Massive Links! Explosive Performances | Crystal Meth is a Valid Medium | Banksy Blows His Nose and Takes a Dump

by Whitney Kimball on July 15, 2011 · 9 comments Massive Links

Screenshot from Adrian Searle's video review of 11 Rooms; Xu Zen's "In The Blink of an Eye"

  • The Pace Gallery was a shitshow last night, and I wish I'd been there. (Low-hanging fruit, but irresistible). What seems to have been a very successful performance by Kate Gilmore consisted of five women in flower dresses clawing away at an enormous block of clay over the course of two hours.  Unfortunately we can only see the action as a slideshow, but the aftermath is on display at the 22nd Street Pace through August 26th.
  • Another exciting performance event that I will not attend is 11 Rooms, taking place at the Manchester Art Gallery through July 17th. Hans Ulrich Obrist, co-director of the Serpentine Gallery, and Klaus Biesenbach, of P.S.1, curate 11 performances by highly influential artists including John Baldessari, Marina Abramović, Allora & Calzadilla, and Joan Jonas. The “durational encounters” minimize the barrier between viewer and performance; they occur simultaneously and continuously throughout the eleven rooms of the gallery, which the viewer can browse at his or her own pace. You can experience a quick tour online with Adrian Searle's voice in your head.
  • When he's not making guerilla art or an award-winning documentaryBanksy farts around the apartment reading Juxtapoz. In a hilarious series of photographs, With Banksy, conceptual artist Julia Kim Smith imagines what it's like to live with the notorious, black-hooded street legend. She zooms around him with a vacuum cleaner as he stoically hunches over a beer, takes out the trash, and examines the nutritional facts on his cereal box.
  • Though he's been banned from leaving Beijing for a year, Ai Weiwei has accepted a position as a visiting professor at Berlin University of the Arts.  He's still not allowed to speak to the media, and limited reports reveal nothing, but we hear he is “very happy” about it.  So that's good.
  • Sometimes it’s also good to take a break from art. The electro/rock band Ratatat delivered yet another mind-fucking synthesis of electronic sound and video manipulation last night in Central Park. Especially titillating is their collaboration with artist Carl Burgess, in which Getty stock video is unsettlingly reedited.  Remixes of Predator and Jason and the Argonauts are also arousing.
  • You have to give the media props for unwavering dependability in its delivery of “But is it art?” stories. This week it's avant-gardeners.
  • Notably, no one is making a case for flower art that turns out to be crystal meth. When can we have that conversation?

{ 9 comments }

K.I.A. July 15, 2011 at 1:20 pm

“yeah, but is it drugs?” should be the question about most contemporary art.

Jack July 15, 2011 at 3:47 pm

Can someone, anyone, write something critical about Kate Gilmore’s vapid and repetitive performance-based art. Critics are giving her a free pass and heaping on praise and she basically does the same thing for every piece. Simplistic feminist theory sums up her entire project.

Anonymous July 15, 2011 at 4:04 pm

I wrote negatively about it last year when she was included in the Whitney Biennale. It was awful, for all the reasons you say. 

Jesse P. Martin July 15, 2011 at 4:27 pm

Someone at Pratt’s thesis shows last year exhibited a crystal meth wedding ring & supposedly was expelled for doing so. There was also a security guard hired by the artist to stand in front of the ring… “‘Til Death Do Us Part” was also (I think) etched on the ring. Maybe someone who saw the show can clarify this? Fred Tomaselli: any thoughts?

UPDATE: http://ululate.blogspot.com/2010/04/issei-watanabes-till-death-do-us-part.html

Brian July 17, 2011 at 2:06 pm

I saw Kate Gilmore’s scatological clay throw at the Pace and while it was mildly amusing to watch, it was definitely one of those things you’d much rather be doing then watching, especially if you’re in a bad mood and need an outlet… Perhaps if I were Gilmore, I’d invite the audience to participate!

Reid Singer July 18, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Jill Polack August 1, 2011 at 10:06 pm

“Fuckin’ Groucho” This is what it’s all about.  http://www.pipepalz.com or youtube channel, rocks hilarious products and toys

Meth Abuse November 17, 2011 at 8:35 am

Risk of global recession; Big Disconnect; Japan, Vow to Cut; Budget math; joblessness; Lagarde’s Tough Msg; Tax Me More, Europe’s Wealthy Say; Where Pay for CEOs Outstrips US Taxes; Lots of Vitriol for Fed Chief, Despite Facts;H-P’s One-Year Plan;AMZN. September 5, 2011. By Jacob Wolinsky …. This is a country that was already addicted to its public spending, even before the huge needs of the postquake reconstruction. The last time the Japanese government ran a budget 

Meth Abuse November 17, 2011 at 8:35 am

Risk of global recession; Big Disconnect; Japan, Vow to Cut; Budget math; joblessness; Lagarde’s Tough Msg; Tax Me More, Europe’s Wealthy Say; Where Pay for CEOs Outstrips US Taxes; Lots of Vitriol for Fed Chief, Despite Facts;H-P’s One-Year Plan;AMZN. September 5, 2011. By Jacob Wolinsky …. This is a country that was already addicted to its public spending, even before the huge needs of the postquake reconstruction. The last time the Japanese government ran a budget 

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