Enron Response

Again, this documentary has presented the viewer with information that is disturbing though very mandatory. It helped me recognize the way that business men play with the stock market. I think that the most apt statement throughout the documentary is that this is a tragic story, not about numbers, but about people. The reporting that goes into making sense of this mess of numbers and people is extraordinary. This documentary helped capture the people behind the numbers, and as such the man behind the curtain. The deception is immense and as such the reporting needs to be sharp.

REaction to Taxi video

This documentary was at once, disturbing, informative, well put together and necessary. I watched the entire thing in one sitting with my headphones plugged in. I only came up for air once. Watching it was horrifying. Though I hated what I was seeing and what was slowly being unraveled in front of my eyes, I found it necessary and mandatory that this awareness and horror be presented to the greater public. I sat through the entire documentary with the hair on my arms standing straight up. In short, my reaction was disgust but in a way that information and action can help. My most poignant thought that I came away with concerns the levels of power and the trickle down to the actual source as apposed to the people receiving the message. The men in suits, the clean cut, well dressed men who run this country are the ones ok-ing the atrocities that happen in grimy, dusty, metal cages.

Weird Music

Remember the Green Day album American Idiot? The one that came out way back in 2004 that sent teen punks into waves of headbanging frenzy? Well, it's back. But, in the form of a Broadway musical. I haven't quite formed my opinion as to whether I find this to be a really cool adaptation of music that helped form a generation...or an odd abomination of faux punk music put on by faux punk actors. Generally, I am swaying toward the later opinion. The production almost seems to be a commercial and capitalistic venture, since the album came out back in 2004 and, as far as I know Green Day has been somewhat dormant. It seems to me to be a money maker. I do commend the whole business for being rather innovative, as best described here, the show has its definite upsides and can be quite powerful. I just haven't fully warmed to the idea. Though, I think plenty have. It would be interesting to hear from a true Broadway affection-ado and a true Green Day fan, who feels betrayed and who is exhilarated?

Treat yourself to a Street Fair

This morning, I woke up and casually glanced outside my window like I do every morning. I do this mostly to check the weather or idly watch a stranger walking their dog. But today, as I peaked out the window facing 8th avenue, I found a street fair. I am always pleased when I happen upon a street fair, but never actually think about tracking them with a schedule. But as I meandered through the fair smacking my lips and devouring corn, crepes, and fair lemonade, I decided I might just become a follower. Why not? The food is tasty and the novelty of casually strolling in the middle of the street is almost too good to pass up.
I have become even more appreciative of the fairs after learning that some may be cut as part of Mayor Bloomberg's budget. I've decided to enjoy a street fair here and there while I still can. I just hope they don't cut the extra good street fairs, like The Feast of San Gennaro Festival. Even with the cuts, street fairs are a huge part of city life and they add that little perk to waking up and finding your street has been picked to host. It is almost better not to follow the schedule and leave the whole business up to chance.

Role Play: Museums

This week, The Rubin Museum of Art Teen Program took a trip to a Hindu temple in Flushing, Queens. This temple is situated in a vast American Indian community, and we observed the worshipers feeding, anointing, and speaking with their deities. It was an amazing sight to see the statues we have at the Rubin in their original and everyday context. It is important to let viewers understand the context of the art.

Museums have historically come into play within a community as an informative institution enlightening its audience on their own culture, as well as other outside cultures. This idea of museums has changed a bit, allowing for a more commercial look, but, I think that it is still the museums main role to educate. To educate, the museum must be open to making its art accessible and informative to all.

I once read in an article on colonialism, that colonizers wanted to impose a sense of community among the people to ensure revolts would not happen. One of the ways in which the colonizers imposed a sense of false community, was by creating museums for those who were colonized. This insured the colonizers safety by showing the colonized, in false pretenses how wonderful their own culture was. Though this particular instance shows the museum as a forced institution, this is not always the case. Museums help us understand the context of art in our society in a very real way.

The one thing I have noticed while working at the Rubin Museum of Art is that it is not enough to simply view the art as it stands in the museum. This is especially because of the museums quality of art and its roots in the world. People really want to understand what the deities and tapestries meant to the people who created them and the people who still use them in ceremonies. Some of the historical context can be provided by the wall text, but at some point the simple use of words as an explanation fails us. I think that it is extremely relevant to keep art in museums grounded in some sort of real world context, or the museum will lose its audience.

As for the larger museums of the city and world, it is astonishing, to think about the money and power that are poured into these institutions. It is an amazing thing, but only if the main purpose of the museum as an intuition of education is being honored. If the museums exist only to complete business transactions, something is amiss. I understand the need to generate money, but it would be an amazing thing if museums could do this, while still upholding their main purpose. This was my problem with the Tim Burton exhibit, for example. As I was walking through it, I felt the industry lurking very thinly beneath the surface. I love Tim Burton as a moviemaker; having grown up with many of his animations I cherish his work. However, the exhibit was far too gimmicky and aimed at simply selling tickets.

It is hard to distinguish what constitutes cultural context and how a museum should display this work. Because my two main problems with museums seem to be that some are inaccessible, while others, like the Tim Burton exhibition are aimed at tourist marketability and irk me. However by aiming at this general crowd isn’t that keeping a museums art within the context of society today? I think that there must be some happy medium in between highly sensationalized art, and that of the lofty and inaccessible art, which requires extensive research to comprehend.