So after a week away, I look for what is news out there. What do I find? Well something that calls itself art. Performance art is a unique experience. Something that leaves each viewer with a different take on what was observed. Such art can be unsettling at times, revealing aspects of humanity, culture and ourselves that may not have been expected. That is at the highest levels of the art.
On the other hand is art such as Inthewrongplaceness. This performance art piece features a woman draped upon a dead pig. This can be observed by each viewer for up to 10 minutes. Why I have no idea. How this might be considered art I don’t understand. I’m no expert at art or artistic expression so perhaps I just don’t get it. I’m a bohemian. Still it makes no sense to me.
The artist describes the experience as “left me with an undercurrent of pigginess, unexpected fantasies of mergence and interspecies metamorphoses began to flicker into my consciousness.” I’m not sure what that bloody well means. Perhaps if I were British it would make more sense, since that is where the exhibit is taking place. Even so, what in the world is pigginess? And how warped is it to feel like you are merging with an animal, especially one that is dead? It unnerves me, and not for some fanatical PETA reason.
As you might imagine the people from PETA are threatening to protest, on the basis of animal cruelty. Now I hope they do realize that this is a DEAD pig, there is no way to be cruel to it. If it were alive I could sympathize a bit, but who ever said a subtlety like death matters to this fur hating, vegan group. [I don’t mind vegans, and I don’t mean to say they are fanatics nor PETA members. I would imagine that any group so extreme about the rights of animals would be vegan though. And my problem with PETA is that there are far too many children in the world, starving and living in harsh conditions for me to be overly concerned about a dead pig.]
Now if slow dancing with a pork chop isn’t unsettling enough, this news may do it. It seems that news of the resurgence of country music may be misplaced. The last country music station in L.A. has just shut down. I’m sure millions are crying, though from joy or grief I can’t say. I do wonder where this proposed surge in country music is happening at though. In NYC there was a station for about 6 months back around ‘90 or so. There is one station I’m aware of in the Binghamton area, but none in any city that I’ve been to (not counting L.A.’s in the past). Who is actually listening to the genre? It must be someone since there is a CMT (think MTV for country, with more actual music videos) as well as an awards show. I guess if you are in need of a fix in L.A. for Merle Haggard and Patsy Cline you just need to go to CMT.
Of course if my choice is country music or watching someone hug bacon en masse I’ll go with a nice nap. [Though I will say that Patsy Cline is very good]
This is what I think, what do you think?
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