“The major struggle in American fiction today is over the question of realism. Anywhere fiction is discussed with partisan heat, a faultline emerges, with ‘realists’ and traditionalists on one side and postmodernists and experimentalists on the other. No comparable struggle exists in British fiction because experimental fiction has never been substantial enough to mount a decent campaign against the dominant discourse. But the 1960s avant-garde in America was full of talent and vigour.”
Tag: 03.06
Why Is New York Cutting Arts Funding?
“The Bloomberg administration is once again proposing a decrease in funding for the Department of Cultural Affairs next year -– a reduction of more than $37 million from the current year, to $102.2 million, according to the Independent Budget Office. This represents the largest proposed cut in two decades.”
Serial In Seattle
“In the 1950s, when all eyes were on New York and nobody cared about the regions, that’s when, paradoxically, the most distinctive regional art emerged: Bay Area Figurative, the Northwest School, L.A. Cool, and New Image in Chicago. Although they were tuned in to what was going on in the national and international context, their audiences weren’t, necessarily. The audiences were focused on their home team. That support didn’t stifle innovation, it seems to have helped make it possible. In today’s pluralistic context, there is no home team and no label to describe the rich diversity in any one place.” So how about Seattle Serial?
Black And White – End Of An Era
When Kodak announced last June that it would no longer manufacture black-and-white printing papers, the decision did more than terminate 117 years of production. By severing a vital supply line long taken for granted, the company reminded photographers of their humbling dependence on equipment and materials—and how quickly both they and the equipment and materials can go out of date.