Violins and Venue: The Zombies of the Commute
May 3rd 2007 20:20
:
Joshua Bell: For free!
Yo. Check this out: Joshua Bell, renowned violinist, plays for free in a DC metro.
I decided to write an unpolished response to this:
Rad.
This is related to something called "psychogeography". Artist Janet Cardiff explores this with her "walks".
It's not just the physical space, though. With context comes a whole host of blurry associations that we can't really pin down. This applies to cyberspace as well: if an app is a nice bubbly-shaped Mac ware, it's hip and somehow not as evil as the exact same app on a PC, eh? Or is that just good marketing? (Hmm. Maybe academia is really just good marketing?)
This also recalls the classic objections of the masses to abstract and other forms of contemporary art. In fact, I started writing this reply *before* having read the entire article, and I noticed the author makes the same point. The framework about an object informs the consumer of the object a great deal. It can create bias. People will sometimes appreciate the context more than the work itself. This is true of all things, though: I may not notice a sight gag in a film, for example, unless I'm implicitly or explicitly prompted to look for one -- whether by the semiotic clues that elucidate the perceived genre of the film, or by the asshole next to me who wants to spoil the movie.
Without this becoming an art geek's diatribe, I'll assert that this notion of context/venue/vehicle/framewo rk isn't all bad -- and is necessarily tied to the work. For example: someone's emulated a rare arcade game and invites me to play it in their office; I give them the finger. I'm traveling Japan and find the game in a backalley arcade; I shit my pants.
What's most interesting is that I wouldn't have paid $100 to see him play the violin. I'm totally ill-armed to claim he's not worth the money; he is, ostensibly, the best there is. However, the idea that he *would* play for free in a metro station is brilliant. I'd've made more effort to see that as I find it more theoretically compelling than just another trip to the concert hall. Is this still classical music, fine art? The violin playing is of that caliber; the environs are not. I would suggest this is less pomp, more wit: contemporary performance art.
The Kantian bits in the article, I think, are right on. If I'm late to catch a flight, or if I'm lost and trying to find the right train platform, or if I've just laid waste to a few pints of barleywine and *desperately* need to find the facilities, I won't stop for anything. I'm sure more than one stressed and hurried passer-by member of the Metro status quo remarked "Shit, he's really good--hey, is that Bach?" before a survival instinct algorithm forced him/her to put one foot in front of another and make the train. This doesn't relegate that person to a member of the public herd. I'd be angry with someone if they later pointed a finger at me for having walked by Shigeru Miyamoto because I was late for a karaoke date and not at the Tokyo Game Show.
More conniving artfolk may be more into the guy at minute 6 who, for the first time in his life, decides to give money to a street musician. Sometimes it is incongruence with context that, in jamming one's expectations, stimulates an almost cathartic awakening. Thus: dada, performance art, flash mobs. Kind of like that creepy PS game that did all kinds of shit with the game interface itself to make you think you were going crazy. Interface=context; interface broken begets alert.
Man. OK, sorry for the tome. It's just that I have this nagging feeling I had a similar experience recently--halting my daily blitz to just stop and take in something beautiful or other--but I can't remember what the hell it was. I guess that says a lot.
Bravo to the kids who just "knew", and h0lla at Ms. Furukawa who stopped to introduce herself. And hallelujah-h0lla-back at Mr. Bell for allowing himself to be so "humbled."
I decided to write an unpolished response to this:
Rad.
This is related to something called "psychogeography". Artist Janet Cardiff explores this with her "walks".
It's not just the physical space, though. With context comes a whole host of blurry associations that we can't really pin down. This applies to cyberspace as well: if an app is a nice bubbly-shaped Mac ware, it's hip and somehow not as evil as the exact same app on a PC, eh? Or is that just good marketing? (Hmm. Maybe academia is really just good marketing?)
This also recalls the classic objections of the masses to abstract and other forms of contemporary art. In fact, I started writing this reply *before* having read the entire article, and I noticed the author makes the same point. The framework about an object informs the consumer of the object a great deal. It can create bias. People will sometimes appreciate the context more than the work itself. This is true of all things, though: I may not notice a sight gag in a film, for example, unless I'm implicitly or explicitly prompted to look for one -- whether by the semiotic clues that elucidate the perceived genre of the film, or by the asshole next to me who wants to spoil the movie.
Without this becoming an art geek's diatribe, I'll assert that this notion of context/venue/vehicle/framewo rk isn't all bad -- and is necessarily tied to the work. For example: someone's emulated a rare arcade game and invites me to play it in their office; I give them the finger. I'm traveling Japan and find the game in a backalley arcade; I shit my pants.
What's most interesting is that I wouldn't have paid $100 to see him play the violin. I'm totally ill-armed to claim he's not worth the money; he is, ostensibly, the best there is. However, the idea that he *would* play for free in a metro station is brilliant. I'd've made more effort to see that as I find it more theoretically compelling than just another trip to the concert hall. Is this still classical music, fine art? The violin playing is of that caliber; the environs are not. I would suggest this is less pomp, more wit: contemporary performance art.
The Kantian bits in the article, I think, are right on. If I'm late to catch a flight, or if I'm lost and trying to find the right train platform, or if I've just laid waste to a few pints of barleywine and *desperately* need to find the facilities, I won't stop for anything. I'm sure more than one stressed and hurried passer-by member of the Metro status quo remarked "Shit, he's really good--hey, is that Bach?" before a survival instinct algorithm forced him/her to put one foot in front of another and make the train. This doesn't relegate that person to a member of the public herd. I'd be angry with someone if they later pointed a finger at me for having walked by Shigeru Miyamoto because I was late for a karaoke date and not at the Tokyo Game Show.
More conniving artfolk may be more into the guy at minute 6 who, for the first time in his life, decides to give money to a street musician. Sometimes it is incongruence with context that, in jamming one's expectations, stimulates an almost cathartic awakening. Thus: dada, performance art, flash mobs. Kind of like that creepy PS game that did all kinds of shit with the game interface itself to make you think you were going crazy. Interface=context; interface broken begets alert.
Man. OK, sorry for the tome. It's just that I have this nagging feeling I had a similar experience recently--halting my daily blitz to just stop and take in something beautiful or other--but I can't remember what the hell it was. I guess that says a lot.
Bravo to the kids who just "knew", and h0lla at Ms. Furukawa who stopped to introduce herself. And hallelujah-h0lla-back at Mr. Bell for allowing himself to be so "humbled."
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