Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Timely Much?


Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung's Residential Erection at Democracy in America: Convergence Center at Park Avenue Armory. The full video can be found here on Hung's site.

3 comments:

madeleine said...

I agree that the work is timely, but I find myself wondering if the aesthetics of the message don’t supercede it. The work feels very of-a-moment, and so once it is no-longer on that edge, does it become irrelevant? Though maybe that is okay, maybe it only needs to exist for a pocket of time.

Also, I often find myself wondering if art is the most effective tool for social protest/change?

Heart As Arena said...

Hmmm. I'm not sure. I kind of agree with you about aesthetics, but I also think that it's the type of work that is essential to an installation like this. It's ok if it doesn't work tomorrow. It'll at least last as a good frenetic snap shot while things like the Hayes piece or the little Ligarano/Reese miracle can shout forward into tomorrow.

And all art is change. And it's also another step in the everlong and continuing war on stupidity.

madeleine said...

nicely done, I especially like the link to the war on stupidity...I feel like it is one I wage every day.

In fact, in my professional life right now, I am being called to the mat by an angry gallerist for saying this about Frederick Hart:

"Hart has been called one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. Emerging from almost total obscurity to be awarded the commission of the National Cathedral by the time he was twenty-nine (in 1971), and later making millions off of his sculptures, Hart is still often overshadowed by his contemporaries. Perhaps it is a trick of timing that has consigned Hart to a secondary tier in the art world. When he was investigating the nuances and narrative of the human form, abstract and minimal works were in fashion."

And thank you for the Hayes ref...I hadn't seen it before!