Adel Abdessemed's show prompted me to think about how important (or not) context should be when evaluating art. When I first walked into the exhibit, I didn't see much that was appealing. When the curator started speaking, though, I found I was more engaged in the exhibit. But then I started to question whether context should be considered important at all. Does a video of a coke can being stomped on become more interesting when we know the artist is from a war-torn country? Would the same video be as interesting if the artist were from a comfortable, upper-middle class society?
The one exhibit I did find interesting was the transcription of holy texts by street workers. I thought the question posed -- are holy text still holy when transcribed by prostitutes -- was thought-provoking.
I realize this post has nothing to do with time-based media, but these are the impressions I took away.
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2 comments:
I agree about the context being very important, especially for something like this. When I went in and looked the the exhibit by myself with no curator, I was just thinking to myself "I don't get it." Knowing where he was from and the situation there, as well as some more of the motivation behind the pieces gave it a lot more meaning.
April (and David) -- remember these thoughts about context for when we talk about artists' statements and project statements.
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