On Thursday I went to 319 Scholes to attend the art opening of “Collect the WWWorld: The Artist as Archivist in the Internet Age”.
Beyond the anecdotal post/pre hispter crowd, the exhibition itself is a sad celebration of noise. Which, in itself is as valid, or invalid, as any other starting point in the endless debate about art (more so in regards with contemporary, electronic, net, etc).
But it is its legitimization attempt, with research project, curator, catalogue, and international tour, which brings the debate to a whole different level.
Tuesday, October 2nd I was invited to the member`s viewing and reception of “Silver Wind: The Arts of Sakai Hoitsu” exhibition at Japan Society. This exhibition is the first American retrospective of Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1828), a samurai aristocrat turned Buddhist monk who dedicated his life to art and poetry. On exhibit there were also a few works by his chief pupil Suzuki Kiitsu, although I must admit the difference between the two is quite notable.
From the 13th until the 16th I have traveled to Seoul to pick up an award (International Business of the Year bronze Award).
But there was much more than boosted egos, networking and business PR in that trip:
On Friday I went to NY Comic Con, like everyone else, I guess, with the idea of having fun, of experiencing first hand one of the “major events” that a true nerdy geek can attend. I also wanted to meet Cory Doctorow (although we actually ended up not meeting). It has been years since I last met him, and it was the perfect “excuse” to attend the conference.
When I arrived, I was really surprised to see the size of it.
I have just returned from Panama. It has been a quick business trip in which I have tried to make the most of my time. Here are some notes from the trip:
– United Airlines choice of dinner was "beef or chicken". Whatever happened to the broadly accepted vegetarian-friendly classic pasta choice? Besides, the chicken was breaded, in a white bun, and the "beef", lets just say it did not look too good.
I can`t seem to be able to keep up. Too much going on at all levels. So my “done this and that” posts are going to be reduced to the minimum expression.
September 5th I went to this event I already talked about.
September 7th I was invited to attend the premiere of a documentary about Gerhard Richter at the New Museum. It was very revealing and sad to see how Richters art critic/historian proposed an interpretation of one of his paintings that Richter did not seem to agree on, but after a few minutes of conversation, he "accepted".
On Thursday I was invited to the New Musuem for the screening of “Graffiti – PostGraffiti” documentary and panel discussion.
Your usual suspects were there. Besides the panelist (Pattie Astor, Fab Five Freddy, Lady Pink, and Lee Quinones), there were many old glories and a couple of aspiring bomber kids in the audience that I am sure were tagging walls late that night.
What started as a celebration, a remembrance, and a comunion, as the liturgy advanced ended up becoming a hurtful vindication and even a flat out purist attack.
