That’s some shameful shit
Despite a couple of weeks in which I have come across new and revisited old collaborations that have been:
· Difficult-but-rewarding (Carol Yinghua Lu discussing her work with Liu Ding at the Chinese Arts Centre, “There is a certain power in just thinking rather than making…the most important thing is the continuous self questioning” she said);
· Thought-provoking (Grace Coddington, Creative Director, American Vogue, thinking on her feet with incredible results in The September Issue, “Keep watching because whatever you see out the window…it can inspire you.”);
· Inspiring (Japanese B-Boy crew Ichigeki’s 2005 top scoring championship routine [men become turntables!]);
· Fledgling-but-going-for-it (Network Aesthetics, the “writing as performance” at Untitled Gallery) and
· Heart-breaking (re-visiting A Woman Under the Influence, after the death of Peter Falk, the perfect foil to Gena Rowlands’ difficult heroine)…
I was sad to see collaborative work that has undeservedly got a far bigger stage to appear on than several of the above: Allora and Calzadilla’s piece “Track and Field” for the American Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (click here for a photo and Jerry Saltz’s annoyingly neutral summary). The work surprises me – did it really take two whole minds to come up with that? I assume “Track and Field” is meant to be political, yet despite being the result of a North/South American pairing, it’s same-old, same-old – politics as “merely the decoy of perception” and, as such, provides spectacle, but shows us absolutely nothing.
