dear all somewhat surprising to see the relative heat of the discussion on a performance artist and her 512 Hours exhibition at the Serpentine, and thus I wonder really what provoked the sustained critique of her practice here, in these pages; maybe Annie's abhorrence? I went to see the performance in July, and was prepared to be critical and ended up have my own critical thoughts, even wrote some notes down somewhere, and probably I had become all too apprehensive of the hype surrounding her MoMA show, back a while, and the high handedness of the film then released about her. The thing with the dog i find tasteless and silly, and bad satire if that at all; and rather than arguing about satire, or the "power systems" in place to make history happen (and I do read Patrick as stating his respect for her work of the 70s and 80s and 90s, and three decades of live art, often on the edges, for me gained her nothing but admiration, even if I may have reservations about the spiritual or metaphysical path she engineered around 2002 --- I remember walking over to her House with the Ocean View installation, and that was not long after the events of 9/11 in New York and noted a shift, and she must have noted it too and probably realized she could do Rothko Chapel stuff -- and then turned into the odd self-presencing durational rituals etc), I really wondered, Annie, whether what we are reading now is a strange twist where (gender politics?) bashing a successful female artist whose work definitely will have had resonance, who was able to show work in major museums, is becoming de rigueur (I guess Carolee Schneemann, Cindy Sherman, Kara Walker, Adrian Piper next?).
Johannes Birringer >> On Fri, Aug 22, 2014 at 7:28 AM, marc garrett <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Well, Marina Abramović’s work will survive — however, not because of quality but because of the power systems in place to make history happen for artists who adhere to the role and myth of genius, it is all part of the inside joke for those who rule the ‘propriety based’ art world. Or her work will survive in its cultural resonance because even in the smallest intervention, before fame made her an icon, there was sufficient strength and luminosity to her work to affect people. Such resonance by no means implies a pile of handsome coffee table books or a sheaf of academic papers—it only suggests that art changes people, in some measure, directly, in their lives. -- Paul On Fri, Aug 22, 2014 at 7:28 AM, marc garrett <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Hi Michael & Annie, > your kindness does you credit but I do think there absolutely has to be >space for humour, even sharply parodic or satirical humour in art. If the >work is solid it will survive it. Well, Marina Abramović’s work will survive — however, not because of quality but because of the power systems in place to make history happen for artists who adhere to the role and myth of genius, it is all part of the inside joke for those who rule the ‘propriety based’ art world. >Ironically the various satirical japes she has engendered help to >confirm her in this role. Sadly, this may be true ;-( wishing you well. marc > HI Annie > your kindness does you credit but I do think there absolutely has to be space > for humour, even sharply parodic or satirical humour in art. If the work is > solid it will survive it. > An interesting question is why MA and not you. I would venture: > (1) You are deeply serious about your work but you don't give off the aroma > of pious smugness which I'm afraid for me MA does. > (2) Although you set up rigorous structures in your work you are open to > surprise, to human frailty and intervention ( indeed I'd argue that it is one > of your central themes) - you *trust* people - MA shuts out the intervention > of others in her Serpentine piece - people have to give up phones, cameras, > whatever at the door. This particular response ( the pug piece) comes as no > surprise to me. I had given some thought to how one might assert the rights > of the audience ( including those of other artists -the right to record, to > think contrary thoguhts and act upon them &c) vis a vis the Sepentine > performance but couldn't think of anything that either wouldn't involve me > getting arrested or would cost too much. > (3) MA is an art superstar/celebrity. My starting point is that someone in > this extraordinarily unnatural & privileged position has to repeatedly prove > that they are worth it. Ironically the various satirical japes she has > engendered help to confirm her in this role. > cheers > michael > From: Annie Abrahams <[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]> > To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity > <[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2014 2:22 PM > Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] MARINA ABRAMOPUG the genius! > I wouldn't like to be made fun of like this, would you? > > M A made some errors, but the performance this is referring too was good as > far as I am concerned > Best > Annie > > > > > > > On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 1:27 PM, helen varley jamieson > <[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]> wrote: > > it's great :) > > On 21/08/14 11:19 AM, marc garrett wrote: >> MARINA ABRAMOPUG >> >> The 'official' genius performance artist at Serpentine | best show yet >> ;-) >> >> g >> >> More... >> http://go.shr.lc/1w2Alcp >> _______________________________________________ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour HI Annie your kindness does you credit but I do think there absolutely has to be space for humour, even sharply parodic or satirical humour in art. If the work is solid it will survive it. An interesting question is why MA and not you. I would venture: (1) You are deeply serious about your work but you don't give off the aroma of pious smugness which I'm afraid for me MA does. (2) Although you set up rigorous structures in your work you are open to surprise, to human frailty and intervention ( indeed I'd argue that it is one of your central themes) - you *trust* people - MA shuts out the intervention of others in her Serpentine piece - people have to give up phones, cameras, whatever at the door. This particular response ( the pug piece) comes as no surprise to me. I had given some thought to how one might assert the rights of the audience ( including those of other artists -the right to record, to think contrary thoguhts and act upon them &c) vis a vis the Sepentine performance but couldn't think of anything that either wouldn't involve me getting arrested or would cost too much. (3) MA is an art superstar/celebrity. My starting point is that someone in this extraordinarily unnatural & privileged position has to repeatedly prove that they are worth it. Ironically the various satirical japes she has engendered help to confirm her in this role. cheers michael ________________________________ From: Annie Abrahams <[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]> To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity <[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2014 2:22 PM Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] MARINA ABRAMOPUG the genius! I wouldn't like to be made fun of like this, would you? M A made some errors, but the performance this is referring too was good as far as I am concerned Best Annie On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 1:27 PM, helen varley jamieson <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: it's great :) On 21/08/14 11:19 AM, marc garrett wrote: MARINA ABRAMOPUG The 'official' genius performance artist at Serpentine | best show yet ;-) [g] More... http://go.shr.lc/1w2Alcp _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
