Artnet.com

...All of these pieces seemed to be at home at the event, nicely straddling the Scope Hamptons directive to expose viewers to something resembling a new experience and the need for nifty collectable objects. But it was outside, on the sweaty, sunlit lawn, that two special projects most directly thematized the spirit of the day.

The first was Charles Truett’s CBTSA (an acronym for "Charles Badgett Truett Space Administration"), a tent in which a data collection station offered you the chance to put an item from your pocket into a plastic bag along with a description of its significance -- all for the good of pseudo-anthropology! A table displayed items that had been previously collected in small plastic boxes, including pen caps, lost teeth, lucky silver dollars and the inevitable empty condom wrapper. In a commercial art fair centered around flattering the high-class visitor’s sense of himself as smart, this piece cut out the middle man and put the public’s self-love on direct display.

And finally, there was Lifeboat, a project presented by Mary Mattingly and Paul Middendorf "providing education, training, and security for the Hamptons and other Micronations." Walking the fine line between cutting edge institutional critique and New Yorker cartoon, the artists presented a miniature Hamptons in the form of a fully stocked pool complete with a tower of Evian water, American flag and martinis at the ready -- leaving it nicely ambiguous whether this weekend the artists had taken over the Hamptons, or the Hamptons had taken over the artists.

BEN DAVIS is associate editor of Artnet Magazine.

New York Magazine: Art Goes to the Beach

Where to join the gallery crowd on the East End.
1. ~scopeHamptons
The roving art fair touches down in Southampton, wooing well-heeled collectors with contemporary works from some 40 exhibitors plus a full calendar of films, parties, and other special events. Look out for the reality-show-inspired Lifeboat-Hamptons, a performance featuring “a group of artists transforming their bodies into well-oiled tanning machines.”
• Hampton Hall, 230 Elm St., nr. Pulaski St., Southampton (see scope-art.com for complete schedule, exhibitor list, and information on parties and performances). 7/15-7/17. KAREN ROSENBERG

Put the FUN back into FUNdraising!

Performance`scope presents Micro|scope; a conceptual performance by Paul Middendorf and Mary Mattingly.

Micro|Scope cordially invites you to an After Party & Benefit
Cocktails at a Private Southampton Garden
Saturday, July 16th|8:00 to 10:00 pm|9 Hampton Street, Southampton

Gather with us at poolside to celebrate life, liberty, and social awareness.
Art Installations and Performances by: Agata Oleksiak|G-77|Milosz Koziej|Raphaele Shirley and more... Live Music & DJ: CounterIntelligence|Curated by Renée N. Vara

In honor of Micro|Scope—a performance piece and social experiment presented by artists and curators sponsored by ScopeHamptons Art Fair. To benefit the Center for Sociability—a faux organization to promote social awareness amongst privileged youth through the arts.
“Putting the FUN Back into FUNdraising,”

RSVP required for complimentary admission, space limited csafunfundraiser@yahoo.com

Goodie Bags Compliments of WIRED Magazine. Sponsors include: Red Bull, Tully's, Zachys Wine, Bedrock Industries, Art and Auction, Gallery Guide, Origins,VArt, Mattingly, Manifestartisrty, NYB Group, Seltzer Marketing, Counterintellingence .

Hamptons© Pool