So many things are shot on various kinds of virtual sets that actors and directors less frequently get to fully steep in a sense of place. That doesn’t mean modern creative teams can’t do good work; they clearly can. But over time, I think there’s something eroded in the foundations of culture every time a prop or a throne room gets inserted electronically by work done in a quiet computer lab isolated from the living, breathing crew.
Read MoreART IN A TIME OF SMOKE AND CINDERS
No matter what Election Day may bring —and I’m conscious that on whatever date you may be reading there will likely remain massive uncertainties ahead — it would be irresponsible to pretend that the travails of the day can just be ignored. They cannot be ignored. Artists especially cannot avert their eyes, even as the balm of creative work promises a cloak of comparative purpose, or at least meaningful pursuit. To pretend that our collective, human induced problems are not substantial would be to assert an abdication of civic engagement.
Read MoreINFLUENCERS
A culture capable of even casually reading anything — car magazines, gossip magazines, music magazines, newspapers— meant its citizens were capable of simply focusing on something—anything—for more than a fleeting moment, by which I mean minutes not seconds.
Read MoreTHE SAVAGE ARTS
If you simply want to get a job done, you can choose to metaphorically phone it in or use some sort of pre-existing template. Of course, you can’t be surprised if nobody comes back to you for repeat business, or if your name and your work gets forgotten amid the swirling sands of time. Mediocrity rarely deserves much attention.
Read MoreOPENING CEREMONIES, DECONSTRUCTED
Yes, there were missteps. Yes, there were some ill considered choices, aesthetically, technically, and narratively. I rolled my eyes at a few of them with amusement and let most of them roll off my back at the same time. But ultimately I must applaud vigorously. With the risks of spicy big art being reduced by commercial tendencies into a tasteless pablum, this particular show asked a global audience to stretch in so many exciting and invigorating ways.
Read MoreTHE RECURSIVE PROBLEM WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
I’m not opposed to modernity, or the soul of a new machine. I fully embrace the inevitable process where innovation forces new ways of working that are destined to replace older modes. My specific concern is that the embrace of AI’s siren promise for innovation seems uncaring about its implications while simultaneously acting as a transformational agent.
Read MoreTHE LOOMING DARKNESS (PT 3 OF 3) -- REGRESSION
The thing about artwork is that while expertise can add meaningful substance to dialogue, even the uninitiated can be moved to feel something or get engaged. Art can influence us even if we’re not an expert. This is different than opinions about science or engineering or foreign policy, where uninformed declarations can actually be counter-productive. I don’t want to listen to an uninformed opinion about whether bridges should be inspected for safety. I want to be able to count on experts who can properly evaluate the safety of bridges.
Read MoreTHE LOOMING DARKNESS (Pt 2 of 3) — LEVERAGE
A culture built of people invested in creative enterprise is a culture that cares about building connections. Creative expressions almost always reach out. By its very nature art does not insulate itself from interaction; it pursues interaction. In times like these, when identity politics and political polarization press our self-interested faces into hand-held screens, the value of shared experiences becomes not simply a luxury, but a campfire on a bitterly cold night.
Read MoreTHE LOOMING DARKNESS (Pt 1 of 3) — RESPONSES
Idealists may think that art in its various forms can function as remedy for chaos and pain. The rise of Dada in the early part of the 20th century suggests otherwise. The peril here is that when ideologues try to use creative work as a mechanism for political or social coercion, the work instantly corrupts itself. Political forces have always used creative enterprise as a means of influence, but in its most trenchant expressions, art speaks for itself as a reaction to the world much more evocatively than when it’s wielded as an instrument of power.
Read MoreTHIS ISN’T REALLY ABOUT ANDY WARHOL…OR THE SUPREME COURT
I don’t mind angry art, I don’t mind sad art, I don’t mind disturbed art, or erotic art, or challenging pieces that ask me to pause and think. I don’t even mind “bad” art that I might choose to ignore. What bothers me are so-called artistic assertions that knowingly, consciously, conspicuously waste my time by pretending to be something more vital than they really are.
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