week 11: Distant Star - Roberto Bolaño
I found this book to be an interesting read, and I was quite captivated by Bolaño's ability to immerse us as if we're experiencing the events along with the characters. I especially found this to be true during ch.6 when the narrator takes the readers through the day of the exhibition.
I would say that Wieder's creation is both avant-garde and realist, the double component to the exhibition fulfills both the avant-garde and realist categories. I am not much of an art critic, but I would classify the air show as an avant-garde introduction because it is pushing the boundaries of communication and reach. The poetry written in the sky by Wieder is mostly illegible for all the guests, however the narrator describes that somehow there is still an overwhelming sense that "they were witnessing a unique event, of great significance for the art of the future" (p.59).
As for the photographic exhibition that opened along with the aerial poetry, I see it as being both avant-garde and realist. As for the avant-garde components, permitting only one viewer at a time in the spare room to experience something so horrid adds a rather unprecedented and boundary-pushing element to the exhibition. Wieder is confronting guests with shocking imagery that presumably would not be the norm compared to what the guests have seen before, bringing new levels of consciousness to the forefront. Even though the exhibitionist aspect to the display of the photographs was quite brutal, the intentionality Wieder apparently had is notable - "the order in which they were exhibited was not haphazard: there was a progression, an argument, a story (literal and allegorical), a plan" (p.63). This is what brings me to also consider the exhibit as having realist elements as well. The immediate impact and reaction among the guests was strong, "it was as if a high voltage current had run through the flat leaving us dumbstruck" (p.63).
This brings me to my question for discussion, what would make you consider an event or exhibition as holding "great significance for the art of the future"? Perhaps it is because I am not very knowledgeable in art history or such, but I am not sure I would recognize history in the making through art if I were experiencing it in the moment.
"I would classify the air show as an avant-garde introduction because it is pushing the boundaries of communication and reach. [. . .] As for the photographic exhibition that opened along with the aerial poetry, I see it as being both avant-garde and realist."
ReplyDeleteYes, this seems fair. In so far as the photography apparently represents or provides evidence of the violence of the Pinochet regime, then it shows something of the "real" that lies beneath or behind the ideology. The sky-writing, meanwhile, is apparently much more insubstantial and cryptic. It's interesting to think about how the spectators react, for instance (as I remember, I should check back in the book!) the old guy in the transit camp who seems to take it as something of a declaration of war. But this also fits: "avant-garde" is, after all, a metaphor take from warfare: the vanguard, those who are first in the fight.
"I am not much of an art critic, but I would classify the air show as an avant-garde introduction because it is pushing the boundaries of communication and reach." Really interesting observation here.. I wonder if there is such "boundaries" in communication. Such an interesting thought! I agree to your point that it would be "hard to recognize history in the making through art". However, perhaps that is only if we are experiencing such event in the moment; for others, the "art" may be the only way the event (or history of the event) can be experienced.
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Hi KD! I really enjoyed reading your post. I specifically liked what you had to say about the experience the viewers had when viewing the horrible photos. In terms of your question... I feel like I would consider an event or exhibition as holding "great significance for the art of the future" if it challenges the status quo in some way and deals with concepts that are integral to humanity in some way. In my very inexperienced opinion, I feel like artists pave the way for other artists, and through pushing the boundaries, the expansion of what art can be will be so much larger. Now that poetry can be written in the sky... what is next? Is the sky really the limit?
ReplyDeleteHi KD, great post! Unfortunately, I don't know much about art, so I can't speak much to exhibitions or avant-garde realist categories, so it was interesting to read your attachment of these genres of art to the literature. It creates a very interesting blending of artistic form and really visualizes the novel. Your question is quite grand and I don't know what I would consider having significant effects for the future, but I'm thinking about how many artists are starting to focus their works towards the resistance in acknowledging climate change. This is an interesting comparison to those who have been "ruining" the artwork associated with this as well. The act of destroying is just as much of a statement as creating.
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