Dutch Treat

The Royal Embassy of the Netherlands is planning an exhibition of photographs and paintings of New Orleans to commemorate the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The exhibition will open next week in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building.

The exhibition, titled "Seeing is believing, Seeing is Healing," includes works from artists Marsha Ercegovic, Elizabeth Kleinveld and David Rae Morris, who documented the suffering and determination of the hurricane survivors. The exhibition runs from Aug. 21 through Sept. 1.

The Netherlands sent a frigate to help in hurricane relief efforts last year and arranged for Dutch specialists to visit the city to give advice on rebuilding the levees. With much of the Netherlands below sea level, the Dutch have a long history of holding back the sea and fighting floods.

Florida Gallery Seeking Exhibition Proposals

The Downstairs Gallery in Melbourne, Florida is seeking proposals from all 2-D and 3-D artists, for exhibitions for Oct 2006, and for Jan, Mar, and May 2007. No entry fee.

Contact Renee Decator at decatjr@aol.com.

New Gallery Looking for Director

Long View Gallery has just opened a new space at 1302 Ninth Street NW, Washington DC 20001,(202) 232-4788 and they are looking for both a gallery director and a gallery assistant.

This is the second location for the gallery, as they have another gallery in Sperryville, Virginia. Compensation is base salary plus commission. Please send resume and salary history to william_waybourn@longviewgallery.com or via fax at 202-318-1173.

Welcome to DC!

Cloaca Poop

When a DC Art News reader sent me a link that then led to this site, at first I though that it was a joke.

It isn't.

Belgian artist Wim Delvoye has created a machine that reproduces the series of organic events that takes place in the human digestive system when a person eats, starting from swallowing the food via the mouth to discarding the fecal matter through your rear orifice.

Delvoye calls his machine the Cloaca.

He feeds the Cloaca ordinary food and eventually shit comes out from the other end. This Cloaca shit is then wrapped in plastic and sold to "art collectors."

And according to the Cloaca website, the shit is sold out! And the "remaining 100 feces have been held back for future capitalisation [sic]."

See the machine(s) here. Note that a couple of the shitmakingmachine logos are certainly within striking range of a lawsuit from Coke or Mr. Clean.

Update: Last year Charles Downey in Ionarts had this terrific piece on Delvoye and the machine and other projects, including the translation of an informative interview with the artist.

Mural Artist Wanted

The DC Primary Care Association is looking for a mural artist to fill large wall space in their office. They are looking for an artist that has a real feel for the overall energy of DC.

They are imagining a cityscape mural at a bird’s eye view that would highlight the health centers in DC. Please e-mail Lauren at Lmardirosian@dcpca.org if you are interested. Commission fee is negotiable.

Call for Artists

Deadline: October 15, 2006

The Howard County Arts Council has an open call for artists for proposals for their 2008-2009 gallery season at the Howard County Arts Council gallery.

You can download the prospectus here or call them at 410-313-ARTS.

Best Bets

The Washington Post has announced the winners of their 2006 "Best Bets" and they can be seen online here.

As it has been the case for the past four years, there was not a gallery category to vote for, although some of the other categories were quite diverse, shall we say.

If you don't get it, you don't get it.