Stingy Kids

Notes on an Exhibition

Folk Art Revealed
American Folk Art Museum
Opened on November 16, 2004
Closing: Unclear
New York City, USA

Still on my Darger high, I went to the American Folk Art Museum in the hopes that they would have a few of his paintings on display. I lucked out. They included a few Darger murals in the ongoing exhibit "Folk Art Revealed":

The exhibition explores the nature of folk art through four themes applied to a diverse range of artwork from the museum's rich and extensive holdings, many of which are new acquisitions and have never before been on view. These four perspectives--symbolism, utility, individuality and community--infuse all of folk art and speak to essential aspects of both traditional and unconventional expressions. [from the press release]

Most of the items on display were from the United States, but the exhibit deemphasized geographic specificity in favor of a "holistic view" of three-centuries of folk art. The pieces were compelling and " present provocative visual juxtapositions and contextual information," but where the holism came into play was a little lost on me. I would have liked for the exhibit to spell out the kinds of juxtapositions that were being performed, particularly because it quickly becomes obvious that these four themes (the press release also refers to them as "perspectives" at one point) constantly intersect. For instance, Darger appears in "Symbolism," "Utility" and one other that I can't recall. Perhaps it was "Community" which the curators argue "is not merely a function of proximity in a particular neighborhood [but is] formed through a variety of circumstances whose common bonds may be of time, place, belief, or experience." The latitude that this "may be" allows is where I locate the possibility of a "holisitic view," but unfortunately the curators do not make an explicit case for holism. I suppose that it is implied in the way the exhibit flows from one category to another through two floors. At times I wasn't even sure where I was, whether in "Symbolism" or "Community," but I also couldn't tell if this was an intentional confusion or a spatial problem.

The Most Beautiful Room

As a brief escape from the cold--and to further delay reading Bakhtin--I went to an afternoon screening of Jessica Yu's new documentary In the Realms of the Unreal, which is showing at Film Forum until January 4. The film explores the life and art of Henry Darger, a reclusive bachelor and long-time Chicago resident, who worked for most of his adult life as a janitor. Those who knew him assumed that his life exceeded no further than a five-block radius. But at the time of his death in 1973, he left behind an apartment brimming with fantastical stories and paintings that suggested a vast inner life. Sorting through this bewildering collection, his landlords stumbled upon a illustrated novel titled The Story of the Vivian Girls, in what is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. At 15,000 pages, it is possibly one of the longest novels ever written. (Summaries and extracts of Darger's The Realms are readily available on-line and through your public library and won't be rehashed here.) Yu's documentary provides dramatizations of key episodes of this novel, and possible ways in which they correspond to events and people in Darger's life, through finely crafted animated sequences skillfully narrated by Dakota Fanning. Fanning, who starred next to Sean Penn in the 2001 film I am Sam, is a brilliant choice for a narrator. Her voice stumbles and slips occasionally through Darger's material but also has the assurance and precocity to read the story of the saintly but "cheeky" Vivian sisters with carefully-modulated passion.

Tr4n$L4+E +H1$

A c0m3dy

Earlier this month, ADM wrote a great post on the appearance of Leetspeak in the Jeopardy College Tournament. He links to a Wikipedia article on Leetspeak that has occupied the better half of my evening. I had no idea that the the linguistic implications of the Information Age had been so meticulously documented. The following quote is intriguing:

"r0x0rz" is generally pronounced as "roks-ors", which is how it is spelled; however, a very small minority pronounce it "rockers", following the usage in "hax0rz". The term "r0x0r j00r b0x0r" itself is probably a derivation from "r0x0r j00r s0x0r" ("rocks your socks"). It should be noted that although the spelling of leet is fairly standardized, pronunciation differs widely, as does the actual alphabet used. Much depends on which forum, newsgroup, or chat room the Leetspeak is being spoken in.[my emphasis]

My first reaction was to argue that Leetspeak is not spoken, but David has informed me that this is not the case.

This morning David and I argued amicably about the ways in which language is defined. More specifically, we were on opposing sides of a critical question: Are Quenya and Sindarin living languages?

Our conversation went something like this:

A: I'm glad Tolkien invented Quenya. It's a beautiful language.
D: It's not a language.
A: Sure it is.
D: No, it isn't. It isn't spoken. (note how the tricky question of orality creeps in?)
A: What are you talking about? It's spoken in the Lord of the Rings.
D: In a movie. It's not a living language.
A: Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima!

Spirit and Opportunity

As the end of the year approaches, I have to admit that a major highlight for me has been the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. I am shamelessly in favor of space exploration. Yes, it is an extravagantly mismanaged and, at times, fatal enterprise, but I like to dream that one day my great-great-great-granddaughter will travel along an intergalactic subway, grumbling about fare hikes and guys who sit with their legs open. Until then, I also dream that the granddaughters that bind us will be able to breathe fresh earthly air. Here's to dreaming. Le-chayim.

"This planet needs our shovels' bite       And treadmarks in the dust To tell if life and hematite       Pervade its arid crust."

"There's life, by all the stars above,
      On Mars—it's you and I!"
Blithe Spirit cried. "Let's rove, my love,
      And meet before we die!"

Quoted from John Updike's "Duet on Mars."

Open Tabs

The Birmingham Repertory Theater announced on Monday that it is prematurely shutting down Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's play Behzti (Punjabi for "dishonour") in response (and capitulation) to increasingly violent protests from the play's critics. Bhatti, a Sikh, is known for her work on television, where she is credited with bringing "Asian storylines" into shows like EastEnders and Crossroads. But her most recent play, which features a rape scene in a Gurdwara (Sikh temple), is not sitting well with many in the Sikh community. But the controversy surrounding Behzti comes from many directions. Siding with Sikh community leaders, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham argued that "such a deliberate, even if fictional, violation of the sacred place of the Sikh religion demeans the sacred places of every religion. People of all faiths, therefore, will be offended by this presentation." Funny you should say that, Archbishop. I will counter the Archbishop's "defence of sacred place" with Bhatti's response to the play's closure: "[Courageous] writers sometimes cause offence...But perhaps those who are affronted by the menace of dialogue and discussion need to be offended."

In the play's forward, Bhatti argues that criticism of and love for your community go hand in hand. "I believe it is necessary for any community to keep evaluating its progress, to connect with its pain and to its past. And thus to cultivate a sense of humility and empathy; something much needed in our angry, dog eat dog times." Where—in what sanctuary—are artists protected if not in open discussion and expression?

Links:

* "Curtains for Free Speech" (editorial)
* Petition against the closing of Behzti
* The UK's Committee for Racial Equality gives its 2 cents.

Siamese

An Arab walks along a wall lifting a bag of canned goods through Jerusalem.

A Jew
walks right by,
clutching with both hands
a Siamese cat

in tears.

—Salman Masalha (b. 1953)

This is my translation of Masalha's poem "Chatul Siami" (Siamese Cat) from his Hebrew collection "Echad mi-kan" ('Am 'oved, 2004).