne', Meessen De Clercq, Brussels, Belgium, 24 February–7 April 2011.


Check Latitudes' web www.lttds.org
Facebook page here
Twitter here
Flickr photosets here
Previous newsletter here
Youtube Latitudes Channel
Stacks Image 39


SAVE THE DATE: 'Amikejo: Pennacchio Argentato', Laboratorio 987, MUSAC, León. Opening: Saturday 29 January

Amikejo: Pennacchio/Argentato (29 January–27 March 2011)
Amikejo: Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum (9 April–12 June 2011)
Amikejo: Uqbar Foundation (25 June–11 September 2011)
Amikejo: Fermin Jiménez Landa & Lee Welch (24 September 2011–15 January 2012)

| UK |

Amikejo is a series of four exhibitions at the Laboratorio 987 of MUSAC that is structured around relational and spatial twinning.
These artistic pairings involve various modes of binomial friendships – couples in life, dedicated duos, intermittent work partners, as well as new allies. The artist partnerships involve an overall 50–50 split of male and female practitioners, as well as Spanish-speaking and foreign origins.

The series encompasses a further register of doubling prompted by a critical reflection on the conditions and expectations of a ‘project space’ such as Laboratorio 987 within today’s contemporary art museum. Such a site is typically annexed from a hosting institution, independent yet attached, with the understanding that different, more ad-hoc and agile laws apply. Nonconformist and at the same time authorized, and following spatial theories such as Michel Foucault’s ‘heterotopia’, a project space is a typology that is neither here nor there.

Shadowing Robert Smithson’s concept of the ‘non-site’ (an indoor artwork physically and mentally paired with an outdoor site), the Laboratario 987 space has been assigned a relation with a specific remote location for the 2011 season: Amikejo.

Amikejo was an anomalous in-between state which never entirely existed, and was founded on a desire to foster more effective international communication through the synthetic language Esperanto. Following treaties of the early 19th Century, a tiny 3½ km2 wedge of land between the Netherlands, Belgium and Prussia was established as a neutral area because of an important zinc mine. In 1908 the 2,500 identity-less citizens of Neutral Moresnet, as it was known, declared it to be the world’s first Esperanto state: Amikejo (‘place of great friendship’ in Esperanto). A national anthem was constituted and stamps and a flag were designed. Yet in the wake of the first World War, Germany relinquished its claim to the disputed territory, and Amikejo-Moresnet disappeared from the map as it became part of Belgium, although border markers still exist to this day. This episode-place, between pragmatic and conceptual borders of cartography, language, nationhood, and subjectivity, is entreated as a twin site to Laboratorio 987 and lends its name and symbolic implications to the exhibition series.

For the first exhibition of the season, Neapolitan duo Pennacchio Argentato will present a new installation based on an exhibition's expectations of performance and interactivity. By transforming the
Laboratorio 987 space into an absurd and abstracted gym, the duo will frame their own activity by addressing the ideas of leisure and overproduction.
Marisa Argentato (born Naples, Italy, 1977) & Pasquale Pennacchio (born in Caserta, Italy, 1979). Live and work in Naples and Berlin. Solo exhibitions include: 'Five o’clock shadows', T293, Rome; 'The New Boring', Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis (2010); 'Landings 4', Landings, Vestfossen, Norway (2010); 'Do It Just', Galerie Opdahl, Berlin (2009); 'Estate', T293, Naples (2007) and 'Blind Date', Viafarini, Milan (2002). Group exhibitions include 'SI - Sindrome Italiana', Magasin, Centre National d'Art Contemporain de Grenoble, Grenoble (2010); 'Dude, where's my Career?', MMK Zollamt / Portikus, Frankfurt (2009); 'A long time ago, last night', Gallery Kortil, Rijeka, Croatia (2008); Aspen Project (Part III), Neue Alte Brücke, Frankfurt am Main (2007); 'Cinema infinito / Neverending Cinema', Galleria Civica d’Arte Contemporanea, Trento (2006).

Iratxe Jaio (born Markina-Xemein, Basque Country, 1976) & Klaas van Gorkum (born Delft, the Netherlands, 1975). Live and work in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Solo projects include 'Quédense dentro y cierren las ventanas/ Stay inside. Close windows and doors', produced by consonni, Bilbao, and the municipality of Utrecht (2008); 'Let me hold your hand', Centre for Visual Introspection, Bucharest (2008) and 'Meanwhile, in the living room...', Centro Cultural Montehermoso, Vitoria-Gasteiz. Group exhibitions include 'The People United Will Never Be Defeated', TENT Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (2010); 'Gure Artea 2008', Sala Rekalde, Bilbao (2008); 'Wij waren in Overvecht / We were in Overvecht', Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2008) and 'Radiodays', De Appel, Amsterdam (2005).

Uqbar Foundation [Mariana Castillo Deball (born 1975, Mexico City, Mexico) & Irene Kopelman (born 1976, Córdoba, Argentina)]. Live and work in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Uqbar Foundation projects include 'Zeno Reminder', Cabinet Magazine Space / Performa 09, New York (2009);
'Principle of Hope', Manifesta 7, Rovereto, Italy (2008); 'Transacciones Filosóficas', Museo Astronómico de Córdoba, Argentina (2007); 'Blackmarket for Useful Knowledge and Non-Knowledge', 10th International Istanbul Biennial (2007); 'A for Alibi', Utrecht University Museum, Utrecht & De Appel, Amsterdam (2006–8).

Fermín Jiménez Landa (born Pamplona, Spain, 1979. Lives in Valencia, Spain) & Lee Welch (born Louisville, USA, 1975. Lives in Rotterdam, the Netherlands).
Jiménez Landa's solo exhibitions include 'No muy a menudo, ni muy poco', Galería Valle Ortí, Valencia (2010); 'Actos oficiales', Sala Montcada, Caixaforum, Barcelona (2008). Group shows include 'Welcome Home', Galería Moisés Pérez de Albéniz, Pamplona (2010); 'Kairós: Moments de Claredat', Sala Muncunill, Terrassa, Spain (2009); 'Nostalgia del futuro', Centro del Carmen, Valencia; 'Creación Injuve 09', Cículo de Bellas Artes, Madrid (2009); 'Entornos próximos', Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz (2006).

Solo exhibitions by Lee Welch include 'At the still point of the turning world', Galway Arts Centre, Galway (2009); and 'Never Odd or Even and other pieces', The LAB, Dublin (2008). Group exhibitions include 'We have the final proof', Andreiana Mihail Gallery, Bucharest; Clifford Irving Show, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris (2009); work.in.space, Connaught House, Dublin (2009); 'It’s not for reading. It’s for making', FormContent, London (2009); 'Non-knowledge', Project Arts Centre, Dublin (2008); and 'Play', Draíocht Arts Centre, Dublin (2008).


Pennacchio Argentato, view of the exhibition 'Five o'clock shadows', T293 Rome.
Courtesy of the artist and T293, Naples.
| ES |
Amikejo: Pennacchio/Argentato (29 Enero–27 Marzo 2011)
Amikejo: Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum (9 Abril–12 Junio 2011)
Amikejo: Uqbar Foundation (25 Junio–11 Septiembre 2011)
Amikejo: Fermin Jiménez Landa & Lee Welch (24 Septiembre 2011–15 Enero 2012)

Amikejo es una serie de cuatro exposiciones en el Laboratorio 987 del MUSAC estructurada entorno al hermanamiento relacional y espacial. Estas parejas artísticas implican distintos modos de amistades binomiales - parejas de vida, dedicados dúos, socios intermitentes y nuevos aliados. Las colaboraciones se dividen en un 50% de profesionales masculinos y un 50% femeninos, así como una mezcla equitativa de orígenes de hispanos y extranjeros.

La serie incluye además un registro adicional de desdoblamiento a raíz de una reflexión crítica sobre las condiciones y expectativas que genera un espacio museístico destinado a proyectos como es el Laboratorio 987. Este lugar normalmente figura como anexo de la institución anfitriona, independiente y al mismo tiempo adjunto, con el entendimiento de que leyes diferentes o ritmos más ágiles son aplicables. Partiendo de las teorías acerca de la ‘heterotopia’ de Foucault, este ‘project space’ no es ni aquí ni allí. Siguiendo la teoría del ‘non-site’ (una obra de arte está vinculada física y mentalmente con un sitio al aire libre) de Robert Smithson, se planteará una relación del Laboratorio 987 con una ubicación remota y al mismo tiempo específica:
Amikejo.
Amikejo (‘lugar de gran amistad’ en Esperanto) fue un anómalo estado que nunca existió del todo, fundado con el deseo de fomentar una comunicación internacional más eficaz a través de un idioma sintético, el Esperanto. A raíz de los tratados de principios del siglo XIX, una pequeña cuña de 3,5 km2 de terreno entre los Países Bajos, Bélgica y Prusia se fundó como Moresnet Neutral gracias a los intereses que surgieron entorno a una importante mina de cinc. En 1908 sus 2,500 ciudadanos apátridas, se autodeclararon como el primer estado Esperanto: Amikejo. Se creó un himno nacional y se diseñaron sellos y una bandera. Sin embargo, a raíz de la primera guerra mundial, Alemania renunció a su derecho al territorio en disputa y Moresnet Neutro/Amikejo, desapareció del mapa y se convirtió en parte de Bélgica, aunque los límites de su frontera todavía existen hoy en día. Este episodio, entre las fronteras de lo pragmático y lo conceptual de la cartografía, del idioma, la nacionalidad y la subjetividad, se convertirá en un sitio hermanado al Laboratorio 987 y prestará su nombre y las implicaciones simbólicas a la temporada de exposiciones del 2011 del MUSAC.

Marisa Argentato (Nápoles, Italia, 1977) & Pasquale Pennacchio (Caserta, Italia, 1979). Viven y trabajan en Nápoles y Berlin. Exposiciones individuales incluyen:
'Five o’clock shadows', T293, Rome; 'The New Boring', Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis (2010); 'Landings 4', Landings, Vestfossen, Norway (2010); 'Do It Just', Galerie Opdahl, Berlin (2009); 'Estate', T293, Naples (2007) and 'Blind Date', Viafarini, Milan (2002). Group exhibitions include 'SI - Sindrome Italiana', Magasin, Centre National d'Art Contemporain de Grenoble, Grenoble (2010); 'Dude, where's my Career?', MMK Zollamt / Portikus, Frankfurt (2009); 'A long time ago, last night', Gallery Kortil, Rijeka, Croatia (2008);Aspen Project (Part III), Neue Alte Brücke, Frankfurt am Main (2007); 'Cinema infinito / Neverending Cinema', Galleria Civica d’Arte Contemporanea, Trento (2006).

Iratxe Jaio (Markina-Xemein, País Basco, 1976) & Klaas van Gorkum (Delft, Holanda, 1975). Viven y trabajan en Róterdam,
Holanda. Exposiciones individuales incluyen: 'Quédense dentro y cierren las ventanas/ Stay inside. Close windows and doors', produced by consonni, Bilbao, and the municipality of Utrecht (2008); 'Let me hold your hand', Centre for Visual Introspection, Bucharest (2008) and 'Meanwhile, in the living room...', Centro Cultural Montehermoso, Vitoria-Gasteiz. Group exhibitions include 'The People United Will Never Be Defeated', TENT Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (2010); 'Gure Artea 2008', Sala Rekalde, Bilbao (2008); 'Wij waren in Overvecht / We were in Overvecht', Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2008) and 'Radiodays', De Appel, Amsterdam (2005).

Uqbar Foundation [Mariana Castillo Deball (1975, México DF, México) & Irene Kopelman (1976, Córdoba, Argentina)]. Viven y trabajan en Amsterdam, Holanda.
Proyectos de Uqbar Foundation incluyen: 'Zeno Reminder', Cabinet Magazine Space / Performa 09, New York (2009);
'Principle of Hope', Manifesta 7, Rovereto, Italy (2008); 'Transacciones Filosóficas', Museo Astronómico de Córdoba, Argentina (2007); 'Blackmarket for Useful Knowledge and Non-Knowledge', 10th International Istanbul Biennial (2007); 'A for Alibi', Utrecht University Museum, Utrecht & De Appel, Amsterdam (2006–8).

Fermín Jiménez Landa (Pamplona, 1979. Vive en Valencia) & Lee Welch (Louisville, Estados Unidos, 1975. Vive en Róterdam, Holanda).
Exposiciones individuales de Jiménez Landa incluyen: 'No muy a menudo, ni muy poco', Galería Valle Ortí, Valencia (2010); 'Actos oficiales', Sala Montcada, Caixaforum, Barcelona (2008). Exposiciones colectivas incluyen: 'Welcome Home', Galería Moisés Pérez de Albéniz, Pamplona (2010); 'Kairós: Moments de Claredat', Sala Muncunill, Terrassa, Spain (2009); 'Nostalgia del futuro', Centro del Carmen, Valencia; 'Creación Injuve 09', Cículo de Bellas Artes, Madrid (2009); 'Entornos próximos', Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz (2006).
Exposiciones individuales de Lee Welch incluyen: 'At the still point of the turning world', Galway Arts Centre, Galway (2009); y 'Never Odd or Even and other pieces', The LAB, Dublin (2008). Exposiciones colectivas incluyen: 'We have the final proof', Andreiana Mihail Gallery, Bucharest; Clifford Irving Show, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris (2009); work.in.space, Connaught House, Dublin (2009); 'It’s not for reading. It’s for making', FormContent, Londres (2009); 'Non-knowledge', Project Arts Centre, Dublin (2008); and 'Play', Draíocht Arts Centre, Dublin (2008).



Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de
Castilla y León (MUSAC)
Avenida de los Reyes Leoneses, 24
24008 León, Spain
(T) +34 987 09 00 00
(F) +34 987 09 11 11
musac@musac.es

www.musac.es
Stacks Image 39


Selection of press coverage of Latitudes' weekly newspaper for 'The Last Newspaper' exhibition at the New Museum

Following is a selection of press reviews that have appeared in relation to 'The Last Newspaper' exhibition (New Museum, 6 October 2010–9 January 2011), in particular, those who focused on Latitudes' edition of a weekly newspaper as catalogue-in-formation:

Holland Cotter, 'Art and News, Intersecting in the Digital Age', The New York Times, 7 October 2010:

"And at the behest of the
New Museum a print-savvy group called Latitudes from Barcelona is issuing another tabloid, this one weekly and edited from the third-floor gallery, that will double as an exhibition catalog. That publication would, of course, be the ideal place for the curators and participating artists to go on the record, at un-Twitterish length and polemical breadth, about the viability of analog journalism — and analog art — in the digital age. (...) Meanwhile, the Latitudes news team — Max Andrews and Mariana Canepa Luna are the editors — has invited everybody and anybody, meaning you and me, to submit editorial suggestions and pitch stories, either in person or by e-mail (newspaper@lttds.org). In the loosey-goosey spirit of the show, their paper will change names weekly, from the “The Last Post” to “The Last Gazette” to “The Last Register,” etc. But a genuinely “last newspaper” is still nowhere in sight. And you read that here."


Danielle Aronowitz, 'New Museum exhibit is black and white and read all over', Columbia Spectator, 8 October 2010:

(...) "A second group, Latitudes—a curatorial organization based in Barcelona, Spain—will compile, edit, and publish a weekly newspaper that will catalogue information about the exhibit and the contributing artist groups over the next 10 weeks. To emphasize its importance, [exhibition curator Richard] Flood referred to this publication as “the journal of the exhibition.”

Luc Sante, 'Disappearing Ink', The New York Review of Books' blog, 1 November 2010:

(...) and a tabloid, edited by the Barcelona-based curatorial office Latitudes, that has been variously called The Last Post, The Last Gazette, and The Last Register. (...) The tabloid, which focuses on newspapers, as well as on the show itself, is rather puckish. The Last Gazette includes, for example, a record of a quixotic attempt by Ines Schaber to approach the underground facility in western Pennsylvania where the photo agency Corbis keeps its archive of some 70 million pictures. The story evokes the cold-war espionage genre—an unremarkable setting masks a culture of such militant secrecy that the best the author could manage is a murkily distant photo of the facility’s parking lot. Its meandering text and bland snapshots, on the other hand, evoke the whimsical record-keeping of 1970s conceptual art, which is rather more in keeping with the spirit of the show.

Valerie Seckler, 'Hyper-local Newspaper as Museum Piece? Not exactly', The Urban Times, November 2010:

“How is a museum, such as New Museum, no longer (just) in the artwork display business?” asks an editorial in The Last Post. “Is it a producer, a publisher, or a distributor? Should a museum or a newspaper be a community, a platform or a network, for example?” The newspapers themselves are hybrids: actual publications and art object. (...) The Last…” newspaper series comprises “final” editions with names like “The Last Observer,” “The Last Monitor,” and (the first edition) “The Last Post.” They are dedicated to illuminating “The Last Newspaper” fine art on exhibit. Some of the reportage ranges beyond it. (...) The Last Post” itself is an arch reference to the never-ending practice of posting 21st-century news online. “The Last Post’s” Oct. 6th edition’s screaming front page headline makes the humorous proposition: “Ink vs Link.” Smaller decks stacked below it read: “Lippmann vs Dewey, Fact vs Interpretation, Editor vs Curator,” and conclude with the query: “How do you get your information?”

Adam Chadwick, 'Art and journalism …sometimes a fine line…', http://fittoprintfilm.wordpress.com, 1 December 2010:

This past Saturday members of the group Latitudes – an independent Barcelona-based curatorial office – hosted an event for the “Fit to Print” production team at the New Museum in the Bowery neighborhood of lower Manhattan. (...) I was too intrigued by the wall-to-wall displays of vintage newspaper front pages in one of the rooms. It was hard not to examine the way in which newspapers implemented multiple sub-headlines back in the early part of the twentieth century. In a way, many start-up news websites are creating similar sub-heads to draw reader attention in the vast wild west of search engine optimization. This would be a topic our guest speaker, Jason Fry, would speak about during our panel discussion.

[Read an edited transcription of the event here.]

This is tomorrow, 'The Last Newspaper', 5 December 2010:

Latitudes, the Barcelona-based curatorial office, and a diverse team led by Joseph Grima and Kazys Varnelis/Netlab, are on-site producing weekly newspapers.

'THE LAST POST' / 'THE LAST GAZETTE' / 'THE LAST REGISTER'... is the evolving-titled 12-page free weekly newspaper and an incremental exhibition catalogue edited during a 10-week editorial residency by Latitudes. Produced from a micro-newsroom placed on the third floor of the museum the tabloids will be an archive in formation companioning The Last Newspaper’s exhibition, artworks, and events, as well as being a platform for critical reflection on the wider agency of art and artists with respect to concerns about how information is produced, managed, recorded, re-ordered, and disseminated.

With kind permission from Latitudes we are reproducing two selected texts from their catalogue/newspapers, written by The Last Newspaper London correspondent and 'this is tomorrow' features editor Lorena Muñoz-Alonso (continue reading...)

Kristin M. Jones, 'Chronicles of a Medium in Crisis', The Wall Street Journal, 16 December 2010:

(...) Via a micro-newsroom, Latitudes, a Barcelona-based curatorial team, produced a tabloid whose name changed each week. The spirited articles include stories on artists, filmmakers, and topics ranging from ProPublica to the history of cast-iron newsstand paperweights; its issues will be bound together after the show ends in lieu of a catalog. The editors commissioned profiles and interviews related to the show but also solicited story ideas, headlines inspired by personal events, and other information from the public.

Read more articles and reviews here.
Stacks Image 39


'The Last Newspaper' exhibition catalogue available from the New Museum Store

Produced by Latitudes for ten consecutive weeks from a micro-newsroom placed in the third floor galleries of the New Museum, the compilation of The Last Post; The Last Gazette; The Last Register; The Last Star-Ledger; The Last Monitor; The Last Observer; The Last Evening Sun; The Last Journal; The Last Times and The Last Express comprise the catalogue accompanying the show The Last Newspaper (on view until 9 January 2011), curated by Richard Flood and Benjamin Godsill.

Featuring over 100 contibutors, and including essays and interviews with participating artists and organisations, this compilation also brings together articles and special features around an expanded selection of work that addresses the news, the newspaper, and its evolving form and function.


New Museum & Latitudes; 2010; 11.5" x 14"; 10 newspapers + 4 page supplement with final editorial, table of content and index
Price: $15 (New Museum members $13.50)
Or buy online from the New Museum Store

Stacks Image 39


SAVE THE DATE: 'United Alternative Energies: Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller', Aarhus Art Building, Denmark. Opening: 21 January, 5pm

Slides showing the installation of the solar panels on the roof of the White House in 1979
by US former president Jimmie Carter, subject of Hemauer/Keller film 'A Road Not Taken' (2010). Courtesy: the artists


'United Alternative Energies: Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller'
Curated by Latitudes
22 January 22 - 3 April 2011
Opening: 21 January 2011, 5pm

'United Alternative Energies: Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller' is one of 5 exhibition proposals selected from approximately 600 submissions received in response to the Aarhus Art Building's open call for their 2011 programme, entitled 'Imagine: Towards an Eco-Aesthetic'.

Christina Hemauer and Roman Keller have investigated the concept of energy for several years. One of their main areas of interest is the history of oil and its competing alternatives, notably solar energy. Often involving historical research, remembrance, performance and film, their projects focus in particular on the politics of oil, energy crises, and the pursuit of new technology.

The exhibition will be the most comprehensive presentation of the duo's work to date. A small catalogue will be published coinciding with the opening of the exhibition (+ info...)

Poster of the film 'A Road Not Taken' (2010). Courtesy: the artists

The Aarhus Art Building
J.M. Moerks Gade 13
DK-8000 Aarhus C
DENMARK
Stacks Image 39


Night at the (New) Museum

Coinciding with the end of our New Museum editorial project we'd like to share these great shots of what has been our working space during the past 10 weeks at the New Museum: our micro-newsroom during the night.

The photos have been taken by New Museum night guard and photographer Steven Slawinski during the third week of our editorial residency – when 'The Last Register' (#3) was the newspaper of the week. We would like to thank Steven for sharing his archive, and to New Museum guard Carol Fassler for putting us in touch.



We would like to express our thanks to everyone at the New Museum. Thank you to Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director, and The Last Newspaper co-curators Richard Flood, Director of Special Projects and Curator at Large, and Benjamin Godsill, Curatorial Associate, for hosting us and inviting us to collaborate in this expansive and timely project. Our sincere gratitude and praise are due to Richard and Benjamin for their support and trust and for the brave exhibition whose works have become our local community.

Thank you to Joshua Edwards, Exhibitions Manager and Shannon Bowser, Chief Preparator for sharing expertise on producing Luciano Fabro’s Pavimiento-Tautologia. Praise is due to Desiree B. Ramos, Curatorial Fellow; Eungie Joo, Keith Haring Director & Curator of Education & Public Programs; Cris Scorza, Manager of Tours and Family Programs and Joseph Keehn II, Associate Educator; to Gabriel Einsohn, Communications Officer and Annie Wachnicki, Marketing Manager for their help in many ways. We are most grateful to each of the inspiring New Museum guards and guides for their support and interest in our weekly progress and for taking care of our working space.

We would like to express our gratitude to Marta Rincón and Eloisa Ferrari for securing the financial support offered by The State Corporation for Spanish Cultural Action Abroad (SEACEX), which has made it possible for us be in New York during these months.

The graphic design of the newspapers has been an absolutely critical element to the tone of the project and we salute Chad Kloepfer and Joel Stillman, who have been so generous with their time and incredible talent in establishing the visual identity of The Last... newspapers, and in giving up their weekends laying them out. Thank you to Daniel Thiem, Retail Operations Manager at the New Museum, for taking care of the afterlife of this print adventure, and to Tammy Lin at Linco Printing for making the printing and delivery run smoothly.

Sharing the third floor of the New Museum with the other partner organizations has been a memorable experience and we are particularly appreciative of Alan Rapp as well as Virginia Millington and Natalia Fidelholtz – our temporary neighbors at the New City Reader and StoryCorps respectively.

The project would also not have been possible without the assistance of our news team, who have been crucial in their dedication and good humor, and in toiling late hours, and while juggling other commitments, in writing sterling words. Kudos to Editor-at-Large Janine Armin, to Greg Barton, Irina Chernyakova, Collin Munn and Gwen Schwartz. We would also like to highlight the generous contributions of Adam Chadwick, Julienne Lorz, Andrew Losowsky and our London correspondent Lorena Muñoz-Alonso.

We have been pleased to have been able to involve an incredible network of writers, curators, artists and journalists that week after week have graced, and been splashed over, the pages of 'The Last...' Visual artist Francesc Ruiz, project cartoonist with his series ‘The Woods’, and our advertising department, artist Ester Partegàs, we thank especially for their amazing work and for their stamina in signing up to the weekly deadlines.

We are indebted to all of the participating artists and organizations as well as many other individuals for their efforts, for having trusted our editorial skills and for having given time and contributions pro bono – Ignasi Aballí; Lars Bang Larsen; Judith Bernstein; Dara Birnbaum; Pierre Bismuth; Andrea Bowers; Fernando Bryce; Luis Camnitzer; Sarah Charlesworth; Emily Cheeger; Doryun Chong; City-As-School class; Ana Paula Cohen; Scott Cole; Christine Cooper; Holly Coulis; Marc d'Andre; Chris Dercon; Patricia Esquivias; Jacob Fabricius; Luciano Figueiredo; Angela Freiberger; Jason Fry; Simon Fujiwara; Dora García; Martin Gran; Hans Haacke; Ilana Halperin; Rick Herron; Ridley Howard; Marcel Janco; Adrià Julià; Maria Loboda; Nate Lowman; Renzo Martens; Rob McKenzie; Simone Menegoi; Aleksandra Mir; Rodrigo Moura; Nick Mrozowski; Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere; Sophie O'Brien; Damián Ortega; Alona Pardo; Amalia Pica; Michalis Pichler; Ed Pierce; Peter Piller; William Pope L.; Michael Rakowitz; Christian Rattemeyer; Yasmil Raymond; Kolja Reichert; Mauro Restiffe; Kathleen Ritter; Kirstine Roepstroff; Julia Rometti & Victor Costales; David Salle; Mike Santisteven; Joe Saltzman; Ines Schaber; Paul Schmeltzer; Charity Scribner; Manuel Segade; Adam Shecter; Harley Spiller; Stephen Spretnjak; Alexandra Tarver; Mi Tijo; Wolfgang Tillmans; Rirkrit Tiravanija; Nicoline van Harskamp; Pablo Vargas Lugo; Sergio Vega; Marie Voignier; Mark von Schlegell; Haegue Yang; Carey Young; Sarah Wang; Warren Webster; and Jordan Wolfson. Thanks too the New Museum Facebook and Twitter contributors: aodt; Kristi Collom; Michele Corriel; djnron; Isadora Ficovic; A.J. Fries; Rachel Elise Greiner; Sioux Jordan; Eleanor Martineau; Acht Millimeter; Sofia Pontén; Jenny Pruden; Bonnie Severien; Kate Shafer; Liz Shores; Goso Tominaga; and Anne Wölk.

We would also like to thank those who have helped us obtain images or permission to reprint texts: Barbican Art Centre, London; Edoardo Bonaspetti, Mousse magazine; Bugada & Cargnel, Paris; Janine Iamunno, patch.com; Nick Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com; Jeff Khonsary, Fillip; Lisa Middag at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; kurimanzutto; Michele Robecchi; Benoit Pailley; Peres Projects, Berlin; Katie Sokolor/Gothamist.

– Latitudes (Max Andrews & Mariana Cánepa Luna), December 2010.

Excerpted from 'FROM THE EDITORS’ DESK – Last words, clarifications, frequently asked questions, and thanks from Latitudes' originally published in 'The Last Newspaper' catalogue.
Stacks Image 39


At Last...'The Last Newspaper' catalogue!

Latitudes' 10-week editorial residency at the New Museum has come to an end! Below photos of each of the 10 weekly newspapers we have published and that has been available every Wednesday from the museum galleries.

The Last Post (#1): See contents and learn about Dara Birnbaum's Media Habits here

The Last Gazette (#2): See contents and read a focus text by Julienne Lorz on Hans Haacke's News here

The Last Register (#3): See contents and read an exclusive interview with visual artist Francesc Ruiz here

The Last Star-Ledger (#4): See contents and read an exclusive interview with Portugal's newest newspaper's Creative Director, Nick Mrozowski here

The Last Monitor (#4): See contents and read an read about the history of newspapers' paperweights here

The Last Observer (#6): See contents and read an exclusive interview with Wolfgang Tillmans here

The Last Evening Sun (#7): Read contents and a text on Luciano Fabro's work 'Pavimento–Tautologia' here
The Last Journal (#8): See contents and read an exclusive interview with Rirkrit Tiravanija here

The Last Times (#9): See contents and read Pablo Vargas Lugo's Picture Agent contribution here
 The Last Express (#10): See contents and read the report on the 27 November talk between filmmaker Adam Chadwick and web veteran Jason Fry here.


Each of 'The Last...' has been edited and freely distributed from a micro-newsroom on the New Museum's third-floor gallery space.

Latitudes' newsroom on the third floor of the New Museum, New York. Photo: Greg Barton

The Last Post, The Last Gazette, The Last Register, The Last Star-Ledger, The Last Monitor, The Last Observer, The Last Evening Sun, The Last Journal, The Last Times
and The Last Express comprise the catalogue of The Last Newspaper exhibition, curated by Richard Flood and Benjamin Godsill.

The final catalogue compilation includes
over 100 contributorsarticles and exclusive interviews with participating artists as well as texts and special features concerning an expanded selection of individuals and organisations whose work addresses the news, the medium of the newspaper and their evolving form and function.

The catalogue will soon be available from the New Museum's Store for
$15. More details to follow on the European distribution – see update here. The exhibition continues at the New Museum until 9 January 2011.

Table of contents of the 10 issues:

Issue 1: The Last Post
October 6, 2010
Cover: ‘Ink vs Link’. Press Room of The Richmond Planet, c. 1899
Editorial: ‘Welcome to The Last Post, The Last Gazette, The Last Register...’ by Latitudes
Picture Agent (Our singular picture agency): Kirstine Roepstorff
Media Habits: Dara Birnbaum
Exclusive Interview: ‘Double Trouble’, Lorena Muñoz-Alonso interviews TLN artist Pierre Bismuth
Feature: ‘Lights, Camera...Banality’, Kolja Reichert on Marie Voignier’s Hearing the Shape of a Drum (2010)
‘Working with Utopians’ by Richard Flood and Benjamin Godsill
The Next Newspaper (Profiling the organizations, projects, initiatives and individuals redefining ink-and-paper news): ProPublica
Fit to Print: ‘The (L.A.) Times it is A-Changin’ by Adam Chadwick
100 Years Ago…: The Salt Lake Herald-Republican
Cartoon: ‘The Woods: Teen Balls’ by Francesc Ruiz
Advertising: Ester Partegàs with Rob McKenzie

Issue 2: The Last Gazette
October 13, 2010
Cover: ‘Sorry for the Metaphor’. Special cover by Amalia Pica (and page 3)
Editorial: ‘34 People Like This’ by Latitudes
Focus: ‘A system is not imagined, it is real’, Julienne Lorz on TLN artist Hans Haacke’s News (1969/2008)
Dirt Sheet: Janine Armin on the newspaper-as-catalogue
Picture Agent: Ilana Halperin
The Next Newspaper: Clay Shirky
Photo essay: ‘Picture Mining’ by Ines Schaber
Obituary: ‘Sorry we’re dead’, Andrew Losowsky on TLN artist Adam McEwen’s Untitled (Caster) (2010)
Fit to Print: Adam Chadwick on hyperlocal citizen journalism
100 Years Ago…: Daily Public Ledger
In Brief: ‘Sac Bee Cuts’
Media Habits: Luis Camnitzer
Infographic: ‘U.S. Gazettes: Average Circulation’ by Irina Chernyakova
Cartoon: ‘The Woods: Money’ by Francesc Ruiz
Advertising: Ester Partegàs

Issue 3: The Last Register
October 20, 2010
Cover: ‘Exhibit: Exposed!’. Installing TLN wall text
Report: ‘Reaction Distraction’: Gwen Schwartz on the TLN talk with participating artists Nate Lowman, Aleksandra Mir and Sarah Charlesworth
Focus: Doryun Chong on TLN artist Adrian Piper’s Vanilla Nightmares (1986)
Media Habits: Dora García
Dirt Sheet: Janine Armin on truth and fiction
Picture Agent: Sergio Vega
The Next Newspaper: Paul Schmelzer on the American Independent News Network
Feature: ‘Broadcasting’, Joe Salzman on the representation of the journalists on TV
Exclusive interview: Latitudes with TLN cartoonist Francesc Ruiz
‘Patricia Esquivias on...The French Revolution’
100 Years Ago…: New York Tribune
Feature: ‘Hyphen-ated’ by Stephen Spretnjak
Photo essay: ‘Behind the Scenes’, Installing ‘The Last Newspaper’
Cartoon: ‘The Woods: Scratch Lottery’ by Francesc Ruiz
Advertising: Ester Partegàs with Adam Shecter

Issue 4: The Last Star-Ledger
October 27, 2010
Cover & Picture Agent: Special cover by Haegue Yang (and page 12)
Exclusive interview: ‘Rank and File’, Latitudes interviews Ignasi Aballí
Focus: ‘A Newspaper is Never Complete, Because News is Never Complete’, Interview with Ed Pierce from the archive of TLN partner organization StoryCorps + ‘StoryCorps Key Facts’
Focus: ‘Execution, Ejaculation, Exhibition’, Collin Munn on TLN artist Dash Snow’s Untitled (2006)
The Next Newspaper: Latitudes interviews Nick Mrozowsky about i
Dirt Sheet: Janine Armin on TLN artist François Bucher
‘Patricia Esquivias on... Communism’
100 Years Ago…: The Tacoma Times
Media Habits: Nicoline van Harskamp
Cartoon: ‘The Woods: Specialization’ by Francesc Ruiz
Advertising: Ester Partegàs with Rob McKenzie

Issue 5: The Last Monitor
November 3, 2010
Cover: ‘Today & Yesterday’. Gustav Metzger, Eichmann and the Angel, 2005
Exclusive interview: ‘Eating the Wall Street Journal’, Janine Armin with TLN artist William Pope.L
Feature: ‘Today and Yesterday’, Sophie O’Brien on Gustav Metzger
Picture Agent: Jordan Wolfson
The Next Newspaper: The San Francisco Panorama by Irina Chernyakova
Fit to Print: Adam Chadwick on the digital divide
100 Years Ago…: The Bisbee Daily Review
Media Habits: Mark von Schlegell
Focus: ‘Who Framed Sarah Charlesworth?’, Marcel Janco on TLN artist Sarah Charlesworth
Readers’ Lives: ‘Paper-Weight Champion’ by Harley Spiller
Feature: ‘Heralding the Gizmo’, Max Andrews on Kirstine Roepstorff
Readers’ Lives: ‘My Name is Marc D’Andre and I’m a Newspaper Addict’
Infographic: Facebook poll: where do @NewMuseum followers get their news?
Cartoon: ‘The Woods: Tools’ by Francesc Ruiz
Advertising: Ester Partegàs with Holly Coulis and Ridley Howard

Issue 6: The Last Observer
November 10, 2010
Cover: ‘Truth Study?’. Installation view of Wolfgang Tillmans Truth Study Center (NY) (2010)
Exclusive interview: ‘Is this True or Not?’, Lorena Muñoz-Alonso with TLN artist Wolfgang Tillmans
Focus: ‘There’s not Enough Rage These Days’, Greg Barton & Collin Munn on TLN artist Judith Bernstein
Picture Agent: Renzo Martens
Media Habits: City-as-School Students
Feature: ‘Relationship Status’ by Manuel Segade
Focus: ‘‘Old News’ to me’ by Lars Bang Larsen + ‘Nothing New About Old News’
Feature: ‘Editorial Curatorial’ by Marcel Janco
The Next Newspaper: Patch. Andrew Losowsky interviews Warren Webster, company president
Report: Irina Chernyakova on the ‘Perpetual Peace Project’ of TLN partner the Slought Foundation
Fit to Print: Adam Chadwick on The Huffington Post
100 years Ago…: The News-Herald
Cartoon: ‘The Woods: Backcover’ by Francesc Ruiz
Advertising: Ester Partegàs

Issue 7: The Last Evening Sun
November 17, 2010
Cover: 'Without Rain Partial Nights Aerial Days'. Special cover by Julia Rometti & Victor Costales (and page 12)
Feature: ‘Translating Rubble’, Kathleen Ritter on Mark Manders
Focus: ‘Floor Tautology’, Simone Menegoi on TLN artist Luciano Fabro’s Pavimento–Tautologia (1967) + ‘Fabricating Fabro’ by Shannon Bowser
Special pull-out poster: Installation pictures, checklist of TLN + ‘Your week in Headlines’ by New Museum Facebook and Twitter followers
Feature: 'Thomas Hirschhorn ♥ Queens', Charity Scribner on TLN artist Thomas Hirschhorn
Feature: 'Red and black all over, again' Irina Chernyakova interviews The Last... newspapers’ designer Chad Kloepfer
Focus: TLN project Jeffrey Inaba/C-Lab’s Cloudy with a chance of Certainty (2010) + ‘C-What?’ by Greg Barton
Media Habits: Michael Rakowitz
The Next Newspaper: WikiLeaks
Dirt Sheet: Janine Armin at the Taipei and the Gwangju Biennials
Picture Agent: Maria Loboda
Cartoon: ‘The Woods: Flavor of the month’ by Francesc Ruiz
100 Years Ago…: Palestine Daily Herald
Advertising: Ester Partegàs

Issue 8: The Last Journal
November 24, 2010
Cover: ‘Le Petit Journal’. Fernando Bryce, from the series L'Humanité (2009–2010)
Feature: 'L'Humanité', Yasmil Raymond on Fernando Bryce
Report: 'Independent Gazette', Lorena Muñoz-Alonso on The Independent by Damián Ortega and Can Altay’s The Church Street Partners' Gazette + Damián Ortega talks with Alona Pardo
Media Habits: Ester Partegàs
Brazil Focus: 'The Imaginery Newspaper', Chris Dercon on Luciano Figueiredo + ‘Jornal da Cidade’, Ana Paula Cohen on 28b
Focus: 'Boetti e His Double', Christian Rattemeyer on TLN artist Alighiero e Boetti's Corriere Della Sera (1976)
The Next Newspaper: Crowd Sourcing – spot.us / emphas.is, by Irina Chernyakova
Exclusive interview: 'The Days of This Society...', Desiree B. Ramos interviews TLN artist Rirkrit Tiravanija
Focus: 'Paper view' Gwen Schwartz with New Museum visitors
Focus: 'What's CUP?', on TLN partner organization The Center for Urban Pedagogy, by Gwen Schwartz and Max Andrews
Picture Agent: Adrià Julià
Focus: '29 Days Later', Sarah Wang on Larry Johnson’s TLN work Untitled Green Screen Memory (2010) + ‘2009 California Fires’ by Collin Munn
Cartoon: 'The Woods: Creation' by Francesc Ruiz
100 Years Ago...: The Marion Daily Mirror
Advertising: Ester Partegàs

Issue 9: The Last Times
December 1, 2010
Cover: Peter Piller, Pfeile (Arrows), Archiv Peter Piller 2000-2006
Exclusive interview: ‘Bedeutungsflächen, In Löcher blicken, Ortsbesichtigungen...’, Julienne Lorz talks to Peter Piller
Focus: ‘Press Victim’, Collin Munn on TLN artist Mike Kelley's Timeless/Authorless Series (1995) + ‘Mike on Mike’, Mike Santistevan on Mike Kelley
Picture Agent: Pablo Vargas Lugo
100 Years Ago…: The Seattle Star
The Next Newspaper: Web aggregation, by Irina Chernyakova
Focus: ‘Sarah’s Sex Sport-Trait’, Lorena Muñoz-Alonso on Fat, Forty and Flab-ulous (1990) by TLN artist Sarah Lucas
Media Habits: Carey Young
Dirt Sheet: Janine Armin on Allen Ruppersberg’s TLN work Screamed from Life (1982)
Focus: 'Dutiful Scrivener', Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere on their work for TLN + Mark Twain’s ‘Amended Obituaries’ (1902)
Focus and exclusive interview: ‘Graphite Testimony’, Greg Barton on Andrea Bowers’ Eulogy to One and Another (2006) featured in TLN
Exclusive interview: ‘Having It All’, Latitudes talks with TLN co-curator Richard Flood about TLN artist Robert Gober
Cartoon: 'The Woods: Fahrenheit 451' by Francesc Ruiz
Advertising: Ester Partegàs

Issue 10: The Last Express
December 8, 2010
Cover: Hans Haacke, News (1969/2008)
Exclusive interview: ‘I’m still nostalgic vis-à-vis image-making’, Rodrigo Moura interviews Mauro Restiffe
Dirt Sheet: Janine Armin on TLN participant Dexter Sinister’s The First/Last Newspaper (2009)
Report: 'Fit to Print?: The newsroom reinvented', Latitudes reports on the New Museum talk between Adam Chadwick and Jason Fry
100 Years Ago...: Los Angeles Herald
Focus: ‘Blu Dot: What?’, Gwen Schwartz and Mariana Cánepa Luna on TLN partner organization Blu Dot
The Next Newspaper: The Daily, by Irina Chernyakova
Focus: ‘Do you like milk and honey?’, Greg Barton on TLN artist Emily Jacir’s Sexy Semite (2000-2)
Picture Agent: Simon Fujiwara
Media Habits: Michalis Pichler
Feature: ‘Embrace the Ambiguity’, TLN co-curators Richard Flood and Benjamin Godsill reflect on the exhibition
Focus: ‘Reading the Reader’, Greg Barton and Irina Chernyakova on TLN partner organisation NetLab’s the New City Reader
Exclusive interview: ‘The Wires’, Janine Armin interviews TLN artist Hans Haacke
Cartoon: 'The Woods: The End' by Francesc Ruiz
Advertising: Ester Partegàs

New Museum
235 Bowery 
New York, NY 10002, USA
Wednesday 11-6 pm; Thursday 11-9
pm; Friday-Sunday 11-6 pm;
Monday and Tuesday closed
http://www.newmuseum.org


All images: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
Stacks Image 39


Newsletter #28 - December 2010


ONGOING...
Latitudes' editorial residency as part of
'The Last Newspaper' exhibition at the New Museum has just concluded (see photos of the newspaper here + documentation archive here. The exhibition however, continues until 9 January 2011.

ALSO ONGOING...
'Vic Cambrils Barcelona...A Library Project' for Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis, on view until 23 December 2010. Photo gallery here

IN JANUARY 2011...
Curators of the exhibition 'Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller: United Alternative Energies', Aarhus Art Building, Arhus, Denmark, 22 January–3 April 2011.


IN FEBRUARY 2011...
Curators of the Laboratorio 987 2011 season: 'Amikejo' MUSAC, León. First exhibition: 'Amikejo: Pennacchio Argentato' (29 January–27 March 2011), opening on Saturday 29th together with
MUSAC's exhibitions: The Mission and the Missionaries by Georges Adéagbo, Desaparecidos by Gervasio Sánchez, The Uneasy Subject by Akram Zaatari, and Un modo de organización alrededor del vacío. Brumaria Works#3 Expanded Violences.

ALSO IN FEBRUARY 2011...
Professional Encounters, 'Curating Emerging Artists', ARCOMadrid 2011, 18 February.


Check Latitudes' web www.lttds.org for further info
Facebook page here
Twitter here
Flickr photosets here
Previous newsletter here
Youtube Latitudes Channel
Stacks Image 39


'THE LAST EXPRESS' AVAILABLE NOW! #10 and final issue of the Latitudes-edited newspapers for 'The Last Newspaper' exhibition, New Museum

FINAL ISSUE! Issue 10: 'The Last Express'
(READ IT ON ISSUU)

Table of contents:


Cover:
Hans Haacke News (1968–2008)
Exclusive interview: Inhotim curator Rodrigo Moura talks to artist Mauro Restiffe

Dirt Sheet column: Janine Armin on TLN Dexter Sinister's 'The First/Last Newspaper (November 4–21, 2009)'
Report: 'Fit to Print?: The newsroom reinvented', conversation at the New Museum between ‘The Last...’ columnist Adam Chadwick and web veteran Jason Fry
100 years ago...: 'Los Angeles Herald' (Los Angeles, California) 1900-1911, December 8, 1910
Focus:
Blu Dot's self-assembly office furniture for the ‘The Last Newspaper’ partner organizations
The Next Newspaper (Profiling the organizations, projects, initiatives and individuals redefining ink-and-paper news): The Daily

Focus: 'Do you love milk and honey?', Greg Barton on Emily Jacir's TLN work 'SEXY SEMITE' (2000-02)
Picture Agent-Our singular picture agency: Simon Fujiwara
Media Habits: Michalis Pichler

'Embrace the Ambiguity', ‘The Last Newspaper’ curators Richard Flood and Benjamin Godsill reflect on the project’s journey.
Focus: 'Reading the Reader', Greg Barton and Irina Chernyakova on TLN partner organisation the 'New City Reader' 
Exclusive interview: 'The Wires', Janine Armin talks to TLN artist Hans Haacke
Cartoon: 'The Woods: The End' by Francesc Ruiz
Advertising Department:
Ester Partegàs



Watch this and other issues on Latitudes' youtube channel.

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT!

REPORT
'Fit to Print?: The newsroom reinvented'



27 November 2010: Public gathered for the talk on the 4th floor's 'Peace Arena'.

On November 27, Latitudes organized a conversation at the New Museum between ‘Fit to Print’ filmmaker (and ‘The Last...’ columnist) Adam Chadwick, and Jason Fry, an expert in the challenges faced by newspapers in the digital world. 

Jason Fry: I started at The Wall Street Journal in 1995 when they were a single free section and after thirteen years I had seen it become a full paper and go beyond its roots of being a financial paper to become a source of general news. It became a subscription site far ahead of anyone else. One reason why so many jobs are disappearing in newspapers now is that some top publishing executives do not understand the business they are in and are only slowly realizing that is suicide. They have become very confused between the mission of journalism and the business of journalism. The business is decaying, leaving the mission looking for new financial backing.


Jason Fry during the talk

Adam Chadwick: How did journalism come to this breaking point? It began in the early 1960s, starting with how television affected the newspaper industry as it became the media where most people got their information from. Newspapers started changing their priorities back then...

Adam Chadwick during the talk

JF: Newspapers were mostly family-owned operations, others were true public servants. Soon after some became owned by corporations and that changed the calculus for the business and how they made money. They were depending on performance and shareholders. Even in the 1990s newspapers were making a profit margin of 30% year after year, without really understanding the business they were in. Television has certainly created a star mentality amongst reporters which is not entirely working to the benefit of journalism. Newspapers have been historically successful because publishers essentially had a localized monopoly on printing and distribution. Retail stores would communicate their products by placing ads in a newspaper – the publishers owned distribution mechanisms. In the last ten to fifteen years that has changed, as advertising has moved to the internet – everything from furniture to job listings. Advertising was the business that funded journalism – the financial underpinnings have been knocked down.

AC: 80% of the content that is broadcast on National Public Radio comes from newspapers. It’s the same with CBS News – Russell Mitchell, for instance, has told me they are pulling content from The New York Times and The Washington Post. So the erosion of the newspaper is also hugely affecting the TV.


Public watching the trailer of 'Fit to print' screened at the beginning for the talk.

JF: Newspapers used to compete with whoever started a new one locally; now they try to compete with the entire world. There is way too much content out there. How many thousands of movie reviews can you find online of the latest Harry Potter movie? And how many do we actually need?

AC: Is the web an echo-chamber of news, particularly with search engine optimization and ‘content farms’ dragging traffic? Or, if you boil it down, is it all only coming from The New York Times or The Washington Post? What is being lost now that the business model is broken? Investigative reporting?

JF: I’m not worried about journalism, I am worried about newspapers. We cannot confuse the two. The web has been wonderful to open up voices and to demystify reporting while letting a lot more people use their own expertise. But yes, investigative journalism is missing and it takes a long time and it’s very expensive. If The New York Times wants to cover a story on the dodgy doings of an organization, they will continue doing it, even if the organization goes into battle with lawyers, they won’t be intimidated. But that won’t happen if you are a blogger or freelancer no matter how smart or committed you are. I wonder if that kind of reporting has to be done institutionally though.



The public gathered for the talk on the 4th floor's 'Peace Arena'.

AC: ProPublica is one of the only models, they are a non-profit for investigative reporting organisation with about thirty reporters and editors. [See The Last Post, page 9] They have deep pockets which enable them to pay competitive salaries. Other smaller examples are Investigative Voice from Baltimore led by Stephen Janis, who started it with Alan Forman, a former Baltimore Sun journalist. It focuses on crime and corruption in west Baltimore, which if you’ve seen The Wire you’ll know about. They don’t compete with the Baltimore Sun, as they cover stories they wouldn’t. They also operate thanks to donations but don’t know for how much longer they can continue working like this. How sustainable this model is, nobody knows. Even with grant organisations like the Knight Foundation, there is only so much money they can throw in. Carmen, what is your experience at The Trenton Times?

Carmen Cusido: I’m a full-time reporter now, we have five members in the staff – it used to be more than twenty. It does get tougher because we don’t have the resources to cover investigative stories. I have to pull out the resources on my own. I cover education, county news, and immigration news because I’m the only Spanish speaking reporter. When we were a larger organisation, we used to have lunch breaks and discuss things as a group, but now you really need to prioritise. It’s hugely difficult as you have to take work home with you and there are no boundaries with your private life; it’s a 24/7 job. Before you could go out and talk to people, get their trust and understand their perspective. Now I cannot even leave the desk, as I have to cover three stories and have to do everything over the telephone.



Carmen Cusido during the talk

Question: Do people really want hard news anymore? Do newspapers understand their readers?

JF: Take the recent health care discussion: a hugely complex issue to follow and one that matters to all of us. Newspapers would cover the most recent political victory, but never show the bones of the story. This isn’t easy stuff. To the shock of newspaper editors, a lot of people read Wikipedia to understand complex situations as you get a straight forward recitation of what’s going on. That’s a model newspapers haven’t done as they continue to follow a telegraph system for getting the news out. It’s not satisfying readers’ needs.

AC: Most people I’ve spoken to want the hard news, the meat and potatoes of good journalism. Readers have stopped trusting newspapers for various reasons, some felt they were not catering a certain demographic of people or literally because news organizations have removed the newspaper dispenser boxes from poorer communities, to reach out to richer ones that would potentially advertise with them.

Question from the audience: What is your view on paywalls?

JF: News organisations should realize they are competing with the web. The success of The Wall Street Journal’s paywall has been in that it is targeted mostly at business readers, yet The New York Times covers everything. You pay for something, therefore, you think it’s valuable. Paywalls are getting in trouble in two ways: the hassle of entering a password, finding a reliable payment method. It’s not very immediate. Secondly, in the way they are implemented. If you are seeing nothing of the content you are about to buy you’re taking a blind leap of faith in paying for something you are likely going to read only once.

AC: It’s not cheap to produce content for the iPad either. If you put up a paywall you are no longer part of the linking culture such as The Huffington Post.

IF: You cannot create a walled garden that nobody can get into. You have to tease readers and let them share.

 
Question from the audience
: Is hyper-local journalism the way to go? Or to be more brutal, what will ultimately save journalism?

AC: Paying reporters and establishing a sustainable business model. Does the non-profit model work? It does right now – but for how long?

– Transcribed by Mariana Cánepa Luna


All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
Stacks Image 39


'THE LAST TIMES' AVAILABLE NOW! #9 issue of the 10 Latitudes-edited newspapers for 'The Last Newspaper' exhibition, New Museum

Issue 9: 'The Last Times'
(READ IT ON ISSUU)
  
1 December 2010

Cover:
Peter Piller, Pfeile (Arrows), Archiv Peter Piller 2000-2006.
Exclusive interview:
‘Bedeutungsflächen, In Löcher blicken, Ortsbesichtigungen...’, Julienne Lorz talks to Peter Piller
Focus: ‘Press Victim’, Collin Munn on TLN artist Mike Kelley's Timeless/Authorless Series (1995) + ‘Mike on Mike’, New Museum Guard & Tour Guide Mike Santistevan on Mike Kelleys's work
Picture Agent: Pablo Vargas Lugo
100 Years Ago…: The Seattle Star (Seattle, Washington) 1899-1947, December 1, 1910

Next newspaper: Web aggregation
Focus: Sarah Sex Sport-Trait’, Lorena Muñoz-Alonso on TLN work Fat, Forty and Flab-ulous (1990) by TLN artist Sarah Lucas
Media Habits
: Carey Young

Dirt Sheet: Janine Armin on Allen Ruppersberg‘s TLN work Screamed from Life (1982)
Focus: 'Dutiful Scrivener' by TLN artists Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere + Mark Twain’s ‘Amended Obituaries’ (1902)
Focus and exclusive interview: ‘Graphite Testimony’, Greg Barton on Andrea Bowers’ work Eulogy to One and Another (2006) featured in TLN
Exclusive interview:
‘Having It All’, Latitudes talks with TLN co-curator Richard Flood about TLN artist Robert Gober’s work Newspaper (1992)
Cartoon:
'The Woods: Fahrenheit 451' by Francesc Ruiz
Advertising:
Ester Partegàs



 
Watch this and other newspapers on Latitudes' YouTube Channel


EXCLUSIVE CONTENT!

Picture Agent: Our Singular Picture Agency
Pablo Vargas Lugo, artist


In 1996, NASA released images of the probable remains of extraterrestrial life in a meteorite of Martian origin found in Antarctica. Back then I quickly latched on to the enthusiasm caused by this news, and rather opportunistically used this image as part of an ambitious newspaper project. However, shortly afterwards, scientists disputed the authenticity of these supposedly fossilized bacteria, citing the possibility of an inorganic origin. Obviously, the said newspaper project lost its edge once the findings were disproved, and was shamefully filed at the end of my portfolio.

Last year the original scientific team found traces of organically produced materials on their treasured meteorite, using more potent microscopes; but the cheers didn’t last for long, as their evidence was contradicted by another group working in a lab across the hall, and headed by the brother of the leader of the first team. As questions on the urgent matter of extraterrestrial life are appropriately resolved between siblings in close quarters, and hoping for further validation of the original findings, I file this picture in this other newspaper project, as a personal reminder of the troubled relationship between art, trustworthiness and whatever we choose to call news.

Stacks Image 39



Cookies Advice: We use cookies. If you continue browsing, we consider that you accept their use. Aviso de Cookies: Utilizamos cookies. Si continua navegando, consideramos que acepta su uso.