Ten for Ten: Danielle Paz

For the end of 2010, Art or Idiocy? has invited ten guests to each contribute a list of ten items. Join us each week as a new list is published. First was Steve Ruiz.

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Danielle Paz is a Chicago-based artist working in video, photography and installation. She believes watching movies everyday in the winter is a good thing to do.





2010 has been a year of reacquainting and reassessing.
This list is a sampling of the material and non-material that changed things around a bit …. a casual -sort of- chronological list of memorable stuff.


- A marketing executive giving a lecture for my piece, Devices for Illusory Space at Reception Gallery.


- On the Political Imaginary exhibition by Tania Bruguera at the Neuberger Museum of Art. Specifically, experiencing Untitled (Havana, 2000), 2000. Walking in the dark and smelling the dank, sweet smell of sugar cane and not knowing you would happen on figures later in the distance, unforgettable.



L: Danielle Paz • Devices for Illusory Space • 2010 • photographic slide lecture • R: Tania Bruguera • unititled (Havana, 2000)


- Trifecta of Thievery - Bike, wallet and smart phone stolen within two months of each other.


- Last Tango in Paris, again.


- DeerHunter’s Halcyon Digest So varied and thoughtful, it reminded me how satisfying it is to listen to a complete album, from beginning to end.



L: Marlon Brando & Maria Schneider in Last Tango in Paris • 1972 • Bernardo Bertolucci, director • R: album cover for Halycon Digest by Deerhnuter


- Divine Ms. M performances at the Continental bathhouse from the 1960’s on youtube.


- Pork rinds from one of Atlanta’s really great restaurants, Sauced. This took me back to my mother’s farming people.


- An Open Letter to the Frameworks Community from the founding editor of UbuWeb, Kenneth Goldsmith. I visit the ubuweb site all the time, specifically looking for certain works or even perusing. This letter defends and explains the short history of this comprehensive archive that seeks to give free access to all sorts of media-related artwork otherwise unavailable outside of an institutional setting. It does not seek to reproduce or lessen the value of the work, just merely provide a glimpse.



Pork rinds • The Carolina Chocolate Drops • Joaquin Phoenix


- Seeing the Carolina Chocolate Drops at the Park West in Chicago. This was a performance like none other. It was pure enjoyment in the act of playing music----A pair of dried cow bones used as castanets, c’mon.


- I'm Still Here Directed by Casey Affleck. Experimental film documenting Joaquin Phoenix’s transition from actor to rapper. Unsettling and hard to watch, there has been talk it was a hoax. Feels too crazy to be a hoax to me.