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Lorna Mills and Sally McKay
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Cory Arcangel and Hanne Mugaas' performance/lecture at Images last Friday was an unfortunate event for several reasons.
1) Most artists I know do have some self-doubt about what they are doing. Arcangel prefaced his performance by declaring the possibility of its failure, and a history of its past failures. Unfortunately, it didn't come across as self-doubt, it came across as an attempt to inoculate the audience against a subsequent failure.
2) uhhmmm ok ....ummm...ok...OK...no....uhhhhhhhhhmmmmm..ok...um...wait...ok... A few more nouns and verbs were needed. Or else just click on the youTube links a bit faster. I'll argue that it's not brave or interesting to surf in real time while speaking to an audience. (We all figured that out a long time ago during phone conversations with our mothers.)
3) Do not mistake the email links that you and your friends sent each other in 1997 and 1998 as an early universal web meme experience. That could actually be a perfect definition of a local experience. (For Christ sake, Vera Frenkel and Michael Snow were in the audience, he wasn't a 15 year old performing for 12 year olds)
4) I was a little confused by the proposition that an old dance clip's appearance on youtube was a direct influence on a later Beyonce music video. In the past I have been guilty of assuming that dancers and choreographers weren't the brightest bulbs, but I think it's safe to assume that they all know who Bob Fosse is. (it's not an obscure youTube reference that some choreographer discovered from an email link in 1997 - 1998.) [eta: Tim Comeau provided this link from NPR that does state that Beyonce learned about the Fosse choreography from a youTube video: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97356053. I stand corrected - L.M.]
5) The premise of the evening was that he would dealing with a clash between the art word and art on-line, that's a great subject, but that's not what was presented there. (as one friend in the audience pointed out it was a squandered opportunity) Again in the preface, he asked the question about whether it should be done at all? Obviously the audience was there to hear about it, so the question we have to ask back: are you the one equipped to present this?
Sunday - Compelling Dancing Guy with Requisite Canadian Content (33.333%)
Some Sing, Some Dance - Michel Pagliaro
You, Me & Mexico - Edward Bear
Dirty Work - Steely Dan
(found)
Images Festival is wrapping up this week and you can read about it on their blog with writers and artists we like such as Andrew J. Paterson, Gabrielle Moser and Sholem Krishtalka. But no blingees, so from our Himalayan heights of Web 2.0 art practice, we can't take it very seriously as an art site.
Libby Hague's excellent installation One Step at a Time is on at the
Art Gallery of Mississauga until May 10 (click the link for an essay by me).
