September 13, 2004

Lagging behind  

1. A couple of interesting articles about art and politics: one laments the "sorry state" of activist art in New York during the GOP convention; another reviews a show of political art at the ASU Art Museum, touching on Goya and the political cartoon. Neither gives a very satisfactory explanation for the disquieting (or rather, quieting) phenomenon, nor do they really examine the arts more broadly. My sense is that there's a similar state of affairs in literature right now, although outside of a few poet-bloggers I read, I can't claim to be plugged into what's really current. But it does seem like art generally is lagging behind popular sentiment, which isn't the usual arrangement! Is this because art (along with critical thought) spent most of the 80s and 90s divesting its interest in the political? Or is it something else?

2. In re the post below, there's a group called the New York Surveillance Camera Players that may need to open a Chicago chapter.

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