I had my first experience with Slovak contemporary art yesterday. After work, my local friend Jana took me to the School of Art in the city centre where two students were being featured in an exhibition. Let me tell you....I like art, very much, but these pieces were a bit of a stretch for me. There were 7 segments, and some I understood, and others....not so much. The show was called Romanticke Ekonomie, and focused a lot on the concept of 20% and 80%, or the Pareto Rule. In short, it means that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. The 6th segment of the exhibition was a group of writings that used this principle. There was one in English, so Jana didn't have to translate, and it helped me to understand what they were trying to do (sometimes things don't really make sense when you translate them from one language to another....imagine that!) It was:
20% of things we do which to 80% aren't worth the bother
-Attending openings
-Drinking liquor
-Working at Art Academies
-Dating unimportant men
-Arguing with waiters, policemen, door keepers
-Explaining our works
-Efforts to measure up to the white man
-Shopping at H&M
-Curating group shows
-Trusting male pre-coital promises
-Exhibiting in regional galleries
-Respecting the printed word
-Gossiping in public
-Getting people used to the fact that our works are supposed to be funny
-Comparing ourselves to other artists
This part of the exhibition I understood.
There was another segment called "Monument to yesterday", which was a video of a strip-tease by an over-weight woman with a forest back ground. I didn't get that one.
There was a cool part of the exhibition that I could relate to. It was called "Haiku", and it featured blonde jokes that were translated from English to Japanese, and then back to English by an automatic translator...probably something like www.freetranslation.com The phrases were carved into styrofoam and then put on the wall. They were hilarious. Here are some of them (I had to write them down)
Those why she highest
access "twinkie" of the blonde
she liked that it is complete in the cream
(WHAT?!?!?)
How she blonde which is fridge
you had known?
Lipstick of cucumber!
(Excuse me?)
I loved these because they showed the absurdity of language and how miscommunications can occur within cultural norms. I experience that everyday. Try explaining idioms to non-English speakers. It's hilarious.
The part which I got the least, however, was called "All periods in Capital". It was supposed to include clay, acryllic paint, and a plastic bag. I thought it would be some sort of sculpture? To be honest, I completely missed that it was part of the exhibition. When we were done perusing, I asked Jana, "Where was this part of the show?" and she said "Oh, yeah, it is back here, I show you". We walked back into one of the corridors, and I almost stepped on it. It was a plastic bag, filled with little clay balls that were painted black. It looked like it was supposed to be trash left outside of the office to be picked up by the house-keeper! Seriously!!! Even in a humorous state, I don't think I would have understood. I think I need to meet the two artists, and talk to them to see where their head-space was when they dreamed up this show. That could prove to be a good time.
3 hours ago
3 comments:
I will admit that I often don't understand contemporary art (or music, for that matter). Sometimes it doesn't help to read about or hear the artist tell what they were trying to express, either. And sometimes the explanations are ponderous, just downright absurd, or even patronizing to those of us who don't "get it" (whatever "it" is).
On the other hand, it can be fun to sit down and make up stories about what the creator was trying to express. Theories about his/her childhood, sexual frustration, last bad relationship, ability to relate to humans versus inanimate objects - all are fair game. So next time, try one of those approaches, and see if it "enlightens" you.
Then write about it.
"My theory was that Pachelbel once dated a cellist
and she dissed him really bad
so for the rest of his life he came up with the worst cello parts he could think of"
that's why this made me think of. silly terrible art.
for those that are scratching their heads in puzzlement, it's a very funny comedy sketch by a guitarist. worth watching if you have a free five minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
love you!
3000 years ago it was written that ..."there is nothing new under the sun". Yet people try to put a new perspective on the old ideas or try to be different. Can we use language that is more vulgar, make movies that are scarier, music that is more disonant, paintings of things that only exist in the imagination. To be truly creative is an art in itself.
Post a Comment