ART

The new year brings new changes and a further appreciation of the art world. President Obama just recently passed a bill that requires every town to install a playground that can also pass for an art gallery. Fish Creek, Wisconsin will be one of the first towns in the country to start construction on January 1st. The small town has employed the esteemed art critic and artist, "Art" to design the highly anticipated, indoor, art gallery/playground. She plans on using an abandoned barn, about half the size of one Titanic. Her designs are not complete, but she is certain about a few things. Upon arrival, each visitor will receive a pocket chair and a paper bag that contains a radio that continuously plays the soundtrack from the phenomenal flick, The Bodyguard. "Art" will also hang large swings and giant curtains throughout the barn. Decorating the walls will be large portraits of Vladimir Putin and Peter the Great. This groundbreaking project is estimated to be completed in 2 score years.

PS For more information, and an overall better explanation of this project, please read the January issue of the Viking Voice

"The Event of a Thread"

"The event of a thread" is a new art installation at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. This performance art piece is simple. It consists of one very large piece of fabric and 42 large wood-plank swings. The artist, Ann Hamilton, placed large swings, big enough to fit 2-3 people, on either side of a white hanging piece of lightweight fabric that moves once people start to swing. Some may not even call this piece of art "art," but rather theater. In addition to the virtually quiet moving curtain, the 55,000 square-foot room is filled with the sound of radios in paper bags, pigeons, and actors reading snippets of text. Hamilton decided to have the actors read works by authors such as Aristotle and Charles Darwin, that rotate daily. In addition, there is a writer that sits at one end of the room who writes whatever comes to mind. Go to the following link to view a video of this interesting piece of work.           http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/arts/design/ann-hamilton-at-the-park-avenue-armory.html?ref=arts&_r=0

Pushing the Limits of the Canvas

"I lost my language because we traveled so much," 81, Ms. Denes recently said in a New York Times interview. From a young age, Agnes Denes wanted to be a poet. However, since she was forced out of Hungary into Sweden due to the Nazi occupation, then to the United States by the time she was a teenager, she had no definite language. However, she didn't give up on her art dream completely. Denes became more and more interested with the visual arts. She began as a painter, but she felt like that medium was too limiting. Denes wanted to go past the edge of the canvas. "Rice/Tree/Burial," is a on of Denes many fascinating pieces. It is believed to be the first ecologically conscious earthwork. (Ecologically friendly and art equals a win win) Denes planted rice seeds in upsate New York, along with planting a time capsule filled with some of her haiku. This combined communication with the earth and the future. All of Denes' artworks combine her interest of math and psychology, but they are still extremely aesthetic. Dene even moved out of her beautiful apartment filled with antiques to a loft because she wanted to be able to roll out of bed and make art. Agnes Denes still has more to say, but she said, "I feel so restricted at being caught in my lifetime."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/arts/design/agnes-denes-stretches-the-canvas-as-far-as-can-go.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=design&adxnnlx=1354474886-vv/4IrMeZUVdchsblYJYC

Slideshow of some of Agnes Denes pieces of work:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/12/02/arts/design/20121202-DENES.html?ref=design