Letters to the Red Crayola IX, 2009-2012
| Letters to the Red Crayola IX, 2009-2012 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Art & Language | |
| Project |  Letters to the Red Krayola
|
| Year | 2012 |
| Dimensions | [1] |
| Materials | Ink, acrylic, collage and mixed media on paper |
Text
Dear M, You're right, of course. The people we dismissed as 'functionaries' may indeed be dissenters from the cultural ethos of the institution. They may well be aware of the negative effects of the institution, and committed to overcoming them from within — yes, yes, but these dissenters are in general, keeping a very low profile. Perhaps they are busy at hacking into the programme of the institution and engaged in other forms of destruction. If they're not, then we suspect that their dissent is little more than sentimental. Of course, it's not hard to think of institutional inflation as an essentially self-destructive force. As a result of the neurotic compact between artist-curator and institution, the institution demands a predictable and safe excess in furtherance of its corporate and ideological function, and the artist-curator puts a narcissistic shoulder to the wheel. In the process, they both invoke the conceptually worthless apparatus of managerially conceived progress. In what is a rather shaky materialist analogy perhaps, we might say that more and more corporate credit is absorbed in producing weaker and weaker if grander and more dissuasive spectacles. And you are right to suggest — we've been explicit about it for years — that we regard the idea of contemporary art as a new site for political action as both laughable and an affront to those who struggle in the everyday-world-and-worse. It's possible that the singing man agrees. The inflationary collaboration between institution, curator, sponsor and artist has, it seems, decisively ruled out failure. The grandly lived illusions of institutionally driven sub-prime culture have, in guaranteeing the success of any artistic enterprise within their ambit, also guaranteed its political vacuity. So long as the goods are as specified and described, so long as they remain stable, the horrors of deflation and alienation can be ruled out. The man sings: we are in the shit.
Interpretations
- The text references Singing Men (1976)
- The last line references a Samuel Beckett quote: "Lors qu'on est vraiment dans la merde, il ne reste qu'à chanter". See: "Igor Zabel's Song"