Field Theory by Hadyn Green

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Field Theory: A post about art (sort of)

503 Responses

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  • Steve Barnes,

    Kindergarten, yes; St Kevin's is Roman.

    When were the Romans here, did I miss something?.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    Artists are identified by the Art World by the fact of their making expressive pieces of work, and the purpose of those works being expression.

    Without a clear definition of the "Art World" I'm not buying this, as the definition is clearly ciircular in the context used here.

    n.b. I can be as expressive as I like at a Karioke bar, but an art installation ? I think not.

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    The tripod in courtenay place is just stupid - why the hell is it still there?

    I quite like it. It's playful and is perfectly located - right in front of the Embassy theatre, just down from the Paramount, in the town's entertainment district.

    It's taken the skills that the Weta dudes have in designing and building sci-fi models and turned that into a giant alien tripod film-making robot.

    And - fortunately - it's not especially laden with symbolism.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    I quite like it. It's playful and is perfectly located - right in front of the Embassy theatre, just down from the Paramount, in the town's entertainment district.

    I could tolerate it for all those reasons if it was temporary, like the troll on top of the embassy. As a permanent fixture it's just a concept that wasn't very clever to start with and keeps getting older. IMHO, and all that.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    I think it quite a small tent.

    Well, I'm of the (subjective) opinion that pretty much everything 'created' by Emin, Hirst, or any of those Hoxton twerps is an enormous heap of steaming, stinking ordure.

    In some cases, almost literally.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    When were the Romans here, did I miss something?.

    Substations of the Crossing...
    an alternate history...
    Escaping from the flames of Mesopotomia, the Roman Legion of the Parthian Less Trodden (Naval Division) fled south, drifting across the Arabian Sea and The Indian Ocean, missing Australia completely to wash ashore on the west coast of New Zealand. Due to decimation only a cohort survived to
    establish a remote base in Fiordland...
    Generations later they crept from hiding to assimilate themselves into the European diaspora flooding into New Rome...
    They established themselves in Canterbury
    and traces of them may be seen in the Shrines * to the great (Greco-Roman) God MED** dotted about Christchurch and the Cantabrian propensity for Atriums and gladiatorial sports...

    PS and I guess some went to Auckland to build St Kevins - <ahem>

    *as captured here by Chch artist Hilaire Campbell

    ** this idea of these temples of MED spread across Chch in an arcane pattern was in a great book I read years ago, the title and author of which I have forgotten - does anyone else remember?

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Due to decimation only a cohort survived

    I believe you're going to hear from Craig's attorneys on this one.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    I believe you're going to hear from Craig's attorneys on this one.

    Bloody Mathematicus - point taken...
    Decimation is taking one-in-ten
    and a Cohort is a tenth of a Legion
    sorry, I was all at sea with that one
    but ya get my drift...

    I suppose I could get into some kind of explanation of a series of nine decimations...
    but the numbers shift and we could slip into numerical paradoxes - so being a Zeno-phobe
    I'll leave well enough alone...

    speaking of Tenths (he lisped)...

    'Art' is a big tent, attempts to exclude people from it (particularly with quasi snobbery like people who make works for entertainment shouldn't also make public art works) are silly.

    and

    Well, I'm of the (subjective) opinion that pretty much everything 'created' by Emin, Hirst, or any of those Hoxton twerps is an enormous heap of steaming, stinking ordure.
    In some cases, almost literally.

    I think we may be getting sidelined by the Freakshows and amusements on the midway
    heading towards the Big Top circus proper...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    When were the Romans here, did I miss something?

    More to the point: what did they do for us?

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Camping it up...?

    Everyone I Have Ever Slept With, 1963-95.
    Appliqued tent, mattress and light. 122 x 245 x 215 cm. - Tracey Emin.

    is this work the genesis of the phrase:
    "being sold a pup"?

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    But the quality of the idea? Come on.

    Yeah but you can say that about umpteen pieces of art. Lots of statues and portraits are faithful representations of various kings and queens sitting. Busts are even worse. Royal artists often faithfully recreated the members of the royal family (some adjusted their artworks to make them look better). The only expression involved was the lack of one on the model's face. They're certainly artists producing artworks, some very famous ones.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    I'm saying that that the tripod is pedestrian if competent in its execution and utterly unimaginative in its conception. I don't think you'd say the same of Piero's portrait of Federico Da Montefeltro, or Rembrandt's portrait of his mother. The idea there may be somewhat obvious - here's my boss! here's Mum! - but the execution is something else entirely, and what is extraordinary about the two paintings is not the likeness in itself.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    Without a clear definition of the "Art World" I'm not buying this, as the definition is clearly ciircular in the context used here.

    Art is identified by the Art World; that is not circular. The Art World is everybody involved in art: curators, critics, dealers, the interested public.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    I'm saying that that the tripod is pedestrian if competent in its execution and utterly unimaginative in its conception.

    I'm not sure if I've seen it, so OK, sure.

    But that doesn't make something 'not art'. There's plenty of unimaginatively concepted art out there.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Agree, I'm not saying it's not art. I'm just saying it's the kind of art I'd happily take a blowtorch to.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • David Cauchi,

    Art is identified by the Art World; that is not circular. The Art World is everybody involved in art: curators, critics, dealers, the interested public.

    You may want to try googling 'institutional theory of art circular'.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2007 • 121 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    I'm just saying it's the kind of art I'd happily take a blowtorch to.

    Upcoming performance piece by Giovanni Tiso: "Artworks I don't like melting before your eyes."

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    You may want to try googling 'institutional theory of art circular'.

    Why? I am a busy man. Besides, I have heard the circularity argument before, and I am not convinced by it. You tell me why you think it circular and I will tell you why I think it not so.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    But that doesn't make something 'not art'. There's plenty of unimaginatively concepted art out there.

    And, by what I've read here about Wellington, they certainly have their fair share. I do like Kinetic Art for arts sake, in public spaces. It draws the public in,(not literally) and allows personal contemplation without the need for positive consensus. A " Wellywood" sign will only become kinetic when one of the letters is flying in the wind.Then I suppose the Tripod could be used to hold it back in place, or at least to hold the Troll up beside the Graffiti? As you may tell I haven't been there for some time. :)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    As you may tell I haven't been there for some time.

    Or here. I think I am mixing two threads but I dunno. Is that art (ful)?

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    It's not precisely circular but it seems like a first instance of art wouldn't be logically possible.

    Around this point in the debate I tend to say (or agree) the question isn't normally significant anyway; I think when people ask whether something's art they normally want to know if it's, as art, too crappy to bother with.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Okay, make that 'practically' possible.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Here's an example of an artwork that is objectively crappy.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Agree, I'm not saying it's not art. I'm just saying it's the kind of art I'd happily take a blowtorch to.

    How about something more maniacally mechanical, rather than mechanistic, to give you that Tinguely feeling...

    Bet this blowtorched beauty by Wacko Giaco would give the Tripod a run for its money...
    ...though having seen the Courtenay Pl Tripod for the first time today (on the web) I'm surprised there hasn't been a cheapo District Nein with the Tripod being animated and cutting a swathe thru wellington, perhaps with closing shots atop the Beehive, Rodney Hide clutched in its mandibles...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Circularity within the round
    Well, I only had to read the first couple of paragraphs of that Dickey argument to disagree with the writer, BondBloke (sounds like a guy who has fantasies about James Bond being Gay if you ask me... but you didn't) He claims that one of the failures of Dickey's theory is...

    (iii) its failure to distinguish good from bad art;

    And that, in itself, is a fail. His example of found art fails to address the juxtaposition and surrealist part of the equation and relies, instead, on the work done in transporting found art to the gallery as its defining quality.
    Poppycock!!!!

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

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