27 September 2006

who we are

At the Blanchon book event last night (see previous post), there was some discussion of truth or creative storybuilding in some of Blanchon's works. If he creates an event, or tells a story, how much of it is true? Does it matter?

Now, there's a notice for:
Identity and Identification in a Networked World
A Multidisciplinary Graduate Student Symposium
September 29-30, 2006
Furman Hall 210
245 Sullivan Street
New York University School of Law

The first sentence of the description is:
Increasingly, who we are is represented by key bits of information scattered throughout the data-intensive, networked world.

But what if it's not true??

Robert Blanchon book event

Visual AIDS has just published (distributed by D.A.P.) a lovely book about Robert Blanchon (1965-1999) and his work. Last night, there was a book event at Artists Space with a panel of an editor (Amy Sadao), the essayists (Sasha Archibald and Gregg Bordowitz), and Blanchon's executor (Mary Ellen Carroll). Below, my notes:

Archibald: he became "a sort of trickster"; sent out invitations to mailing list of Terra Museum about 21st year of Conceptualism, all a hoax but black tie event with nowhere to be; slides of several of his works including gum on the sidewalk (one version entitled "Untitled"; the other titled with the addresses of cruising spots in L.A.; reminded me of others who have given meaning to ordinary places by labeling them as cruising spots)

Bordowitz: his essay in the form of a prose poem
* guilt [but also envy], survivor's guilt
* names become reference points: all of the activists/artists were not just one happy crew who all knew each other
* Bordowitz didn't know Blanchon and wrote his prose poem to the work, but as a kind of love story [art makes me horny]
* missed opportunities
* inspired by James Schuyler and John Donne
* "we all have beds, Felix"
* works embody the pressure of their moment
* he made both "gay art" and "queer art"
* differences between artist, e.g., Wojnarowicz was a primitive, Moore was kitchy, Felix Gonzalez-Torres was conceptualist
* possibly knowing the artist through his work

Carroll: Blanchon diagnosed in 1983 so HIV positive throughout career; shared sense of tricksterism [Billy Trickster and all from Oregon trip]; architecture, like film, is something you can't do yourself [hence title main entry]; Carroll promised Blanchon she'd do book and international exhibition (book is beautiful and exhibition is on the way); art from perspective of artist/maker, not viewer

Q&A: formalist and not; engagement; easier to die from drug addiction than from AIDS; elevation of gossip to philosophy

http://www.thebody.com/visualaids/books/blanchon.html

25 September 2006

art and circuses

As I said to Julie:
I got to Senior & Shopmaker on Saturday to see the Mary Miss show. They are good pieces: large multi-image photo panoramas. ... I had been fighting going to West Chelsea because it just isn't all that much fun anymore but I learned my lesson. I had a couple-three stops on the list and stopped at several others. As often happens, some of the random stops beat out the ones on the list. The Joseph Kosuth installation at Sean Kelly is good. When I was at Elga Wimmer talking to the artist [Daniel Blaufuks] who happened to be hanging out there, Ken Soehner walks in and it turns out that he and his wife know the artist pretty well (actually, Nathalie knows him well and Ken knows him because Nathalie does). The Chris Verene show at Alona Kagan was pretty interesting; his photos are very evocative.
http://www.skny.com/
http://www.danielblaufuks.com/

That was Saturday. On Sunday, I had Circus Amok on the calendar, along with working on the newsletter. Circus Amok was a good deal of fun, in spite or perhaps enhanced by the rain that caused a longer intermission than anyone really really wanted. One of the guys looked familiar and I think it's because he was all painted up in the report about the Art Parade on the Radical Faeries list. Festive. Mac was running errands and happened upon me and the circus. Maybe I'll run away which reminds me of that Woody Allen film in which the guy runs away from the circus.
http://www.circusamok.org/