The Holiday Post

So I am on vacation and will probably not be posting much for the next week but I do plan on working on my thesis (I have never brought so many books with on vacation before).

Anyway I have two important statements to make before leaving.

First: I am in Disney World. So the following statement has to do with that fact. Disney World is a work of art, but it is not an interactive collaborative work of art like a blog is, it is the extreme of a performance work. But IT IS ART. (period)

Second: Happy Holidays!

And if the National Treasure team make a third film, I want the treasure to be the search for Walt Disney’s frozen body (and the Disney Vault Treasure). I think that’d be a good mystery I mean all the clues will be in the Disney parks.

Anyway happy holidays all and I promise to return full throttle by the end of next week.

And lets all remember

It all started with a mouse.

Huysmans

Post #50, a scene without answer

Well here has come my fiftieth post. And that is all there is to that now is there.

 

So what more to the score must now be added, well that is where we are at hand.

 

This blog promotes the discussion, appreciation, critical analysis, and in general culture and communication of art and the world it lives in, namely this world.

 

So for this fiftieth post I say happy holidays and a wonderful new year.

 

For myself I want to thank those that have engaged in my discussions and present this:

 

A scene without answers:

ACT ONE A simple conference room with three tables set up in a box like formation, the missing side of the box is the side closest to the audience. Each table has two chairs on the outer side all with filled. Behind the table to the back, parallel with the audience, on the wall lies a reproduction of Frank Stella’s The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II. On either side of the painting are two large windows both open with the curtains tied back. The view from the windows is that of a clear blue sky, the room is a few floors up and its view is not blocked by any other buildings.. The rest of the room has a simple design, reflecting its sole purpose as a place for conference and discussion. There is a table off to one side fitted with coffee and refinements while each table has a pitcher of water and glasses. The room is lit from over head resembling simple yet formal lighting.             Behind the back table sits F. STELLA and N. M. C., they are talking and shuffling through papers. F. STELLA is an older man, but clearly not an old man who has found a casual formal dress which, he thinks, makes him look like a chic urbanite. N. M. C. is clearly an older man with an air of importance. He has decided for this preliminary meeting to wear the traditional judge outfit, even though it is not necessary. It is in his opinion that those in attendance must show him that respect, for him the clothes help achieve that. Sitting behind the table to stage-right is MATHIAS and UNDERSTUDY AS MATHIAS REPRESENTATION, MATHIAS REPRESENTATION is very much engaged in his conversation with MATHIAS who seems to be much less interested and keeps staring off stage. MATHIAS appears to be a middle-aged not in his prime anymore though. He is wearing a somewhat beat up suit, it’s the only formal outfit he has. MATHIAS REPRESENTATION is of younger appearance and is dressed in a newly purchased formal outfit, very proud of it.  Behind the table across from them sits MEMORY and UNDERSTUDY AS MEMORY REPRESENTATION. Both of them are not in any kind of discussion but are staring rather angrily at MATHIAS. MEMORY, like MATHIAS is just coming out of the prime of her life, the most formal outfit she has is her “Sunday best” for church, which is what she has on now. Her representation, like MATHIAS’S is wearing a newly bought formal suit; it appears as if the two representations have a little bit of a competition going on. Lastly, behind the window to stage-right is NAIRD-NOM standing on scaffolding cleaning the window. NAIRD-NOM is in full uniform for the job and appears to be an older man who has found the one job that doesn’t have a retirement age.             Directorial note: If the dialog of this act is to be changed by the direct it must still follow the production constraint designed by the playwright, every line must be a question. 

            MEMORY (to MATHIAS). What is it you’re looking at…my dear?

            MATHIAS (without turning to face her). What does it matter to you?

            F. STELLA (to everyone). Do you guys want to finish this or not?

            N. M. C. (after checking his watch). Are you all aware of the time? Can we move onto custody of the children?

            MATHIAS REPRESENTATION. Do you really think we can resolve that question today?

            MEMORY REPRESENTATION. And why do you think we can’t?

            MATHIAS REP (now annoyed with the question). Can we leave the children for tomorrow’s meeting? Don’t you think we’ve argued enough today?

            MEMORY. Why are you so keen on postponing this discussion? Judge, isn’t it obvious that I should have custody of the children? Did he, (points to MATHIAS) not demonstrate through his actions a lack of responsibility?

            MATHIAS (focusing back onto the argument). Are you suggesting that this one incident is enough to ignore the years of service I have given our children?

            MEMORY. What service?

            MATHIAS. How can you say that?

            F. STELLA (to MEMORY). Is there a way we can work around absolute custody of the children? Judge (turns to face N. M. C.) don’t you think that custody is too serious of an issue for this preliminary conference?

            N. M. C. (with a pondering expression). Is it possible for us to discuss the incident in its entirety today?

            MATHIAS (a little puzzled). You want me to tell you the story of my transgressions?

            N. M. C. Don’t you think it will help your case in my eyes if we all can get the incident in question out into the open?

            MATHIAS. And what relevance does my story have with the division of assists?

            MEMORY (very annoyed with MATHIAS’s attitude). You think it has no relevance?

            MATHIAS. What relevance does it have?

            MEMORY REP. You tell us?

            N. M. C. (to MEMORY REP). But on the other hand, don’t you think his account of it will be bias?

            MEMORY REP. Is there another account of the incident? (To MEMORY). Wasn’t your late uncle with Mathias when it happened? What’s his name again? Edouard?

            MEMORY. Are you sure it’s not R. G.?

            MATHIAS. What does he have to do with this?

            F. STELLA. Was he here with you during the time of your affair?

            MATHIAS. And if he was?

            F. STELLA. Shouldn’t his account of what happened be inspected?

            N. M. C. Do we have a home or mailing address for the fellow?

            MEMORY. Judge, you didn’t hear that he died last year?

            N. M. C. Did he really? How will we ever move forward without him? Do you have access to any of his records?

            MEMORY REP (proudly). Aren’t his personal journals on file at the Museum?

            MEMORY (a little surprised). Are they?

            N. M. C. (impatiently). Mr. Stella can you get us a copy of his journal?

            F. STELLA (Standing up). Can you handle them without me?

            N. M. C. (chuckling). Can you hurry?

 (F. STELLA stands, takes one last look at the group of people all with frustrated expressions, he exists stage-right and on his way out waves to the window washer who waves back, excitedly.) 

N. M. C. (annoyed as he turns back to face the group). Okay everyone, can we try at least to get through some more of these proceedings while we wait for the journal?

MATHIAS REP (with an air of procedure). Shall we move to the marital assists then?

N. M. C. (looking to the rest of the group). Are there any objections?

MATHIAS REP (very pretentiously). Now MEMORY, did you work during the marriage?

MEMORY (annoyed at the question). Don’t you know the answer?

MATHIAS REP. Can you give it for the record?

MEMORY REP (very annoyed). Why do we have to get into this? Wasn’t her job to take care of the children? Do you not think that that is a full time job in itself? How can you accuse my client of not doing her part?

MATHIAS REP (Proudly). Should we take that as a no?

MEMORY (frustrated but calm). What do you think?

MATHIAS REP. Does that not entitled my client to 100% of the assists acquired during the marriage?

MEMORY. Do you think that without me he would have the same amount of assists?

N. M. C. Shall we leave the question of assists for when we have a marriage counselor again?

MATHIAS REP. And what, then, does the judge want to work out now?

N. M. C. (thinking to himself). Where are we in regards to the frequent flyer miles?

MATHIAS REP. Aren’t we nowhere?

MEMORY REP. Didn’t we decide that my client should have the miles?

MATHIAS REP. When did we decide that?

MEMORY REP. Are you accusing me of lying?

MATHIAS REP. Are you?

MEMORY REP. Judge, aren’t you going to stop these ridiculous outbursts?

N. M. C. (impatient, frustrated, and a little angry). Mathias representation, can we leave the arguing for after the discussion?

MATHIAS REP. You think I am willing to sit back and let this hack of a layer fuck over my client?

N. M. C. Are you seriously going to question my authority here? Now, can we get back on track?

MEMORY REP. Is the judge aware that the question of ownership over the miles was dealt with on a preliminary basis resulting in my client’s ownership of all the miles due to the fact that their origin came from the use of my client when visiting her dying uncle?

MATHIAS REP. Are you aware that it was my client who financed her trips, thus resulting in his ownership of the miles?

MEMORY REP. And are you aware that your client prevented my client from securing employment due to her responsibilities on the home front?

 

(Around this point MATHIAS will get extremely bored with the proceedings and get up and walk off stage, this will surprise the entire cast on stage as well as the window washer. This will end the current argument.)

 

N. M. C. (Stunned). Can you believe he just did that?

MATHIAS REP (also stunned). Does he not know that the scene is not over?

MEMORY REP. Is this not a great example of his irresponsibility?

N. M. C. (confused). Are you talking about the actor or the character?

MEMORY REP. Does it matter?

MEMORY (frustrated but confident). Judge, don’t you think we’ve had enough of this? Isn’t it best at this point to push this back just one more day?

N. M. C. (thinking it through). Does the legal representation support this motion? (He eyes both REPRESENTATIVES while asking the question).

MATHIAS REP. Do you think we should resolve the issue of this “Uncle’s journal” first? (MATHIAS REP. makes quotation movement with his hands).

MEMORY REP. How long do you think he will be? Is he really going all the way to the museum?

MATHIAS REP. Isn’t the museum way uptown?

MEMORY. Can we just store the journal here when Mr. Stella returns and examine it tomorrow?

N. M. C. (looking offstage). Are you serious? (Eyes the audience, and then turns back to who ever he is talking to offstage, he is receiving instructions through an earpiece). What should I say though?… But isn’t he supposed to come back tomorrow?… Why aren’t we gona do scene two?

MEMORY (looking offstage as well). We’re not doing scene two?

MATHIAS REP. Do they really want to make these changes?

 

(As the level of confusion amongst the characters rises, F. STELLA will return from stage-left, opposite side to which he left from. In his hands, he is holding an incredibly old and fragile journal, a very large document that looks to be at least one hundred years old. F. STELLA quickly finds his seat and eyes the other characters to get their attention.)

 

            F. STELLA (to everyone). Did you all miss me?

            N. M. C. (still confused). Did you find the journal?

            F. STELLA (holding up the old document). What does it look like?

            MEMORY REP. How did you get to the museum and back so fast?

            F. STELLA. What makes you think I went to the museum?

            MATHIAS REP. Isn’t that where you were going to go to get it?

            F. STELLA. Is that where I was supposed to go?

            N. M. C. (more confused than ever). You didn’t find that here did you?

            F. STELLA. Do you think I went all the way to the museum?

            N. M. C. We have a copy of his journal here? Why? How? Since when?

            F. STELLA. Wouldn’t it be best to read it for the purpose of this conference first, before going into how I got it here?

            N. M. C. (again looking at his watch). Shall we read it after a short recess?

            MEMORY REP (to MEMORY). Is that okay with you?

            MEMORY (to MEMORY REP). But we will go over it today, right?

            MATHIAS REP. Can we take a break first though? I mean, don’t you think it is best if we have Mathias here for the reading?

            N. M. C. (to everyone). So meeting back here in about twenty minuets? Does that work for everyone?

 (In silence they all nod and get up. MATHIAS REP, N. M. C., and F. STELLA exit stage-right while MEMORY and MEMORY REP exit stage-left. Upon their exit NAIRD-NOM , who has been quietly washing the one left window this entire time signals off stage-right with his hand and then the lights fade out and the curtain falls. This intermission will be no more than five minuets, just to change the set.)

The Overwhelming and political art

Starting right now I am going to beginning documenting reviews of events, shows, movies, books, and so for that I come across in my artistic travels.

For this first review post (of which the reader must be absolutely aware that I am in no way a reviewer and see this more for me to place ideas and thoughts about this piece as the connect to the greater discussion of the culture of art, but anyway in some fashion this will represent a review) I will comment on a new work off Broadway titled The Overwhelming (no link because today was the last showing, they have already taken down the site) by J. T. Rogers and directed by Max Stafford-Clark. The play is currently running at Roundabout Theatre’s Laura Pels Theatre in midtown New York. But enough about its logistics on to why I liked it.

The only real reason I am choosing to bring it up is, well two reasons. First it played with the form of drama in a rather interesting way. First the characters were not afraid to interrupt each other and all talk at once, there were many dialogue sequences with multiple speakers, thus leaving the audience confused as to who to focus on. I am an audience member who likes to be confused. Second the final sequence of dialogue was interrupted by the speaker’s decision to focus his speech on the audience, not a new trick, but an extremely effective one. He was telling us that we’d forget about it, that we’d go back to our lives. The play itself is about Rwanda and the genocide that occurred; the events in the play coincide with the months leading up to the beginning of the genocide in 1994. There were some very powerful quotes to be taken from this play, among them were the ideas of peace, war, strangers, American involvement in foreign affairs, and so on. Questions that are prevalent today and that last act by the character to turn to the audience made that fact abundantly clear.

The second reason I bring this up is that it is a new work, using a political theme to present a message, a very traditional play in some sense but one that is of our time, and I am curious about that power it currently holds. It received a standing ovation, but did it receive it because of the true genius it portrayed or rather because of its significance for our current situation? What I am really getting it is were we not in a war, and were we not dealing with American involvement in the Middle East, involvement to the extant that it is greatly dividing our country, would this play still get a standing ovation?

Does that answer really matter?

(To be honest the first thought that comes to mind is the fact that this has strayed from being a review, but I like where this is going so forget my review idea for now, this has become an artistic discussion and will be filed under such, now back to the discussion.)

I am curious what people think in regards to the current importance or rather the current message a piece has. Does this work backwards? If an old piece that was considered bad art from yesteryear, today become extremely powerful and poignant, would we reconsider its artistic value?

Just some food for thought while we all prepare to feast on the holidays.

Huysmans

A traditional weblog post for a contemporary artist’s creation.

For once I would like to post like the original weblogs did now ten years ago. So here goes:

 

http://www.jonathanyuen.com/main.html

 

Designed by a digital graphics artist, named Jonathan Yuen, the artistic expression presented here through flash demonstrates this artist’s commitment to exploration through new media and the importance of communication in art.

 

A site well worth looking at in my humble opinion.

 

Huysmans

Tags

What is art, a deuxieme manifesto on the dissisitudes of modern day epistemology?

Books are art, the glass over there is art.

I defined it as such.

 

This is art, when bought for $3.36 in british money that’s just a little more than a dollar fifty.

 

Second grade is art. There is art in you and on this ticket.

 Algerian is art ART Duchamp was an artist and guilty of it. Hey Pomp stop selling those pins, he isn’t innocent. Dali was a sell out and an artist, but Disney was the Pope! Guns aren’t art, we don’t won’t them not the futurists, they can take their automobiles and leave.  BYE Sans art Le gouvernement français est art.  Il n’y a rien d’art ici, sauf tout ce qui est art.  Germany lost world war two.  The Large Glass has another name. The Seven Dwarfs was a German story. Mickey Mouse represents an alliteration, art.  Art is in the paper, art is in the pen, art is on the tv, art is in the den, art lives in you, art comes from me, art sings to all, art’s done by a bee, art is something dumb, art is something fun, art is sometimes alive, and art is relentlessly a pun,  art can breath change, art can be thrown away, art can cause tears, art is here to stay.  That was a really dumb poem. This is war! You still owe me that $4.56                                                             I STAND FOR ART Tristan hurry up and come back to us before countless more go to art school. Hanz we have failed, and Earnst if you hadn’t painted Ubu, he would have gone unnoticed in today’s world.  We want NO violence, we are not the futurists or the idiot Dadaists who cried for such stupidity.  But should you see Mr. Ubu (he is no longer a king) KILL HIM! That is all! Free those confined by the trap.  R. Mutt I Salute You! Huysmans.

Community and Art

Today was the last day of school for my old high school of which my sister is now a senior. I being an alumnus snuck myself to watch this winter tradition. I bring it up here because I think that it so perfectly describes the power of art in education.  The performance was one hour long and consisted of different acts by different grades, for example some 6^th graders read their own poetry while the first graders performed a procession and high school groups both sang and danced. The most memorable for me was what the fifth graders did; the sword dance. A highly choreographed performance involving swords that are incorporated into a star by the intercrossing of the dancer who are marching in a circle, sounds complicated, looks complicated, but as being once a fifth grader who did it, it isn’t that hard to pull off.

 

Regardless of what was performed, the performance as a whole brought the school together, from kindergarten to twelfth grade, from students to faculty, and my push will be to get alumni there as well. What I am trying to say is that it helps connect that community; it removes the boundary of age, of position, of background and allows us all to enjoy something together. Even better is the fact that there was no one dominating medium of artistic production, we had costumes, dancers, musicians, singers, writers, and of course an audience interaction and response (which I count as a whole other medium).

 

Sorry I don’t have much more to say just yet but I guess I want to add this one final thought.

 

I talk about art and write about art and produce art because it is fundamental to community.

 

Huysmans.

State of the thesis

Twenty books to go

There is no snow

NYC may distract me

So thesis let it be

Just let it be

Twenty books to go

So so so so so

Facebook as Literature

I used to think, and by used to I mean up until this week, that these new fangled applications on facebook were not just a waste of time but a disgrace to the essence of what is Facebook. Well that was back when I was elitist for being a college student and couldn’t get over the fact that now high schoolers had accounts. Though I wouldn’t say I am passed that phase of my Facebook relationship I have come to see some value in these applications.

 

I bring it up here because it is rather interesting to see how the literary world has utilized it. First I want to introduce a rather interesting and simply engaging application I found through Chris Joseph’s blog. The novel is called Why Some Dolls Are Bad and it is a graphic novel and is dynamically generated through a Facebook application by the same name. I highly recommend looking into it.

 

It is works like this that are key resources for reviewing the literary potential of blogs, though this app itself is not a blog it does use many of the unique blog features I plan on discussing, such as hypertext, mixmedia, and a community set up through the app users. But again it isn’t a blog in that we cannot directly communicate with the novel author, Kate Armstrong.

 

Anyway it is something worth checking out and thanks to Chris for pointing it out.

 

On another note on Facebook I have also added the scrabble game, a game I like to think helps stimulate writers and with it on Facebook I can enter multiple games at once with my friends that take place over a long period of time, a cute way to remind me about how bad my vocabulary is. For example below is my attempt at trying to make words with the letters I had, I have decided that it makes some rather interesting phonetic poetry, or just crap. You can decide for yourself.

 

Huysmans.

 

Dif tif dif nif wintow woodin wid

 

Woodint winotod

 

Windoo windot wondit wond windo woodi n tinwood nitwood woodnit inwood

Being Dated.

So since I know have the ground working for working on this thesis something that I have been thinking about a lot lately is the momentary aspect of my research. The moment I make a statement about the current situation, that statement becomes dated. Today we are dealing with a system that’s most fundamental tradition is a tradition of change.

 

I bring this up now for one reason in particular, my roommate has just recently started a flickr.com account and we both have become rather excited about the potential it has for him. I myself have begun to ponder on the idea of creating one for my photos, for no other reason then to pack them up on the internet. But also because it is nice to be able to share travels and experience and for those who are trying to become photographers like my roommate, it is a good way to get out there.

 

So why do I bring up flickr when talking about blogs? I’m sure the answer is obvious to most of you (it wasn’t to me at first) but because perhaps the blog is not a literary tool. I am excited to do my thesis and will work it to its conclusion but what I am pondering right now is the reality that we need to move away from placing these new tools in old media and just establish them as new media. I intend to do this with my thesis but at the same time my goal is to look at their literary potential, by that I mean I am not using flickr for my research.

 

If I was to write a book rather than a thesis though I think that looking at these online blogs,vlogs, photo blogs, and so forth should be brought under one new medium, the internet, a medium that has no restrictions save one, it is not tangible. Everything created exists and only exists on the internet, in that specific format.

 

So here is to being dated and to always need those addendums.

 

Huysmans.