The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Wild Card => Topic started by: AugustWest on July 03, 2008, 04:24:58 am
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http://williamlamson.com/#/work/video_work/video/1
The nose is the best...
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That guy went to Dartmouth to learn how to do that.
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Matt Groening on performance artists: "Of all the things I could be doing with my life, why am I standing here on a street corner slapping meat on my head?"
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And I thought I had strange friends. Yes, the nose is the best.
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I once saw a lady lick a large piece of chocolate into a self-portrait-sculpture of herself.
Also a man who sat in a bath tub full of water, with the dedication that he would not exit the tub until he had drunk all the liquid it contained, while admitting he would likely need to urinate into the water over time, and possibly even defecate. He was fully clothed, and I hoped he was wearing a diaper under his #####, but didn't even sort of want to ask. It was early on in the performance, and the water looked clean and drinkable, and he sipped it from a tea cup.
Also, some of my friends were once hired by a performance artist who used and entire government issued art grant to buy scratch and win tickets. My friends were paid to scratch lotto tickets during live "performances."
Also, I participated in a performance art piece where people were to come to an art gallery, pick out a hand made bunny sculpture, keep it with them for a year, then return the bunny, having written a story on the large tag around their neck. The bunny lived with me during a pivotal year in my life, then I wrote my story on it and returned it. I remember briefly thinking I just wanted to keep it, and the gallery had none of my information... but I did return it, with a sweet tale of how we used to torture our cats while saying "be the bunny! Be the bunny!" The exhibit went on to other parts of the world, and had been other places before. I had chosen a bunny who hadn't ever been taken for a year, but there were some that had already had one or two earlier homes. I wonder where that bunny is now, and if he's still covered in cat fur.
Also, I participated in another performance art thing, where my voice was recorded as I told a story. Apparently my story was then broadcast over the loud speakers in the largest art gallery in the area along with art related to the same themes as the story while a couple of my favorite singers also performed. This all happened while I was away, and it always feels odd that I was present, yet absent at this. I could have met two of my favorite performers, but I was somewhere else, working on a play at the time. It's nice to know they listened to my story though, especially since I'd enjoyed so much of their music. Sort of a decent exchange.
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Also, some of my friends were once hired by a performance artist who used and entire government issued art grant to buy scratch and win tickets. My friends were paid to scratch lotto tickets during live "performances."
I know a couple people who are spectacular artists. They perform at this bar down the street every weekday.
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Also, some of my friends were once hired by a performance artist who used and entire government issued art grant to buy scratch and win tickets. My friends were paid to scratch lotto tickets during live "performances."
Shit like this is why people want to shut down the NEA.
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I don't know what the NEA is, but probably a grant funding body I'm guessing?
As I understood it, the point of the performance/exhibit was to push people to discuss public art funding. Especially since a good portion of government funding comes directly from the provincial lottery here. As a side note, all the winnings were used to buy more lottery tickets until all the money was gone, and visitors to the exhibit were invited to scratch off cards also. the exhibit was incredibly successful in creating discussion about publically funded art. Locally, the way art is (or isn't) funded and valued publically has been a major talking point during elections, budget announcements, etc. ever since. I'm really glad for that. What we value as a culture, what we don't, and why... these things are important for the public to have a say in and are on my mind whenever I work under a grant.
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My review of this video is the same as for most of the movies I've ever seen: It's about twice as long as it needs to be.
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I don't know what the NEA is, but probably a grant funding body I'm guessing?
As I understood it, the point of the performance/exhibit was to push people to discuss public art funding. Especially since a good portion of government funding comes directly from the provincial lottery here. As a side note, all the winnings were used to buy more lottery tickets until all the money was gone, and visitors to the exhibit were invited to scratch off cards also. the exhibit was incredibly successful in creating discussion about publically funded art. Locally, the way art is (or isn't) funded and valued publically has been a major talking point during elections, budget announcements, etc. ever since. I'm really glad for that. What we value as a culture, what we don't, and why... these things are important for the public to have a say in and are on my mind whenever I work under a grant.
The NEA is the national endowment for the arts. We, The Taxpayers Of America, blow hundreds of millions of dollars a year on the NEA.
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Ah, we blow trillions on war.
Nothing wrong with throwing a half billion at artists or twenty billion at NASA or whatever when we're already throwing trillions at war.
Nothing worse than being penny wise and pound fuck*ng foolish, especially as a government.
Akin to standing around with nine people and watching some tenth motherfucker stealing your whole pie and then, instead of chasing down that son of a bitch thief, fighting with the other eight over the remaining crumbs.
Had the pie not been stolen, the crumbs would'a been thrown out with the aluminum plate, y'know.
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Akin to standing around with nine people and watching some tenth motherfucker stealing your whole pie and then, instead of chasing down that son of a bitch thief, fighting with the other eight over the remaining crumbs.
Q&CFT.
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Thats the silliest argument to come out of you yet. "Were already flushing money down the toilet, whats a couple million more!"
What makes you think that people are any more ok with spending "trillions" (we dont actually spend trillions on defense, the total defense budget is less than 500 billion) than they are on spending millions on government grants for art?
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I see no problem with the statement:
"Hey, how about we worry about the things we're spending most of our money on that are only making matters worse before we worry about the very small amount of money on making things slightly more pleasant?"
Nothing at all.
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*sighs, give up on another thread*
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For what it's worth, side_show, I thought the lottery ticket story was cool. When I first read it, I was thinking "Oh, that's such a waste of money, why would you do something like that?" and then I thought that, if you're spending the money on the lottery, the money is just going back to the government (isn't it? I don't actually know how this works with scratch-offs). It's a sort of strange, almost self-defeating thing. I can see how there was a lot to talk about. There are a few different avenues of thought that can branch off from there (economy, gambling addiction, the nature of art) if you stop to think about it. I'm glad that it got people talking.
I also find the story-broadcast one really interesting, but I can't think of a way to express why without getting weirdly touchy-feely in my third post on a message board. Just assume I wrote something here about six degrees of separation and never knowing about all the lives you touch and all that jazz.
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She's very good you know, very good indeed.
The reasoning behind the lottery thing is what redeems it for me too, if only to show the artists have a sense of humour.
Whenever I hear about a government funded project that seems moronic to me I remind myself that there are government projects that cost quite a bit more that I fully support that other people are rabidly against (GM food research for instance) and I think long term will benefit society as a whole. So maybe other people can see benefit there that I can't and after all it's their tax money too so fo course there should be different viewpoints on how it should be spent.
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As I understood it, the point of the performance/exhibit was to push people to discuss public art funding.
The performance/exhibit was successful all over again because people are talking (and having sloppy make outs) about public funding of the arts once more.