Ken Nash

Equus Press Announces New Titles for Spring 2012

2012-01-12T15:35:00.000+01:00

Friday, January 13th, Equus Press will hold a reading at the AUU Library in Prague to announce the publication of three new titles this Spring.

News Clown, by Thor Garcia
Breakfast at Midnight, by Louis Armand
And The Brain Harvest, by some guy named Ken Nash

The reading starts at 7pm

Puppets in Prague

2012-01-12T12:28:00.000+01:00

Really enjoyed teaching animation this morning at a puppetry workshop. If you're looking for a great reason to come to Prague and not just be part of the flock of tourists, I would highly recommend this workshop. Be careful though. Apparently puppetry is addictive.

The Brain Harvest, stories by Ken Nash

2012-01-05T14:07:00.005+01:00

Publication of The Brain Harvest (Equus Press) is set for April, 2012.

Clare Wigfall, author of The Loudest Sound and Nothing (Faber & Faber) and winner of the 2008 BBC National Short Story Award, comments on Prague- based author Ken Nash’s long-awaited short story collection The Brain Harvest (forthcoming from Equus in April, 2012): “The stories in Ken Nash’s brilliant collection The Brain Harvest lay bare the sparks and idiosyncrasies of an exceptional mind. Each new story is distinct and memorable in its jewel-like compactness, and the characters we meet are unique and endearing. In subject matter, the stories weave and delve into continuously unexpected territory; from the alien adventures of Emily Dickinson, to the intricacies of bespoke basket-making, time travel, orchestral garden plots, and the great green sea lizards that haunt our parents’ dreams. Nash’s playful and quick-witted style bears echoes of maverick American greats like George Saunders and Donald Barthelme, and recalls the quirkiness of Miranda July. Taut, intelligent, eccentric, and wholly engaging, The Brain Harvest is a wonderful debut for a very talented new writer.”

Late for the Holidays!

2012-01-03T14:13:00.000+01:00

I was unplugged for ten days over the holidays, attending a Vipassana workshop. Attending a ten-day meditation course when you're just learning to meditate is probably like entering a marathon when you're just learning to jog. But I survived it.

2011-12-15T15:40:00.000+01:00

Ken Nash Studio Work - Animation Reel

2011-12-04T14:13:00.000+01:00

Happy Holidays

2011-12-04T13:19:00.000+01:00

Someone must put a stop to this meme before it's too late!

Your Future on a Postcard

2011-11-23T11:15:00.000+01:00

My web venture that will help people cope with the future.
Visit www.YourFutureonaPostcard.com
and learn what's in store for your future.

Tower of Dudes Children's CD "Lesser Animals"

2011-11-06T11:01:00.000+01:00

Here's an illustration I did for the forthcoming Tower of Dudes Children's CD "Lesser Animals." This is for the song "Doug the Dinosaur."

Artel Holiday Animation

2011-11-06T00:11:00.000+01:00

This is an animation I recently created for Artel Glass

If anyone has any questions about Zhengzhou Gently Business Co...

2011-10-28T09:37:00.001+02:00

Feel free to ask me.

They own the web site zzsmyxgs.com.

Vermont Joy Parade + Ken Nash Poster

2011-10-10T22:00:00.000+02:00

Birthday Sex

2011-07-27T16:28:00.001+02:00

Zuno.TV commissioned me to do a video. This is my first commercial video shoot and edit. The video features Ryan James, an actor, writer, voice-over artist and exotic dancer living in Berlin. The party scene was shot in Freidrichshain, Berlin.

Birthday Sex from Zuno TV on Vimeo.

Prague Post review of AS LONG AS YOU ARE HERE

2011-05-29T15:30:00.004+02:00

Ken Nash doesn't feel the need to make you laugh.
But you probably will anyway.

As Long As You Are Here One of the many attributes of Ken Nash is his non-committal attitude towards humor. Whereas the likes of Tim Minchin, Flight of the Conchords and Bill Bailey slather their songs in lashings of laughs, Nash’s style is altogether dryer, more nonchalant. This allows us to appreciate the real beauty of his pieces; drifting, sometimes melancholy strummings, over which Nash croons like a more sensitive, less sex-crazed Jim Morrison. But the singer/songwriter/all-round artist can come up with the funnies too – Sensitive Songwriter – a wry parody of middle-of-the-road drivel is accompanied by images of leaves, depressed people and kittens, and has the room in stitches. The set ends on a real belter too – stalkerish love ballad Tonight, featuring the lyric “Ever since the day I saw your web profile, I knew one day I’d marry you.” Only someone with the innocent whimsy of Nash could pull that off without teeth-sucking awkwardness. That, and the vintage candy-striped trousers he’s sporting tonight." – The Prague Post

And here's another rave review on PRAGUE.TV

Prague Fringe Festival 2011

2011-05-07T10:39:00.001+02:00

AS LONG AS YOU ARE HERE is my first performance that combines music, video and semi-androgenous robots. It will premiere at this year's Prague Fringe Festival. I'm currently busy finishing the videos for this show and really enjoying the editing process. If you're interested in attending the performance, please purchase tickets in advance. There is very limited seating. Order tickets here.

My Little Pony

2011-04-24T19:23:00.001+02:00

I did a fun show last week with the Norwegian band, My Little Pony. Simen Henning is the band's guitarist. Here he is showing that he fears not the Ken Nash.

Street Illustrations from my Shanghai Visit

2011-04-13T15:49:00.000+02:00

Prague.TV interview

2011-01-23T13:00:00.001+01:00

Sam from Prague.TV had a few questions for me. You can read the interview here.

photo by Emile Rafeal

Some T-shirts Designs

2011-01-20T09:36:00.004+01:00

This design is actually for sale. $15 plus postage.
Email me if you want a "Ken Nash is stalking me" t-shirt.

Ken Nash on Bandcamp

2010-12-27T19:56:00.000+01:00

I'm trying to extricate myself from MySpace. So I've moved some music to Bandcamp.

Ken Nash Music on Bandcamp

Happy Holidays

2010-12-27T13:54:00.000+01:00

Shanghaied!

2010-11-22T10:14:00.000+01:00

Photo of me painting part of a mural along the river in Shanghai.

So I'm walking down Zhongshan Dong Er Lu and this guy approaches and asks if I'd like to paint a mural. Being asked to paint a wall mural by a random stranger is not something that happens to me every day, though maybe it's a common thing in China. I don't know. This was my first visit. Of course, I said yes. I was the first person they'd asked and it was just a random coincidence that I was actually a professional illustrator. Their plan was to have artists and designers from the Shanghai Design Expo come work on the wall when the expo was finished.

You can view more photos from my Shanghai experience here.

Prague MicroFestival

2010-10-11T00:25:00.000+02:00

The Prague MicroFestival is a yearly event featuring readings, music and film screenings. This year's festival includes performances by Irish-American poet Marcus Slease, Berlin poets Donna Stonecipher & Alistair Noon, and Prague writers Hana Androniková, Holly Tavel, Thor Garcia, Laura Conway, Louis Armand, Joshua Mensch, Stephan Delbos, Sara Quiroga Navarro... Films by Stephanie Barber, Bill Mousoulis, Abigail Child, Henry Hills... and me.

I will be doing some experimental soundscapes along with my reading, which will take place on October 20th at Utopia Club on Bělehradská 45. Holly Tavel, Louis Armand and Travis Jeppesen will also be reading on that evening. Followed by some experimental films.

Music Tour 2010

2010-10-11T00:15:00.000+02:00

First music tour ever. Six shows. In Germany: Cottbus, Berlin, Hamburg and Kiel. Then two shows in Stockholm, Sweden. The photo above is me during my last day in Stockholm hanging out with one of the locals. There were a lot of highlights from my trip, but I particularly enjoyed meeting the people at Fango Gallerie in Cottbus and performing along with the fabulous Rachel Hayes at Madame Claude in Berlin.

You and your dirty malware

2010-08-08T13:40:00.000+02:00

My website, kennash.com, has been under attack. I'm sure it's nothing personal. Probably just some little bots crawling around in cyberspace found my homepage a nice warm place to curl up and take a nap. Problem is that they set up a malware alert and Google responds by placing a warning on my web page.

So I have to keep cleaning and scrubbing to make sure none of those little malware codes get stuck in the cracks and crevices. Not fun. If you have some suggestions on how to keep them away, please write. I'm not really sure how they keep showing up in my index page.

P.S. I'm not downloading porn either!

Performing with Phoebe Kreutz, 16 June in Prague

2010-06-02T11:22:00.000+02:00

Prague Anthology 1990-2010

2010-05-07T18:47:00.003+02:00

This Prague Anthology, The Return of Kral Majales, is a 930 page volume of English language writing that's come out of Prague over the past 20 years. There's a whole bunch of people in here that I know, some of whom I dearly love. So it's a great thrill for me to have a few of my stories nestled in here amongst their prose and poetry.

The Return of Kral Majales

Sunday, May 9th there will be a party to celebrate the publication of this book. Many people included in the anthology will be reading, including myself. So if you're in Prague come toast a few beers with us. Event takes place at Radost FX at 6pm.

Recent Animation & Music for BirthdayAlarm.com

2010-03-30T12:15:00.001+02:00

Recording Sessions with Ron Synovitz

2010-02-18T12:35:00.002+01:00

Senior news correspondent and all time supreme recording geek, Ron Synovitz invited me into his home studio to record some bare bones (just guitar and vocal) tracks. The above is a photo Ron took with me playing with his oldest child, a 1960's Gibson.

Baby Art Blog

2010-02-08T20:41:00.002+01:00

I stumbled across this while I was looking for some sad face children images. Interesting art blog for Trevor Brown enthusiasts and the like. Though maybe not for sensitive viewers.

Baby Art

Shepard Fairey at work

2010-01-19T16:01:00.000+01:00

Shepard Fairey from Arkitip, Inc. on Vimeo.

Upcoming Nano Shows

2010-01-11T11:21:00.001+01:00

Prague Visitor's Guide

2010-01-01T23:25:00.000+01:00

The nice people at Prague-Stay.com did a write up about me with some of my illustration samples. Have a look-see.

Prague-Stay.com

ZIPfest Outing

2009-12-01T10:36:00.002+01:00

Last weekend, I went to Slavonice. I was part of an art and photography outing that ZIPfest sponsored and I was doing a short seminar on Flash animation.

The workshops were held at the new Institute Slavonice (also known as The Center for the Future). It's a great facility with a new, comfortable auditorium.

Also on the agenda for the weekend was a quick trip across the border to Austria. We visited an old textile mill that had been converted into a community arts center. I think it's called Gallery Kunstfabrik Groß Siegharts. Their web site doesn't have too much information. But they have music performances, exhibitions, and life drawing classes.

The main performance room has wood floors and huge support beams like an old barn. Everything is pay by donation - the beer, the wine, the food, the performance. We saw a couple bands play. The first band, The Shadowplay, had a singer that sounds amazingly like Gina X. Performance, one of the first German electro-pop singers from the 70's.

Poetry Hearing, Berlin

2009-11-23T19:09:00.004+01:00

I spent this past weekend in Berlin, attending the Poetry Hearings Festival of English Language Poetry (November 20 & 21). The readings included Matthew Sweeney (IR), Alistair Noon (DE/UK), Mary Noonan (IR), Maurice Scully (IR), Donna Stonecipher (USA/DE), Tim Turnbull (UK), Andrew Shields (USA), Hanna Silva (UK), and Tom Chivers (USA/CH)

Poetry Hearings is a yearly event. This was the first year I was able to attend. Glad I did. This year's line-up of readers was exceptional. I particularly enjoyed Hanna Silva's performance, which reminded me a bit of Meredith Monk.

Monk is a singer/composer/choreographer/filmmaker who I used to revere, but hadn't thought of in some time. A little digging on the internet lead me to a documentary by the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, which included a great segment on Meredith Monk.

If you're the only one who reads your own blog is it still self promotion?

2009-11-12T19:24:00.002+01:00

A 'magic' recording debut for Ken Nash
Alchemy organizer gets serious about his music with a wickedly clever CD

photo: Walter Novak, Prague Post

American expat Ken Nash is a seemingly endless source of creative energy and activities: musician, fiction writer, graphic designer for such ubiquitous brands as Birthday Alarm e-greeting cards and Pilsner Urquell and the host of Prague's Alchemy Performance Series. Clearly, the man is doing things. But self-promotion is not Nash's style, which makes his latest venture - an album of original songs titled Magic Squirrels - all the more praiseworthy. read more

Starting Over

2009-11-07T14:19:00.000+01:00

Ken Nash blog 2.0

Okay. So I got off to a rather shaky start with this blog. Some of you have pointed out that the previous posts aren't entirely factual. Hey, do I look like a person who checks facts?

I've just relaunched my website (KenNash.com). As you may notice, I've moved some content off the site. Things like my cartoons and sketchbooks. That stuff is now bloggulated.

My Sketchbook
The Global Cartoon Project
My Gene Pool

But this here blog is the place to get an overview of things. And to find out what I'm currently working on.

So forget about all my old blog posts and start looking forward to some real good gossip about Flanna Sheridan.

The Ken Nash Cover Band

2008-03-18T09:59:00.001+01:00

The Ken & Liam Too busk Belgrade, Serbia

2008-01-16T13:07:00.000+01:00

Excavating Czech History

2007-11-19T11:46:00.001+01:00

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Babar Voytekova, director of the Conservation Heritage Institute of Prague (CHIP). Their Karlin neighborhood warehouse currently holds over 2000 artifacts unearthed during the construction of the recently completed Palladium Shopping Emporium.

Over shots of Slivovice, Babar explained how her team of archaeologists worked day and night for four years during the site excavation. They were first called in after the discovery of large quantities of iron cutting tools dating back to the 1800s believed to have been used for sheering sheep. One discovery gave way to the next until they had begun unearthing ruins dating back to the third millennium BC.

"We found large pieces of earthen wear with traces of fermented wheat. So we know even as far back as Roman times the Czech people were fond of beer."

"That entire quarter of Prague was believed to have once been a market. Beer and sheep were freely exchanged. So it seems quite appropriate we should have a new, modern shopping center at this same location."

Babar also explained that around the 12th century the site contained army barracks. And remains of military weaponry as well as bronze helmets and codpieces were also unearthed.

The 7.2 million crown (3.3 million USD) shopping complex is the largest of its kind in the Czech Republic, with three levels of underground parking along side an aquatic theme park. European Development Opportunities (EDO), the project's developer, has capitalized on these discoveries by incorporating them into their Design theme.

"The aqua park has a Pagan theme," Babar told me. "There are water-spinning maypoles. Talking trees. And massive stone sculptures of Apollo, Aphrodite and Kafka -- made from fiberglass, of course -- that spit water on you. Also the sauna has a pyre by which you can dry yourself and have grilled sausage."

After we were sufficiently soused on home-brew slivovice, Babar took me for a tour around the warehouse. While wandering amidst the shards of pottery and rusted iron spears, I asked Babar if this has been the largest project of its kinds she's undertaken while director of CHIP.

"So far this is the only project I've been directly in charge of," she told me. "Unless you want to count the Olsanska Food Court in Zizkov. But that was mostly dealing with old bones from the Olsanska cemetery. Nothing as interesting as this."

Babar has only been director of CHIP for the past three years. She was an interesting choice for the job, not having had any formal science training or experience in archeology. Marek Vihan, Prague's Minister of Cultural Heritage, appointed Barba to the position after the former Director of CHIP stepped down while facing corruption charges.

"It is true I don't have a lot of the technical knowledge," said Babar. "But I have worked closely with Vihan for many years on various cultural projects. I think I have a good understanding how to manage such things."

I asked Babar about reports that she had been a dancer at Darling Club Cabaret for several years.

"It is untrue," Babar flatly stated. "I only worked there four years."

She did not, however, deny that her association with Vihan goes back to that time. Or that she had gone directly from being a club hostess to the top position at CHIP.

"I have faced a lot of criticism because I am a woman and because I come from outside the academy. But I think my background is an asset, not a liability. I am able to look at problems and solutions in a fresh light."

Our tour of the warehouse ended in a room with some of the relics first unearthed during the excavation. These were relatively quite recent artifacts and antiques, including many tools, packaging and electric equipment from Prague's Soviet era. Babar singled out one particularly commonplace radio, not unlike many of the old Tesla radios you can see lining the walls of pubs in Zizkov.

"When we discovered this radio, buried beneath tons of sledge and debris, we were amazed that it was still functioning. "

Several members of the team reported that they actually heard old Czechoslovak Radio broadcasts emanating from ancient tube radio. "I believe they heard Studencheskaya zastolnaya," said Babar. "It is a famous Russian drinking song that my parents used to sing when they were young."

Orphans!

2006-07-12T15:25:00.000+02:00

Last month I went to the town of Kasperkeho Hory with my friends Troy, Clare and their dog Money. We were invited to perform for an orphanage there. Clare has a face painting business, Troy does experimental puppet theatre, and I would be entertaining the kids with my repertoire of Jacques Brel songs played on my Honer diatonic accordion. This was to be our first orphanage performance and if it went well we would be performing the whole orphanage circuit in the Czech Republic.

The Orphan House at Kasperkeho Hory is a bright orange building just off the main square in town. It was an old school house built in the late 1800’s. Inside the front door are photos from the early part of the century of groups of uniformed children engaged in calisthenics, hauling coal on their backs, standing at attention with toy rifles over their shoulders, assembling a military aircraft surrounded by old plane parts, etc. Aside from some distant hip hop playing, the building was strangely quiet. It was not a bustling scene of pandemonium and shenanigans, like out of some Charles Dickens novel or Shirley Temple movie.

The first children we saw were quietly seated around a large circular table playing cards. They ranged in age from approximately nine to 17. I was surprised to see the older boys smoking cigarettes. But it was the very young Romany boy with the large glasses who was apparently the big winner, having three large towers of chips stacked up in front of him.

The head of the Orphanage came hurrying down the stairs to meet us. Her name is Paní Bila. Mrs. White. She did not speak much English, but basically we were made to understand that she had a family emergency to attend to and that we would be left alone with the children until 9 pm when the next caretaker came on duty. That gave us three hours. More than enough time to prepare and perform. However, the idea that we were going to be left entirely in charge of this group of children was a bit unnerving.

Before she left, Mrs. White introduced us to some of the older children who would assist us and take care of any problem we might have. I didn’t know what sort of problems Mrs. White might expect to happen, but the broad shouldered Roman, who kept cracking his knuckles while Mrs. White spoke, seemed capable of handling just about any situation.

“You like hip hop?” Roman asked after Mrs. White had said her goodbyes.

“Sure. We love hip hop,” said Clare.

Roman waved us into the next room where he had a boom box set up and a stack of cassettes. He placed one of the cassettes into the machine and hit play.

….gonna getcha bitch ya oughta make me hotta gotta lotta hotchie momma rub ya boda suck my wad ah…

Roman, square shouldered, head bobbing, eyes shut, was savoring the exquisite perfection of the beautifully integrated rhythm and prose. Three girls of about twelve years old entered the room, drawn there like mice to the melody of a pied piper. They paid no attention to the three adult foreigners and began to dance like extras on a Little Kim video, their pelvises gyrating, their shoulders back, legs apart.

…suck my sweat ya bet ya get the rest or just the sex ya think ya need confess ta this or can I just enlist your clit to sit upon the crest of this…

I could tell by Troy’s expression that he was thinking how to rework his puppet act to be more in tune with his audience. I had already warned him before we even got here that a twenty minute abridgement of The Prime of Miss Jane Brody was probably not going to work as a hand puppet performance at a Czech orphanage. But I think we both had entirely different expectations of what we would find here.

White Stripes Strike Prague

2005-07-04T11:59:00.000+02:00

I've seen their faces and read their names more often than I've heard the music. Jack and Meg White. The White Stripes.

They're fun to write about because you can easily differentiate them from other bands.

They're the brother and sister rock duo that aren't really brother and sister, but ex-husband and wife.

They're also the band that takes only 29 hours to record an album and not eleven years like the last Axl Rose release.

They're the band that makes all their instruments from scratch in an abandoned auto parts warehouse in Hamtramck, Michigan.

Jack's the one with the tattoo of the Virgin Mary eating a Coney dog. Meg's the one with a the tattoo of Tramp (from Disney's Lady and the Tramp) making love to the bluebird of happiness (Rolling Stone, December 2003).

Like the many rock journalists who adore The White Stripes, I could go on and on about them and their lives. But what's more important? The music, right?

Though I haven't kept up with the White Stripes during their meteoric rise to international fame, I did first hear them years ago when I used to live in the Detroit area. At the time they were called The Ex-Eunuchs. Jack was still going by the name John Gillis and he and Meg White were just second cousins at the time.

The show was at Benchwarmers Bar & Grill. Jack was playing a guitar that he had made which looked like it weighed 120 pounds. The main body was made from an old Edsel Fender and the strings were held in place my rotating spark plugs. Meg's gear consisted of oil drums that had been canvassed over, headlights on music stands and the front grill of an old Cadillac Fleetwood.
.
They were doing entirely covers, a lot of old R&B, also some upbeat songs like Bang-Shang-a-Lang (an Archies song from the 60's), some Brian Hyland pop classics and some stripped down, grunged up versions of Falco's Der Kommissar and Hinter uns die Sintflut.

Despite the one dollar a glass beer special that night, The Ex-Eunuchs only managed to draw a crowds of 30 or 40 people, most of them fellow Hamtramck rock musicians and some of the regulars who worked at A & E Autobody across the street.

Which brings me to last night's concert at the Archa Theatre in Prague. True to their DIY austere ethos, there was no amazing light show. There were no gospel choir. No dancers in tight shorts. Not even a cello. There was just Jack and Meg and a half a dozen spectacular costume changes, ranging from mariachi suits to Napoleonic battle uniforms to Maoist rebel fatigues to the obligatory 70’s glam-wear.

The international crowd of Europeans and Americans had high expectations for this show, which came at the high (for Prague) ticket price of 950 Czech krona (38 USD). Fortunately, being a blog star has its advantages and I was able to get free tickets from the Archa management team (Thanks Jiri and Petra!!!).

Those who’d come to hear Seven Nation Army, Jolene and Mama’s Boy were not disappointed. Those who’d come to hear Bang-Shang-a-Lang were probably a bit miffed over how much Jack and Meg have have distanced themselves from their Detroit roots. But there were few of us.

Brain Soup

2005-06-02T11:30:00.000+02:00

We had a hailstorm on Monday. There were pellets of ice 2cm in diameter pounding against my window. It took some of the paint off the window frame. It took some of the window frame too (I have old crumbling apart window frames).

In town, huge gusts of winds were knocking pedestrians on their ass and construction workers off rooftops. Three elderly German tourists had to be fished out of the Vlatava. A baby pig at the Bohnice animal farm caught a strong gust and went airborne. Flew 15 meters before whacking a medical student on the back of her head. Knocked her out cold. Twenty minutes later, all was calm. People went back outside to clean up and enjoy the sunshine.

Amy was telling me about the flying pig. She used to work at Bohnice doing clinical research in Behavioral Neurobiology, or “Poking About in the Brain,” as it’s sometimes called. I was at Amy’s place in Prague 8, near the new Kobylisy Metro Station. Her and her boyfriend Pavel were having a Memorial Day cookout in their backyard. Skewered meats and vegetables, as well as pineapple, which Amy insisted was really good grilled.

Some of Amy’s vegetable garden had taken a pummeling from the ice storm. A few trays of baby lettuce, tomatoes and carrots were smashed apart, dirt and sprouts splattered on the cement patio. Some of them were badly injured, but would be eventually recover. Some would remain in a permanent vegetative state. She was still cleaning up the carnage when I arrived for the cookout.

I helped Amy gather up the wounded and repot them. Those left for dead were unceremoniously hurled onto the open grass.

“I spoke to my parents last night,” Amy said. “They hadn’t heard anything about the Downing Street Memo. Can you believe that? It’s been—what now?—three weeks since the news came out?”

Amy’s parents live in Ohio. Perhaps they don’t have news in Ohio. Listening to the BBC and European news networks we sometimes fear that stories like the Downing Street Memo, Guantanamo Bay and the discovery of Cenozoic Era cloning projects are either downplayed or never covered by the American media.

“It’s the smoking gun,” I said. “But it’s not going to make any difference. With a Republican controlled congress there’s no way he’s going to be impeached. And, really, Americans don’t care.”

Of course, all expat Americans speak about “Americans” as if we’re not ones ourselves. Talking about Americans is like looking into a mirror and not being able to recognize yourself. We like to think we’re a different sort of American, but it’s not always clear just how true that is.

Some expats believe that leaving America and choosing to live in another country is about as strong a political statement as you can make. But does that mean that by living in France, Italy, Czech Republic—wherever—we approve of their politics? Americans are great at making grand ideological justification for their actions, but what it usually comes down to, as with most people, is convenience. Like George W. Bush believing that war, fear mongering and capital punishment are Christian actions, we believe what is convenient for us to believe.

There have been interesting “split brain” experiments done in which the left and right hemispheres of the brain are divided and can’t communicate with each other. Researchers will tell one hemisphere of the brain something, like “Pick up this spoon.” Then they’ll ask the right hemisphere a question like, “Why did you pick up that spoon.” The right hemisphere doesn’t know it was given a command and it searches for a justification for the spoon in its hand.

“Ah…well…I guess I’m expecting some soup.”

Bush’s belief that his war on terrorism will make the world a better place, is a bit like saying he’s preparing for soup.

Battling the Monster Worms

2005-05-28T10:31:00.000+02:00

I had dinner with my friend C. Carlton Sheff yesterday. We met in a small Chinese Take-Away restaurant in Karlin, near where he lives, the part of Prague that was completely underwater during the 2002 flood. C.C. spent last year in Kyoto, with his girlfriend Kristyana, studying Japanese calligraphy and Bushido. Since his return to Prague in January, I haven’t seen much of him. He’s been busy writing a new novel and I’ve been busy carrying on with my secret life.

Like most American expats, we discussed the declining American Empire as a way of assuring each other we got out just in time.

“Airport security is the first thing to go,” said C.C. “They’re so desperate to fill all these new security positions that they hire just about anyone. Don’t even look at their past criminal records. I usually just get the pork fried rice. When Kristyana and I were in the U.S. for Christmas we had this dumb ass security guard who went through my bag, then threw it down on the ground upside down. Are you getting a beer? I just reached down to set in upright and he snapped at me. I couldn’t complain, couldn’t say anything. If I did he probably would have detained me and I would have missed my flight. Try the Chicken with Five Spices. That’s a case where the wrong person is given entirely too much power and it’s happening more and more like that in the U.S.”

After the waitress came and took our order, I asked C.C. what his new book is about.

“I’ve been reading a lot on the cold war lately. Have you read any Alan Furst? He’s written a series of books about World War II and Central Europe – Hungary, Poland, Romania...And then I started reading some of the political theory of Hannah Arendt. You know who I’m talking about? She escaped Germany in World War II and went on to write about power and totalitarianism and evil, like, what is evil? Is evil really some powerful force or is it just a lack of will, a slothful banality of mankind? So that, plus my recent studies on Bushido started my brain ticking…That’s fast.”

The waitress had just returned with our dishes. She set them down before us. My Chicken with Five Spices looked like a typical sweet and sour chicken. It also had peas mixed in with it. I hate peas. I consider peas evil. I would have to pick them out.

“What was I saying?” Continued C.C. “Yeah, right. So I started getting this image of giant, monstrous creatures rising out of the ocean devouring everything in their path. It’s going to cross a lot of genres. It’s sort of a Cold War-Science Fiction-Political Thriller with a sword fighting hero who lives his life as if he were looking toward each present moment from the time of his death."

“What sort of monstrous creatures?”

“There’s this nuclear testing going on at the bottom of the Artic Sea, which rouses these giant prehistoric words from their aquatic slumber.”

"Words?"

"Did I say words? I mean worms. Giant, monstrous worms"

“Is this something you picked up from reading Hannah Arendt?”

“Not exactly. I mean, it’s kind of in there. If you read The Origins of Totalitarianism or On Violence it’s there, just not so metaphorically.”

The More Biennales the Merrier

2005-05-27T10:27:00.000+02:00

While Flash Art Magazine founders Giancarlo Politi and Helena Kontova and Milan Knízák, Director of the National Gallery in Prague, are busy battling it out over who’s Art Biennale is the real Prague Art Biennale, artist Bohumil Kmonicek has taken advantage of the confusion by launching his own Prague Biennale out of his apartment in Vysocany.

An invitation to the Kmonicek Biennale arrived by email. Unlike the other two Biennales in Prague that chose to compete for public attention with opening festivities on May 26, Kmonicek got a jump start on things by choosing May 25 for the opening of his 2005 Prague Biennale.

I tend to get lost every time I go to Vysocany. (Though friends have taken me to the Modra Opice “Blue Monkey” Bar numerous times, please don’t ask me to lead the way there.) True to form, it took me a good hour before I finally discovered Kmonicek’s gray cinder block apartment building on Mezitratova Street (thanks to a 3 x 3 meter sign in the dirt out front which reads: “Koberce Brázda s.r.o. Proud Sponsors of Prague Biennale”).

I rang Kmonicek’s buzzer. Without a word spoken over the intercom, the steel and glass door buzzed open. I assumed the colorful tape arrows along the walls and stairwell were directing me towards the Biennale. After three flights of stairs, the arrows lead me to a door with a large poster of a beautiful girl in lingerie laying upon a plush red carpet and the words “Spolecnost KOBERCE BRÁZDA s.r.o. vznikla v roce 1993 welcome you Prague Biennale!”

Unsurprisingly, Kmonicek’s Biennale contained many of his own works. Prominently displayed was a large sofa wrapped entirely in duct tape and twine titled klobása premoci or “Sausage Surprise,” But there were also works by a number of other Czech artists, including Jakub Dadák, Petr Brnák, and Jana Culíkova. Representing artists from abroad were Peter Nigel (UK), Petr Jurinová (SK) and Petr Poroshenko (UA), or The Three Peters, as Kmonicek referes to them in the Biennale's catalog.

During the time of my visit, Kmonicek was very busy trying to remove wine stains from the floor of the main exhibition hall (his living room), but I managed to get him to respond to a few questions about the biennale. I first asked about the current divisiveness in Prague's art scene. "This is good," was Kmonicek's firm, unqualified response.

Pressing him further, I asked, "You don't think that the competition from two major exhibitions, both calling themselves Prague Biennales, taking place at the same time as yours will draw attention away from your biennale?"

"First, let me tell you the true answer," said Komenica, rising on his knees and wringing the wet wine-stained rag into a bucket. "This is not my Biennale. This is artists' biennale. I do it for artists everwhere. I think, 'Why not?' I have place for exhibition. I know artists. I know money for promotion. Really, this anyone can do. Maybe we should all be having Biennales, you think?"

I thought it was maybe a good idea. I plan to speak to my flatmate Lawrence and see if he's up for having a Biennale in our apartment in Zizkov. I'll keep you posted if we do.