Last week we tried something different. We offered Art Life readers audio downloads [our first multimedia offering] which were commentaries on the art works in the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Primavera exhibition. Not all of them are spoken word; some are sound versions of the images, others reference the source material used by the artists and some are music. We probably should have explained that first because there were a lot of disgruntled readers who let us know just how annoyed they were – and they were really, really pissed. Some were annoyed that we’d forced them to give up part of their monthly band width allowance, others were disappointed with what they heard, while others wanted us to print the text of the commentaries so they didn’t have to bother with the download at all. [How one has a text version of a piece of music, we’re not sure, but we’re looking into it.] There were some quite heated accusations – that we endorse everything the MCA does; that we are just like America; that we are apologists for the status quo and so on. Some readers even took time out to write to us to express their disappointment:
Kelemiras. Bin the near death downloads and give us the readings, or don’t bin it and give us the readings or we will have to tell everyone that Mark Latham has nominated you as the cultural commentator to watch. Thanks. [signed] A Greek
So much for our plans to produce downloadable videos of our dance interpretations of the MCA’s Interesting Times exhibition. We’ve learned our lesson. You want the same thing, week in, week out, without fail and woe unto us if we deviate from the plan. The readers have spoken…
Speaking of having spoken, we decided to let the Primavera poll run an extra week as it was proving to be very popular.
If I Curated Primavera I Would
Appoint the next curator by duel to death 35% [48]
Demand a no skirt and pants policy at the opening 17% [24]Call it Macrame – The Forgotten Art 11% 15Make the DJs part of the show proper 8% [11]
Only open the show to artists born after 1995 7% [10]
Outlaw any work done directly on to a wall 7% [10]
Thank Telstra 5% [7]
Appoint a winner for best and fairest 4% [6]
Exhibit the art in alphabetical order only 4% [5]Make it a political show about bronzes 2% [3]Total Votes: 139
The data we’re building up in our various polls is going to be worth a fortune to demographers interested in the state of the art world in 2005. Our previous poll- which broke with tradition and only had two options – was the most interesting so far, not so much because of the question but because it was so evenly divided:
I Blame
Often feeling that I have seen it all before 51% [36]
Institutionalised intellectual complacency 49% [34]
Total Votes: 70
We were heartened by the result as it points to an Art Life readership that are more reflective and less inclined to place the blame on others, accepting that debilitating ennui is an internal problem. Of course, nearly half of the readership puts the blame entirely on others. It has been said recently that Australian voters always get it right. This is self serving bullshit said by people trying to distance themselves from past mistakes. In this case, however, perhaps Australian voters did get it right…
