re: oh...

[Michael Upton <jetjag@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At Mon, 8 May 2000 00:34:24 -0700, "patrick halbig" <phalbig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
wrote:

> did anyone else:
> 1) find the 20' to 2000 'campaign' ridiculous

I haven't really kept tabs on these releases or the marketing of them, but 
I think a real "crisis" of conceptual art in the 90s was this feeling that 
people weren't trying to challenge or experiment, just get attention for 
themselves. Because of this I'm often a bit wary to point the finger, 
because, well, it just seems like the default option that's been ingrained 
from growing up in these times. "This is such an obvious gimmick"... I try 
to think what else it might mean or see it in as many ways as possible. 
Well, to be honest, only if I care about the thing in question at all :-) 
If not I try to avoid comment.

> 2) find the concept of 'limited release' remarkably
>     compatible with other forms of bourgeois consumption
>     (Lafite, Daumier prints, rare Adorno text)

Yeah, I find it very easy to see it that way, despite having found out that 
I unwittingly contributed to it myself by releasing a number of CDs I 
thought made economic sense.

People have bemoaned the presentation of an object that is up for purchase 
as a perpetuation of "bourgeois consumption" for a good 80 years. Making 
the step from ,say, a painting, to a CD isn't exactly a stretch. On the 
flip side, trying to critique or smash that down can be seen as a bourgeois 
concern ("you have the luxury of stopping to think about how art 
functions?"). I find both views great fun to mull over, and easy to get 
enthused about, but want to hedge any comment on either with a million 
qualifiers.

Something I've been wondering recently: what method of getting music to an 
audience is not compatible with "forms of bourgeois consumption"? 
Preferable for most creators of music would be something that allowed for 
some kind of documentation of the music, ie. not just standing in the 
streets making noises as passers-by.

I think, when you throw the concept "bourgeois" as wide as, say, 
"privileged few who maintain the hegemony" (and that's how I'd use the 
term) you're damn near fucked. Computers are a joke - what proportion of 
the world's population has even used a phone?

Bla bla.. just something to think about, and to be taken as seriously as 
you feel inclined.

Michael

np. '3' - Maus und Stolle (not very this-listy, but never mind)

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