Seeking the definition of Art for a while, I can not find one that satisfies me, nor I seem to be able to reach one by myself. Here is as far as I have been able to get so far:
Art is giving the opportunity of being to something that would never be
Wednesday May 2nd, I had the pleasure to meet Fernando Sabater at Instituto Cervantes, NY.
The conversation was lighthearted and included many anecdotes and trvia, but also a good dose of Philosophy and Psychology wisdom and aphorisms (like those by Andrés Newman). Here are some delicious quotes by him:
Dont attack, dont comply Childhood is always bad: wether because it was bad and left you a trauma, or because it was good and it frustrates you to leave it behind Happyness is also hard to bear Skepticism grows, and thats why when I am about to make a statement (particularly if it is a grand one) I end up laughing.
Yesterday I went to Japan Society for the Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug (glowing) dance.
I must admit, regardless of having read the description and program, that I did not understand anything at all. Not even after hearing Kota Yamazaki explain his work after the show. So, I did the only thing a reasonable person can do when approaching art and not understanding: feel.
While the apparent lack of linear narrative or character identification makes it hard to approach, the dancers movements (rather than the much touted but ineffective light design), unobtrusive (and minimal) sound landscape by Kohji Setoh, and the elegant twist with the hanging wooden props becoming physical space at the end, played together surprisingly well.
On Friday, at lunch time, I went to the Guggenheim to meet Susan Thompson, Curatorial Assistant, for a tour of Francesca Woodman exhibition.
Although Francesca Woodman`s photographs are undeniably subtle and portray the mind of a troubled young woman (body, space, self, disgust, identity, etc), it is a pity she took her life so early, leaving us with what is obviously a truncated body of work, one that begins, explores, promises… but never concludes because death found her first.
On Tuesday I went to New York University for a nice conversation in the Inside the Internet Garage series, with journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher (AllThingsDigital, Wall Street Journal, etc).
Besides the very interesting bio/background overview of them that the interviewer did, here are some quotes that caught my attention.
Walt Mossberg:
IT departments are the most regressive force in tech, blocking new tech adoption
The story goes that Larry Page asked Steve Jobs for advice, he said “Find the 5 things you do best, and focus on it”, which its what hes doing
Last Saturday, given that the Anarchist Art Festival seemed a little weak, I decided to spend the day at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York).
First, a nice tour of “The Shaping of New Visions: Photography, Film, Photobook” exhibition (Edward Steichen Photography Galleries, third floor) by Dr. Elizabeth Cronin, assistant curator of photography at MoMA and NYPL. This exhibition, covering the period from 1910 to today, offers a critical reassessment of photographys role in the avant-garde and neo-avant-garde movements—with a special emphasis on the mediums relation to Dada, Bauhaus, Surrealism, Constructivism, New Objectivity, Conceptual, and Post-Conceptual art—and in the development of contemporary artistic practices.
On Friday I went to the MET, and took a tour of their “highlights” with a curator, stopping at a few particularly interesting pieces in their collection. Here are some of them, and what makes them particularly interesting:
In the Greek/Roman hall, the sculpture of fabric: while the greek sculptors portrayed the idealized human figure (even turning it into a mathematical formula) and the romans followed that tradition, fabric was the only part that was sculpted as it was, from thick to almost transparent, with embroidery, motifs, etc.
