The latest installment of the TOP TEN is here in all it's fully illustrated glory. Artist and writer Terence Hannum, director of panel-house.com, has contributed this time around.
Also be sure to check out the previous TOP TEN by Audrey Peiper.
And the exhibition archive of The Likes of Them, organized by Ruprecht Dogheit & Associates. Additional images are here, here, here and here.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
1. Notre Musique, 2004 (Dir. Jean-Luc Godard) (Wellspring)
"Killing a man to defend an idea isn't defending an idea, it's killing a man." I think I am still stepping back from Godard's new film, Notre Musique, and assessing my response. I turn to Godard's attack on Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 during the Cannes Film Festival as an opening. This is not because I disliked Moore's film, actually I think it is a sad film, but because Godard when criticizing Moore made an appropriate claim that, "Moore doesn't distinguish between text and image," where here Godard does. Actually, Godard has a scene in this film where he gives a lecture to film students on text and image, shot counter shot, and the future of video in film (on which he stays mute). These are two completely different films and Notre Musique successfully seeks a larger issue.
Notre Musique is divided into three ‘kingdoms’ the first “hell” (the text part) composed of a montage of fictional and documentary war footage that strobes in and out. It made me think of Marine Hugonnier’s film, Ariana, and the totality and euphoria of the panorama in regards to the history of Afghanistan, but in the light of the US-led invasion.
Back to Godard, the second ‘kingdom’ is aptly titled “purgatory” and is the bulk of the film containing characters playing themselves such as Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwich and Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo, as well as fictional characters who wander throughout the city interacting and having circular conversations about war, colonialism, martyrdom, etc. The two primary fictional characters are Israeli Jews Judith Lerner (Sarah Adler) and Olga Brodsky (Nade Dieu.) One drawn to Sarajevo, because she seeks to see reconciliation, the other drawn to much darker conclusions.
The third ‘kingdom,’ “heaven,” is composed mainly of images and rests in an idyll by a large protected lake. As the United States continues its unjustified occupations in Iraq, its unconstitutional imprisonments in Guantanemo, its conflict in Afghanistan, its blind eye to Sudan, and indiscriminate straw-grasping thirst for conflict in Iran, North Korea, or Syria, it is clear that this is a century of imposed war. Godard is sifting through the fact that war has become our music, that “a survivor is not only changed, he becomes someone else”, that utopian ideals have ended. And for me, my country has ended them.
Notre Musique is divided into three ‘kingdoms’ the first “hell” (the text part) composed of a montage of fictional and documentary war footage that strobes in and out. It made me think of Marine Hugonnier’s film, Ariana, and the totality and euphoria of the panorama in regards to the history of Afghanistan, but in the light of the US-led invasion.
Back to Godard, the second ‘kingdom’ is aptly titled “purgatory” and is the bulk of the film containing characters playing themselves such as Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwich and Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo, as well as fictional characters who wander throughout the city interacting and having circular conversations about war, colonialism, martyrdom, etc. The two primary fictional characters are Israeli Jews Judith Lerner (Sarah Adler) and Olga Brodsky (Nade Dieu.) One drawn to Sarajevo, because she seeks to see reconciliation, the other drawn to much darker conclusions.
The third ‘kingdom,’ “heaven,” is composed mainly of images and rests in an idyll by a large protected lake. As the United States continues its unjustified occupations in Iraq, its unconstitutional imprisonments in Guantanemo, its conflict in Afghanistan, its blind eye to Sudan, and indiscriminate straw-grasping thirst for conflict in Iran, North Korea, or Syria, it is clear that this is a century of imposed war. Godard is sifting through the fact that war has become our music, that “a survivor is not only changed, he becomes someone else”, that utopian ideals have ended. And for me, my country has ended them.
2. Arthur Russell, World of Echo CD (Upside/Audika)
Like something from another planet this reissue of "mutant disco" forefather, Arthur Russell, is less disco than bizarre beauty. Using only cello, voice, and his hands through various reverb, distortion, and delay effects boards, Russell redoes his broad array of musical interests. World of Echo was originally released in 1986 but has tracks from as early as 1980 on it and presents a different side of Russell. Away from his drum machine, synth loops, and disco yelping, though some of those tracks like "Let's Go Swimming" and "Tree House," to name a few, get done beautifully. If one is so inclined, Soul Jazz Records has a great set of discs titled The World of Arthur Russell that has a good mix of material from various points in his creative life. But World of Echo is a combination of intelligent and intuitive music making that is incredibly compelling. There is so much resonance and beauty in tracks like "See Through" as his voice reverberates over a tripped out cello. "See Through" is a track that kind of negates the included essay by Russell where he alludes to the importance of human vocal sound over the words being sung because the transparency is so incredibly tactile not only to this song but to the whole album.
3. W.G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn (New Directions)
What a compelling and bizarre book, full of mystery and memory. It bridges somewhere between the physical and the mental, poetically criticizing Cartesian epistemology. Yet full of decay and obsolescence, forgotten locations, seaside towns of England, ancient battles, matchstick models of the Temple of Jerusalem...such an enigmatic and human journey.
4. The Power & The Glory, Call Me Armageddon CD (Deathwish Inc.)
I think I wanted the new Low to have this power and crushing darkness but they chose a new path that deserves its own review. TP&TG are a completely different monster but dwell in a glorious nihilism that is incredibly appropriate for this era.
Just read vocalist Ezra's lyrics for the song V is for Vulture
- "Bless the cathode rays, the winter days and loose windowpanes, and the markets mired in malaise. And of course God, King, Country and Cunt. Fuck! It's getting thick in here. Lay my body with the others in the gash between the headlines and the white lies just past the yawning breadlines and the burning skylines. Call it a pauper's burial or a proper fit when the highways come circling like vultures, when the evenings come slithering like snakes, when the hour hands come crashing like thunder--Save the clichés for the virgins, the tourists and the sob stories and just let me rest my eyes. Forever and ever amen."
This is a phenomenal outfit, used to be called Downpour, combining a brutal assault and immense chaos that is short and to the point, no wanking guitar solos, no pity. Rarely does a live show impress enough to want the CD, but an empty show a few weeks ago for about twenty people TP&TG blazed through their set combining political insight and technical prowess which in a time where hardcore has lost political moorings for ‘sex-metal’ this is incredibly welcome.
Gillian Carnegie in Interested Painting at Gallery 400
Gillian Carnegie
Voi
2004
oil on canvas, 76" x 53"
Collection of Andrea Rosen, New York, copyright Gillian Carnegie.
Gillian Carnegie’s impasto paintings have always left an impression on me. These three pieces work very well here in this show alongside Rezi van Lankveld and Merlin James. In Carnegie’s work there’s a flip between the concrete and tangible and the fog or intangible. For example, there is a small piece that is made of a fog of thick, dark colored brush strokes that are of a forest at night or early early morning. Or the blown out sunlight in the large piece Voi, where a pathway is reduced stroke by stroke, layer by pasty layer.
Voi
2004
oil on canvas, 76" x 53"
Collection of Andrea Rosen, New York, copyright Gillian Carnegie.
Gillian Carnegie’s impasto paintings have always left an impression on me. These three pieces work very well here in this show alongside Rezi van Lankveld and Merlin James. In Carnegie’s work there’s a flip between the concrete and tangible and the fog or intangible. For example, there is a small piece that is made of a fog of thick, dark colored brush strokes that are of a forest at night or early early morning. Or the blown out sunlight in the large piece Voi, where a pathway is reduced stroke by stroke, layer by pasty layer.
6. The Foreign Exchange, Connected (BBE)
I don't like The Postal Service very much and am continually disappointed by their songs, but think the idea behind it –to make music by correspondence– is compelling. The Foreign Exchange, composed of US MC Phonte and Holland native Nicolay, on the other hand sound nothing like TPS, yet used webboards and instant messaging to compose this sincere and intricate hip-hop album. Using soul, dub, and electronic influences this album has a serious edge and a broad concept. Connected doesn't try and be anything it isn't, which gives it all the power to be something more. Phonte raps about the lows just as much as the highs, the hopes and the fears.
7. Dan Flavin A Retrospective @ The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Dan Flavin
untitled (to you, Heiner, with admiration and affection)
1973
National Gallery of Art
My wife Erica and I brought my family to see this show when we visited them in DC over Thanksgiving. I think having them there made it all the more interesting hearing a family member say "it's just a light," but on turning a corner sighing in awe at the light rather than the bulb. Perhaps the most ambitious and impressive is the main work from 1973 untitled (to you, Heiner, with admiration and affection) installed alongside the windows of I.M.Pei's building. Not to mention rooms designed specifically for the show housing forty-four works and drawings. A solid exhibition.
Editor's note: Dan Flavin, A Retrospective will be on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, July 1 - October 30, 2005
8. Andrew Holleran's Dancer from the Dance (Plume Books)
I always look for how to translate the experience of music. Whether that is into words or pictures or sounds it doesn't matter. Andrew Holleran's Dancer from the Dance captures a segment of gay New York City. In the beginning chapters, before disco blew up, Holleran focuses his attentions on small and crazy dance parties where, "the next song that turned their bones to jelly and left them all on the dance floor with heads back, eyes nearly closed, in the ecstasy of saints receiving the stigmata." An amazing prose stylist whose tragic-comedy is long overdue for a reprint.
9. Johanna Billing, Look Out! @ Kavi Gupta
Johanna Billing
Look Out!, 2003
05:20 DVD
Edition of 6
Maybe it went by quietly next to the roaring Angelina Gualdoni show in the larger gallery but this video was enticing. Groups of semi-punk/hip youths appear to be on a tour through model modern apartments in a semi-industrial neighborhood in Sweden. The apartments in Look Out! kind of look like the cube-tumors growing in my neighborhood. Every now and then the 'tourists' get a glance out the window and see a river littered with trash, warehouses, traffic, etc. This is an understated comment on architectural interaction and fit well next door to Gualdoni's painted fictional failings of structures.
Look Out!, 2003
05:20 DVD
Edition of 6
Maybe it went by quietly next to the roaring Angelina Gualdoni show in the larger gallery but this video was enticing. Groups of semi-punk/hip youths appear to be on a tour through model modern apartments in a semi-industrial neighborhood in Sweden. The apartments in Look Out! kind of look like the cube-tumors growing in my neighborhood. Every now and then the 'tourists' get a glance out the window and see a river littered with trash, warehouses, traffic, etc. This is an understated comment on architectural interaction and fit well next door to Gualdoni's painted fictional failings of structures.
10. Cuisinart 7-Cup Food Processor (DLC-5)
Mealtime is not the same after this purchase. Erica and I have had our eye on this fine machine for a long time and finally committed to it. Hummus, salsa, pie-dough...endless vegan possibilities are now at our fingertips!
Terence Hannum is a Chicago based artist and critic who directs
panel-house.com and contributes to TENbyTEN.
Friday, February 18, 2005
This is Real
...HILARIOUS!
Bassoon, Magic, and a File Cabinet TONIGHT!
February 17 & 18, 7:00 pm at Gallery 2
Gallery 2 is proud to present new sound and performance work by Gretchen Holmes, Ross Moreno, Jake Elliott and Tim Ivison on February 17 & 18 at 7:00 pm.
Ms. Holmes will be presenting "She's Not Always Already Pretty Enough for This Masquerade", a post-feminist performance instantiating a spectrum of feminist theories through the embodied politics of bassoon stylings and re-interpretive dance.
For the past five years, Mr. Moreno has been practicing the art of magic. Mr. Moreno will be presenting a magic show that interweaves the inevitable loss of innocence we all experience as we mature into adults, with the power and wonder of the unknown.
Mr. Elliott and Mr. Ivison will perform "Untitled Piece for Object and Transducers." The composition creates a multi-threaded feedback loop through an unspecified object. For this performance the object will be a metal file cabinet.
Admission is free, but seats are limited.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Exciting new developments!
Thanks to Dan at Iconoduel for plugging Art or Idiocy?. Below is an unorthodox review of the current show on view at the 3Arts Club. I think the first sentence is the most unacceptable thing you can write about art. Also to note is that Alison Ruttan is featured in a solo exhibition at mmg through March 12.
Coming Soon:
Terrence Hannum’s TOP TEN. Hannum is an artist and writer basing his operations in Chicago. He also directs the mighty fine art criticism website panel-house
Questions, comments, concerns and communiqués can be directed to: artoridiocy@yahoo.com
Coming Soon:
Terrence Hannum’s TOP TEN. Hannum is an artist and writer basing his operations in Chicago. He also directs the mighty fine art criticism website panel-house
Questions, comments, concerns and communiqués can be directed to: artoridiocy@yahoo.com
Fight or Flight
Alison Ruttan & Julie Oldham
3 Arts Club
Through February 24
It’s a good show. The presentation at the 3Arts space-some videos in the gallery, some in the sitting room–is great. The videos are technically successful–crisp vivid images on nice new TVs. They are placed against the regal aged setting of 3Arts environment. The installation comes of as dynamic and effective.
I didn’t know Alison Ruttan did video, I thought she was a painter. But apparently that was a while ago. Regardless, the videos are good.
There is one of a cat in a gray and white room. The cat is black and white and looks like my foster cat, Woody. DIGRESSION: I saw this show a few days after first taking him in and was actually startled to see him in the video. I thought, “what sort of crazy stuff did they have him doing before I started taking care of him?” But it’s not Woody in the video, but it could be his brother or sister. The two cats are that similar.
Impersonator (in White), is a two monitor installation, two videos on separate TVs and pedestals facing eachother. The opposite screen has a black-haired young man with BVD’s in the same room. It is very funny. The camera follows the cat around the room, the boy mimics the cat. The camera is almost tormenting the cat, it won’t let him get away.
It’s good to see videos at 3Arts. Both artists’ videos are “painting videos.” That means you can casually watch them and “get” what they are about in a few minutes. More than static art, video really has to be conscious of its audience and how it is viewed. Unfortunately, attention spans are short, especially in regards to a medium so adjacent to the 30 second spot commercial. You wouldn’t really sit and watch these videos at a screening. Especially the two channel video, which is also about space. The space of the room (which had a bunch of dogs in it before they put the cat in there) and the space between the two facing TVs on plinths. These videos are short and sweet, you watch them and move on. I like that. They are simple and about one thing. It’s nice to watch the actor trying to imitate the cat, but watching the cat is much more fascinating.
It’s funny that the human is copying the cat. Really, he is not im-person-ating the cat. He is im-cat-inating. It is a common thing for animals to copy eachother. Dogs will howl along with music, parrots repeat what people say and apes can perform complex tasks if shown how. But humans do it too. We meow at our cats to get their attention. And many a skit is modeled after a human pretending to be an animal. So I guess there are two things going on, the cat reacting to the unfamiliar smells and space, being followed by a camera, and the human trying to copy the cat’s mannerisms.
3 Arts Club
Through February 24
It’s a good show. The presentation at the 3Arts space-some videos in the gallery, some in the sitting room–is great. The videos are technically successful–crisp vivid images on nice new TVs. They are placed against the regal aged setting of 3Arts environment. The installation comes of as dynamic and effective.
I didn’t know Alison Ruttan did video, I thought she was a painter. But apparently that was a while ago. Regardless, the videos are good.
There is one of a cat in a gray and white room. The cat is black and white and looks like my foster cat, Woody. DIGRESSION: I saw this show a few days after first taking him in and was actually startled to see him in the video. I thought, “what sort of crazy stuff did they have him doing before I started taking care of him?” But it’s not Woody in the video, but it could be his brother or sister. The two cats are that similar.
Impersonator (in White), is a two monitor installation, two videos on separate TVs and pedestals facing eachother. The opposite screen has a black-haired young man with BVD’s in the same room. It is very funny. The camera follows the cat around the room, the boy mimics the cat. The camera is almost tormenting the cat, it won’t let him get away.
It’s good to see videos at 3Arts. Both artists’ videos are “painting videos.” That means you can casually watch them and “get” what they are about in a few minutes. More than static art, video really has to be conscious of its audience and how it is viewed. Unfortunately, attention spans are short, especially in regards to a medium so adjacent to the 30 second spot commercial. You wouldn’t really sit and watch these videos at a screening. Especially the two channel video, which is also about space. The space of the room (which had a bunch of dogs in it before they put the cat in there) and the space between the two facing TVs on plinths. These videos are short and sweet, you watch them and move on. I like that. They are simple and about one thing. It’s nice to watch the actor trying to imitate the cat, but watching the cat is much more fascinating.
It’s funny that the human is copying the cat. Really, he is not im-person-ating the cat. He is im-cat-inating. It is a common thing for animals to copy eachother. Dogs will howl along with music, parrots repeat what people say and apes can perform complex tasks if shown how. But humans do it too. We meow at our cats to get their attention. And many a skit is modeled after a human pretending to be an animal. So I guess there are two things going on, the cat reacting to the unfamiliar smells and space, being followed by a camera, and the human trying to copy the cat’s mannerisms.
Julia Oldham’s video Fish (2004, 1:40 loop), is of a girl (the artist) sticking her face in a fish bowl and blowing bubbles. I think it’s about breathing life into the fish. Without agitation of the water, the fish will breath all the oxygen in the water and then suffocate.
There is a 3 monitor video installation called Rotations. The triple video is about honeybees, and kind of sucks, I feel. It is monochromatic, all yellow, so that is a plus. I think videos having an over all color gives them unity and a certain feel. The way Impersonator is all blacks, grays and whites also gives it a nice visual style (which is echoed in the gray monitors and the white platforms.)
Rotations has a girl (the artist) in a plain dress speeding around on sped up film ala Benny Hill. I had no idea it was about being a bee until she said something at the talking portion of the opening. One of the screens shows the subject kneeling between bottles and flapping her arms very rapidly like bee wings. It makes me laugh because it reminds me of the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror where Bart gets his head swapped with that of a fly. The fly keeps flapping his arms (Bart’s body) trying to fly. And this is what the video is like, that ridiculous sort of futility.
Another screen shows the artist speeding around making little pollen piles with her toes. I can’t believe I didn’t realize this was about bees, I must be dense. This piece isn’t all that great and seems caught up in certain trappings of videomaking, but Oldham does have tremendous potential.
The more I think about Fish, the more I think about how good it is. It reminds me of a story which I am going to tell like an old man would.
DIGRESSION: I had biology in high school and we had a project where we broke into groups and all built fish tanks out of pop bottles and jugs. We got little fish and created habitats for them. Then we went home for the weekend and when we came back, all the fish were did. The only fish that lived were the fish of this kid who blew bubbles into the water everyday that week for twenty minutes. The teacher knew it would happen and didn’t say anything in order to teach us a lesson. The lesson was that life is cruel and you might die a slow painful death for reasons you are unaware of and are outside of your understanding. And now when I see fish bowls I think that someone had better start agitating that water and get some air to those fish.
You could say that Fish is about how human intervention isn’t all bad. After all, without the human blowing bubbles, the fish would die.
I also think of the fish bowl only filled with water that my friend used to keep on the kitchen counter. It turns out it used to contain the cat’s best friend, and when the fish died and they took away the bowl, the cat got very sad. So they filled it with water and put it back on the counter so the cat could go on living.
I think that that is much more interesting than making sped up videos of endurance performances of yourself as a bee. But it’s not as interesting as a video of a cat running around an empty room, being chased by a camera, looking for a place to hide and smelling dogs everywhere.
Again, it is format and length which makes this show so successful. With these concise ideas, the viewer can watch the pieces several times and ponder them. The minds is free to explore the trains of thought these videos start. And the setting of the 3Arts Club, a Victorian building with a long-standing history is a wonderful place to stage new media art made within the last year. It just seems so right.
There is a 3 monitor video installation called Rotations. The triple video is about honeybees, and kind of sucks, I feel. It is monochromatic, all yellow, so that is a plus. I think videos having an over all color gives them unity and a certain feel. The way Impersonator is all blacks, grays and whites also gives it a nice visual style (which is echoed in the gray monitors and the white platforms.)
Rotations has a girl (the artist) in a plain dress speeding around on sped up film ala Benny Hill. I had no idea it was about being a bee until she said something at the talking portion of the opening. One of the screens shows the subject kneeling between bottles and flapping her arms very rapidly like bee wings. It makes me laugh because it reminds me of the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror where Bart gets his head swapped with that of a fly. The fly keeps flapping his arms (Bart’s body) trying to fly. And this is what the video is like, that ridiculous sort of futility.
Another screen shows the artist speeding around making little pollen piles with her toes. I can’t believe I didn’t realize this was about bees, I must be dense. This piece isn’t all that great and seems caught up in certain trappings of videomaking, but Oldham does have tremendous potential.
The more I think about Fish, the more I think about how good it is. It reminds me of a story which I am going to tell like an old man would.
DIGRESSION: I had biology in high school and we had a project where we broke into groups and all built fish tanks out of pop bottles and jugs. We got little fish and created habitats for them. Then we went home for the weekend and when we came back, all the fish were did. The only fish that lived were the fish of this kid who blew bubbles into the water everyday that week for twenty minutes. The teacher knew it would happen and didn’t say anything in order to teach us a lesson. The lesson was that life is cruel and you might die a slow painful death for reasons you are unaware of and are outside of your understanding. And now when I see fish bowls I think that someone had better start agitating that water and get some air to those fish.
You could say that Fish is about how human intervention isn’t all bad. After all, without the human blowing bubbles, the fish would die.
I also think of the fish bowl only filled with water that my friend used to keep on the kitchen counter. It turns out it used to contain the cat’s best friend, and when the fish died and they took away the bowl, the cat got very sad. So they filled it with water and put it back on the counter so the cat could go on living.
I think that that is much more interesting than making sped up videos of endurance performances of yourself as a bee. But it’s not as interesting as a video of a cat running around an empty room, being chased by a camera, looking for a place to hide and smelling dogs everywhere.
Again, it is format and length which makes this show so successful. With these concise ideas, the viewer can watch the pieces several times and ponder them. The minds is free to explore the trains of thought these videos start. And the setting of the 3Arts Club, a Victorian building with a long-standing history is a wonderful place to stage new media art made within the last year. It just seems so right.
Fliege gegen Fliege
bart_fly
Originally uploaded by Art or Idiocy?.
Homer kauft einen Teleporter, der ihm das Leben erleichtern soll. Allerdings mischt dieser Teleporter Barts DNA mit der einer Fliege!
Thursday, February 10, 2005
munch
Originally uploaded by Art or Idiocy?.
So The Scream and his girlfriend the Madonna are still missing. No one seems to care much anymore. I'm sure the museum still cares and the police care and the people of Norway care. Do you care? I care, but not that much. I feel guilty that I don't care that much. I'm racked with artguilt, what the Germans call Kunstschuld.
I haven't even thought about it in a while. But I did yesterday and so I checked what Aftenposten had to say. Its latest story on the subject was from back in December. It stated that when people witnessed the crime, they noticed the paintings and especially the Madonna were treated very carelessly. An unnamed source who runs in the underworld, claims to have seen the two pieces, and says they are in rough shape. Several sources claim that the Madonna is completely ruined. The criminal's story who contacted the press confirms these fears. The article also said the police remain optimistic and claim to have linked the getaway car to several suspects they know by name.
Will these paintings ever resurface? It doesn't seem likely after all this time. I could see the Madonna, hanging in tatters off it's shattered stretchers being dropped off in front of the Munch Museet. Maybe that is how it will go down. The paintings will appear in front of the museum, leaning against the doors. Or maybe the thieves will walk up in broad daylight to return them.
I've also recently come across this interesting tidbit: The theives of the other Scream from a few years back, left a note which read, "Thanks for the lousey security." Ouch.
The Munch Museum is still closed and has this depressing press release on its website. It finally appeared, it only took them 4 months to actually acknowledge that the crime had already occurred. And of course, no amount of security will bring those paintings back.
Press release 05.11.2004
The Munch museum will remain closed until June 2005
On August 22 armed robbers stole the iconic Edvard Munch paintings "The Scream" and "Madonna" from the Munch Museum. The robbery represents a new threat -situation for Norwegian museums. "Det norske Veritas" was engaged to perform a comprehensive security analysis for the Munch museum, and was asked to review aspects of security related to robbery, break-ins and fire. The report is now completed, and the analyses include several suggestions involving concrete measures for improvements. The suggestions will be followed up, and the necessary work to upgrade security will commence immediately.
The rebuilding of parts of the museum makes it necessary for the museum to remaint closed until the summer of 2005. The planned exhibitions for autumn 2004 and spring 2005, a comprehensive presentation of Munch's drawings, and "The Years of Vitalism", will be on display at a later time. The museum's library will be open, but the coffee shop and museum-shop will also be closed.
People will probably loose their jobs over this, the museum may even be discredited and be refused future loans. But in the end, no one seems to care. It also makes you think about whether or not a work of art really needs to be around. I never really planned on going to that museum to see the work. So does that mean my experience of the Madonna is diminished or invalid? And think of all the other art you only see as a picture. I do all the time and that sort of realization really affects my approach to art making.
Press release 05.11.2004
The Munch museum will remain closed until June 2005
On August 22 armed robbers stole the iconic Edvard Munch paintings "The Scream" and "Madonna" from the Munch Museum. The robbery represents a new threat -situation for Norwegian museums. "Det norske Veritas" was engaged to perform a comprehensive security analysis for the Munch museum, and was asked to review aspects of security related to robbery, break-ins and fire. The report is now completed, and the analyses include several suggestions involving concrete measures for improvements. The suggestions will be followed up, and the necessary work to upgrade security will commence immediately.
The rebuilding of parts of the museum makes it necessary for the museum to remaint closed until the summer of 2005. The planned exhibitions for autumn 2004 and spring 2005, a comprehensive presentation of Munch's drawings, and "The Years of Vitalism", will be on display at a later time. The museum's library will be open, but the coffee shop and museum-shop will also be closed.
People will probably loose their jobs over this, the museum may even be discredited and be refused future loans. But in the end, no one seems to care. It also makes you think about whether or not a work of art really needs to be around. I never really planned on going to that museum to see the work. So does that mean my experience of the Madonna is diminished or invalid? And think of all the other art you only see as a picture. I do all the time and that sort of realization really affects my approach to art making.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
THE THREE TRIES RULE
confused
Originally uploaded by Art or Idiocy?.
This rule was formulated in response to essays about art & theory, but can be applied to all types of writing. It has mainly been devised as a tool to help the hapless reader who stumbles into a mire of dense critical theory and is caught unawares. It is a means of escape without having to feel too guilty.
If you are trying to read a review or an essay and keep finding your mind is wondering, you might want to apply The Three Tries Rule.
This is assuming your environment and personal conditions are not hindering your ability to read and comprehend the text you are faced with. Go back to the point where you remember reading and understanding and continue.
If you find that once again you've zoned out, go once again to the last point of comprehension and try again.
If this happens a third time, you may invoke The Three Tries Rule.
You just say, "fuck it, I've tried three fucking times to read this boring, impenetrable piece of shit, I quit!" Then you throw down the book or magazine on the bathroom floor in such a way that it makes a loud SLAP!
You can choose to come back to the offending text at a later time, but only if you want to. This phenomenon usually occurs when reading Voyage on the North Sea or something written by Hal Foster.
Personally, I am interested in writing which is insightful, clever and entertaining. I like to read for pleasure. Why else would you read? Are you a Goth S&M-ist? "I read for pain."
So, yes, I read and write about art for pleasure. Most writing about art suck because it isn't written for pleasure. The writers have no idea that anyone could enjoy reading about art. Most of what is written about art isn't really even intended to be read. Think of exhibition catalogues or Artforum. Artforum is like Playboy, it's porn and no one reads the articles.
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