sandra pompidou

D and I went to Pompidou and saw everything that's up currently, basically. It's a true bummer that, as one wanders from like Chagall and Braque and early modernist painting all the way through to contemporary art, things just basically get stupid and less interesting. Or the bangers are fewer and further between.

Anyway, one thing we saw was Vito Acconci's Remote Control, which I'd only ever gotten to read about or see stills of. It was so good; I am aware that people think that this work is fucked up or whatever because Acconci is–no way around it–sadistically remotely controlling this woman. But regardless, I think it's quite brilliant; and as a work that is so directly about exercising control, I'm willing to entertain its modeling of a sadistic potentially misogynistic dynamic (it also made me think of J.W's coke bottles, which operate similarly; I don't mind the grossness since it's part of the topic under investigation? Though V.A.'s working through control is more....solvent than J.W's probably.) Additionally, Remote Control is brilliantly set up so that you can only really hear Acconci's directions or suggestions if you stand closer to the screen that shows him. The effect that this has is that you lose sight of Acconci and listen to him in your ear as you watch the screen with the woman tied up. I've been revisiting psychoanalysis and film theory and all that comes after and against it lately and so this feels especially interesting in relationship to spectatorial identification; in order to fully see/hear the work, you are forced to align with his position. You also can choose to stand closer to her and watch him, but the whole thing is far less interesting from there. Politically, this is all rather useless and it definitely doesn't subvert some dynamic, but it is very compelling in its modeling of these mechanisms all together (camera, screen, identification, objectification, control). And of course, also the set up being two TVs facing each other. And the fact that in the original production of the work, the two could only see each other via camera.

Anyway, this got me thinking - what are the all time best artworks with closed circuit TV components or something similar!!!! For me the first few I can think of:

Vito Acconci - Remote Control
Ulysses Jenkins - Just Another Rendering of the Same Old Problem
Dan Graham - Present Continuous Past

On the ride home, I told D that when I really love an artwork it's like watching a heist be pulled off. But not in the sense that the art has pulled one over on is. More like Oceans 11 start to finish; like wow you had all these moving parts, every one with their job (The Bag Man, the Decoy, etc.), and you pulled off the job. Like any good heist film, there's usually a hitch or a moment when thing's aren't looking so good. Like, maybe the gang isn't such a well oiled machine, but then it pulls through. Anyway, this sounds dumb to me now that I've written it down. In any case, it feels nice to be excited about a work of art.

Edit: Oh, now I am wondering - do people get mad about something like Remote Control because they believe art to be "self-expression" rather than an investigation? If you think that way, then yeah I guess it's really bad. Approaching it structurally though, doesn't it gain some merit fore really adequately modeling in one fell swoop the operations of gender, control, and camera-mediated interaction or something? Serious Questions here.