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art top ten 2004 happy new year link to top ten 2003 |
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MK's Top 10 of 2004:
1. Nicolas Fleming's "L'histoire d'un vieux sac" (Story of an old bag) at CDEx, Montreal. A beautiful and honest piece, wherein a painter asks questions about his medium by exploring it in a performative context. My top wish for 2005 is to see more artists extending themselves in this way: experimenting without being sloppy; making radical choices but not being careless; and though being somewhat deliberate, still imparting a warm and human sensibility in the work. (http://michelle.kasprzak.ca/blog/entries/archives/00000058.htm)
2. Being one of the ringleaders of Geostash. A high-tech treasure hunt where artists execute actions developed by other artists for specific urban places. It was an experience full of surprises. (http://www.year01.com/geostash)
3. Two things at the Whitney Biennial: Slater Bradley's single channel video installation "Theory and Observation", and Aïda Ruilova's wonderful roomful of short videos. They were two extremes to the show: Bradley's piece was subtle and meditative; Ruilova's were overtly quirky and slapstick. (http://www.whitney.org/biennial/)
4. "Listening Post" at Ars Electronica. This piece won the "Golden Nica" for Interactive Art at Ars Electronica. Except it wasn't interactive at all. The piece did an excellent job highlighting the awkward categorization of new media work at festivals, and it was also a mesmerizing, well-crafted data-choreography piece. (http://earstudio.com/projects/listeningpost.html)
5. John Kormeling's ferris wheel for cars at the Power Plant. Wheee! (http://michelle.kasprzak.ca/blog/entries/archives/00000038.htm)
6. Istvan Kantor winning the Governor General's award. Proof that the awards have not lost their edge. (http://www.cbc.ca/arts/stories/govgenart030304)
7. The Guggenheim's "Seeing Double: Emulation in Theory and Practice" show. This show, that concerned itself with ephemerality and particularly the problem of preserving digital art, was interesting but most of it didn't work. It was somehow comforting that not even the Guggenheim could just wave its magic wand and bring all these wayward pieces into line. Many questions without answers, which is nice to see in a big museum. (http://www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/emulation/index.html)
8. Caroline Martel's "Le Fantôme de l'Opératrice" (The Phantom of the Operator) at the Toronto International Film Festival. A beautifully wrought film chronicling the fate of the telephone operator. (http://www.artifactproductions.ca/)
9. [murmur]'s new installation in the Annex. More psychogeography by phone from the indefatigable [murmur] collective. (http://www.murmur.info)
10. "Pain Couture" at Fondation Cartier, Paris. A whimsical selection of bread meets fashion by Jean-Paul Gaulthier. It was one of those summer "lite" shows, but hey, I'm at number 10 and I'm allowed to start venturing into questionable shows. At least this show titillated the nose as well as the eye: the smell of freshly baked bread was intoxicating. (http://parisvoice.com/04/summer04/html/art/style.cfm)