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MTAA-RR » news » mriver » summary report on story time again summer animals:
Aug 15, 2010
Summary Report on Story Time Again (Summer Animals)
posted at 20:45 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver
Story Time Again (Summer Animals)
Goal - Read with visitors at Wassiac Projects two texts (The House at Pooh Corner” (1928) Chapter 7 - In Which Tigger Is Unbounced and Quint’s U.S.S. Indianapolis monologue from the screen play “Stillness in The Water” AKA “JAWS”). Reading takes place outside exhibition space on blankets. Reading is hopefully interactive.
Result - No one came. I read the texts to empty blankets anyways.
My friend Charlie was the doorman at a nightclub in Columbus Ohio back in the 90’s. He always looked forward to nights when unknown local bands would play as only a handful of the band’s friends would show up. He could then spend a slow night reading at the door. One older local band was much loved and often booked by the owner. This band was loved by the owner but not so much by the college aged denizens of the club. Charlie also loved this band but for a different reason. He nicknamed them The Negative Guest Lists.
Live performance with an audience has some perils. If you fuck up, or if the audience is not into what’s going on, you know it immediately. Perhaps this is the reason visual artists tend to work with the safety and distance of video and editing. In a live moment, failure is seen and noted. Of the many things that can go wrong with live events, one of the hardest performance fails occurs when the curtain goes up and the theater is full of crickets. It’s a Michigan J. Frog moment and even a “free beer” sign outside the hall will not save you. At this point, you begin to question not only the quality of your work but your grasp of reality.
On the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog or, in my case, a frog. This is, of course, unless you tweet about your #negativeguestlist. Which in my over-share online world I immediately did. Luckily I have some good tweet folks around. A kind reply came back from bhoggard “@mriver It’s still art whether anyone is there to listen.” and amusing update followed from museumnerd “If a sculpture falls out your 19th floor window and no one’s there to hear it. Is it still art? ( @bhoggard @mriver )” permanent link to this post
Goal - Read with visitors at Wassiac Projects two texts (The House at Pooh Corner” (1928) Chapter 7 - In Which Tigger Is Unbounced and Quint’s U.S.S. Indianapolis monologue from the screen play “Stillness in The Water” AKA “JAWS”). Reading takes place outside exhibition space on blankets. Reading is hopefully interactive.
Result - No one came. I read the texts to empty blankets anyways.
My friend Charlie was the doorman at a nightclub in Columbus Ohio back in the 90’s. He always looked forward to nights when unknown local bands would play as only a handful of the band’s friends would show up. He could then spend a slow night reading at the door. One older local band was much loved and often booked by the owner. This band was loved by the owner but not so much by the college aged denizens of the club. Charlie also loved this band but for a different reason. He nicknamed them The Negative Guest Lists.
Live performance with an audience has some perils. If you fuck up, or if the audience is not into what’s going on, you know it immediately. Perhaps this is the reason visual artists tend to work with the safety and distance of video and editing. In a live moment, failure is seen and noted. Of the many things that can go wrong with live events, one of the hardest performance fails occurs when the curtain goes up and the theater is full of crickets. It’s a Michigan J. Frog moment and even a “free beer” sign outside the hall will not save you. At this point, you begin to question not only the quality of your work but your grasp of reality.
On the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog or, in my case, a frog. This is, of course, unless you tweet about your #negativeguestlist. Which in my over-share online world I immediately did. Luckily I have some good tweet folks around. A kind reply came back from bhoggard “@mriver It’s still art whether anyone is there to listen.” and amusing update followed from museumnerd “If a sculpture falls out your 19th floor window and no one’s there to hear it. Is it still art? ( @bhoggard @mriver )” permanent link to this post
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