|
|
 |
 |
| Cold and Lifeless |
| 4/15 by matt |
 |
Brrr...we just returned from the Central Terminal where the UB Visual Arts students held their Senior thesis show and it sure was frigid. Good thing they had cookies and coffee, otherwise it was a serious waste of time. It is understood that collegiate Fine Art shows are subjective, and this is not RISD, but we had anticipated a little more based on the capabilities we witnessed at Le Carnaval in Big Orbit two months ago.
We were enamored with the Central Terminal's historical value and decrepit interior, but there was a distinct lack organization and direction among the thirty odd students that exhibited there. Understatedly, the space was poorly utilized and the art actually distracted from the structure. Much of the student work was tucked away in dimly lit rooms, off the main corridor, without any signs or attention getters which meant that only the curious and adventurous found it. I can imagine that many of the more proficient exhibits were overlooked because of this forced exploration. Very few individuals had artist statements for their work, and furthermore, the entire show forwent any documentation on the group of participants or the concept behind the use of the Terminal. The Terminal was unheated and drafty, they took no advantage of its facets; I wonder why they chose this location?
The entire experience left me to wonder if these students had no or little guidance through their senior year, and if so, how were they to know that the work was technically lacking and immaturely executed? Even if free range creativity is the basis for a senior show, basic presentation skills should be required.
Was there a minimum amount of work required? What were the qualifications for the show? Who was responsible for the event coordination? These are questions that I should not have to ask, questions that I am eager to have answered because of my own experience in student shows and as a professor who was relentless about presentation quality. Buffalo was recently voted one of the most artistic cities in the U.S., but is less and less living up to that recognition.
|
 |
|
 |
| Gesamtkunstwerk |
| 4/9 by laura |
 |
If you aren't careful, we might teach you a new word or two. For those of us far removed from the college scene, a lecture may seem like the last thing our day permits. But the value of advice from those who've come before us can change our perspective dramatically, or perhaps rejuvenate our desire to create. Juliet Koss comes in for the day from Scripps University to talk about the total work of art.
Juliet is qualified enough; she is Associate Professor in the Department of Art History late-19th- and early-20th-century European modernist art, architecture, and related fields, with an emphasis on German and Russian aesthetic theory and artistic practice. Her essays have appeared in such journals as Architecture New York, The Art Bulletin, Assemblage, Centropa, Grey Room, Kritische Berichte, and The South Atlantic Quarterly. Some so uniquely educated on the formal arts, yet versatile enough to engage a college audience should be able to speak on an even playing field with all types of artists in Buffalo. She will focus on the "Invisible Wagner", a mythos surrounding Richard Wagner's festival theater at Bayreuth, famous for creating an uncertain relationship between the spectator's body and the theatrical image.
"Invisible Wagner" lays bare the elements of this sorcery to perform what magicians call the "reveal." Addressing the optical magic of the hovering stage image, the aural magic of the invisible orchestra, and the bodily phenomenon of the conductor who waves a baton like a magic wand, it traces these elements to Wagner's notion of the "total work of art".
Go get cultured already! The lecture will take place on Tuesday, April 15th at 1:15 at the Center For the Arts, room 112
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
