My CMS is Cooler than Yours
Most Content Management Systems (CMS) are built to ease a process and save their users time. Moveable Type, for instance, lets you forget the hassles of coding HTML for each entry and focus on the act of entering content.
If most CMS save time mine actually creates it. The system I use to manage all of the photos here allows for tracking all of the normal data like Title, dimensions, caption, but also adds an important new field: live-date. Thus, I can add as many photos as I want at any given time and instruct my CMS to let them trickle out one per day (or whatever arbitrary rate I set) by specifying live-dates. The photos stay in my database hidden away from public eyes until the live-date comes around and they are made public.
In the photo above you can see the live-date is specified underneath the name of the photograph.
This is only slightly to brag, but mostly to challenge people like Ben & Mena, the blogger team, and others developing CMS software to enable their users. Since the problem is so easily solved from a technical standpoint, why save time when you can create time? This feature applies just as much to text based systems as photos or any other sort of content.
Matthew Barney
Of course I saw the Cremaster show when I was in New York last weekend and yes, it was good. Barney's range of creative output is really quite impressive even if you don't appreciate the individual pieces. In fact, the more I think about the show and the movies, he seems to be an artist of Will more than a cinematographer, sculptor, performance artist, &c. Matthew Barney's greatest achievement may be the very act of creating the Cremaster Cycle instead of the movies that resulted from this act.
The difference may be more clearly illustrated by considering the Great Pyramids of Egypt. These structures are not really great works of architecture. Their structural systems are simple, their spaces limited, and the form basic. Though they contain moments of beauty, what we find so amazing about the pyramids is that they were built-- and built a long time ago. Thus it's the logistics and Will required to do so that really comprise the impressive force. In my opinion, the same holds true for Barney. He has created an alternate world filled with beautiful things (the pool filled with pingpong balls, the queen of chain, the silver saddle). However, his ability to convince Barbara Gladstone and others to pony up the cash for this endeavour and maintain control over all of the processes needed to reach the final state of the movies is his real work of art.
Which is to say, you should go see the show, but plan to spend a long time and to come away with a flat ass. Whether through poor planning or malicious intent the Guggenheim has provided few comfortable places to sit and watch the movies.
Diller + Scofidio
I really can't say much about their show at the Whitney beyond the fact that it was incredibly damaging and inspiring to me as a student. On one hand, it was such a great experience to see people doing things that you find impressive and wondered why they were absent from architecture. On the other hand, when you see someone so damn good already practicing in the same field that you are studying it's really a test. I walked away thinking maybe I should open a cafe or a bookshop; they've bested me before I even began. I could talk about their careful balance of technology and traditional methods (like in the models), or about their ideas constructed as buildings (like Blur), or the strong critique of contemporary culture (Slow House, robot conveyor) in their projects, but I'll leave that for you to discover. I couldn't do it justice anyways.
--Posted 04/04/03 05:54PM