Sal Randolph
Encyclopedia
Sal Randolph is an American artist and theorist who works with issues of gift-giving, money, alternate economies, and social architecture
. She founded the non-curated sound-exchange web project Opsound
, which functions through the use of music released exclusively under a copyleft
license. This project has been repeatedly cited by Lawrence Lessig
as an example of how Creative Commons
works to enable artists to collaborate more freely and build on each other's work. Other large-scale, collaborative projects created and implemented by Randolph include Free Manifesta and The Free Biennial, in which several hundred artists presented their work in free and open shows in New York's and Frankfurt am Main's public spaces. Artists participating in those projects included Christophe Bruno
, Aram Saroyan
, Swoon (artist)
, and Michael Cunningham
, among many others.
Of particular note is Randolph's novel method of entry into Manifesta
4: Pursuing her ongoing interest in issues surrounding money and economies of attention and exclusivity, she gained entry into the famed exhibition by purchasing her entry from the Basel-based Christoph Büchel
when that artist auctioned his participation rights on eBay -- which was itself an art piece/provocation. This led to Free Manifesta, in which, through Randolph, hundreds of artists were suddenly allowed to participate in the previously exclusive Manifesta. This work extended the artist's first large-scale cooperative project,The Free Biennial in her home city of New York, which came into being as her response to the Whitney Biennial
, and which also garnered the participation of a wide range of noted artists across many disciplines. Among her other projects is Free Words, an early shopdropping (a form of culture jamming
) project which garnered an international network of volunteers who "introduced" the book Free Words (a large collection of random words initially assembled by Randolph—and later by hundreds of project contributors—over many years) into bookstores and libraries around the world. Other projects include works in sound art
, and a variety of exhibitions within the collaborative Glowlab
. Recent projects include Free Money (shown in Vancouver, where she was invited to participate in the Live Biennale), Free Press (shown in Röda Sten Contemporary Art Space in Göteborg, Sweden, where the artist created an open access publishing house), ReadingBetween, and InTheConversation.
Her work as a writer and theorist explores issues related to post-autonomous art and the gift.
The artist's work has been presented in numerous museum and gallery exhibitions, including Manifesta 4 and "Don’t Miss" in Frankfurt am Main, the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK) and BüroFriedrich Gallery in Berlin, La Box in Bourges, the Palais de Tokyo
and Bétonsalon in Paris, Röda Sten in Göteborg, Live Bienalle/Western Front in Vancouver, Art Interactive and Oni Gallery in Boston, as well as Cinders Gallery, Pace Digital Gallery, the Fountain Art Fair, Salvation Gallery, and the Conflux Festival in New York. Randolph teaches and lectures as a visiting artist and has recently appeared in that capacity at the UCRIA conference, Open Engagement, Maryland Institute College of Art
, the GEL conference, Massachusetts College of Art
, Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach
, and RISD.
Social architecture
Social architecture is a field which looks at how to engineer social systems and media tools and UX strategy in order to create any type of online entity.- External links :...
. She founded the non-curated sound-exchange web project Opsound
Opsound
Opsound is a website which aggregates links to music released under Creative Commons licenses. Opsound aggregates links to music hosted on other servers, as well as providing discussion forums and organizing real-world events and concerts...
, which functions through the use of music released exclusively under a copyleft
Copyleft
Copyleft is a play on the word copyright to describe the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work...
license. This project has been repeatedly cited by Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence "Larry" Lessig is an American academic and political activist. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications, and he has called for state-based activism to promote substantive...
as an example of how Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
works to enable artists to collaborate more freely and build on each other's work. Other large-scale, collaborative projects created and implemented by Randolph include Free Manifesta and The Free Biennial, in which several hundred artists presented their work in free and open shows in New York's and Frankfurt am Main's public spaces. Artists participating in those projects included Christophe Bruno
Christophe Bruno
Christophe Bruno is a French artist. He began his artistic activity in 2001, influenced by the net.art movement. His thesis is that through the web, and especially through the ability to search and monitor it thoroughly by means of Google, we are heading towards a global text that among other...
, Aram Saroyan
Aram Saroyan
Aram Saroyan is an American poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist and playwright. There has been a resurgence of interest in his work in the 21st century, evidenced by the publication in 2007 of several previous collections reissued together as Complete Minimal Poems.- Biography :Saroyan was born...
, Swoon (artist)
Swoon (artist)
Swoon is a street artist born in New London, Connecticut, and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida. She moved to New York City at age nineteen, and specializes in life-size wheatpaste prints and paper cutouts of figures...
, and Michael Cunningham
Michael Cunningham
Michael Cunningham is an American writer, best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999.-Early life and education:...
, among many others.
Of particular note is Randolph's novel method of entry into Manifesta
Manifesta
Manifesta, the , is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale, described in 2010 by the as "stunning in its scope and uncompromisingly experimental in its approach".-Manifesta History:...
4: Pursuing her ongoing interest in issues surrounding money and economies of attention and exclusivity, she gained entry into the famed exhibition by purchasing her entry from the Basel-based Christoph Büchel
Christoph Büchel
Christoph Büchel is a Swiss artist.-Biography:Christoph Büchel was born in Basel, Switzerland, in 1966. Büchel creates hyper-realistic environments that are, in essence, like walking into a mind at work...
when that artist auctioned his participation rights on eBay -- which was itself an art piece/provocation. This led to Free Manifesta, in which, through Randolph, hundreds of artists were suddenly allowed to participate in the previously exclusive Manifesta. This work extended the artist's first large-scale cooperative project,The Free Biennial in her home city of New York, which came into being as her response to the Whitney Biennial
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
, and which also garnered the participation of a wide range of noted artists across many disciplines. Among her other projects is Free Words, an early shopdropping (a form of culture jamming
Culture jamming
Culture jamming, coined in 1984, denotes a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Guerrilla semiotics and night discourse are sometimes used synonymously with the term culture jamming.Culture...
) project which garnered an international network of volunteers who "introduced" the book Free Words (a large collection of random words initially assembled by Randolph—and later by hundreds of project contributors—over many years) into bookstores and libraries around the world. Other projects include works in sound art
Sound art
Sound art is a diverse group of art practices that considers wide notions of sound, listening and hearing as its predominant focus. There are often distinct relationships forged between the visual and aural domains of art and perception by sound artists....
, and a variety of exhibitions within the collaborative Glowlab
Glowlab
Glowlab was an artist-run initiative that produced and presented experimental work related to cities and psychogeography, including interactive artworks and projects, events, exhibitions, and artists' gatherings. Brooklyn artist and curator Christina Ray launched Glowlab in 2002 as an experimental,...
. Recent projects include Free Money (shown in Vancouver, where she was invited to participate in the Live Biennale), Free Press (shown in Röda Sten Contemporary Art Space in Göteborg, Sweden, where the artist created an open access publishing house), ReadingBetween, and InTheConversation.
Her work as a writer and theorist explores issues related to post-autonomous art and the gift.
The artist's work has been presented in numerous museum and gallery exhibitions, including Manifesta 4 and "Don’t Miss" in Frankfurt am Main, the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK) and BüroFriedrich Gallery in Berlin, La Box in Bourges, the Palais de Tokyo
Palais de Tokyo
The Palais de Tokyo is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, near the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs the City of Paris and hosts the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris...
and Bétonsalon in Paris, Röda Sten in Göteborg, Live Bienalle/Western Front in Vancouver, Art Interactive and Oni Gallery in Boston, as well as Cinders Gallery, Pace Digital Gallery, the Fountain Art Fair, Salvation Gallery, and the Conflux Festival in New York. Randolph teaches and lectures as a visiting artist and has recently appeared in that capacity at the UCRIA conference, Open Engagement, Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art is an art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the first and oldest art colleges in the United States. In 2008, MICA was ranked #2 in the nation...
, the GEL conference, Massachusetts College of Art
Massachusetts College of Art
Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a publicly-funded college of visual and applied art, founded in 1873. It is one of the oldest art schools, the only publicly-funded free-standing art school in the United States, and was the first art college in the United States to grant an artistic degree...
, Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach
Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach
The Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach am Main is an art and design university in the German State of Hesse. The school is divided into two departments. It was given university status in 1970. The degree course offers a choice of five different final examination topics: art, communication design,...
, and RISD.
Additional References
- "Manifesta Opens in Frankfurt - Artworld", Art in America, May 2002 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_5_90/ai_86195011
- Dannat, Adrian. “Adrian Dannatt’s New York Diary: FREE WORDS–any words” The Art Newspaper, No. 121 January 2002.
- Paharia, Neeru. "Featured Commoner: Interview with Sal Randolph" Creative Commons, http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/7012 March, 2003
- Snodgrass, Susan. "Manifesta 4: defining Europe? Report From Frankfurt" Art in America, January 2003. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_1_91/ai_96126343/
- Ulaby, Neda, “Free Books in Public Places” Weekend Edition Saturday, May 18, 2002 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1143585
- Velthius, Olav, Imaginary Economics; Contemporary Artists and the World of Big Money, NAi Publishers, Belgium, 2005
- Wong, Sherry, "Bonus Biennials" Artnet April, 2002 https://www.artnet.com/Magazine/reviews/wong/wong3-15-02.asp
- Zimmerman, Brian "Public Notice" Village Voice, May 6, 2003 http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0319,zimmerman,43875,1.html
- Myles, Eileen, "Shore Leave" Village Voice, August 15, 2000 http://www.villagevoice.com/art/0033,myles,17278,13.html
- Perra, Daniele. "web sites: 1. www.freewords.org" Tema Celeste, Number 93, Fall 2002.
- Werneburg, Brigitte. "Logistik für Bandwürmer,” TAZ, May 28, 2002.
- Zolyóm, Francisca. "Everyone is Invited: Interview with Sal Randolph" Exindex, http://www.exindex.hu, December 2002.
- Balint, Anna. "Resist the Flattening Effect of Being on Display: Interview with Sal Randolph" ART-Hoc, No. 22-23, December, 2002.
External links
- Free Manifesta http://freemanifesta.org
- The Free Biennial http://freebiennial.org
- Opsound http://opsound.org
- Free Words http://freewords.org
- Free Money http://freemoneyrelease.org
- Manifesta 4 http://www.manifesta.org/manifesta4/en/projects/artist1585.html
- Sal Randolph http://salrandolph.com