02.13.00
from steve dietz
gallery 9, walker art center, the internet, and digital culture
ART ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK
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issue #5 02.13.00 |
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WebWalker DAILY 02_11_00-04_30_00 from steve dietz gallery 9, walker art center, the internet, and digital culture ART ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK |
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° Calendar 2000 ° Vergne-Closky ° Let's Entertain ° links |
Art stands up to convention.On January 1, Gallery 9 began hosting one of Claude Closky's latest projects, Calendar 2000, which is also the "official" calendar of Art Entertainment Network. This issue of WebWalker features an interview of Closky by Philippe Vergne, curator of visual arts at the Walker Art Center and curator of Let's Entertain--see Louis Mazza's design of the Let's Entertain website for more fully engaging details. ________________________________________ |
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claude closky
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From personal affirmations ("Time is on your side."--Coty) to worldly philosophy ("You can’t have everything."--Hyundai) to manners ("You don’t have to shout to be noticed."--Castleberry) to bald self-branding ("More power, more luxury, more everything."--Lexus), Closky's Calendar 2000 is an online meme-a-day culled from the corporate worldview, as seen, primarily, in the endless stream of advertising--which may be, sadly, where many of us do learn philosophy.
Calendar 2000 implicitly positions contemporary culture as a subset of corporate-speak, and in this way is related to the work in AEN of rtMark or Daniel Garcia Andujar. Yet Closky comes across as much more gleeful or perhaps that he is much less conflicted about the fact that this is the nature of the universe and everything. Might as well have some fun with it. As fellow Frenchman Vergne put it: "The idea of pleasure is not popular in art. . . . If you take the history of the post-war avant garde, when art deals with pleasure it is a taboo and becomes something about guilt. . . . Can we believe that pleasure is a way to learn, or is it only self-indulgent? That is a question that we want to raise. Can we access knowledge through pleasure, or is pleasure only self-indulgence?"________________________________________ |
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vergne-closky interview
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Philippe Vergne: Would you rather spend vacation in Corpus Christi (Texas) with Andy Warhol or in Bali with Naomi Campbell, and why? Claude Closky: As Neiman Marcus® says: "Art provides great table conversation", but as Clairol® advises: "I will follow my "Natural InstinctsŠ;" and invite Naomi to come with me to Bali. PV: Would you wear a Gucci suit with cowboy boots or a tennis shorts with Prada shoes and why?CC: It's a difficult choice, because as Sears® teaches us: "Being in style can be very rewarding", and as Coty® reminds us: "Every man wants success by day and by night". PV: Do you believe in high and low? CC: I believe in ultra-high hydratation cream and extra-low calorie yoghurt. PV: The eighties are coming back, so what do you fear the most about that? CC: I am afraid that "Beauty is timeless," as Max Factor® puts it, and that "Tomorrow never dies." as Omega® predicts! PV: Duchamp, Picasso, Matisse, or Schaparelli? CC: I have to admit I have spent more time lately with Rose, Blanche, Dorothy and Sophia of the Golden Girls.
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let's enterain
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Let's Entertain is about how a major cultural phenomenon affects artistic practices. The leisure industry is affecting our economy so deeply, and there is no reason to think that the cultural field should or can remain isolated."--Philippe Vergne
On the Let's Entertan website, designed by Louis Mazza with animations by Mike Young, information about the work of almost 80 artists is presented, along with a conversation between Vergne and curatorial assistant Olukemi Ilesanmi, as well as several essays from the book, Life's Guilty Pleasures, which is published by DAP. ________________________________________ |
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links
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Calendar 2000 www.walkerart.org/gallery9/closky/
Let's Entertain
rtMark
Daniel Garcia Andujar
Art and entertainment collide colorfully at Walker Art Center
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