Palestinian-American artist Emily Jacir has won the 2008 Hugo Boss prize. I could not be happier. Her work is incredible, moving and meaningful. And to boot, she is a lovely person. Congratulations Emily!
Posted: November 17th, 2008 under Appreciation, Contemporary Art.
Comments: none
Today I heard an excerpt of an interview a student conducted with one of her mentors. In the interview the woman laid out her approach to living a fulfilled and happy life.
She said to imagine that you were about to die. You would be executed any second. The only way to stop it was that your executor allowed you to do one last thing before you die. Anything you want. What comes to your mind? What in that moment is that last thing you would want to do? Even if it is as frivolous as wanting to eat a hot fudge sundae, the only way to keep living is if you do that thing that came into your mind. Your deepest desire.
So, you get to go eat the hot fudge sundae. It is amazing. What is more amazing is you find out once you do that you keep on being allowed one more thing before you die.
And she said that is why people keep living. That is why and how people should go on. Pursuing their deepest desire as though their life depended on it, no matter how ridiculous or seemingly small.
In that moment the woman was asking “what would you do before you die if you could only do one last thing?”, the first thing that came into my mind made me a little sad. Less attainable than a hot fudge sundae, and more like someone in a hot fudge sundae costume.
Tracklist:
1. What Good Is Love?, Alexis Taylor
2. O My Heart, Mount Eerie With Julie Doiron And Fred Squire
3. Chosen One, Smog
4. What Am I Living For, The Animals
5. Half Dead, The Mountain Goats
6. Leaving This Town, The Beach Boys
7. Bells On, Sloan
Posted: October 29th, 2008 under Appreciation, Life, Music.
Comments: none
Sylvia Plath was born today in 1932.
On that subject I will share with you my Halloween costume. I will be playing some music at a friends house party for Halloween. I am going to dress up as Sylvia Plath and will be building an oven out of cardboard that will house my laptop, so that every time I need to change the track I will get to put my head in the oven.
Too soon?
Posted: October 27th, 2008 under Life.
Comments: 4
I was going through my music library the other day and revisited Martin Creed’s album, “I Can’t Move.” Like all of his work, I love it. I really appreciate what Martin Creed does.
As someone who is also primarily a visual artist I wonder what my album would sound like? Maybe we will all soon find out.
Here are a couple songs from “I Can’t Move”, a well as few other works by Martin Creed.
Martin Creed, You’re The One For Me
If you’re lonely…
Work… this is work. This is hard work. Talking about work is work.
Thinking is work. Words are work. Words are things, shapes. It’s hard
to compose them, to put them in any kind of order. Words don’t add up.
Numbers add up! Things are everywhere. Everything is something,
everything has something, but not everyone has someone. It’s hard to
distinguish between things, to separate things. I’m in a soup of
thoughts, feelings and things, and words. Actually, it’s more like a
purée… or thick and stiff, like a paté. I’m in a paté and it’s hard
to move. It needs a lot of work to get out of it — or to separate it
and find something in it. Thoughts, thoughts, sometimes I want to stop
them, but it’s hard to stop them. It’s work. Dealing with thoughts,
that’s work.
Thoughts, thoughts, don’t come! Stop! Please! When you’re going to
sleep and you can’t stop thinking, thoughts queueing up, that’s when
you need drugs — or a notebook.
I want something to ease the pain. I want to get out of my head.
Smoking used to help. For a long time smoking made my life bearable. I
gave up smoking because I couldn’t do it enough. I couldn’t smoke
enough. It was never enough. I wanted to smoke all the time, to breathe
in all the time, but I couldn’t, not in the shower, not when I was
talking, not when I was eating. I wanted something I could do all the
time. Not smoking, that was something I could do all the time.
I am an addict in search of drugs.
Maybe working is trying, and work — the result of work — is everything
that one tries to do. Trying… looking for excitement, or trying to
handle it and use it to get out of the paté. Trying to do things;
talking. Or maybe testing is a good way of putting it: testing things
out. Testing things out by putting things about, and all the time
trying, hoping to be excited, wanting. Wanting is what makes me work:
excitement, desire for something.
Sometimes people say: ‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing? That’s
not art.’
I say: ‘Fuck off, assholes!’
Assholes… they are something to get excited about, something to work
for.
Work is a fight against loneliness, against low self esteem, against
depression, and against staying in bed. Sometimes my self esteem is so
low that I cannot reach it even when I’m feeling down.
I want to be on my own, but I don’t want to be alone.
Work is everything, I think. Everything is work. Everything that
involves energy, mental or physical. So… everything, apart from being
dead. Living…
I don’t know how anyone can do it.
How can anyone get through it?
I can see why people hide.
I can see why people commit suicide.
If you’re lonely,
If you’re sad,
If you’re lovely,
If you’re mad,
Then this is for you.
© Martin Creed 2005
Image:
Work No. 336: FEELINGS
2007
Neon
Posted: October 26th, 2008 under Appreciation, Contemporary Art, Music.
Comments: none
About a week ago I was in a conversation with a friend who had only listened to Joy Division for a year. He made it out alive, amazing.
I had to ask what he thought of New Order. I phrased the question with my answer in it, “What do you think about New Order? Do you think New Order is all about redemption?”
The answer, “YES!”
Here is my New Order playlist with some of their best songs about regret and redemption.
1. Regret
2. Dreams Never End
3. Hurt
4. Love Less
5. Age of Consent
6. Temptation
7. Doubts Even Here
Image: David Shrigley
Posted: October 25th, 2008 under Life, Music.
Comments: none
I just heard about Figga today.It is a figurative search engine. You draw a picture and the search engine will find results based on your drawing.
Here are what my two searches resulted in. (I did the broken heart twice, each time the results were different, but similar, scientific drawings of the human body came up in both.)
Posted: October 24th, 2008 under Appreciation, Contemporary Art, Internet Joy.
Comments: none
I have been spending most of my web time doing work related things.
Check the group Del-icio.us account I have started up for the people involved in the PSU Social Practice MFA program.
Get your link on:
http://delicious.com/Social_Practice
Posted: October 23rd, 2008 under Art, Internet Joy, Life.
Comments: none
Dear Blog,
I don’t want you to be jealous, but I have been blogging a lot somewhere else.
I started another blog so the Social Practice PSU people could post about books of interest to them.
http://socialpracticeartbibliography.blogspot.com/
My relationship with that blog is totally different. It is a professional relationship, not like what we have.
You will always have a place in my heart.
I love you.
Jen
Posted: October 21st, 2008 under Art, Reading.
Comments: none
“It is hard to find someone you love, who loves you- but you can begin, at least, by finding someone who loves your love song.”
-Dave Hickey, Air Guitar: Essays on Art & Democracy
Lucky for me, I love a lot of love songs. Here is one of them: Hot-Wired, Okay
Image: Royal Art Lodge
Posted: October 20th, 2008 under Life, Music, Reading.
Comments: none
The last few mixes I have made have been real downers. The last mix being a depressing Beach Boys playlist. Sometimes the beach is not the best place to be.
I noticed a more positive tone emerging in the songs that I listened to this week.
Here is a loose mix of songs that got multiple plays that end up being mostly about how to be content with exactly how things are today. Though things get a little melancholy near the end of the tracklisting. Thinking about seeing Octoberman play, “Run From Safety”, in Winnipeg this summer in retrospect in the context of having a friend whisper in my ear, “I like this one.” makes me want to cry.
Something that close friends might realize is that some of the songs are ones I associate with them. I miss you guys. Even though you aren’t here, you are always part of my everyday.
“Boots of Spanish Leather” is one of my friend Lee’s favorites. I love the line, “The same thing I would want today, I will want again tomorrow.”
Tracklist:
1. Remember Today, The Thermals
2. Almost Ready, Dinosaur Jr.
3. No Cease Fires (Crimes Against the State of Our Love), Destroyer
4. Owner Has Control, KES
5. Neighbors, The Dodos
6. Run From Safety, Octoberman
7. Boots of Spanish Leather, Bob Dylan
8. Fingerfood With Dink Hand, Blue Pine
Posted: October 17th, 2008 under Life, Music.
Comments: 1
