TribLIVE: Ask Paul Organisak what's new, and the answer is likely to be “everything.”
Beginning Sept. 27, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's International Festival of Firsts will present 11 contemporary art events, none of which have been seen before in the United States.
3 comments:
So this comment is going to be pretty biased because the few pieces that I was truly interested in seeing (namely Kiss & Cry) I was unable to attend. The one I did see, Zee, was by far my least favorite artistic experience of my entire life. When I was reading about it the artists idea seemed really interesting, I like the idea of being denied all of your sense so your mind becomes blank. The piece claimed to use odorless fog as a part of achieving this, but that was not at all the case. The second I went in I had so much trouble breathing that I left after about 90 seconds. It took a good three or so hours before my breathing was entirely back to normal. As an artist I am all for trying something new and doing things a little bit out there, but I am a firm believer that art should not cause its audience physical harm. If that is the case you have not succeeded in your exception of it. I think this could have been an amazing piece if they had done it differently, perhaps with something like dry ice that is much easier on a persons lungs.
This was a pretty good summary of the events, or at least the ones that I saw. They were definitely different, but I wouldn't say I loved them. I missed the opportunity to see Zee, but I did get to see that artist's other piece Hive. I didn't love it. The message, or at least the one that I got was very basic; some commentary on the swirling mass of humanity that is society and all that. I didn't think the 3-D added anything, and I don't think the presentation method was all that interesting. I also saw Granular Synthesis. That one was a bit more interesting, but for me it took "repetition" way too far, so the films got lost with me looking around, waiting for something else to happen. I also saw the Duck, which was very cool, but I especially enjoyed it because I like to believe that a lot of art is "Art for Art's Sake". I like to think that when I look at art, at least, I don't like to pin meaning and find meaning and discover meaning in something where it wasn't meant to be. This artist's statement was that this duck was to make people happy. That it did. I hope Pittsburgh Cultural Trust does this again in the near future.
I just went to check out the festival yesterday, however I was only able to see Hive and the Duck. The pieces I was most interested in were either sold out or closed. Zee which sounded like it would be an extremely immersive and new experience was closed because some many people were haveing trouble breathing and there was at least one seizure a night. It's terrible that an art piece should cause so much physical harm, but I wish the artist could have found a way to adapt his piece so it was a little less harsh.
As for The shows in the festival, I wish the performances weren't only wednesday through Friday because I am always on crew almost every week night. Also, because of their short run, amazing shows like Kiss and cry will only reach a limited audience.
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