Just to add to this - about Warhol's books... He made his manifesto - the one with chapters entitled - "love", "death", "Beauty' etc and his book "A a novel" by taping. In the case of the manifesto it was in fact written by Patt Hacket who posed the questions, decided the which chapters he should have then patiently asked and everything on tape - Warhol often didn't know what he thought so they invented what he should think. Pat is credited as having redacted the book... Amazing to listen to and compare with the book. He also carried through what he called 'false philosophy' to make it doubly confusing and then he double bluffs as well, so as one would imagine their are lots of red herrings being laid down, but this construction of surface was what it was all about.
>From the sections of phone call recordings that I've been working on I get a sense of Warhol's construction of his society presence, his interest in who said what, did what etc. and how he fitted in. As an artist the lowly immigrant could become high society. Anyway sorry this is a rushed mail in a lunch break... But in response to Matt's point about the ordinary the sense I'm getting is his interest in some kind ordinary glamour - something that he was and a way that he could fit into society somewhere further up the ladder than the shoe illustrator had been. Must dash Zoe > Matt Hulse wrote: > > > Zoe: > > > > Based on my understanding of Warhol through his book 'A TO B AND BACK > > AGAIN', the man's compulsive recording of sounds that are 'in > themselves' of > > no particular interest to an audience ( ie neither intrinsically > exotic, > > rare or top secret ) was akin to his compulsive bulk purchasing of > > 'ordinary' Jockey Y-fronts, the boxes of which he wouldn't even open. > His > > film EMPIRE STATE, the reels of which could be shown in any order, for > as > > long as you like ( and you're not expected neccessarily to sit and > watch it > > ) is also similar in that it takes the ordinary and through the very > act of > > its re-presentation by WARHOL becomes interesting. Duchamp of course > had > > done this with ready-mades and what-not, but Warhol took it a stage > further > > by saying not simply 'this is art because I say so' but rather 'this > is art > > because I, ANDY WARHOL, say so', instantly giving it his brand > signature > > without even the use of his trusty marker pen. > > > > Put crudely, Warhol fans will listen to, watch, collect and admire any > 'old > > shit' that this guy churned out, recorded or collected, simply because > he > > created a party of ONE that no-one could quite get in to, thus > creating one > > of THE 20th century myths/icons in himself. And that of course was his > whole > > point and life's work. > > > > Valerie Solanas, the woman who shot him in 1968, may have missed the > point > > but perhaps she hit upon something too, because she did something OUT > OF THE > > ORDINARY and he was a purveyor of the ordinary. I would not say though > that > > he was a particular FAN of the ordinary, I just think he had an > insatiable > > urge to say LOOK, LISTEN, LOOK AT ALL THIS STUFF ! > > > > And so busy was he doing that, that he never had time to review or > archive > > it all. That's for us to do. > > > > Similarly, I saw a short film of Jonas Mekas' at a festival. It was > just a > > home movie of his. But it featured Jackie O and Warhol, albeit > fleetingly. I > > have no doubt that this film would not have been shown otherwise. So > what is > > it that makes Warhol's audio tapes interesting ? The company he kept > and the > > fact that he actually DID it, as he was talking about doing it. > > > > Oh, and yes, I do think he was scared of death, but maybe more > accurately > > disappointed. From his book, the complete chapter on 'Death' is simply > this: > > > > A: I'm so sorry to hear about it. I just thought that things were > magic and > > that it would never happen. > > > > > ........................................................................ > > > > Do read Valerie Solanas' SCUM manifesto, it's great > > -http://www.ai.mit.edu/~shivers/rants/scum.html ) > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at > http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. > > > > ------------------------------------------------- > > a m b i t : networking media arts in scotland > > post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > info: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > and write "info ambit" in the message body > > ------------------------------------------------- > > -- > Ben Woodeson > http://www.woodeson.co.uk > > > ------------------------------------------------- > a m b i t : networking media arts in scotland > post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > info: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > and write "info ambit" in the message body > ------------------------------------------------- ===== Aeolus Audio Publication Scotland __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------- a m b i t : networking media arts in scotland post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] info: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and write "info ambit" in the message body -------------------------------------------------
