Posts by giovanni tiso
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Speaker: What PACE actually does, in reply to BenWilson,
Which seems to me about as silly as when Nietzsche claimed that writing great books was easy, you just had to put yourself to the task for 10 odd years, mastering all variety of linguistic traditions, and bingo, you're Shakespeare.
Or when Michelangelo claimed that sculpting was about removing the excess marble. I suspect our thinking is just the opposite here - my feeling is that there is almost nothing we regard more highly as a culture than technical ability.
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Yes, sorry. I was making a vague gestures towards ladybits - I'm such a prude.
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I don't think that the work they do is necessarily art, no. Neither do the artists I frequent, but I haven't detected any particular snobbishness. So called art technicians for instance are highly valued.
Culturally I think we've tended to homogeneise all contributions, everybody is creative (although if you're an accountant that may land you in jail) which is wonderfully democratic until you find yourself with a $5 million, 5-metre high bronze vagina on your waterfront.
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Speaker: What PACE actually does, in reply to BenWilson,
It's always struck me that a lot of artists in established "arty" fields are rather patronizing about the level of creativity to be found in the general population.
Really? I find the opposite. Indeed I wish that the tradesperson mistique were criticised more - but it isn't, which is how Weta gets routinely contracted to produce public art of mind-boggling mediocrity.
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Hard News: Book review: 'Wikileaks:…, in reply to Russell Brown,
For god's sake, Don, the biggest risk faced by HuffoPo bloggers is probably RSI.
Hah!
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OnPoint: Election 2011: GO!, in reply to Paul Williams,
I'd not object to PAS fostering more conservative (if that's the word) voices. My politics are distinctly left however, I want to better understand the thinking behind some of the policies/priorities pursued by this government (and I don't subscribe to the view that they're entirely cynical)
Yes, if it bears clarifying, I've got nothing against conservatives. Some of my best friends, etc., plus as a socialist really I'm as much of a minority and every bit as much of a potential object of ridicule 'round here. But when issues arise they have to do with... I don't know, I suppose I can't find a better name for it than ideological coherence. Craig is a Tory and makes no apologies for it. If you say "I voted Tory because I knew not what they were going to do" somebody is going to go "eh what?"
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Yes, fair enough.
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Speaker: What PACE actually does, in reply to Lilith __,
Sometimes I wish artists were seen now as we were in medieval times - as tradespeople doing a job.
When's the last time you were asked to fresco a chapel? Seriously, the times have changed. And whilst a lot of painters/sculptors/carpenters/architects thrived in that particular multiskilled environment, writers still needed to find themselves a wealthy donor. I think the point is that making art work financially is quite hard, and it is in fact by and large nothing like being a tradesperson in most circumstances. You can't charge by the hour, and some of the things you make - I'm thinking againg of Tao Wells' work as an example - are unsellable. It doesn't mean that they're not valuable to us and that we shouldn't invest in them.
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Speaker: What PACE actually does, in reply to BenWilson,
There's no way I'd call her "barely functioning". She's extremely high functioning, just eccentric*.
I'm not sure that's even eccentric - aren't writing books and engaging in public promotional jaunts two entirely different sets of skills? We have a pejorative word for writers that do one and not the other - recluse - but really there's no reason to assume one should be good at both of those things.
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Speaker: What PACE actually does, in reply to Russell Brown,
I think "barely functioning human beings" is overstating the case.
A little, yes, sorry - lazy me. I meant socially, in the context of a work environment with its hierarchies. I know I have been that at different times, and with none of the talent. But it also bears making the point that this holding this job down business, the drudgery of it, is hard, and is not for everyone, and the stoics amongst us should sometimes consider that they're also lucky to be cut in that particular way.
Not all of those who aren't are creative geniuses, however some of them are and they do have a knack for pointing the way to thinking of work and its value in a different way. The reaction to Tao Wells' Beneficiary's Office show in Wellington last year I thought brought out all of these themes and showed how violently our society reacts to being told certain things.