The entry below about Keith has been updated with information on the wake.
Other than the obvious exception, we had a really good time in Liege, mostly due to the company (but the food sure helped; much better than in Paris). We're in Amsterdam now and I think will see Josh and others over the next few days (drop Rachel or I a line if you're in town).
Long time friend and mentor of many, Keith Alexander died last night in a bike accident. I will post information on the memorial and funeral as appropriate when I have it. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Keith's death has just been noted in more detail on boingboing and other sites.
His wake will be held on Thursday from 2-5:30pm and 7-9pm at
Scarpaci Funeral Home
1401 86th Street
Brooklyn, New York
11228
718-331-8000
In a few hours we'll be on a train to Liege, Belgium to visit FREE and Dan.
 Rat catcher's window display in Paris. |
 Even in Paris, black guys seem to get hassled by the police pretty regularly. |
 View of Paris from the roof of the Pomidou. |
I forgot to mention that my magnetic implants were working very well at the museum. They had various scanners at doorways (so they'd know if you ripped off books from the library I suppose) and I could “feel” them from about two or three feet away, so as I passed through them I could tell exactly which scanners were turned on and which ones were not. Only two in the entire building were actually on.
PS. I don't know what's more annoying… people who don't understand art making claims about what is not art, or people who don't understand art making claims about what is art.
It's worse than talking about religion!
Rachel and I went to the Centre Pompidou today (the modern art museum). I enjoyed it, but I really have to say that 90% of modern art sucks and is really lame, although I always like a bigscreen TV displaying a Windows error message — but I don't think Bill Gates is some dadaist master I'm afraid.
My strong feeling about modern art, especially conceptual art, is that it's made primarily by people who desperately want to be artists, but don't really know how, don't really have anything to say, and don't really have the talent anyway… so you have people who are far better at “playing” the art world than actually producing anything of genuine value. I wonder sometimes if they even know how pathetic they are? Probably not, and that's the saddest part, the sense of self-importance.
But don't get me wrong — 10% of what was at the centre was brilliant.
The other thing that cracked me up were the patrons. The fact that people could scoff at and look down at Rachel and I over piercings and tattoos while watching some dude dressed in a pig costume fisting a giant tube of shit is extremely amusing. Yeah, I know you're only here so that you can pretend you're cultured and pretend that you understand art, but when you behave like that, you just prove that art to you is just another fashion trend — you don't get it yourself, and you only like what other people tell you to like (the commercial galleries), and then make the same tired old commentary…
It's only art if it changes your life, or better yet, destroys it and replaces it entirely with itself.
