I don't know how many of you tapped into Artsy6's NY Times article citation (Again, how Artsy finds these things from New York to Brisbane is impressive as hell to me. Does he never sleep?): > > > http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/arts/design/04clic.html?_r=1&oref=slogin > It's dismaying how often the combination of a certain knowledgeablity plus articulateness can veil the lack of intellect in a writer. Ken Johnson is talking about a Brooklyn Museum exhibit of photos:
"The 389 images were displayed on the museum's Web site without the photographers' names attached. Members of the public then evaluated the images one by one..." Johnson then describes the scale -- i.e. the question put to the "Members of the public" -- and yet it seems to have gone right over his head: "...on a scale from b most effectiveb to b least effective.b " Johnson goes on: "So what about art? Whether the show proves that the crowd is better than the individual at picking quality photography is hard to say because you don't know what to compare it with. b& the museum could have an expert - a professional photographer, critic, curator or dealer - make another selection to compare with the crowd's picks." An "expert" at what? If anything, Johnson should have criticized the scale for not asking asking "effectiveness AT WHAT"? The question put to the people did not mention "art" at all. Without a refinement of the question, the people were being asked solely to grade the impact on them. No expert compares to me when it comes to judging the impact, the engagement, or "aesthetic experience" in me. Johnson: "But then who's to say whether the expert's show is better?" At what?! Johnson: "The big question is, what are the appropriate criteria for determining whether judgments, by individuals or groups, are good or true?" About what? By this point Johnson has suppressed his original question: "What about art?" And thus he has suppressed his apparent assumption that something "IS" "art" if and only if it is "good and true". It's dizzying to see that dim Johnson's employer, the New York Times, continues to carry this motto at the top of page one: "All the news that's fit to print." ************** Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker.com! (http://www.tourtracker.com?NCID=aolmus00050000000112)
