Tuesday, January 18, 2005
TOP TEN
Art or Idiocy? asked Audrey Peiper, an arts administrator, curator and organizer to come up with a TOP 10 list. TOP 10 what? TOP 10 whatever. Just so long as it is art and culture related. This is the smashing pantheon she unleashed to us here at Art or Idiocy? and now on you. Ms. Peiper runs Locus Projects with her husband. Locus Projects is, among other things, a camping battery used to run slide projectors in Chicago's parks for impromptu art events.
1. CANADA
Can
Originally uploaded by Art or Idiocy?.
It's looking very appealing at this point (Note: I wrote this entry right after the election – while the immediate sense of desperation has faded, I feel like these were valid, though naïve, sentiments). We all know its draws: progressive social policies, good arts funding, a diverse population. Perhaps I'm idealizing a bit, but after the despondence I felt (and feel the residual effects of) after election day, it seems like a veritable utopia! Visit slate.msn.com for more details on the Great Northerly Migration – not surprisingly, there's an intelligence qualifying exam. Of course, given the complexities of life, we can't all become instant expatriates, nor should we. But that doesn't mean we can't complain during the next four years.
2. Homo floresensis, a.k.a. tiny prehistoric humans
In late October news reports announced the discovery of a new branch in the path of human evolution, and I have been fascinated by descriptions of these three-foot-tall creatures that scientists adamantly attest are not a pygmy variation of Homo sapiens but rather a separate species. As a rather short young woman – partnered with a man 120% life size (he's 6') and by extension his family – mother at 5'11" and father at 6'4" I often feel like a tiny person myself. This newly-uncovered species seems to be my kindred folk. My favorite part: in two brief New York Times articles I read, the authors apparently thought diminutive species were so cute that they were referred to as th "little Floresians" a total of TEN times.
3. HUONG NGO
Huong's work was on view at the MCA Chicago's 12x12 exhibition space in November. Unlike some of her 12x12 predecessors, her work really deserved the attention and prominent display. It deals with the notions of war-on-terror phobia that the Bush administration has fabricated and exploited to great success. Featuring moonsuits and inflatable pods made of Tyvek (that plasticky, clothlike paper that doesn't tear), the installation brings to mind the false protection that our government promises from disease, economic deterioration, and above all terrorism – that vague, paranoid term whose mis- and overuse has propelled some to immense power.
4. WIRED magazine's intellectual property issue, with copyright-free CD
What a great idea – no one complains about receiving free stuff. Plus, it's free stuff in the name of utopian cultural exploration: the disc includes songs from various musicians who invite listeners to become users by borrowing and sampling at will. In light of the litany of RIAA suits against music downloaders and filesharers and the debate about sampling, mashing and whatever other pop terms apply, it's nice to see there are still some who advocate a more progressive model of creative exchange. As organizations move ever onward toward greater and greater deregulation, privatization and centralization of power, ideas rarely get realized without the promise of (immense) profit. Now, shows like American Idol make money off of what companies previously had to pay for: product testing.
Aside: Critiquing the thought-narrowing effects of PowerPoint, and now this? David Byrne rules!
5. SOF' BOY cartoon strip by ARCHER PREWITT
It's mundane and existential. The main character is an amorphous blob. I like that it uses a narrative format, the comic strip, to communicate such non-narrative (and absurd) content.
6. THE iPOD / ABU GHRAIB PHOTOS*
The designer took two very easily recognizable images - the first is from the iPod ad campaign with dark silhouetted figure and contrasting white headphone wires, and the second is the famous prison abuse photo in which a hooded person balances on a box with his arms wired to receive electric shocks - and created a new picture, with the torture victim in silhouette and electrocution wires in iPod white. It's brilliant: now I can't look at the iPod ad and not think about the war in Iraq - or, for that matter, imagine private corporations without thinking of their global impact. Here's a link to the artist's site containing the composite images: iPod -Ghraib
7. "LIBERAL" and "FEMINIST"
Why are the words interpreted as pejorative these days? Further, it seems that even some people who proudly proclaim themselves liberal wouldn't also say they're feminists. It seems that now that a lot of overt discrimination has faded, and a generation has gone by since the women's rights and civil rights movements, there are some (many) women who now enjoy certain rights without having to be called a man-hating lesbian to exercise them. But just as the Geneva Conventions aren't "quaint," I don't think feminism is either. So why are cleaning products still marketed almost exclusively to women? Why are more and more women switching back to taking their husband's name? Why are most corporations still governed by white men? Unfortunately, although they may elicit eye-rolling, these questions are still relevant.
8. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
It's not a transcendent movie. The filmmakers' inspirations are easy to guess. But it delighted me. The brilliantly designed opening credits were even done without computer animation. What I like most about this film is how it captures the humor of a specific generation– or its nerdy subset, of which I was (am) most definitely a member. It gives the initiates a sense of ownership. I also appreciated the idea that the archetypal "jock"and "popular girl" characters were not particularly attractive, athletic, or even mean. How can Generation Y film pastiche be more insightful than the Bush administration in identifying that there is no such thing as pure evil?
9. BUBBA HOTEP
Whenever I'm feeling less than smart, I quote one of the movie's characters: "I'm thinking with sand here!"
On a sad note, the actor Ossie Williams, who played the character that said that line, recently died.
10. STEVE KURTZ, member of CRITICAL ART ENSEMBLE
By now the story of Steve Kurtz has spread within the art and academic communities, and it's a shocking, enraging situation. Dr. Kurtz's wife died suddenly last May, and as if that weren't horrific enough, a progressively worsening series of events started from EMT workers reporting Kurtz's scientific equipment to the FBI, who then detained the artist, took possession of his wife's body and confiscated his belongings because they suspected him of bioterrorism. Of course, Kurtz's work with the group Critical Art Ensemble is widely known and highly regarded, and in recent years has addressed the advent of genetic engineering, its corporate implementers, and educating people about it. (Check out more of their work on their website: http://www.critical-art.net). While the government initially tried to charge Kurtz in bioterrorism-related actions, that soon proved to be too egregiously incorrect, and they have now moved on to mail fraud charges, claiming to have caught the artist and his scientist colleague in this technicality. While this may seem like an appropriate demotion of charges, it in fact remains quite serious and carries draconian penalties -- i.e. huge fines, decades in prison -- under the Patriot Act. It occurs to me: isn't mail fraud the flimsy technicality the government used in days of yesteryear to ensnare the mafia when more serious charges couldn't be proven? And doesn't this highlight how flimsy the government's case is against Steve Kurtz now?
As Dr. Kurtz experiences his journey into the heart of darkness of the Patriot Act and its chilling ramifications for all of us, I'm sure he would echo a very different Kurtz's sentiment: "The horror! The horror!"
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*Editor's Note
This is probably the worst use of the Abu Ghraib image. "Stop Bush," by Richrd Serra.
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