- Art Basel gets a new corporate sponsor: Davidoff. In return for sponsorship, the cigar manufacturer will create two outdoor cigar lounges “to offer fair visitors a relaxed venue for discussion, reflection and enjoyment of a fine cigar.” Grossss. I bet the only people in those lounges will be aging dealers who think they’re really cool. And younger hipsters who want to be like Alec Baldwin. [The Sacramento Bee]
- Even The Atlantic has hopped aboard the “New Aesthetic” train. I don’t like the vagueness of the term, but I especially don’t like how Ian Bogost constantly compares the New Aesthetic with Futurism and its talk about violence and war. I don’t know many artists interested in how the internet is like a battlefield. [The Atlantic]
- Book publisher Project Webster takes sleaze and greed to a new level: they’ve created a line of books with saucy titles like Celebrities with Big Dicks and Doomsday Cults: Getting Ready for the Rapture composed almost entirely from Wikipedia articles. That’s a way to avoid paying writers! [Gawker]
- Occupy Museums and Occupy Wall Street will team up with the New York City & Vicinity District Council of Carpenters to protest the Frieze Art Fair on Randall’s Island. [The Art Newspaper]
- Filmmaker Kenneth Anger’s piano is up for sale on Craigslist. Cash and carry, but it’s only $250! [Craigslist]
- “If you can’t draw, I’m not interested!!!” Some people on Craigslist just don’t know how art or threesomes work. This girl wants two male artists to draw her in the nude before the three of them get it on. [Craigslist]
Thursday Links! When is a Cigar Not a Cigar?
by Corinna Kirsch on April 19, 2012 · 7 comments Massive Links
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I think Futurism’s appeal, here and everywhere it’s ever mentioned, is rooted in the fact that it has as many competent sculptures as it does manifestos (1). It’s a fantastic movement because you can absorb it all through a medium-length Wikipedia read, or maybe through visiting that one room at MoMA that’s got everything worth mentioning in it. Once you’ve done that, you’ve got carte blanche to say whatever you like about the movement, and nobody will ever call you on it because nobody cares. Also, it is good because it has “future” in the name.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Futurist-Robert-Downey-Jr/dp/B00064AFK0
The mention of Futurism is not an endorsement; it’s a means to compare the 20th century avant-garde with what might be the 21st’s version of it. In fact, the article makes quite explicit mention of the unfortunate connection between Futurism and Fascism. To walk away from that piece with the summary you did is surprising.
I appreciate your response. My small issue with your juxtaposition of the New Aesthetic to Futurism is how it’s a pretty simple gesture to compare and contrast things that, as you mentioned, are at two completely opposite ends of the spectrum. Of the many manifestos written in the 20th century, some have more relevance to the way artists involved with the New Aesthetic “now wield the same data access APIs…as the corporations.” In particular, I’m thinking of the Situationist International, who embraced using things from common culture to create new paths in the city (their “dérive”).
“I don’t know many artists interested in how the internet is like a battlefield”
that is because you know boring artists only concerned with sociability and friendsszzzz
In what capacity do you know anything at all about Corinna Kirsch’s familiarity with various groups of artists?
Some interesting thoughts (i.e. a little more elaborate than snark) on Futurism:
http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/bring-noise
In a time where participatory or dematerialized art practices are predicated on an idea of sociability and inclusiveness, a model based on negativity and exclusion becomes interesting.Â
There can be art that doesn’t just exist as a mirror of saccharine, corporate networking and advertising schemes.
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