This is pretty epic in the history of blogging. Tom Firehack, the one and only alternative identity of Rob, is writing a blog. At midnight. In case anybody bothers reading, I'll actually make this posting about something.
On Friday I was able to make my first Whitney Biennial. (I had read quite a bit about 2008, but 2010 was the first I attended.) One piece that quite impressed me was a reference to a performance by my favorite conceptual artist in history, Joseph Beuys. In 1974, the German artist made a landmark visit to America. The trip itself was the art, a performance entitled "I Like America and America Likes Me." See, Beuys was obsessed with felt, which, as the likely untrue story goes, saved his life when he nearly died of hypothermia. In this performance, Beuys flew to New York City, never touched American soil, had an ambulance transport him to a gallery, wrapped himself in felt, and lived in the gallery with a wolf for days. Then, back to the ambulance and off on a flight home. Beuys traveled to America solely to live in a room with a coyote.
And I was thrilled as could be when I walked into one of many video installations at the Whitney to see
"We Like America and America Likes Us", a video by the Bruce High Quality Foundation projected on the broken windshield of a hearse. (Yes, there was a hearse in the gallery.) The video had a brilliantly clear and captivating voice-over that described America as a person, a friend, a lover. And by the end of the film, I realized that most people view their country as a god-man-friend (a dangerous relationship to have with one's nation). At any rate, the video is brilliant, is understandable in message even to non-artists, and is more than worthy of the reference to the legend of conceptual art that is Joseph Beuys.
