Oh, Canada!

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Bananas Over Bush [Mark Steyn]

 

 

News from the art world:

 

An Argentine artist called Caesar Saëz applied to the Canada Arts Council and le Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec and was given, between the two bodies, a grant of $130,000 to create a 300-metre long flying banana that would float over Texas protesting the policies of George W. Bush.

 

Why Canadian taxpayers are subsidizing Argentine artists to violate U.S. airspace is a topic best left to the next Summit of the Americas.

 

The good news is that Señor Saëz cashed the check and skipped the country. So the banana's whereabouts are unknown. French-speaking readers will enjoy this radio interview: "Une subvention de 128 000$ pour faire voler une banane géante au-dessus du Texas." I particularly like the arts bureaucrats' insistence that there's nothing to see here (literally): The granting of public monies for the purpose of producing a particular work of art imposes no obligation upon the artist to produce the work of art. Although the artist was quite specific about the construction of the giant anti-Bush banana (a bamboo structure covered in Tyvek), he never specifically promised to make it. Therefore, its non-existence is not an issue: In taking the dough and scramming town, the artist is in full compliance with the terms of his grant.

 

And, as I'm sure most contemporary art scholars would assure us, the non-existing work of art becomes paradoxically a work of "performance art" (or non-performance non-art) in its own right. Failing that, he could always claim it floated off over New Mexico with a five-year-old boy inside it.

 

02/04 12:41 PMShare

 

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTIxMDZjYzQ2NjA5MjNkYjU2Njg1MDkxZjQyOGUwZTk=

[Mark Gordon]

More breaking news from Mark Steyn, eh?

How many years ago did all this happen?

You and flamengo certainly seem enamoured of this obscure fellow...

 

http://www.companyofmen.org/showthread.php?t=71174&highlight=canadian

[MsGuy]

No need to get all defensive, Mark. I'm reasonably sure that our own U.S. National Endowment for the Arts has funded even goofier scams. :o Well, just as goofy, anyway.

----

Seriously, as a multilayered comment on the current state of Western High Culture, this piece of post-postmodern performance art works better than much of the slock funded by the NEA, especially if you consider the post exposure antics of the arts bureaucrats as as an essential part of the artist's intentions. [Not bad if I do say so myself. For a modest fee, I'm available as a grant writer for aspiring Hooville artists.]

[justaguy]

MsGuy Your comment on the NEA brings to mind the rants by Jesse Helms, especially against certain pieces of performance art.

[MsGuy]

Had the giant sky banana been a project of the NEA, I would think that it would have been more properly addressed by William Proxmire with a Golden Fleece award. That ole Nazi, Jesse Helms, was more inclined to go off on crosses in jars of urine and Maplethorpe's work. Straight up silliness tended to escape his wrath.

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Hey, look at the undisputed facts. For 2 years, an Argentine artist recieves Canadian grants totaling $128,000 to study constructing a 300 meter Tyveck and bamboo helium banana in Mexico intended to be drifted over Texas as an artistic protest against Bush. After he gets the 2nd year funding, the artist scoots.

 

What are the possible explanations?

1) Both the artist and the two arts councils were entirely sincere in their efforts throughout. Barking mad &/or toked out of their skulls but sincere.

2) The artist conned some rather gullible art council types out of $128,000 and skipped. Not unlikely.

3) The artist intended his initial proposals as a parody of the Arts Council grant process [performance art] and the whole thing got out of hand. Also not unlikely.

 

Justaguy, if you can't see the humor in this bit of foolishment, you're taking art and artists way too seriously.

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While we're on the subject of arts grants:

"Avant-garde artistes are entirely free to épater les bourgeois; demanding the additional satisfaction of having the bourgeoisie taxed to pay for it strikes me as excessively bold." (misquoted)

[justaguy]

MsGuy, my sincerest apologies. It took me a couple of seconds to figure out what was behind your comment, then I reread my post. I in no way intended to imply that you sounded like Helms or were in any way acting in his stead. When you mentioned the NEA, I remembered Helms and the NEA being one of his pet peeves. Nothing more.