almost something insider forum

[ Thank you to Leslie Johnston and the staff at the UVA libraries for providing us with a digital copy of the essay by James Macpherson to which Morgan Meis refers in his guidebook. There will be copies availble for reading at the show, but here for your advance viewing pleasure is Macpherson's seminal work, "Somethings and the things in between" as printed in 1976 in Art Discourse. -- Francis ]

"Somethings and the things in between"
by James Macpherson

You could say that the Western philosophical tradition started with a very simple question: What is that thing? It‘s the kind of question one might ask when confronted with an unfamiliar object or event. It’s a question that is the very antithesis of complicated theory. When you ask, “What is that thing?” you’re asking for something straightforward, you’re groping for basic, everyday understanding. If I ask, “What is that thing?” and you say, “A lamp,” I’m probably going to be satisfied. Now I know what the thing is.

The first chunk of reports from Dr. Minskoff:

Location 01: Objectively a segment of concrete floor in which arcs are discernible from the initial pouring and smoothing. Subject Eleanor G. described "A sea captain, looking over his shoulder at me. He is angry." Two subjects found nothing in the area, but Christian identified "a funny little man in a hat," and giggled at the figure. Both of these episodes were cataloged photographically with subject's help.

Timothy's essay on natural beauty posted on 3quarksdaily has inspired many writing for this show. Below is the first paragraph, or read the whole essay:

Eastern Kentucky is one of the most accidentally beautiful places I have ever been. Being there, one feels as though God knocked over his cereal box one morning and Kentucky spilled out. The place is a jumble and a tangle, off-kilter and slightly askew: a world whose axis is tilted a few degrees further than that of the one to which we are accustomed. The land is ravaged by gorges and pock-marked with hollers; mountains make their way across it with jagged, sideways movements, like crabs. The sky seems to be warped in reflection of the terrain, and while I was there I had the distinct sense that one of my legs was longer than the other, which meant that I spent a lot of time leaning against crooked timbers to gain my equilibrium. If I were a Creationist, I would have to argue that eastern Kentucky is evidence not for Intelligent but Cockeyed Design. God had a hangover when He made this place.

The voice in the trailer is as painful as the real trailer voice you hear in the movie theaters, in fact even more painful. The star wars track behind it, I believe, throws it into the satire bin a little too much.

I found another track, Lord of the Rings (enya), a more emotional and sappy approach, giving the voice more responsability.

current trailer

new idea trailer

maybe we can use both and should make more of them...

Gilbert Sorrentino has published a book of fictional art reviews! Perfect fit, and perfect timing. Read about it here: Lunar Follies

A book of reviews of books which do not exist and in at least one case could not exist. From the Introduction:

"discourses on the positive aspects of nothingness, on ideal objects in mathematics, and on new metalevels of language."

"Contrary to what the Introduction says, the critic does not have to be chained to the book 'as the convict is ... to his wheelbarrow': the critic's freedom does not lie in raising up or tearing down the book, but lies in this, that through the book, as through a microscope, he may observe the author; and in that case A Perfect Vacuum turns out to be a tale of what is desired but is not to be had.

The forum itself has become an almost something. Day in and day out I have things to say, mostly things as reactions, but I resist the click click click response of the forum because my head cannot fit in this space, the internet. My work for this show, and in general is about need for viscerality in a cyberworld of endless options, endless clickings. I want my options limited. With limitations I find freedom, not the other way around.

So with this space, which I nonetheless find useful and inspiring, I feel confused. I am speaking literally about the almost something forum space and website. Endless possibilities for connection, reaction. The endless vectors as arrows through my brain. Perhaps if we were push-pinning ideas, clippings, sketches to a concrete board, I would find the organization of it and navigation of it less harrowing. I have been thinking a lot lately about internet space, a world where people are meeting and exchanging vitual fluids and virtual art. My hands cannot grasp. There is a chasm. Some days I find this chasm inviting, seductive, worth trying to bridge. But lately, I am slipping through. Blogs by my best friends, websites labored over by my loved ones, internet havens where I can find rare people who share in my rare delights of polyeurathane, pink sweat suits, and ketchup flavored potato chips, and still I cannot take the time to click click click connect.

This book has a detailed description of the machinations Duchamp went through to get his urinal accepted as a work of art, from inventing the pseudonym, to getting the piece rejected, written about and even photographed by Stieglitz. Chapter 2 'Given the Richard Mutt Case' is quite a read. It balances the overabundance of blather needed to feel the power of this social manipulator of genius, with the facts needed to understand him.

Hard to bypass Danto in the references:

• The Transfiguration of the Commonplace
• Unnatural Wonders : Essays from the Gap Between Art and Life
• The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art

by George J. Leonard

Marco had been talking about this book, and I finally got a copy. Excellent in that it traces a history of what we might consider a very contemporary idea, of the disappearance of the Art object. Wordsworth actually called out to his readers to put down the book and go experience the world. The book does have its problems, it is sometimes difficult to read because of the number of quotations and paraphrasing, but all in all it does provide some nice background thoughts for this show. I'll write more when I have

Robert McCarren mentioned this as an inspiration.

Strange unclassifiable book. Sort of about urban planning, a bunch of personal anecdotes about how a place affects the viewer. Many parts of New York City are mentioned, Grand Central, Prospect Park, Times Square. A treat for the tourist of the commonplace.

film still

USA – 2002 Matt McCormick

Kerry mentioned this film in her proposal.

"In this seemingly earnest sixteen-minute documentary, McCormick, via the voice of narrator (and fellow Portland artist) Miranda July, presents the notion that in covering up existing graffiti works, painters hired by the City of Portland are creating works of artistic genius themselves, without even realizing it."--notcoming.com