I had an interesting discussion with Jon Gilhooly today. He'd been wondering, and I'm inclined to too now, why the current Photo Biennial is receiving so little coverage in the national media considering its significance, breath, the quality and poignency of much of what is being presented. See Lisa Barnard's work in Lewis as just one example.
The Capa photo thing at The Barbican currently is receiving lots of attention. Folkestone Triennial seemed to capture the critics' attentions. Why is this being overlooked? My thought is that perhaps there is a need for Brighton (and surrounds) to be seen as fluffy, a zone for light entertainment, harmless, not the possible political hot-bed (that I sense it genuinely is) or location for artistic practice of a more problematic nature.
We should be careful through 'tiktoc' not to add strength to this tendency by art critics and others in high places. It is not a bad thing as Chris Manley pointed out in his article in our first edition to live in a town where creativity is encouraged. I'm glad that my offsping are having the chance to grow up in a place like this. So some polluted stinking river surrounded by 'dark satanic mill' and factory never cut its way through Brighton, which potentially upsets those who like to fetishise all that. Even then Shoreham Harbour ought to satisfy that hunger, and hey, there's plenty of poverty down here too or does that not match the desired image? Maybe the views and actions of Brightonians deserve to be taken as seriously as those from anywhere else.
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A hunting hound seized a hare and attempted both to bite it and lick its chops at the same time. The hare tired of this and said: 'Hey you either bite me or kiss me, so that I can know whether you are enemy or friend'
(The dog and the hare, Aesop)
‘All analogies are odious’ said Hegel apparently and these too are pale reflections but see historically how Cuba (and more specifically Havana) was a playground brothel for rich North Americans and how Dublin (Monto) represented this for the occupying British and then imagine that this partly fuelled the great events of 1959 and 1916 respectively. Not wishing to trivialise past events but an independent Brighton, or independent cities of the type Derrida referred to (acting also as sanctuaries for those fleeing other intolerances) generally making sense again in the contemporary scene, possibly? Patriotism is stupid.
LORD LLOYD UGO
notes towards a theory of the erudite response.
Brighton is__________________. Although easy to ascribe to the notion that Brighton is a supremely creative place, I believe it beneficial to consider the forms of creativity that Brighton on the whole offers up. There is quite a difference between the trading of art, which Chris Manley refers to as 'the machine' and internationally recognized artists and curators appearing in Brighton for the Biennial. Or perhaps there is not.On the one hand, the 'artists quarter' along the seafront seems to typify the 'Brighton art machine'. These are the objects of traditional populism, more craft than art(?) It is here that Mocksim's description 'fluffy, a zone for light entertainment, harmless' appears apt, this is the licking of the chops, as it were. (or candy floss or toffee apple or a bag of sugar.) On some level, a critique of this activity seems unnecessary. Although essential, this typical 'art machine' exists as a democratizing force for the trite understanding of art. However, my dihtyrambic is not intended to reiterate the distinctions made in this field by a Mr. C. Greenberg (1909-1994). Symmetrical though his distinction appears, I have always held the belief that his arguments dismiss the qualitative potential of the artist. I refuse to believe that there are artists who exist solely to work under an archway in galleries visited by crowds half way between the carousel and the dodgems. I am politely reminded that there ARE in fact many artists who aim to work and live like this. It is for them that I introduce the Niezschean distinction behind the motivation for the work - 'Is it hunger or is it superfluity which has here become creative?' The notion of the Brighton artist starving for her art is alien today. If there is no risk of starvation then surely art of this sort does not need to be made?
Nominal thinking is a very real danger. If I am to feed my hound at the same time every day, should I assume whilst feeding him on Sunday that he will expect to be fed at exactly the same time on monday? Perhaps; we have ways of testing this. We measure our thinking and our actions in the same way; history is used to find normative characteristics in our thinking. And why not, it does make sense. But we also know that the same or similar rule may be applied differently to other objects. Brighton does, it must be said have a very good attitude towards creativity. This should be embraced, and for the main is wholeheartedly. But, as I have said rules look different dependent on the context. We can think of two artworks made in the similar spirit based on the same principles. We find one of these works to be nondescript whilst the other is received as challenging, both aesthetically and intellectually. Ticktoc allows us to immerse ourselves in the spirit of that creativity without falling prey to its fetishising capacity.
Kind regards
Cris Manley
Nominal thinking is a very real danger. If I am to feed my hound at the same time every day, should I assume whilst feeding him on Sunday that he will expect to be fed at exactly the same time on monday? Perhaps; we have ways of testing this. We measure our thinking and our actions in the same way; history is used to find normative characteristics in our thinking. And why not, it does make sense. But we also know that the same or similar rule may be applied differently to other objects. Brighton does, it must be said have a very good attitude towards creativity. This should be embraced, and for the main is wholeheartedly. But, as I have said rules look different dependent on the context. We can think of two artworks made in the similar spirit based on the same principles. We find one of these works to be nondescript whilst the other is received as challenging, both aesthetically and intellectually. Ticktoc allows us to immerse ourselves in the spirit of that creativity without falling prey to its fetishising capacity.
Kind regards
Cris Manley
I guess Bangkok should now be added to the list above with Dublin and Havana. The formula might be: Populations used, or abused, for the leisure of more priviledged outsiders tend to rebel. Eventually. In a big way.
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