New York – October 24, 1997 (Full Issue)

Related Links:
AudArt Installation
East Coaster's goin' West
Momentuous occasions — Ken Schaeffer’s 50th

October 24, 1997

AudArt Installation
Audart was at it again. The gallery and performance space, which integrates technology with art, began a few years ago when Neil London and Audrey Regan took over an abandoned Swiss bank in the Wall Street area. They wanted to create a space that served and promoted artists, and combine it with technology. The technology part of the company, Audcom, is a full service Internet company. They provide ISP service, Web hosting, are resellers for many top products including Digital computers, T1s, FORE Systems, Oki technology and others. So far they’ve had more than 1,000 people at each gallery opening, which are also online. After the most recent exhibit, the Premiere for The Art & Technology Circus, they will have over 200 artists online.

The Circus opened on Thursday, Oct. 16 and runs until Dec. 12. I breezed through it on my way to a WWWAC board meeting, but did have enough time to meet Neil London. Each installation had art and a performer within the space. These ranged from exotic to stupefying, but always engaging. If you haven’t ventured down to this true art space, I’d highly recommend it. Before entering the gallery space, you walk through a gallery store — beautiful functional pieces for sale. The gallery itself is at the end of a series of short sharp corridors dotted with art and whimsical things to look at from every turn. Eachexhibit and opening is even more uniquely different from the previous in that they also completely change the physical layout of the gallery space. The next performance, where 50+ artists collaborate with 20+ technologies is Nov. 6th.

East Coaster’s goin’ West
All’s well that ends well, and it was a swell farewell to Chris McCarthy andNancy Jaffe Friday night Oct. 17th at the Suzy Wong Lounge below E & O Restaurant on Houston St. Donned in black, and Nancy in a hot-to-trot leather skirt, I mused how well they’ll fit in with the Valley counterparts.Clem Paulsen and his lovely wife May beamed as they told me about theirupcoming trip to Russia to pick up their newly adopted 8 month old babygirl. May, Anne Yoakam (freelance writer) and myself had an involved discussion on the status of women in relation to Communism vs. Capitalism. Our conversation got cut short by Bonnie Halper as she flew in with a flock of men including Taylor Standlee and Vernon Steward (sporting a name tag of”Jack Ass” — apparently a cruel joke from a collegue) from Think New Ideas.David Kidder was charming as ever, although I just met him. He’s a good person to have around ’cause he knew all about the Alley to Valley Rally and that always fills a bucket o’ conversation. David Turnbull (Director, New Biz Dev.,RareMedium), Andrew Gelman (my first cyber-lawyer), Marielle Smith (GreeneCommunications) and Chris Starace (VP Prof. Services, Social Science)populated the red lit oriental themed lounge and all looked like they’re weathering our new media storm quite well.

Not only are Halloween and new technology-related parties sprouting up, but birthday’s are as well…

Momentuous occasions — Ken Schaeffer’s 50th
Ken Schaffer celebrated his 50th with a close group of friends on Sat. Oct. 18 at roof top party.Alla Kliouka and Kibo (Ken’s wife and son, respectively) made everyone feelat home with hugs and lots of caviar. Dietmar Petutschnig (Image Info Inc.)and I chatted for a while on his recent trip to Paris for the fashion shows. Seeing as his company builds image databases, the fashion companies havebeen a logical client base for him. Richard Brand (Adult & AdolescentPsychiatry) who has a different client base, and I spoke of how he couldpublish some of his medical articles. He and his lovely wife Jane and I alsotalked about his earlier career in the music industry. How many of youremember “Walk Away Renne” by Left Banke? Dr. Ivan Eliashevich, another Dr.– of Semiconductors at Emcore, and his talentedwife Anya (Fashion Designer)and I spoke at length of my time in Moscow, traveling, and Russia. The Russian Web Girls came in and sooneveryone was dancing! (PS. Look for me in an exclusive dress designed for meby Anya at the Upcoming 3rd Annual WWWAC Holiday party.)