This wonderful song is a blatant and unimaginative way to attract attention.
And now, about art. So, what should we expect from the glorious week starting October 25 (yes, my weeks start on Tuesday!!) and ending October 31?
Geof Oppenheimer, Ratio 3, October 28 – December 11. People usually associate “anarchy” with “chaos,” but an anarchist would tell you that authority-free cooperation actually results in a more perfect order, whereas an authoritarian system is what breeds chaos. That’s what I recalled when I came upon this article featuring Geof Oppenheimer’s video, Washington Color Field School, which seems to explore that kind of “authoritarian chaos” by presenting a Congressional hearing as a “theater of the absurd.” In his practice, which also embraces sculpture and photography, the artist studies violence and power. Here is an interview about Oppenheimer’s new exhibition at Ratio 3, in which he talks about the sexiness of sculpture, the aesthetics of violence, the relationships between avant-garde and politics, etc.
Ann Magnuson plays David Bowie and Jobriath, or the Rock Star as Witch Doctor, Myth Maker, and Ritual Sacrifice, SFMOMA, October 27, 6p – 9:45p. This week the SFMOMA is organizing a (fairly speaking) weird event, with the performance artist Ann Magnuson paying tribute to 1970s-era glam rock. There’s no need to explain who David Bowie is; as for Jobriath, he was one of the first openly gay people on the American music scene. The museum will also put up a “glam costume contest.” Magnuson’s “glam cabaret” is part of the Now Playing performance series.
Kino-Eye: The Revolutionary Cinema of Dziga Vertov, Pacific Film Archive, October 25, 7p. Every week until December 1 (check the program here) the PFA in Berkeley will be screening films by Soviet avant-garde cinema pioneer, Vertov. This Tuesday evening will be devoted to nos. 14-17 of his newsreel series Kino-Pravda (or “Film-Truth”). The first of those newsreels features a collaboration between Vertov and the great Constructivist artist and designer Alexander Rodchenko. I actually envy those who haven’t yet seen the avant-garde art of the early days of the Soviet Union, because it will blow their minds as it did mine several years back. I can’t stress this enough: if you love art, go see Dziga Vertov.
Richard Serra: Works on Paper, John Berggruen Gallery, October 25 – December 3. If the big Richard Serra drawings exhibition at the SF MOMA is not enough for you, then you should head to John Berggruen. This is also an option if you happen to be very rich and want a Serra on your wall. Don’t hang it over your bed, though–earthquakes come when you least expect them.
RELATED LINKS
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Berkeley Art Museum/ Pacific Film Archive
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