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Thursday, January 29, 2004
Long time, no siege
That's what said a character from icantrememberwhich game when the player clicked on it. I use it when there was nothing important happened for a couple of days.
Monday, January 19, 2004
update
It's like that song from South Park: bigger, longer & uncut, Blame Canada:
Should we blame the government?
Or balme society?
Or should we balme images on TV?
NO. Blame Canada...
The self-appointed art critic
As the news-watching people may know, the Israeli ambassador damaged an artwork in a Stockholm exhibition (CNN-story). That's what said in the news on Saturday, last week. As I see, there is no analysis on the event, only a description of it. So, let's look a bit behind: There is an installation (Snow White and the Madness of Truth) on this exhibition showing a pool full with red water with a small boat floating on it with a picture of a young woman (a photography of the installation can be seen on the CNN's page). The young woman is a Palestinian suicide bomber, died a few weeks/months ago.
So, that's the exhibit, and here is coming that empty-headed diplomat and without trying to understand the artwork or at least without trying to discuss the point with the artist, he tries to destroy it... By the way, the installation was meant to call attention to how weak people left alone can be capable of horrible things. He said that the artwork glorifies the suicide attack. Slight different isn't it?
That's what the global politics is all about: there is nothing to understand, only to destroy. There is no secondary meaning, there is nothing behind the scene, only what they want to see. Even if it's a completely different thing, they won't dare of it. They don't want to dare about it. Like the patient in that joke, who sees busts on every picture the doctor showing to him.
The second problem is about censorship. This is a long-debated subject: the major problem is that if there is censorship somewhere, then in an inevitable way will come to prohibit more and more, not only the major deviations for what was created. 'Cause censors feel that they are lords of living and death after a while and they’re starting to forbid more and more... Of course, theoretically it's good to have a slight censorship everywhere, but there is no one who could avoid abusing of that. I think that 4000+ years of history showed to us that even the most perfect being could fail to cope with censorship within a short time, to not speak about the others...
Luckily, Sweden is a free country and the exhibit wasn't withdrawn, nor the exhibition closed, but the diplomat was asked to leave. And the Swedish foreign ministry called him to explain his act. I can't imagine what could happened if, by chance, the exhibition were in Hungary... at best the artist would blamed and a horde of self-appointed art critics (aka hacks; src) would bite into small pieces the poor victim.
And don't have any doubt: this would happen apart from which is the ruling party that time. That's the difference between east and west: east is all about servilism and blindness, west is somewhat free from such moronic attitudes. At least they're trying hardly.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
sunshine
Today it's a sunny day, which isn't so common in this part of the year. I don't know whether the weather or because somebody loves me up there (although it's still unclear how much) makes me cheerful.
The sunbeams are visiting my desk, it's quiet, the only noise passing through my headphones is the keyboard's click-clack.
I think I'll go to get a dinner.
Monday, January 12, 2004
Saturday, January 10, 2004
Moods
New year, new possibilities, new life. Well, that's what I expect from this new one, in despite that the old one wasn't so good, I can almost say that was a bad year, but if I can look behind the bad things (and this is not easy and I can't do it every day), there were also very good ones.
The first half year I can say, it was a very good one: I just met Acsé, I moved into a new flat with a brand-new flat mate (:)), I got a new assignment at my workplace, which was a fore step compared with my old one, which despite of personal frictions wasn't so bad (currently I can say it was pretty good), I discovered a new field of contemporary culture, which was almost invisible for me: contemporary art (thanks to Acsé), I managed to have a bonus-trip to Helsinki just during Midsummer, and many-many small, but important things that helped me to survive, to not just float, but swim over the sea of events.
Unfortunately life is not a kindergarten. I can admit that Heaven could be a McDonald's, or even that there is no Heaven but eternally-lasting reincarnations (in this case I'm pretty sure that eF -my colleague- will be a big fat rat in his next life :)), or -even worse- there is nothing, but endless pain before you die.
So, the second part wasn't good, I can surely admit that it was severe. My assignment comes to an unexpected end due high-level reorganizations in the company (the bigfuckin'multinationalcompany, shortly BFM), and as my supporters were lingered out (is this term correct?) from the center of events, I couldn't get any good deal concerning my future work. And there was a 2-3 month long so-called learning phase, when I supposed to learn the quite detested j2ee (I don't like j2ee, as I didn't liked java as well). Things were becoming annoying even with my flat mate. Once we were very close to each other, good friends, and now, after a few years of living in separate places with a few thousand kilometers between, there was nothing as before. From January we moved away, I hope that can restore something from the old friendship.
The economy started to go to the dogs, the real-estate prices were rising high, the city started to become more and more unbearable (high traffic, polluted air, ruined buildings, pavements full with dog-shit, very hot summer, odd people on the streets, in public transportation, in offices, in shops. All in one, I started to feel like that Chinese people from that article I've read about ten years ago, who arrived here neat and smiling. And as time passed and they're started to get familiarized with the country and the local habits, people, they started to become tense, restless, gloomy and disappointed...
I think I should go now. I have to go now.
What do you think?
Japan
China
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Art /this is also published on my Hungarian blog/
Now, let's talk about art. Art with caps. And how things are going in Hungary (and -I think- in East and less in West as well). As everybody knows, in the late 18th century there was only the "academic" style with well-defined rules about almost everything concerning the "production" of a work of art. So, there was a group, the academicians, who defined what could be considered as art. In opposition of this evolved the "-ism" 's with new concepts, views of the "artistic" way. As these new currents got a very good reception among the public, the representatives of the "academic" style-art were driven back and gradually adopted the new currents among with throwing away the old style. Art flourished for many years... till the communist dictators come to rule the East. There is no much to say about the past 50 years. At least in the eastern side of Europe.
Beginning with the '90's, artist from East are getting familiarized with the new waves of West in past 50 years and started to adopt that in their works. Unfortunately, with the new, unfamiliar, market economy, and large budget cuts, only a few of them could get enough financial support to be present on top-ranking exhibitions and festivals. And they were who later got vital positions in art-financing foundations, govt offices and museums, as -then, and now- well-known artists. So they are deciding now who will get money for its exhibition and who will not. Now they are lords of living and death in the field of art: you're in the gang, you get your activity financed by someone; you're not: you can f.ck yourself. And more embarrassing: anyone from the "group" can stole your ideas and come out with a similar exhibition without any professional or legal consequences. Let's take two examples on that: let's suppose that you're a wanna-be PHD and you're coming forth with a project on something involving art and one of the social sciences. You're showing up with your project at the admission commission, who after long debates rejects your application. It's OK, you will apply at another institute, where finally you're accepted and the project can be started. After a few months (let's say 7-8), you learn about a strange (familiar?) exhibition, where not only the concept is suspiciously similar with yours: the introductory essay but 2-3 unimportant sentences it's yours word by word. After you've questioned some people turns out: the exhibitors are students of the prof, who rejected your application. After you finish the three-years phd, if you come out with an exhibition with your work based on your idea, I'm pretty sure that you will be banned for that. So who's the thief here? You? The well-known prof? The student of the well-known prof? Hmmm...
The second story: imagine that you are a guest student in one of the departments of an art university. And you have some unusual work (more precisely a series of them) and you present a few of them for the others (students and profs) during the introductory courses. The audition is divided about them, but no one has serious counter-argument against. Well, time passes, you finish your studies and you leave the city for a while to return home, but you can't live without and you'll return to study in a second institute. And what happens? You discover a familiar picture in a festival's web site. Definitely it's not yours. But the concept is the same. Surprisingly the same. And surprisingly, turns out that the page is hosted by an art-foundation well tied to a prof of the previous institute and the design was made by some students from that institute. Curious, isn't?
Let's stop story-telling here. I know that there are many similar cases, even worse ones.
And that's how things are evolved: from a rigid, theoretical art through many innovative currents we are at a badly financed art-community, where not originality, but good contacts matters. You're in the gang: you can get financed and you can exhibit. You're not in: you can wake up that even your ideas were "borrowed" by someone. It's sad? Yes. It's tragic? Yes. It's disastrous? No. Can we do something against? Yes. But it's hard. How? Be critic. Look behind the scenes. Read. And do not belive :)
Finally, go and see Monet & co. at Museum of Fine Arts on Heroes' Square. They were original. They are original. More on art soon (I think that will be about exhibitions and in hungarian).
First words
I'm starting this blog to ensure that I willn't forget anything, moreover maybe I'll learn some grammar.
My original blog is in Hungarian since August 2002 and now is the time for the second one in English. The original blog is discontinued since something happened with the archive template which couldn't be fixed by me, so I've started a new one, continuing the same my-life-for-public series, as before.
Check the links section on the sidebar for my Hungarian blog and for other interesting links.
