My Reality

Book Review - 'Peer Pressure' by Brad Troemel

2011-12-20T13:55:00.001-08:00

My book review of 'Peer Pressure' by Brad Tromel.
Excerpt:

And then there are books like Peer Pressure, a collection of 16 essays published between 2010 and 2011 by artist and writer Brad Troemel. It is an essential read for those of us tired of the art world being so full of itself. And I would go as far as saying, its one of the most relevant dialogs being generated today for negotiating the current state of contemporary art. And Troemel argues, quiet effectively, that the space for such negotiation, is the Internet.

The overall drift of Peer Pressure is quite succinctly put in a quote you come across at the beginning, by artist and blogger Eryk Salvaggio who says, “The net can’t handle the pretense of art, or anything that seems manufactured, because it has a keen bullshit mechanism.”

Read the rest here:

OWS, Art and Activism - My Piece in The Hindu

2011-11-19T22:59:00.000-08:00

My recent article is a look at the relationship between Art and Occupy Wall Street. Focusing the discussion also on south asian activists and artists who have been participating in the movement and what all of this means.

Read the article here

Project For Empty Space: Opens September 13th 2011

2011-09-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

Project For Empty Space's second Iteration opens at our site 181 Stanton Street, NYC, on September 13th, 2011. Please join us anytime between 2pm-8pm to explore the installation. We also hope you can celebrate with us at our reception which will be held from 6pm-8pm at a local bar (TBD).

Our current Artist-In-Residence, Alex Callender, is creating an installation which focuses around dislocation, and the duality of absence and presence in ecosystems, as our present environmental crisis becomes more persistent and our ability to sustain the need of populations more fragile. Callender uses deer as agents that offer a narrative about change. Deer populations exist on the periphery of our expansion in this country and their habitation and population are often tethered to the ebb and flow of our development, expansion and industrialization dictating where and how they live and what they adapt to. This same precarity haunts many of the world’s inhabitants. Once, they were the occupants of this area, now us, and at point some in the future other entities will presume the main narrative in this given space.

We are also excited about our twin space that has opened in Bogota, Colombia. Please follow the updates of the project at http://pesbogota.cero29.org.

Young Curators Hub - Experimenter Kolkatta, July 15th & 16th 2011

2011-06-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

This July I will be participating in Experimenter Kolkatta's Young Curators Hub - a platform where ten curators with a focus on South Asian contemporary art and an acclaimed Swiss curator come together to present, discuss, and debate the most contemporary thought behind curating exhibitions in today's context. If in that part of town please join us!

Karthik Pandian - A Review of 'UNEARTH', Whitney Museum of Art

2011-06-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

Current review of artist Karthik Pandian's 'UnEarth' that was recently up at The Whitney Museum of American Art. The review has been published in WhiteWall Magazine's Summer Issue 2011.

Project For Empty Space at New Museum's Festival of Ideas for the New City

2011-04-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

Project For Empty Space is proud to present Jawaz Al-Saqr, a performance by CHOKRA at The New Museum’s, Festival of Ideas for the New City, May 7th – 8th 2011. The performance, curated by Meenakshi Thirukode and Jasmine Wahi will open at 10 P.M on May 7th 2011 at 181 Stanton St, New York 10002.

Jawaz Al-Saqr (Falcon Passport) integrates national symbols, origin historicity and lingual utterances in a performance that transfigures a proclaimed citizen into a “document being”. With practices specific to CHOKRA’s origin of The Trucial States, formally United Arab Emirates, Jawaz Al-Saqr incites an appetite for CHOKRA’s national passport as an agent of embodied nationality or jinsiyah for a self-generating authority accelerated into the kinetic operatives of live performance. Jawaz AL-Saqr’s authorizations amplify on a live and electronic apparatus of digital and analogue surround sound, audio-sensory lasers and real-time vocal filters. Jawaz Al-Saqr shall also feature Origin(al) performance dynamics with multilingual rap rhyme sequences conducted in Arabic, Urdu, Hindi and English; transnational costume; and an overwhelming consuming dispersal of original accoutrements, including citizen documents, saturated pigment, scent, pyromaniac emissions, grounded spices, oils, port inks and powdered chillies.
The Festival of Ideas for the New City, May 4-8, 2011, is a major new collaborative initiative in New York involving scores of Downtown organizations working together to harness the power of the creative community to imagine the future city and explore ideas that will shape it. The Festival will include a three-day slate of symposia; an innovative StreetFest along the Bowery; and over eighty independent projects and public events. For more information, visit festivalofideasnyc.com.

Project For Empty Space is a non-profit organization, co-founded and co-curated by Meenakshi Thirukode and Jasmine Wahi that is dedicated to bringing Contemporary art to a multitude of communities through the utilization of abandoned and unusual urban spaces. The initiative was launched in September 2010 in Manhattan’s Lower East Side at an abandoned lot on Stanton Street. For more information please visit www.projectforemptyspace.com.
Project For Empty Space is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purpose of Project For Empty Space are made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Please visit our Donations page for more detail.

Perspectives of the Curator, Panel Presentations, March 26th, Pratt Institute, NYC

2011-03-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

Perspectives of the Curator
Panel Presentations in conjunction with SAWCC's Process/ Practice/Portfolio: A Seminar for Emerging Artists.
(This event is open to the public)

March 26th , 2:30 – 3:30 PM, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn Campus.

Presentations By: Jaishri Abichandani, Avni Doshi, Maymanah Farhat, Baseera Khan, Meenakshi Thirukode, Jasmine Wahi.
Facilitated by: Meenakshi Thirukode.

The role of the curator has been the center of most contemporary art world discussions. In fact it would be naïve to say that the roles are specific to the realm of contemporary art. Curators exist within the realm of academics, commercial institutions, non-profit initiatives, activism, political campaigns and individual branding. Alongside that line of thought exists the fact that curating is not a specific role. This individual, particularly the independent curator, creates a complex set of relationships between themselves and other players within the industry. Not only is the role ambiguous, in that curators can be artists and/or critics and/or entrepreneurs and/or doctors (the permutations and combinations are innumerable), but cultural specificities and gender politics exert their own influence on the work these individuals pursue while constantly molding the way the rest of the world perceives it.

Perspectives of the Curator brings together young emerging and established critic/curators working within the contexts and complexities of history, gender, geography, politics and social systems that are particular to the sub-continent, Central Asia and the Middle East. The idea for this panel stems from the fact that there have been limited platforms from which these cultural practitioners have voiced their opinions alongside their peers. Individual presentations will give an insight into each critic/curator’s intellectual pursuits while potentially addressing some of the issues described above. The idea is to bring out the similarities, differences, cross pollination and connections between ideologies, in an attempt to further the critical theories and practices that surround South Asian/Central Asian/ Middle Eastern Art.

PES:NYC Open Call 2011

2011-03-03T16:43:00.000-08:00

Project For Empty Space will present it’s second cycle at 181 Stanton Street in the Fall of 2011. This year curators Jasmine Wahi and Meenakshi Thirukode hope to further the involvement of the community with the project by bringing in an installation artist who will create work based on, and influenced by, the local neighborhood and culture of the Lower East Side.

In 2010, Project For Empty Space at 181 Stanton Street was open only to New York City based artists who had a commentary to make on their city. This year the Project invites artists from around the world to apply in the hopes that PES not only exposes the community to contemporary installation but also sparks a larger dialog about insider and outsider perspectives of neighborhood.

As in past years artists must not only be comfortable with their process being open to the viewers, but also open to inviting suggestions, feedback, questions, and criticism from residents of the Lower East Side. This project is meant to be collaborative in the sense that the installation is informed by both the artist and the environment that influences him or her.

Please visit www.projectforemptyspace.com for more details.

Project For Empty Space - Fund Raising Mode

2011-02-12T12:50:00.000-08:00

Project For Empty Space: The New Year

The core nature of Project For Empty Space is about being open to a myriad of possibilities while serving a set of pertinent goals that are very important to art and its relationship to the public. PES started with the need to bring art and communities together by instigating and executing a change in abandoned public spaces. This was done at 181 Stanton, New York in 2010 by providing a platform for local emerging artist, Tehniyet Masood, to envision this change and make it happen. PES is about interacting, exchanging and collaborating with the community in a process that is inclusive. The initiative also functions as an active site for the purpose of art education through schools and local boys and girls clubs.

There are collaborations and programming that are being lined up for this new year, which promises to be critically engaging for the public and the art community. We will be making updates and sending out details soon.

Project For Empty Space is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purpose of Project For Empty Space are made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Please visit our Donations page for more details.

Thank You

A New Role - Curator, ArtStar.com

2011-02-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

"Artstar couldn't be more excited to introduce our new curator of Southeast Asian art, Meenakshi Thirukode. Meenakshi is a super smart and accomplished curator, writer, critic and expert on Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern Contemporary art who will be lending her prodigious curatorial talents and distinctive voice to ArtStar. In addition to curating Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern art for ArtStar, Meenakshi is the co-founder of Project for Empty Space, a non-profit public art initiative that brings contemporary art out of institutions and into vacant urban spaces. What a catch!"

Read the rest of the blog and check out ArtStar.com here

Whitewall Magazine - Interview with Experimenter

2011-02-09T09:56:00.000-08:00

It is an interesting and engaging process to have conversations with gallery and museum directors, curators, professors and grass roots initiatives based out of India, that are working within the global and local scale.Reading the perspectives of some of the key players in this particular part of the world, should shed light into the nature of these markets and the ambitions shaping their infrastructure right from the source.

I recently had a “virtual” conversation with Prateek Raja and Priyanka Raja, the founders of Experimenter, a young gallery located in Kolkatta, India. Some of the more critically engaging and intellectually stimulating shows of contemporary art have been a part of the programming at this space. From the conversation I had with them, it’s quite apparent that Prateek and Priyanka exude a genuine passion for their work and a well thought out focus that the art scene in India would definitely benefit from. Shows of note at the space have included solos by Raqs Media Collective and The Otolith Group, who was nominated for the tenth Turner Prize Award in 2010.

Read the Interview here

Review of FREE @ The New Museum, Art & Deal Magazine

2011-02-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

Excerpts from the review I wrote for FREE @ The New Museum published in Art & Deal, Issue 34, Feb 2011.

"....The Last Newspaper and FREE at the New Museum in New York, attempt to encapsulate the impact of information transition in print publication and the Internet respectively. Very obvious juxtapositions arise and yet the former seemed to instill what should be the latter’s consequent claustrophobia induced by TMI (too much information). FREE is not necessarily looking to contextualize the use of the internet as a tool of art and one gets that sense as you maneuver through the exhibit. Its more of a collective coming together of individuals who are navigating the socio-geo-political peaks and abysses of a world that is more than just viewed through the window of your laptop/BB/ Iphone screens; one whose depths are as unfathomable as the vastness of the universe, but not as mythologized. Or did FREE just do that, simultaneously to Hollywood and Time Magazine fetishize-ing Mark Zuckerberg for instance...."

Read the entire article here: FREE

IKT Member

2011-01-31T11:34:00.000-08:00

I was recently made member of IKT (International Association of Contemporary Art Curators).

IKT functions as an international network for professionals working in the contemporary art field. By interchanging ideas and knowlegde on different cultural activities from a variety of countries and cities through the whole world, IKT explores and widens international relations. In this way IKT finds new opportunities for artists and institutions and also investigates the ever changing position of contemporary art centres in relation to production, distribution and conservation.

Review and Article - Structures Within An Intervention

2011-01-05T10:09:00.000-08:00

Structures Within An Intervention, a curatorial project that opened in New York in early 2010 has been reviewed by Maymanah Farhat for ArtEtc Magazine, India. My curatorial notes on the project has been published in Art and Deal magazine, India.
Do pick up copies if you have a chance to.

AICA Member

2010-11-13T19:05:00.000-08:00

I was recently accepted as a member of AICA (International Association of Art Critics).

The International Association of Art Critics (AICA), is a NGO, founded in 1950 under the patronage of UNESCO, whose objective it is to support art criticism in all its forms, worldwide and to keep pace with its changing disciplines.
AICA’s head office, located in Paris, represents and promotes the activities of the Association’s 4,200 members, grouped into 62 different Sections, throughout the world. The Association overheads are entirely financed by the subscriptions of its Ordinary Members, Honorary Members and Patrons.

Project For Empty Space on Vernissage TV

2010-09-30T14:03:00.001-07:00

Vernissage TV visited us during the time Tehniyet Masood, was constructing her Installation for Project For Empty Space. Heres a short and long version of the interview where my co-curator Jasmine, artist Tehniyet and I discuss our experiences.

Short Version:

Long Version:

CURATE NYC - Curatorial Committee

2010-09-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

Im on the curatorial committee for CURATE NYC.
Heres some information about the project as described on their website www.curatenyc.com. Do visit the website for more details.

New York City is a global arts center, but maintaining that status means cultivating new talent.

To advance the cause, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Full Spectrum Experience Inc. bring you Curate NYC – a showcase for emerging New York City artistic talent.

Curate NYC is a multi-venue juried exhibition that will display postcard-sized reproductions of images by up to 150 artists selected by the project’s Curatorial Committee.

Each postcard will feature an artist original image and an artist bio. All entries will remain on the Curate NYC website for ongoing review. Selected entries will be presented at three exhibitions held at venues across New York City.

Images will be evaluated along four criteria: originality, technical skill, emergence of a personal vision or voice, and positive subjective impact upon the curators.

Entries will be considered across all visual media, including photography, digital images, film/video stills, and photos of drawings, installations, mixed-media, paintings, printmaking and sculpture.

Time Lapse Video of Project For Empty Space

2010-09-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

A time lapse video of my current curatorial project in collaboration with Jasmine Wahi! Do check out the projects blog at www.projectforemptyspace.com for more images, videos and an archive of this non-profit public art project.

Project For Empty Space

2010-08-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

This next curatorial venture is in collaboration with Jasmine Wahi (Jasmine Wahi Contemporary Art Advisory).

Project For Empty Space: A Pop-Up Vision was created by us- the co-curators Jasmine Wahi (Jasmine Wahi Contemporary Art Advisory) and Meenakshi Thurikode (MT Productions) in early 2010. The project was born out of the need to bring contemporary art out of traditionally ‘high-brow’ neighborhoods to the people of New York. In the wake of economic flummox the art world has taken a financial hit, so we (Jasmine W. and Meenakshi T.) took advantage of the downturn in investment and speculative buying to bring really good art back to New York- literally, back down to ground level…

As of June 2010 we have chosen Tehniyet Masood, local New York artist, as our installation artist. She will be creating a site-specific art installation made out of organic and recycled materials. Masood will be creating a large building-like structure in an outdoor space using found/reclaimed materials from all over New York. The purpose of this project is two fold- to challenge the artist to create work that is inspired by the environment and neighborhood around her and to also foster community interest in the project. We hope that the local community will take an interest in the project and thus influence the creation of the work that the artist makes. Additionally, we hope that the audiences ability to watch the progression of the space go from empty to art-filled will inspire a broader appreciation of contemporary art.

www.projectforemptyspace.com chronicles our journey to bringing a well curated project into a non-gallery style space.

Enjoy!

Current Piece in Whitewall Magazine: Metamorphosis - Sa'dia Rehman and Gazelle Samizay

2010-08-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

Sa’dia Rehman and Gazelle Samizay’s works were part of a two-person show held earlier this year at The Guild Art Gallery, titled “Metamorphosis”. The word metamorphosis implies a transformation; a change brought on by strong external and internal forces, sometimes working together in a natural way and at other times more dysfunctional and in opposition. Often times the later lends those outside and not undergoing this process, a state of discomfort. They find themselves provoked into interpretations and readings that question every sense of one’s morality, virtue, right, and wrong.

Read More At : http://www.whitewallmag.com/2010/08/17/metamorphosis/

PARLOUR 17 I FRAGMENTS

2010-08-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

Above: Hand drawn wallpaper design for the parlour invite. The inspiration was the wallpaper in my house. In thinking about the fragments I would remember from my life in a post - apocalyptic scenario, I chose to draw a memory of the wallpaper in my house. The press releases were also hand written.

Curatorial Project for Parlour

Fragments
August 21 – 22, 2010

Realizing that Parlour No. 17 would mark our final show before turning the mature and legal age of 18, we decided this would be a good time to revisit some of our past shows and put together a mini retrospective of what and where Parlour has been before moving forward. As all histories are subjective narratives anyway, we decided it would be much more honest and interesting to give this job to someone else. Enter Meenakshi Thirukode, a playful and innovative curator whose practice is very much interested in institutional critique. Fragments, her vision of our project not only reaches into the past, but into a fictional apocalyptic future.

NOTE FROM THE CURATOR:

If you are reading this you must be alive. If you're able please do come to the address noted above. For now I am alone. I’m unsure of the linearity of time but I think a chunk of it has passed since I woke up and found nothing. Zilch. There was no sign of life, of a breath, no movement that I could immediately recognize. Desolation. It seemed the world had come to an end and I must have been in deep, deep, sleep because I didn’t feel, hear or sense anything. Those Acetaminophens I took for my toothache knocked me out cold. But I would think the end of the world would have been, well, schmaltzy enough to stir me up from a drug induced dopey state.

Well, I’m not entirely alone at this point as I write this. I found some fragments. Paper, drawings, words, paintings, lights, metal and pixels, all of which stood for everything a certain group of people I met, at a certain period of time, worked towards understanding. And I admired them as friends, artists and a community. Yes, I remember them as friends, some of whom I knew more than others, but that’s just a technicality. I’m celebrating them and all they stood for, worked for, because it stems from my last clear memory before I woke up to the end of the world (Is it the end? What is it like where you are?) - I remember working towards Parlour 17.

Maybe I shouldn’t speak in past tense. I make too many assumptions.

Note the dates, although it might not make sense. I cant be sure when you will see this. But set out as soon as you do. Bring anything you find – brownies, beer, a song. Anything. I have some balloons. Lets celebrate.

Parlour No. 17 includes works by the following artists from past Parlour shows: Mai Ueda, Stephanie Michelle Max and Jeffrey Max, Ali Aschman and Andrzej Nowicki (Little Guy Xylophone), Lane Arthur, Jennifer Dudley, Evie Falci, Ted Mineo, Hein Koh, Colette Murphy, Colette Robbins, Alison Blickle, Corey D’Augustine, Langdon Graves, Trish Tillman, Beau Buck, Stefano Minzi, Selena Kimball, Jessica Slaven, Lara Allen, Orit Ben-Shitrit and Harold Moss, Amanda Friedman, Anthony Discenza, Daniel Eatock and Faten Kanaan.

Sketches of the wallpaper drawing for the invite:

Project for Empty Space - Fund Raising through Kickstarter

2010-07-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

Interview - Structures Within an Intervention

2010-06-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

I gave an Interview to Art Asia Radar about my recently concluded curatorial project "Structures Within An Intervention". More details here.

Untitled Project Thingamajigs - Resurrection

2010-05-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

Opening May 18th 2010, Curatorial Project in NYC, Structures Within An Intervention

2010-05-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Legend

(i) Time Period:
May 18th - June 18th 2010
Opening Reception May 18th 6:30 – 8:30 pm

(ii) Artists:
Rajkamal Kahlon, Swati Khurana, Vandana Jain, Michael Buhler Rose, Afruz Amighi, Mariam Ghani, Fawad Khan, Redo Pakistan (Fatima Hussain and Hamja Ahsan), Divya Mehra, Aninditta Dutta and Nidhi Jalan

(iii) Curator:
Meenakshi Thirukode

(iv) Interventions:
Town Hall Meeting
Ad Hoc Vox
Shifter
Gresham's Ghost
Parlour

(v) Institution:
The Guild Art Gallery, New York
45 W 21st Street, 2nd Floor
Buzzer #39, New York, New York 10010
212.229.2110

What are we without structures? A structure is inescapable. Its’ ubiquitous and certain. Be it thought or action, the more we strain to lose structure the closer we get to finding it.

Structures Within an Intervention is a project that culminates from this realization. In it are players, participants, collaborators and individuals who are all functioning either for or against their perceived notion of a structure. Like any structural system there are parameters within which those involved function. It started with the specific vision that the institution functions under in relation to its place within the larger system. A curatorial intervention within this structure was to engage the institutions vision in such a way that it reinforces what has already been discussed and debated upon by theorists and philosophers, critics and historians, you and me. Or it could possibly lead to something more radical, if radicality exists. I'm inclined to believe it doesn't but I will humor myself.

Here is what finds me as I plan my escape. Here is a structure, a blueprint.

Structure 1: The Personal: Blueprint A

A shared relationship as employee, colleague and friend exists between the institution and the curator. A common place that is relegated as the work place has seen many interactions within the realms of the professional and the personal. This place, The Institution, is commonly called the Gallery.

The curator shares multiple relationships with a number of individuals who are commonly called a broad range of descriptive terms such as artist, curator and collective. While engaging predominantly from a professional perspective, that is curating them or writing about them, there are varying levels of a personal relationship she shares with them such as going out for coffee, gossiping or a mutual need to follow each others Facebook updates.

Structure 2: The Project: Blueprint B

The project culminated from the myriad layers within Structure 1. The curator has decided to approach every one of those artists, curators and collectives to be involved within the parameters of a structure called 'gallery exhibition' and create further structures without acknowledging that they could be structures. One of the most dominant parameters that have come about in the project is the idea of place and identity.

Structure 3: The Interventions: Blueprint C

A sub system within Structure 2. A deliberate insertion that saw the displacement, either by choice or without, of everyone involved. Some were relegated as artists while others as Intervenors, individuals who in essence operate under an institutional insignia, have been given the elevated task of creating or recreating contexts. Some chose to remain as artists, some crossed the border to become an Intervenor, some didn't have the time to be involved but goodnaturedly gives us their support and validation.

Structure 4: Text

Curatorial Note -

chronicled above

Press Release -

The Guild Art Gallery presents Structures within an Intervention a curatorial project by Meenakshi Thirukode that includes artists Rajkamal Kahlon, Swati Khurana, Vandana Jain, Michael Buhler Rose, Afruz Amighi, Mariam Ghani, Fawad Khan, Redo Pakistan (Fatima Hussain and Hamja Ahsan), Divya Mehra, Aninditta Dutta and Nidhi Jalan. The project seeks to challenge preconceived structures, both, within the immediate purview of what constitutes a 'gallery exhibition', to broader issues of place and cultural identity within the contemporary art world. This is being orchestrated by collaborating with individuals and collectives who have created their own branded identity in an effort to create frameworks that range from curatorial endeavors to publications, performances and discussions. These individuals, who operate under an "institutional alias" include Town Hall Meeting (Christopher Stiegler and Dina Shaulov), Ad Hoc Vox (Colleen Asper and Jennifer Dudley), Shifter (Sreshta Rit Premnath), Greshams Ghost (Ajay Kurian) and Parlour (Leslie Rosa Stumpf and Ciara Gilmartin). Each of them have been asked to interpret, re-contextualize or react to the contexts the curator has created. These have been labeled Interventions. During the duration of the show Interventions will take place at a predetermined date. The extent to which the nature of these interventions will be publicized is dependent on the amount of information each Intervenor is willing to disclose. Rest assured, however, that they will take place at the said dates and timings listed below.

Interventions -

May 18th: Opening Night: Intervention 1: Town Hall Meeting (Curatorial Collaborators): 6:30 - 8:30 pm.

Note:
An investigatory survey where Town Hall Meeting (Dina Shaulov and Christopher Stiegler) will have a set of questions to ask guests, artists and other art professionals that are out and about that evening. THM will be referencing the writings of Jacques Ranciere, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Edward Said, Vinyak Chaturvedi, and others, all with the aim of linking their ideologies with the activities of artists functioning in todays art world. This Intervention will take place in an area that statistics have shown, is the most frequented during an opening despite its seeming air of distance at other hours from the visitor – The Reception Desk.

May 20th: Intervention 2: Ad Hoc Vox (Collaborators): 6 - 8 pm, 7 pm Reading.

Note:
Ad Hoc Vox's Colleen Asper and Jennifer Dudley will translate an excerpt from a Western literary classic, William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. Rather than translating this text into another language, Asper and Dudley will transform it from within the tradition of the English language. Dudley will translate the modern text into Old English and Asper will translate the text using a model taken from Saint Augustine's description of how God might apprehend language.

Intervention reception starts 6 pm. Colleen Asper and Jennifer Dudley will do a reading starting 7 pm.

Performance: Swati Khurana and her Grandmother will perform "Lesson 1" where they will knit an embroidery piece together. The performance will start a few hours prior to the reception and continue into the evening.

May 25th: Intervention 3: Shifter (Individual): 12 - 8:30 pm

Note:
Shifter (Sreshta Rit Premnath) proposes the following Intervention

Between Dog and Wolf:
The intervention (or interruption) will take place for periods of about an hour, interspersed throughout the duration of the show at the discretion of the curator.

Using darkness and a one hour lecture by Trin T Minh-ha as primary source material, Shifter directs us towards questions regarding the migrant-self, boundaries and multiplicity in order to imagine, as Minh-ha puts it, "an image and a color whose depiction would require a different kind of hearing, a different kind of listening."

This intervention invokes the time of twilight, described in French as "entre chien et le loup." This time of murky visuality when people disappear and ghosts awake, is also a time of transformation, a time of becoming. As individuals who confront and engage the problems of identification, how do we proceed with clarity, yet maintaining criticality in regard to how we identify ourselves. Indeed, (how) can the tropes of otherness be strategically employed to untangle the knots that shape it?

June 1st - 3rd: Intervention 4: Greshams Ghost (Individual)

Note:
Greshams Ghost (Ajay Kurian) has not disclosed details of the Intervention. The curator waits and continues to follow up on occasion.

June 15th -18th: Intervention 5: Parlour (Curatorial Collaborators): Reception June 15th 6:30 - 8:30 pm

Note:
Parlour (Leslie Rosa-Stumpf and Ciara Gilmartin) has proposed an Intervention that will re-curate the exhibition in an attempt to bring the participating artists’ practices into a broader contemporary dialogue—not one tied to a definitve cultural milieu. New artists will be invited to be part of the conversation.

Art India Review for The New Museums 'Younger Than Jesus'

2010-05-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

Get the latest issue of Art India Magazine to read a review I had written for The New Museums 'Younger Than Jesus' show which ran last year.

Art Concerns: MT Thoughts- Untitled Project part 1:Thingamajigs- A Curatorial Note

2010-04-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

‘Untitled Projects, part 1: Thingamajigs,’ is an archiving of contemporary practice. Every detail of the installation is therefore considering ‘place’ in its various interpretations and misinterpretations, as the works are laid out.

There are elements within the curatorial installation that are not necessarily obvious because the viewer is in the gallery space to view work that to him/her falls within the purview of ‘art.’ What is art? That’s a question of predominance. From that point on starts his/her interaction, interpretation, dismay, joy, awareness, learning and un-learning. All of this is still within what each individual’s understanding of art is at that exact point in time. And all of those reactions would still be within that understanding which would means, the viewer need not go back with any kind of ‘new’ awareness but instead the conversation is floating around within the periphery of his/her already existing conditioning.

Read More At: - http://artconcerns.com/mtthoughts.php

Domus Vulgus - Essay for artist Apnavi Thacker's Solo at The Guild, New York

2010-03-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

Domus Vulgus

By: Meenakshi Thirukode

It all starts with the question of Place. Place is an interesting piece of fiction. We define it in terms of the physical, the material, the psychological, emotional and the individual. Place - Our place, my place, your place. Apnavi Thacker explores the myriad complexities within the socio-political realm of this idea of Place, through her works on canvas and a site specific installation in her solo DOMUS VULGUS.

DOMUS VULGUS, implies House of the Common People. Such a Place is in essence an idealistic envisioning. This would be the thread that connects Thackers intellectual struggle and thought process. It also seems to have dictated the visual, formal and aesthetic means she has chosen to work with – graffiti and street art, often times on the surface of a canvas (if not on the walls of the gallery, as permitted this time around), as well as pseudo-urban installations. One particular manifestation is seen in her use of particular words in her canvases (DYSTOPIA, VULGUS, DISPOSABLE) that are not necessarily an attempt at being didactic but is more inclined towards a kind of catharsis.

To Read More Please See: - http://theguildny.com/Domus_Vulgus_Essay.html

Current Curatorial Project @ Gallery OED, Cochin, India

2010-03-09T17:42:00.000-08:00

Show Title: Untitled Project part 1: Thingamajigs, Curated by Meenakshi Thirukode

Artists: Amir H Fallah, Pooneh Maghazehe, Lucky Dragons, Parlour, Colleen Asper, Kiran Subbaiah, Raqs Media Collective, Aakash Nihalani, Jaishri Abichandani

Venue: Gallery Open Eyed Dreams, Opp- Lotus Club, Warriam Road, Cochin-682016 –

India, Tel. 91 484 6468687 Mob. 91 9447108011

Dates: Feb 27th 2010 – March 27th 2010.

Project Description:

Untitled Project part 1: Thingamajigs brings together individuals whose creative practice cannot be categorized under traditional tags, typically in terms of the medium used - painter, sculptor, installation artist, new media, curator, writer, entreprenuer, activist ecetera.

The concept, curator and artists have been in a constant creative flux thereby existing, molding and evolving this project, close to a year now.

It will now have its first physical materialization at Gallery Open Eyed Dreams. The project will have unlimited parts. Part 1 takes on an archival process of these contemporary practices. Every creative output of the individuals will be presented at the gallery space from artwork to their writings, sketches, archives of past projects, publications, T-shirts and other thingamajigs!

The project will exist as www.untitledprojectthingamajig.com when not in a physical space.

MT Thoughts- A Proposition

2010-02-16T17:19:00.000-08:00

To read this piece please see

http://www.artconcerns.com/html/mt_thoughts.htm

Current Piece for Whitewall Magazine - Seher Shah

2010-02-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

We trust the archival image in its historically validated context, than those images generated in the now. Contemporary images are too frequent and too quick for us to comprehend and form an opinion that would seem coherent. That problem doesn’t exist with the past. For one, images were not generated at the same rate as is in our present. The past is definite to the human mind. So where does that leave us with the contemporary image? Well, in a state of desperation, seeking conclusions because we have always believed in finding an end to the means. And so the frustration for both the “viewer” of an image and the “creator” of an image signifies a state of desperation – the easiest way out then is to expect and make literal interpretations by digging into our own archive of pre-conditions.

That it is reminiscent of the black cuboid and triangular volumes within compositions in Seher Shah’s ink and gouache pieces such as Black Cube 1 & 2.

Read More At: - http://www.whitewallmag.com/2010/02/05/seher-shah/

Image Courtesy of the artist.

Upcoming Curatorial Project: Untitled Project: Thingamajigs - Cochin, India

2010-01-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

Recent article for Artconcerns: The Grass is Always Greener on The Other Side: Indian Art Abroad - An Overview

2009-12-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

Image Courtesy: artconcerns.com

In the context of an increasing presence of Indian artists in galleries and museums outside India, Meenakshi Thirukode surveys the lacunae that need to be filled regarding the critical premises of contemporary Indian art being presented abroad.

Working on a cover story about the presence of Indian art and artists at various international venues is usually done to relay an optimistic view and say “looks like something is brewing… finally the world’s paying attention to us.”

Of course, this pre-supposes the notion that we weren’t being taken seriously before. There is a lot of truth to that. If money means power and power means having a status quo that demands attention within the imagined globalised world we live in, then sure, Indian art got a lot of it. We made market headlines and my parents’ next door neighbour in India encouraged her kids to become artists and earn millions like those she read about in the papers. While there is a note of cynicism, coated with some bitter sweet truth, within these observations, I would say that a lot of us discussed using that momentum to transform this attention. This would be done by developing infrastructure as well as pursuing critical rather than purely market and business oriented sales pitches and tactics. There has been discussion on how that should be passionately taken upon ourselves, as a sort of responsibility as Indians, especially if we have the means, to make that difference - to be that patron or collector or an institutional head and turn market fluff to something positive and long term. However there also exists the fallacy of such an idea. What sustainability are we talking about? How long do we keep this notion of doing something for the long term, alive? Does that mean we have been short-sighted until this point in time? When we think of or write about or analyse the presence of Indian art in International shows, do we often come across like the nerdy kid in high school who got the cooler kids to pay him attention for 5 minutes instead of 2? I guess my concern is at what point do we see ourselves not winning battles or celebrating internally in merely the representation or presence of Indian artists and focus on what is being presented and questioning, debating and discussing its quality, context and relevance. It’s not merely enough to throw names and celebrate this museum or that Western gallery's collaboration because it becomes a win on the basis of being given credibility more than anything else.

Read More At : - http://artconcerns.com/html/coverstory.htm

Recent Article for Whtewall Mag - From Pakistan: Hanging Fire

2009-10-31T20:23:00.000-07:00

Image Courtesy: whitewallmag.com

Curated by Salima Hashmi, a well-respected and knowledgeable figure in the Pakistani art world, “Hanging Fire” (on view September 10, 2009 – January 3, 2010 at Asia Society) brings together the practice of artists living and working in Pakistan, with the exception of one or two who also work outside. Zahoor Ul Akhlaq, is the only representation of an earlier, formative period of art in the country after which the show moves through various contemporary art practices.

In the exhibition are works that may implicitly or blatantly deal with the politics and the projected mayhem of a nation but that alone is not what makes it significant. What makes it significant is that the current perceptions of truth or projected truth about what Pakistan represents to the rest of the world – its power, its politics, its economics, its strategies and alliances has far more bearing on what is expected of artistic practice and culture building in the nation. There was an overall sense of something positive that these individuals are engaging in. The fact that there is an engagement in the first place seemed paramount in the eyes of artists and curator alike. This stems out of the knowledge that most people wouldn’t necessarily think of culture building as a movement within Pakistan given the circumstances under which it functions as a society. Issues of censorship and artistic freedom are so volatile that it becomes more interesting both to Pakistanis as well as the rest of the world to see what shapes the role of the artist.

Read More At: http://www.whitewallmag.com/2009/10/27/from-pakistan-hanging-fire/

Kapoor's Transcendent Pigments

2009-10-05T05:20:00.001-07:00

There are certain words and phrases that come to mind instinctively after reading the material on Kapoor’s works. These include duality, transcendental, spiritual, and ‘the combining of opposites’ to list a few. Yet, today, these serve as a set of collective expressions and interpretations akin to a stagnant collection of descriptions, repeating themselves in different studies but only touching the surface of a deeper understanding. A surface which needs to be broken through, in order to explore the depths of this potent pool of meaning that lends so much power to the already prevailing artistic pursuit of Kapoor. That Kapoor’s works are sacred and sublime is a good basis to start this discussion. Often most literature on the subject makes allusions to Kapoor’s explorations being related to Indian religious iconography and philosophy, particularly Hinduism. But what exactly are these set of icons and philosophy he refers to? The need to be precise is pertinent because Hinduism is a vast pantheon of complex belief systems. It is a deeply philosophical structure wherein the path to salvation is consummate to the level of righteousness exhibited by the individual in the mortal world. Attached to the set of beliefs and practices are myths of gods and goddesses, making it easier for the worldly soul to connect, learn and have belief in, in his quest for union with god. [i] Hindu deities are believed to have multiple personifications and various texts narrate mythological stories of divine interventions, miraculous manifestations and victory over rivals. [ii] For instance, Shiva is also referred to as Mahadeva, Sadashiva, Bhairava and so on. His consort Parvati also takes on different personifications such as Uma, Devi and Shakti. A number of Sanskrit texts narrate complex legendary events that involve the multifarious characters that make up the Hindu pantheon of gods. Epics such as the Mahabharath and Ramayana talk of battles, those which were fought between men and that which is fought within man himself, through lengthy descriptive narrations such as the Bhagavath Gita. [iii] Following the epics, were the Puranic texts. They are considered to be indexes that cover the span of human knowledge at that point in history and are widely acknowledged as the prime sources of our understanding Hindu mythology. [iv] What is relevant in this analysis is the mythology that centers on the god of gods (Mahadeva) – Shiva, as embodied within certain texts such as the Linga Purana and Kurma Purana to name a few. Also important to this discussion are texts that pertain to certain cults of Shiva such as the Lakulisa Pasupatas, for whom the Elephanta cave temple was built around 600 A.D. [v] These include the Ganakarika and Pasupata Sutra along with their respective commentaries. [vi] While it is beyond the scope of this piece to discuss all the complex myths associated with Shiva, there are certain aspects that inform the interrelated formal and philosophical pursuit in Kapoor’s works as I have discussed in my previous articles on the subject.

Read the full article at - http://artconcerns.com/html/mt_thoughts.htm
All Images Copyright of artist.

Installation views of my current curatorial project "Have We Moved Away From Whats Hotter Than Curry Yet?"

2009-09-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

MT Manifesto

2009-09-07T18:51:00.000-07:00

MT (Meenakshi Thirukode) is the corporate branded existence of me, an individual. I as a curator and critic will bring forth numerous ideas and contexts within which I will present a chosen number of individuals whose artistic practice I find engaging. This is marketed under the category of ‘Curated Exhibitions’ and is always in collaboration with those who have the means to support my endeavors. ‘Curated exhibitions’ come in various shapes, sizes, styles, all of it driven by my USP- Passion. I am no different than a corporate entity. Corporate structures do not pay heed to the individual, rather it is in negating the individual and creating a mechanism whereby certain pertinent ‘skills’ and ‘ideas’ are made to realize the larger corporate vision. In this case the vision is that of mine. I exist as an individual but function on the principals of Consumerism. I do this as I cannot separate myself from the conditioning of current systems of society, thereby leading to the creation of my Brand Identity. And it’s MT (a play on phonetics that can lead to various interpretations of my intentions and ideas).

As individuals each artist to me presents their own understanding, quests, debates and perhaps projected truth or the idea of the truth as they know it. MT will create a mechanism by which these will work towards realizing a larger vision, a vision that changes with every curated show mostly based on what I think is important to contextualize within historical and contemporary frameworks.

Current Article - Whitewall Magazine - Construction of the Exotic

2009-09-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

Whitewall’s South Asian Art Expert, Meenakshi Thirukode, looks at Michael Buhler Rose’s recent photo series, “Construction of the Exotic.” Find out if his work is merely the continuation of the Orientalist fixation or the embracement of another culture?

A strikingly beautiful young woman of European descent dressed in Bharatanatyam (a classical dance form that originated in Tamilnadu, in the south of India) costume sits poised on an ashen colored rock, the softness of her expression jarringly in contrast to the insentient stone. In another, two women attend to a young child. All three are dressed in traditional south Indian silk sarees, adorned with what are typical dancers jewelry – from the Nethi Chutti with its pendant like piece falling over the forehead to the Suryan (sun) and Chandran (moon), a pair of hair pins that sit on either side of the Neth Chutti. These are just two works from a series of photographs, titled “Construction of the Exotic,” by Michael Buhler Rose. One might think that from my point of view this could have come across as a white male artist continuing the Orientalist fixation of the “other.” It certainly crossed my mind, I wont argue against that. However, having grown up in Madras I, like most children, was initiated into the world of Bharatnatyam and Carnatic music classes by my parents, just as an American family might enroll their kids in ballet or piano lessons. There it wasn’t uncommon to see Westerners, coming from far away lands to learn and embrace our way of life. It is a community unto its own. So at the opposite end of my spectrum of interpretation, Rose’s women reminded me of just that.

Read the complete article - http://www.whitewallmag.com/2009/09/02/michael-buhler-rose/

My Review for 'Artists in Exile' curated by Jaishri Abichandani and Thorsten Albertz, ArtAsiaPacific Magazine,July/Aug 2009

2009-08-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Curatorial Project Cochin, India - Have We Moved Away From Whats Hotter Than Curry Yet?

2009-07-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

My Upcoming Curatorial Project at Gallery Open Eyed Dreams titled 'Have We Moved Away From Whats Hotter Than Curry Yet?'.
Opens Sept 12th 2009, Gallery Open Eyed Dreams, Cochin, India

Artists: Jaishri Abichandani, Chitra Ganesh, Nidhi Jalan, Aninditta Dutta and Varun Cursetji.

Hotter Than Curry is a phrase that has often times been used as a 'punchline' by journalists and the media to describe the Indian Contemporary Art Market starting in the early 2000's - a time that saw the steady rise of this emerging market along with the popularity of art funds and the concept of Indian art as an investment. The phrase highlights how a certain amount of trite, over used cliche's get recycled as a bid to brand and market what is often times called 'niche' markets. The show brings together both, artists whose works have been talked of in this context, as well as younger artists starting out their careers. The phrase hardly gives any deep insight into the practice of emerging, mid-career or established artists and the show is an attempt to explain why thats the case.

Curatorial Project Cochin, India - Wonder What The Others Are Upto

2009-04-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

Wonder What The Others Are Upto?

Artists: Fawad Khan, Mequitta Ahuja, Vandana Jain, Swati Khuranna, Hetain Patel, Anna Bhushan, Divya Mehra and Rajkamal Kahlon

Gallery Open Eyed Dreams

April 18th - May 9th 2009

Wonder What The Others are Upto? April 2009 Gallery OED

Excerpts from Catalog Essay:

Hi. It is intimidating that you look at me expecting, as each alphabet and vowel that follows this one, to form syllables, words, meanings, phrases and make sense, giving you insight into what I’m normally supposed to do. I’m supposed to read as a smooth group of phrases and sentences that have some relevance to my predecessors, whom many call History. Mine in particular are called Art History. Never mind such details. The point of me is to give you insight, and in that process become one with my predecessors. I yearn to become what all of my kind are fondly referred to as - catalog essays (I've noticed despite the fact that I’m just a 124 words old, you – of a certain kind, love to organize anything that is written into quaint little categories. So academic! I'd rather be young, wild and full of adrenaline! Why did she type adrenaline? Oh well, I suppose its her prerogative not mine) But I can already see I’m becoming a part of history as she types away, clicking those little black squares they call 'key's'. Each Key represents an alphabet, the basic element that has a direct hand in my very existence. An existence that is molded by the intangible and often ephemeral nature of her thoughts and its eventual physical manifestation through the corporal act of typing.

So my existence as it unfolds, sometimes moving forward and at times backwards (she erases Me. She looses Me as I form too many train lengths of ideas in her head. Ah! what a wild splendid yes and no game, forward and backward I play. Seductive.)

To read the entire essay please send an email to meensster@gmail.com. All parts of the above essay are copyrighted and cannot be published in any format without consent.

The idea for this show came up when I realized that unintentionally I did contradict the very notions of The Other in context to artists of Non Western origin. There is this well intentioned effort by some who find that Indian artists or artists of Indian origin should be exhibited and contextualized with ‘other’ artists such as American and European artists. This sort of moves away from creating this niche context, makes for more dialog between different cultures so on and so forth. But who are these American and European artists? If we go by what the basic rules of our society have set, the country you are born in is to be considered your motherland. That’s what makes you an American, African, Indian or British. And ethnicity doesn’t figure into this simple equation. Or does it? So why not have American artists of Indian origin for instance or British or South African artists of India origin exhibit with Indian artists born in India? Are they not American enough? Or British enough? Or South African enough? Apparently not. Somehow just because a lot of their creative explorations draw from their roots, that’s the only lens by which their art is understood and that’s the way they are written about or contextualized. Its about finding the Indianness in their work. Now isn’t that an extension of “The Other’? Isn’t that an extension of Exotisicm? Also does the idea of Western and Non Western exist today? The idea is to draw attention to the fact, that many within the Indian Contemporary Art Industry fnd it essential and perhaps even rightfully so to have Indian artists show with Western artists. This is considered to be in the best interest for these artists own growth because it is seen as giving their work more perspective. And that’s important in a globalized art world. But then the question is does that mean exhibiting with the ‘White’ American or ‘Black’ American? Because apparently if your South Asian you become the South Asian diaspora. Through this show I want to bring artists of South Asian origin without putting that tag on them. I will call it a show of American, European, South African, Canadian and Australian artists but never mention anything beyond that. Because I do believe that regardless of your ethnicity, you are still molded by the culture you are born into. If an artist whose ethnic background is not of the country he is a citizen of, and if that influences his work, does that really warrant such a narrow reading into his/her work? Has that western notion of The Other really left us? So by using a title such as Wonder What The Others are Upto?, not mentioning the ethnic backgrounds of the artists exhibiting and directly mentioning the country of their birth, one that in many ways is home, the idea is to make the viewer realize the implication, the contradictions and even elicit strong reactions. Questions that can arise: Are they viewing western artists or non western artists? Are these the Diaspora? Am I supposed to look for the south asian in the artist and thereby the work? Is it right to call the artists the others? Wait, what am I really ‘seeing’ here?

Curatorial Project New York - "Whose Territorial Imperative?"

2009-03-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

"Whose Territorial Imperative?" - March 21st - May 2nd, 2009. Opening Reception, April 4th, 2009.
The Guild Art Gallery
New York, USA.
Artists: Alexandre Singh, Sarah Hardesty and Fawad Khan.

“ Whose Territorial Imperative?” a show I have curated includes artists Alexandre Singh, Sarah Hardesty and Fawad Khan at The Guild Art Gallery, NY. The show is time based and experimental in that the gallery space has been deemed a Special Economic Zone. “Whose Territorial Imperative?” seeks to transform the gallery space into a micro culture functioning beyond the rules and structures, both written and unwritten, that governs the functioning of the broader art world. What happens if the Gallery is asked to present a Mandate with a set of rules that are different from what is expected of a commercial institution and its relationship to artists? How does that affect artistic production? How does the dynamics of the relationship between artist-curator-gallery-viewer change?

Alexandre Singh, Sarah Hardesty and Fawad Khan moved into the gallery space on March 14th, 2008. The curatorial concept and gallery mandate have been presented to them. The artists now have a space that simultaneously functions as their studio, a residency space and a commercial space.

In 1994 Papo Colo and Jeanette Ingberman curated “Let The Artist Live!” wherein the artists created works while living within the non-profit space, interacting if they chose to with the public, writers, critics and of course with each other. While there has been no direct inspiration, the Exit Art show does provide a historical point of reference for this project. This experiment is different in that the artists aren’t living here and neither is this a Non Profit space. The dynamics change rather dramatically under these circumstances especially at a time when “Economic Crisis” has become a part of everyone’s conversations and concerns.

The show seeks to create a sense of community. An increased level of open interaction with a general public while having specific walk-throughs that aims to bring in a different group of individuals – professionals from Auction houses, IT, Finance and Entrepreneurial organizations. It would be a pleasure and honor to have your interaction with this project. To this extent I would like to invite you to visit the show at your convenience over the following days starting from March 21st to see the artists at work in the space.

Venue: The Guild Art Gallery 45 West 21st Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10010. Ph: 212.229.2110.
Dates: Open to the public from March 21st - May 4th. Official Opening reception April 4th 2009, 6-9pm.

MT Thoughts

2009-01-02T11:02:00.000-08:00

MT Thoughts is a new monthly column Im writing for artconcerns.com. It gives me an opportunity to voice my take on various issues in my own way. Hope it brings forth more insights and grounds for discussion and debate.

My Interview

2009-01-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

I was recently interviewed by artconcerns.com, an online art journal. It was exciting and interesting to get an opportunity to talk about a lot of issues that I have been concerned with.

2008-06-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

Ive had some interesting dialouge with Vish after he read my blog intro..a lot of opinions and ideas were exchanged - and sure there are things we agreed on and disagreed on:)
But thats the beauty of it all..to be able to have a forum for discussion..it helps me understand where my readers stand in terms of what I write and what their standpoints are..

I can get opinionated but I am not blinded by my passion...

So I would suggest that anyone who reads my articles leave messages here for me..and if theres anything that you would like to share or ask or give an insight into please do so..

2008-06-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

A friend suggested that I create a blog so that it makes it easier for everyone to access it as and when it suits them to read what I write.

Sometimes it frightens me that I dont do anything else but think of, argue, debate, scream and laugh about everything and anything that has to do with art. I tell myself - Meens, maybe theres more to life than looking at your first Rembrandt and finding yourself tear up in the middle of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Or walking through a Serra sculpture with occasional gasps coming out your mouth or simultaneosuly getting goosebumps touching its surface and giggling like some teenager who got winked at by a cute fella.

I cry for everything by the way. Atleast once in a while I guess its worth it if I find myself doing so in front of some of the most amazing visual and intellectual creations.

Why is art so important to me? Because it takes quite something for a person to be able to walk into a studio and sit there and create something that comes out of delibration about life, love, philosophy and sometimes absolutely nothing. Isnt that hard to do in the kind of world we live in today. Bohemianism might be a thing of the past. I mean I dont think we need to be braless or unshaven just to prove we arent part of the materialistic mass that defines today's society. But it is interesting to see how money dictates so much of everything we believe and live for today. Art to me has a love hate relationship with the 'ka-ching'. Artists and others who support the industry need to make a living as well. But when you start comprimising creating works out of intellectual delibration and produce it like a factory machine spewing out packaged frozen beans just so you make money know this - art ceases to exist.

I want to write to educate people - like my friends and family and maybe a couple of others who find it worth their time. If I can make one person think about everything I just spoke about I'd be ecstatic. I also want to write so that people who think they can do what they want just because they are in a position of power and influence, realize that they really arent that important. Titles come and go. Staying true to what you believe in when the whole world tempts you takes conviction. Id rather be part of the later.