I watched the Arthur Russell documentary, and I thought it was great. There was one part in the film looking back at when Arthur was the music director at "The Kitchen", where artists would perform and it was a creative time. There was this one clip of a girl doing these odd dance moves and making these baboon howls that were coming from deep down in her gut, it made me feel embarrassed for her. That part of the film talks about John Kage and his experiments with sound and it all sounds very intelligent and wonderful but when I actually hear/listen to these experiements/songs, it does nothing positive for me.
I'm not saying really abstract, noisy stuff is stupid or wrong but fuck, I really just don't get it. When I was younger I'd buy Glen Branca and Experimental Audio Research albums and I always felt a bit ripped off. I'd read these really interesting reviews of the stuff and I'd spend the little money I had on these discs and I still remember the burning dread I'd feel as I skipped through each song, realizing it wasn't getting any better.
I'm not the most intelligent guy in the world, I accept that and I know that some people really do get this stuff and love it, but I just wonder on what level, and if that level is fun and should people strive to get there, or is it a place that is forced, and the only real pleasure is knowing that people like myself just don't get it while they get to say they do?
I went to the AGO last week with my girlfriend and we were wandering around and I was getting really agitated by the video installations I saw. One was shadow puppets shot on video playing out a tale of racism and struggle. It was horrible.
The next one I saw was a bunch of images shot on digital video, a couch was in front of the tv showing these images along with headphones. We put the headphones on and watched zoomed in shots of leaves or dog ears while listening to static. I don't really see the skill, and I'm not trying to be mean, really, where is the art? If people watch that stuff and try to say they see the art in the extreme close up and there is a message lying in the shitty framed dog's ear...I will refuse to buy what they are selling, just like I don't buy it when Benny Hinn floors and heals people with religious magic.
The final kick to my balls was a section of the AGO floor dedicated to rocks with cheesies under them.
Arthur Russell was a genius
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