by Drew Martin
It has taken me a while to comprehend that pretty much the whole artworld has slipped into the realm of peripheral art, which is a little shocking because that's my schtick. For me it was a matter of growing up in New Jersey, in the periphery of the artworld, ground zero - MoMA.
The rings of this MoPA banner logo represent the radio and television waves, which I pictured in my head as a kid, emanating from Manhattan. And now, finally, New Yorkers and inhabitants of other major art centers are having the same kind of experience. So close and yet so far away.
I think we will see two kinds of movement in the artworld...a gravitational pull of dedicated audiences back to the centers, and a continuing expansion of the virtual for everyone else.
Last night I was walking by the Lichtundfire in the Lower East Side and noticed them getting ready for a poetry reading by Jonathan Goodman. I stopped in and spoke with Jonathan and the director, Priska Juschka, but I couldn't stay because I had to go across the street to make dinner. They encouraged me to stream the event on Facebook, which I did. It was a very meta experience. I listened to the reading and when Jonathan took breaks, I looked out the window to see the audience going for a smoke down on the street, below.
I really liked Goodman's poetry, and the start of the feed was really touching. There was Priska, on her knees talking through a KN95 mask to the laptop seated on the chair in the front row, not really knowing who she was talking to but sending a message that could have been from all of humanity to an unknown alien civilization. It was very first contact - thoughtfully explaining it was their first time streaming an event and despite the challenges she said it was also new and fun.
You can learn more about Lichtundfire, and about the current show Quantum Sphere, a five-year-anniversary group show, from their website, www.lichtundfire.com.
Here are a few photos I took with my phone of my favorite pieces, which do not capture the whole show:
Click here to watch a recording of the event.
