The 59th Minute

ARTISTS

Günther Selichar

In Who’s Afraid of Blue, Red and Green, Günther Selichar invites internet users to create digital animations using the three colors upon which modern video, computer and television screens are based. Tipping his hat to Barnet Newman’s 1960s “zip paintings,” Selichar devised a platform for web-surfers to investigate the nuanced relationship between distance, proportion, scale, color, and moving imagery.

Three exceptional submissions from a selection of six hundred were chosen by an all-star jury - including the artist, Peter Halley, Carl Goodman, Erwin Redl, Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Barbara Pollack, Yvonne Force, Anne Pasternak, Benjamin Weil, Justin Camerlengo and Sarah Jacobo - to reveal the wild complexity and potential within the confines of a simple visual system. View submissions in the gallery.

From June 24 – September 30, 2004, the winners will have their moment of glory on the Panasonic Astrovision by NBC, an icon set within the most familiar screen-based urban landscape: Times Square. As this landmark destination relentlessly dazzles and delights for pedestrian attention, the chosen animations will playfully uncover a common denominator among its ubiquitous screens.Who’s Afraid of Blue, Red and Green, like all works in The 59th Minute, appears on the last minute of every hour of the Astrovision’s programming day.

“This project establishes a grassroots artistic movbent in Times Square, offering the individual an opportunity to both participate and be represented in our mass media dominated society. The three finalists responded to the project in a convincing and precise manner by simultaneously showing its complex possibilities and the beauty of simplicity.” -Günther Selichar

Winners:

BRG, by Atomicelroy
Tom McElroy, aka Atomic Elroy, is a time-based media artist based in Colorado. He has performed at and collaborated with numerous venues including The San Francisco Fringe Festival, The Praxis Group, and The Walker Art Center. He is currently represented by Zeile/Judish Gallery in Denver, Colorado.

What's happiness? Calling into the night und being answered..., by Anne Wolfius
An artist and author, Anne Wolfius focuses her energies on photography and computer based animation as well as poetry writing. She has studied social education and law and currently resides in Wurzburg, Germany.

Over-red, by John Spiff
Abbott John "Spiff" Addesso creates kinetic and time-based art in mutltiple medias. He is currently a senior in college studying art with a concentration in metalsmithing and sculpture in Norfolk, Virginia.

Who's Afraid of Blue, Red and Green?
June 24 - September 30, 2004