Re: [-empyre-] galleries & establishments

["Marek Walczak" <wonderwalker@hotmail.com>]

I apologize in advance, as I have two weeks of renderings to do on my other 
machine, which leaves me with too much time for this list.

The purpose of museums is to observe strangers. I did argue with one woman 
last week who claimed to go to museums to look at art, for which purpose she 
wore comfortable clothes (so people have uncomfortable clothes?). Now its 
really hard to look at strangers, on the street they are always rushing, in 
restaurants you only see a bit of them, and at parties etc you normally see 
your friends/relatives and others similar to you. In museums people tend to 
dress as they wish to be seen. You get a long time to observe them 
generally, and the gestures and poses they strike in front of art are, in 
general, flattering. Now, when I read the theory of people at SFmoma (not 
showing netart in the museum) there was something too 'moral' about it, like 
my grandmother insisting that meals should be at a family table and weddings 
in churches. The actuality is that people look bad when they interface with 
netart using the standard kiosk setup - its ok in the home, where your loved 
ones will love you anyway - but in a museum, who on earth wants to be seen 
that way?

It is for this reason that sound art, and not netart, is the artform of the 
early 22nd century. With sound art you don't need to bother with the 
distraction of visual art, and so can look at people unashamedly. My 
favorite artwork of the last year was J.Cardiff's at PS1. Here 40 speakers 
were arranged in a large oval, each speaker being the sound of a voice in a 
(16th century?) choral work. Normally when you listen at a concert you stare 
forwards to the sound source, here you were in the middle of the sound. The 
effect was stunning, as it focused all your attention on the action of 
others in the space. Their states were truely astonishing/astonished.

Another piece like this is Golan Levin's Telesymphony, where the audience 
are given/use their own cellphones, which Golan plays. Here the audience is 
the 'orchestra', with a giant mylar mirror above you to observe/be observed.


> I think of the issue of gallery showing vs. online exhibition as the same 
> dichotomy between a live music performance vs. the recorded version. If 
> both are good - neither takes away from the other. On the contrary, the 
> experience is expanded.


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