Well - yes -- being the sensitive, insecure artistes that they are, Nerdrum
and Tuv constructed a questionnaire where the default value (the one that
requires no consent) puts  the test-taker firmly on their side (the "kitsch"
side) of the culture wars.

And if you reversed each question -- asking, for example, "Do you prefer
talent and sensuality to truth" instead of "Do you prefer truth to talent and
sensuality?" -- the test-taker would be identified with their perceived
opponents.

But the issues raised in most of the questions seem to be ones often raised
here and in other forums where art is discussed. (or if they're not -- they
should be. And many can also be found in this famous essay:

http://www.sharecom.ca/greenberg/kitsch.html



For a further discussion of "kitsch" - look up the Wikipedia entry - which was
apparently written by one of Nerdrum's fellow travelers.

It's interesting how the Wikipedia community initially recognized it as
superior -- but later rescinded that judgment with the following explanation:

"is filled with weasle words and what appears to be original research,
editorializing, and opinion."

                              ************



What a terrible, terrible test.  Bourdieu once said that the problem with
questionnaires is that they tend to produce dichotomies and opinion in
theabsence of any actual dichotomy or opinion.  This test  is polemical in
precisely this regard: its very language is weighted against 'modernism' and
based on a misreading of the individuals mentioned at the bottom.  Given the
wording and mistaken presuppositions of the questions (above all that
modernism = exclusively pop-art/postmodern pastiche, i.e. purely conceptual
art), it strikes me as almost impossible not to answer 'no' to most of the
questions. Boooo for this test.  It shows nothing, save how to manufacture
opinion by presenting straw-characterizations in sound-bites.

On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 10:59 AM, Chris Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:

> I've just taken the kitsch test compiled by Odd Nerdrum and friend:
>
> http://janovetuv.com/bruker/articles/Questionnaire_E%2044-45.pdf
>
>
> And passed it with flying colors! (not 100% -- but close)
>
> However, I do wonder about the testers' claim that now I am a real
> kitsch-person (as opposed to a true artist) according to:
>
> Broch, Calinescu, Greenberg, Kulka, Kundera, Ortega y Gasset
>
> Can anyone confirm or dispute that  ?
>

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