Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

This is an aside titled 'Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City' dated 5/1/09

Daniel Hernandez on All Things Considered this week: “Mexico City is apocalyptic and surreal enough as it is. Volcanoes loom in the distance. Pollution, overcrowding, traffic and crime apply constant stresses on the human body. Devastating earthquakes remain a spectral threat. And now, influenza porcina has been added to the cocktail… Mexico City prides itself on holding strongly to its social customs, despite the arrival of American-style Wal-Marts and Starbucks. But suddenly, Mass was canceled. Soccer matches were played to empty stadiums. Suddenly, the bars and clubs shut down. And suddenly, that warm customary greeting of a handshake and a kiss on the check was replaced with a friendly yet uneasy nod. A culture built on physical contact has become a culture muted by fear, by suspicion, a distrust of others and even ourselves.” More on his blog and in The Guardian.

Posted by Joanne on May. 1, 2009

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- "Writing and reading allow one consciousness to find and take shelter in another. When the minds of the reader and writer perfectly and inimitably connect, objects, events and emotions become doubly vivid – more real, somehow, than real things. I have spent most of my life seeking out these connections and attempting to create my own. Today, however, the pleasures of literary connection seem leftover and familiar. Today the most consistently pleasurable pursuit in my life is playing video games. Unfortunately, the least useful and financially solvent pursuit in my life is also playing video games. For instance, I woke up this morning at 8am fully intending to write this article. Instead, I played Left 4 Dead until 5pm. The rest of the day went up in a blaze of intermittent catnaps. It is now 10pm and I have only just started to work. I know how I will spend the late, frayed moments before I go to sleep tonight, because they are how I spent last night and the night before that: walking the perimeter of my empty bed and carpet-bombing the equally empty bedroom with promises that tomorrow will not be squandered." - Tom Bissell. His new book Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter is released in June.
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- Why, as Lauren Collins mentions in the New Yorker, did everyone wait to talk about Tino Sehgal's "This Progress" until after the show was over? I really like Dan Visel's post about it. McKenzie Wark, Ashton Applewhite, and Bob Stein were all interpreters! Less attention is given to the equally perplexing, if not quite transendent, The Kiss -- you know, the two teenagers goin' at it in the lobby. Here is my photo. There is just something about the moment you walk in and think they really are two drugged up and in love NYU freshman, and avert your eyes but stare at them at a safely voyeuristic angle from above, while walking up the rotunda. From that angle you realize the staging and choreography of their moments. The Kiss is in slow motion. It is more of an autopsy of an encounter than anything erotic. Maybe that I liked it just means I need a boyfriend. The Kiss was performed on "loan" from MoMA to the Guggenheim. They own it (It “was one of the most elaborate and difficult acquisitions.") Craziness. In you are in Ontario, apply now. Holland Cotter reviewed #class for the NYT, mentioning the panel An Xiao put together and I moderated, (my name is spelled wrong in that particular review. The first time I've seen it misspelled with out an "a".) If there's one thing you read this week, make it Enrique Ramirez on atemporaliy. Two podcast about sound art. A Party of Suicides. I wish I could go to Short Circuit! John Foxx is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of Metamatic. Oh yeah, Gary Numan is DJing. Also, he's collaborating on something with Iain Sinclair. James Franco's movie is aparently quite good.
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