The New Art Round Table, or NART
The New Art Round Table meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March 22, 4-5:30
pm.
Please come!
Unfortunately, I am unable to go to the conference this year, so I am
looking for someone to serve as host of the meeting (and I suppose Moderator
for next year if the group continues to exist and function as in the past).
I am a strong believer in the need for groups that allow members with a
particular interest to meet face-to-face and exchange information, and in
this spirit I would hope that the meeting would serve as a starting point
for discussion of anything member's consider relevant. Individuals don't
actually have to sign up on the yearly ARLIS membership application form to
show up at the meeting. So if you are free, and have an interest in meeting
fellow ARLIS members with an interest in new art, then please come!
What do you consider new? Anything completed recently? Something that
stretches the boundaries of what is called art? Anything unique and
different? If you saw, heard, touched, or smelled something this year that
intrigued you, bring information to the meeting. What are the implications
of the new work for our profession? Will it sit on a shelf? Will it survive
on the net? Will it submit to cataloging and classification? Do we care?
Here is a sketchy agenda that hopefully will serve to start the discussion:
1. Introductions
2. Open forum - bring examples of art work that you have seen, an issue
related to new art that has impacted your work, etc.
3. What happens to NART in the future?
Please e-mail me if you would be interested in directing the discussion at
the conference - and perhaps the group this next year.
I recently saw the show Provisional Worlds at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Work in the show addressed issues surrounding the detritus or "expendable
stuff" of industrialized civilization. Most of what I saw was quite
interesting, with sound ideas behind the work that made me ponder the
subject of the show. The show included everything from photographs to video
to sculpture made from plastic pipes. But a couple of the pieces left me
feeling cheated, and somewhat irritated. One piece was four packing straps
hanging on nails, and another was an old typewriter ribbon, again hanging
from a nail with ribbon falling onto the floor. Long, thin, stringy things
hanging down can look quite poetic, so they were somewhat interesting to
look at. I interpreted both pieces as a form of reuse, somewhat comical, and
even tragic, but can I say that it was so obvious as to be simplistic? But
is simplistic necessarily bad? Obviously everyday objects in a museum or
gallery is not "new," nor is the topic of the show, nor is the debate about
whether it is art, nor is my mild complaint about the simplicity. I wanted
to bring it up anyway, just to get some discussion going.
And finally a couple of points about the New Art Round Table. NART was
established to provide a forum for members of ARLIS to focus on issues
related to new art. A primary objective of NART was to "promote current
awareness of new trends and developments in contemporary art" and examine
the affect these non-traditional forms of art had on our own practice as art
librarians. Any "new" art form was allowed, and I think the idea of new was
meant to be as inclusive as possible. Obviously what's new has changed over
the years, and NART has sponsored sessions on subjects as diverse as
performance art, artist's books, web based art, sound art, etc. The practice
of art continues to metamorphose (and stay the same) and art librarians will
continue to incorporate new art forms into their own collection development
and teaching. Numbers at NART meetings have often been small. NART is a
specialized group, so perhaps we have reached critical mass with 10 or fewer
people. This doesn't diminish the importance of the topic (or the group),
but perhaps the subject and the interested members could be subsumed under a
larger umbrella, to be brought up and explored as needed. I certainly don't
have an answer to this question.
P.S. I notice that a group is meeting again to discuss book arts. Under the
old model, NART has sponsored many programs on artist's books, and I think
that the NART umbrella certainly includes book arts. As I said, anyone is
welcome to bring any topic for discussion to the meeting, and people who go
to the artist's book discussion are certainly encouraged to attend the NART
meeting, even to bring up the same issues.
Have a great conference.
Becky
__________________
Becky Simmons
RIT Archivist
(585) 475-2557
__________________________________________________________________
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
For information about joining ARLIS/NA see:
http://www.arlisna.org//membership.html
Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
to [log in to unmask]
ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]
