World of Found

WOW

2009-03-07T11:23:00.004+01:00

We like them W0W.

GOD'S HOTLINE

2009-03-07T10:31:00.003+01:00

Dutch artist Johan van der Dong chose a mobile phone number to show that God was available anywhere and anytime, Radio Netherlands reported.

He says people these days almost cannot live without a telephone any longer.. And he's dead-serious when he says that he believes that praying could becoming as meaningful as it was in humanity's distant past, if people could also speak their prayers and thoughts into God's Hotline voicemail.

God's Hotline on 7 March at 4pm at Groningen city's Northern railway station - where the entire stairwell has been turned into a free public art gallery, the Kunstruimte. The mobile phone for God is just an ordinary prepaid Vodaphone without any fancy bells or whistles except a voice-mail facility, he said.

People leaving messages can place their thoughts on this voice mail, and it becomes another form of prayer,' he says. He believes in a God but is not of any formal denomination, he says.

"A long time ago, in humanity's long-distant past, people started praying to God for many things, normally holding up their hands or folding them in prayer, asking God for deliverance and to help them."

Now, he feels, prayer can reach a similarly high level of devotion if people could pray to God on His own personal hotline.

"REACH OUT AND TOUCH FAITH"

UPDATE CHINESE RABBIT CHINESE RAT

2009-03-02T14:40:00.001+01:00

A Chinese man who won a high profile auction for two bronze artworks claimed by China says he will not pay for them.

The sculptures, which sold for 15m euros ($19m; £13m) each in Paris last week, were originally looted from Beijing in 1860.

Cai Mingchao, who has identified himself as the bidder, is an adviser to China's National Treasures Fund, which seeks to retrieve looted treasures.

He said his decision to bid for the bronzes had been a "patriotic" act.

Page last updated at 12:13 GMT, Monday, 2 March 2009
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China 'patriot' sabotages auction

Chinese bidder explains why he is not paying

A Chinese man who won a high profile auction for two bronze artworks claimed by China says he will not pay for them.

The sculptures, which sold for 15m euros ($19m; £13m) each in Paris last week, were originally looted from Beijing in 1860.

Cai Mingchao, who has identified himself as the bidder, is an adviser to China's National Treasures Fund, which seeks to retrieve looted treasures.

He said his decision to bid for the bronzes had been a "patriotic" act.

"What I want to stress is that this money cannot be paid," Mr Cai told a news conference.

"I believe that any Chinese person would stand up at this time... I am making an effort to fulfil my own responsibilities," he said in a statement released by the fund.

"But I must stress that I do not have the money to pay for this," he said.

Christie's auction house, which sold the pieces, said it was aware of the reports.

"As a matter of policy, we do not comment on the identity of our consignors or buyers, nor do we comment or speculate on the next steps that we might take in this instance," it said in a statement.

Legal questions

The two bronzes, in the shape of the heads of a rabbit and a rat, were auctioned by Christie's in Paris last week as part of the estate of the late French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner.
The bronze rat and the bronze rabbit
China says the bronzes were taken abroad illegally 150 years ago

They had been originally taken by British and French troops from the imperial Summer Palace in October 1860, towards the end of the Second Opium War.

China had tried to stop the sale, and later threatened the business of Christie's in China for having gone ahead.

But Christie's said the sale was legal, a position backed by a French court.

The plot thickens.

BILL HICK 15th ANNIVERSARY

2009-02-28T17:19:00.004+01:00

Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of Bill Hick's death. For some, he was
abrasive, outspoken and too close to the edge. For his family he was serious,
not really that funny, and very compassionate. It's necessary to add to that list.
Hicks was also the indignant voice of resistance to power. Power of advertising
which creates so many false myths and archetypes of sexiness, wealth, prosperity
that many of our lives are irrevocably influenced by it. .Especially the young susceptible to images of "cool" and outsider paradigms. Power of the Church which
gives for all the hope takes away by doubling guilt. And Power of the State which
gives false promise. We too believe that everyone should be given the right to education, health and a pair of x-ray glasses which sees through language and concepts. Bill was wearing them all the time.

"BIll Hicks - Slight Return" plays at The Soho Theatre London

CHINESE RABBIT CHINESE RAT

2009-02-26T10:22:00.003+01:00

On Feb 23, Christie's International in Paris will begin a much-hyped three-day auction of furniture and art from the various homes of Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge. To give potential American bidders a close look, last year Christie's shipped some of the choicer items for a brief display at its New York showroom.

A pair of bronze animal heads, a rabbit and a rat, that were once part of the famous zodiac fountain clock at Beijing's imperial Summer Palace. In 1860 the palace was looted and burned by French and English troops, the fountain clock destroyed and its brass animal heads, which were water spouts representing beasts in the Chinese zodiac, were scattered.

Chinese foreign ministry is asking Saint Laurent's estate, which is directed by Berge, to return the heads. Christie's has replied that the heads both have a long, well documented ownership history, and of course they left China long before 1970, the year that's increasingly accepted as a cut off for repatriation claims.

Let's see it from the animal's point of view. Well in Chinese horosscopes, rat's are
Smart, Magnetic, Well-liked, Affable, Quick-witted, Surreptitious, Selfish, Protective, Calculating. Rats think Rabbits are boring. Rabbits love to be out and about. You will only frustrate each other. Rabbits are very ambitious and can be quite crafty in their dealings with others. Emotional and Passionate the consume themselves doing what they Love. Rabbits get depressed if Home and Enviroment do not contain the necessary things to make them feel comfortable.

By the way Yves Saint Laurent was a Rat!

THE LAST SAMURAI

2009-02-25T09:19:00.005+01:00

Last night WOF visited the Last Samurai Exhibition in Palazzo Reale Milano. This gives the feel of authentic Samurai lives. The costumes are detailed and stunning pieces of art in themselves. You can almost sense the warriors staring out at you from dark holes in their masks. Waiting silently for the right moment to come.

The warriors operated under the Budokan code The Way Of The Samurai and Pure Land Zen Buddhism. They had become so impressed many years earlier when under orders from the Emperor to cull religious power the attacked and burned a Zen monastery only to find zen masters sitting in meditation engulfed in flames.

Many years later the learned the teaching. Do not worry about the sword. Concentrate on the space it uses, of its movement through the air. Of the change of energy and force it uses.

See this if you can.

BEUYS FACE TO FACE

2009-02-24T15:19:00.004+01:00

BEING FRANK

2009-02-24T14:54:00.008+01:00

There's a nice interview with Robert Frank on the new
Saatchi tvsite: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/blogo/art_/robert_frank_in_conversation_with_howard_norman/5217

He was asked a simple question from a member of the audience and this is what he said:

You have all of our ears, what would you like us to know before
you go back where your next journey takes you?

(laughter)

ROBERT FRANK: That's a very big question. I'd like you to have open eyes, you know. I mean, I
think it's very important to look around carefully, and knowing. I got to know by reading and by
looking--that's your choice what you--how you find it, you know? I always--when I used to lecture or
to go to schools, you know, I said to them, "All you have to do is look at me. Look at this wreck of a
man, or look at me as an inspired something." I mean that's how you learn something, from looking at
the guy, and, "Boy, it's too hard," that's what you learn from him or from me. And that's wonderful. You can be in New York and see many different people that to come to present themselves. How do you
learn?

HOWARD NORMAN: Same way, Robert. Read, read, read, just sit and stare at people. (laughter)
Something happens.

ROBERT FRANK: Yeah, I saw that film on Andy Warhol. And it's very good, when he says he just
stared at something for a long time and then he really came up with the answer. (laughter) Well, there
are different ways to find out. For me it was a lot about looking, you know. I mean, it was moving and
looking or standing still. I think there was a book of mine, Hold Still, Keep Moving, yeah.

EVEN WHEN THERE IS NOTHING TO SAY THERE IS SOMETHING TO SAY

2009-02-24T00:57:00.001+01:00

"Great indeed is the sublimity of the Creative, to which all beings owe their beginning and which permeates all heaven."

Lao Tzu

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MUSIC

2009-02-14T12:26:00.004+01:00

It is is seldom that we decide to feature a piece of music here. It was very sweetly presented to us through Alex Ross's the rest is noise blog.

But this was so perfect precise and beautiful in every way. It brought a tear to our eye.

We are happy to share it with you and hope you find it just as sublime.

It is from Georgy and Marta Kurtag. It is Kurtag's transcription of the first movement Sonatina from Bach's Cantata BWV 106, "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit," arr. György Kurtág; G. and M. Kurtág.

GottesZeit.mp3

DO WE END LIKE THIS?

2009-01-02T01:21:00.002+01:00

We bring to your attention something that we saw and liked very much. Something mysterious and sublime. Andrea Galvani is a young italian photographer who lives and works in both milan and new york. while not shooting, galvani is a professor at the academia carrara di belle arti di bergamo.

Galvani’s work is very minimal and surreal. most works feature a single subject or group of like subjects. some feature people and many features animals such as horses, rabbits and other wildlife. one of the other major subjects in the work is balloons. these are spotted floating through space or grouped together and attached to horses in other shots.

When we open the zip of reality we see it was not what we though at all. We look again and for a moment we are somewhere else. Seeing it all as if with new eyes. Galvani brings us such moments

1ST JANUARY 2009

2009-01-01T12:52:00.002+01:00

Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself – if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself – it is very difficult to take care of another person.

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

THE FACE OF OBAMA

2008-10-26T12:18:00.001+01:00

As you know WOF believes that life is change and to know that will help us in everything we do. And Change is the platform message on which Presidential candidate Barak Obama stands.

It's apt then that we mention a massive project taking place in Barcelona right now.

The artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada plans to create a gigantic face of Obama sculpted from gravel and sand, which will cover nearly 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of Barcelona beachfront before the U.S. elections.

"The size of the piece is intrinsic to its value," the artist, Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, said Saturday.

He hopes it will be big enough to be seen on Google Earth.

The portrait of Obama's face will be 445 feet long by 264 feet wide (139.28 by 82.67 meters) and the artist hopes to have it done by late next week or no later than November 3, the day before the U.S. elections.

The materials have been donated, along with bulldozers and their drivers. The crews will initially spread the materials along white lines, and other markers that will be laid out according to the sketch.

Then, the artist's technical team will direct volunteers with garden rakes to put the final touches on the materials, making sure the various colors are spread properly on the ground in order to depict Obama's eyes, hair, cheeks and collar, according to the plans.

Rodriguez-Gerada said he'll need to raise about $18,700 (15,000 euros) for other costs, such as rakes and gloves for volunteers, documentation, even portable toilets for the crew.

He said it's his "biggest work ever, in scale and complexity."

Oc course the portrait won't last forever but serves as a timely remember that we must change and change again.

Of course we shall be voting for Obama for president too.

BANKSY JT LEROY AND THE CULT OF ANONYMITY

2008-07-14T00:08:00.005+02:00

So The Mail On Sunday has outed Banksy. He's been JT Leroyed in fact. The story is a breaker tonight. In fact in features on the front page of the BBC. So it must be true! They disclose that, wait for it, Banksy is none other than "34-year-old former public school pupil called Robin Gunningham." Remember that guy at school who was shy but good at art? Well, he's Banksy. His New York agent has categorically denied this is his client but a local screw who has been on Banksy's case for years thinks it could be.

Take it from us: Banksy is a posse passing the baton. He is a clue what they, Banksy might look like. Remember WOF is the anonymous persona and WOF received a letter from JT LEROY before the actuall storty broke. Just deck it on the site.

Seen them in your hood?

NEW MOVIES AT WORLD OF FOUND - THE VELVET UNDERGROUND BASQIUAT WARHOL EATS A HAMBURGER GUY MAADEN SOMBRA DOLOROSA

2008-05-20T14:10:00.006+02:00

We have a lot of of new movies on World Of Found.

See Andy Warhol eat a hamburger. We also have The Velvet Underground and Nico with Femme Fatale,

Guy Madden's fantastic 'Sombra Dolorosa and some rare footage of Shunryu Suzuki (some of you may know him as the guy that wrote the famous "Zen Mind Begginer's Mind.

Lastly there is El Trio Matamoros one of our all time heroes. We hope you enjoy them.

And here they are are to give you a taste of the cool things going down at Wold Of Found.

http://www.worldoffound.com/showcategory.php?id=15756

MIND EXPANDER 1968 - WORLD OF FOUND

2008-05-08T17:55:00.005+02:00

You probably know that 1968 was a major turning point in culture, politic, art and ideas. If not, check out the new WOF tees and the explanations to go. Or send us a mail for a text.

In our research we also came across many wonderful things from 1968. And so World Of Found presents to you. THE MIND EXPANDER 1968. After the ORGASMATRON and Barbarella it is indeed something to see. A little description below.

The seat shell fixes two persons in a certain position. The lower seat allows one person to sit with their legs slightly open. The thigh of their right leg rests against a step forming the transition to a second seat area that is higher by the thickness of a thigh.

A helmet-like balloon that is connected with the seat can be tilted over the heads of the two people seated. Their heads thus are enclosed a narrow cylindrical space that is covered by a glass-clear plastic dome above which a transparent balloon hovers. A series of lines and stamped-out shapes made of reflective foil are placed on both the dome and the surface of the balloon in such a way that, depending on whether you concentrate on the level closer or further away from you, the elements constantly overlay each other to form new patterns.

WHAT IS THE PAINTING ?

2008-05-06T18:36:00.002+02:00

Ok so take a careful look at the painting.

Notice the brilliant colours, the harmony, the wonderful spontaneous brush-strokes, the solid yet free sense of composition. All the qualities of great Abstract art.

Now guess the painter? Can you? No, not Jackson Pollock. Cy Twombly? Mmmmm, still a little of the mark. Gerhardt Richter? Understand where you're coming from but you know better than to think WOF would be so obvious. OK, take a deep breath.

This is, in fact one of the works of the great abstract painter Koko. Some of you may already be familiar with her work, for others who aren't, Koko is probably the most fanous gorilla around at the moment. Not only is she a fantastic abstract painter but she s drawing on a vocabulary of more than 1,000 words which help her communicate like none before her.

Please look at her work, it is very very good and deserving of your attention. You may, perhaps, like to purchase it, which you can. we have some of it ourselves. To us Koko s indeed a genius in her own right and a World Of Found hero.

KAFKA AND NABOKOV

2008-05-06T15:21:00.006+02:00

Nabokov Improves On Kafka's 'Metamorphosis'

Well, not of interest to everyone, but this is the corrected text of master writer Fraz Kafka's 'Metamorphosis' by the Russian master writer Vladimir Nabokov.

WOF loves both these writers and we think that maybe, just maybe, Nabokov is correct is saying that his work has improved on Kafka.

We shall, as always leave the final decision to you, dear readers.

Click to zoom image.

THE MAN WHO PAINTED TODAY

2008-04-29T12:25:00.002+02:00

What would you think of an artist who spent much of his life painting "today"? And if for some reason he can't finish the painting of today, he destroys it and starts again next day.

This is exactly what the Japanese artist On Kawara has been doing for many years.

Working, usually on a black canvas which he works with layers full of subtle texture. Then he begins to paint the day the date and year in the same fashion usually in white. The process of painting the day normally takes the whole day as he works the canvas meticulously.

When we examine these canvases we realise that they are in fact a perfect record of history, of his being and time. As the minutes seconds and hours passed, Kawara stood before his canvas painting exactly that - the day. And continues to do so.

In this way Kawara is the man who paints today.

BREAST & EGG

2008-04-22T15:40:00.003+02:00

Mieko Kawakami, a former bar hostess was just another wanabe singer - until she started a blog.

Initially this was a way of attracting more attention to her music but her poetic, street-wise writing satrted to make ripples then waves among internet diaries in Japan.

The 31-year-old won this year's Akutagawa Award -- named for Rashomon author Ryunosuke Akutagawa -- which is Japan's most prestigious honour for a new writer.

The bones of the story began with the chance hearing that some rich Japanese women were buying lambs for extortionate prices thinking they were poodles.

Now a best selling novelist it t shows that paying attention to 'by chance' incident can lead to unexepcted fortune.

Ms Kawakami, a Björk-loving 31-year-old, began blogging five years ago and her style quickly won admirers with, at one stage, 200,000 hits a day. The book has sold 110,000 copies, and there are plans for a movie. True to her origins, Ms Kawakami has little time for stuffy literary language. When she won the Akutagawa Prize, she said in her regional dialect, "Mesanko, ureshii": "I'm dead chuffed."

WORLD OF FOUND TRACK: 'New Groove' 12.12.07

2007-12-12T17:25:00.002+01:00

you were going
you were going
hi and lo
hi and lo
up and down
round and round
up and down
round and round
without a sound
life is short
its like a dream
banging all thats in between
its yours
taking up
and smoking
fucking up
making ash
safety crash

hit up it
hit upon it
a new groove
a new groove
let's groove

EVEL THE LAST JUMP

2007-12-04T13:58:00.000+01:00

They started out watching me bust my ass, and I became part of their lives,"

He treid to jump Snake River Canyon in Idaho.
The fountains at Ceasar's Palace.
He was in a coma for 29 days.
Broke every bone in his body
Jumped over sharks and greyhound buses.
He was an icon, an American Hero.
Life is filled with small possibles but it is the impossible
that we dream of.
Evel showed us jsut that. To go without fear.
To demand the impossible....

Now for the jump that no-one can ever know.

GO EVEL GO!!

Check our tribute song 'Evel Jump'

http://www.myspace.com/worldoffoundcom?id=19837

SONY BRAVIA RABBITS WORLD OF FOUND

2007-10-09T18:23:00.001+02:00

Not often that we bring a commercial to your attention but in this case we think you might like it. The new Sony Bravia offers colored plasticine rabbits hopping around the streets of New York. But look closely. We know that many art directors and artists visit World Of Found
as a place for inspiration and creativity.

Any similarity from Sony and their creative agency in this case is purely incidental and proves that we are after all part of the same
consciousness.

World Of Found nows plan to shoot WOF girl in a set of Bravia tv's in the streets of Rio for the
WOF 2008 campaign.

Shooting begins Dec 2007.

TIME CAPSULE 21

2007-03-28T02:06:00.000+02:00

Deebstar wrote a nice little piece about writing to yourself in the future. it reminded us of a project by Warhol called Time Capsule 21 (also going to be a new WOF song).

A.W. put a number of things into boxes (over 600 boxes!) only to be opened sometime in the future. Here you will find a collage portrait of Debbie Harry in 1980. Which brings us to Edwin Land the inventor of the Polaroid camera, another 'time-machine' and which Andy used to make many of his personality pix from the early 80's. And recorded so many 'time-memories' in our world.

There is also a cut-out of a cat and a drawing of a shoe....Something like a dream life...

World Of Found was begun by a gift of a photo of a small girl taken by a time-machine in a far off land and left in a market stall then above a desk for many years. All the people involved made a contact somewhere and passed on, yet they are all connected. Just are you are today while reading this.

There's a story with the headline "HUNT MAN IN FREAK KILLING" or Antonio Frasconi's 'Kaleidoscope In Woodcuts'. Or a postcard featuring a jester on a horse.
The reverse side begins with the sentence that..... "IT IS CHRISTMAS AND I"M STILL HERE. I SOMETIMES FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE WE WILL EVER SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN..."

Everyone should try to remember all their moments and be like a time machine for themselves, seeing everything clearly, nothing escaping.

How beautiful then Life would be.

SEE MORE MEMORIES = JUST LOOK AT YOUR LIFE EVERYDAY...

OR...

http://www.warhol.org/tc21/

FUTURE ME

2007-03-27T20:43:00.000+02:00

Who will I be in the future? Will I remember what it was like to be ME now? Remember when you were a kid and you made time capsules? You would write a letter to yourself in the future reminding yourself what life was like, put in a cutting from a newspaper, wonder about where you would be...

Well, now you can do it online at www.futureme.org. Write an email to yourself that will be sent to you in the future. Wish yourself a happy birthday in the year 2020. Or just read what other people have sent to themselves.

It's funny, a lot of people seem sad in their lives and hope their future self will be skinnier, richer, have a better job and more sex! Who do you want your futureme to be?

Who do you want your nowme to be?

Do you have to wait?!