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“To contemplate is to look at shadows.” — Victor Hugo In mid-August I published a blog on Huffington Post titled “When Appreciating Works of Art, Being There Is Always Best.” Composing that blog, and coming across the writings of the aesthetic theorist John Dewey, turned out to be great preparation for the visit that I made recently to La Jolla, where I took in some of the key works from “Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface.” “Phenomenal,” which features works that involve sensory phenomena, is an exhibition that you can’t just see; you have to experience it. John Dewey’s ringing endorsement of the essential value of experience — “There is no other foundation upon which aesthetic theory and criticism can build,” — was on my mind as I walked into the late Eric Orr’s powerful installation Zero Mass . Leah Masterson, a Communications Associate of the museum, walked in with me, and together we found ourselves in total darkness. Zero Mass , which Eric Orr (1938-1998) first created in 1969, is an oval space, defined by seamless walls of paper. Your eyes will tell you — at first — that there isn’t a hint of light to be found, and the shock is unsettling. “The apparent emptiness in which we find ourselves,” explains Dawna Sculd in the exhibition catalog, “undermines the stable sense of self that carries on unquestioned outside it.” By the time Max Metzler, one of the museum’s security staffers, entered the space, my night vision was beginning to work. Thomas McEvilley does a good job of explaining the physiology of this process in his 1982 article “Negative Presences in Secret Spaces: The Art of Eric Orr:” The transition from rod to cone vision gradually unfolds; floods of afterimage color wash over the vision and gradually decrease like waves. After about 12 minutes one is ready to see, but in a different way. Because of the gradual activation of night vision that McEvilley describes, when Max walked in to join us he appeared to me as a flat dark, featureless silhouette, with just the slightest hint of color appearing towards his feet. I also was beginning to make out a thin zone of yellowish light appearing where the paper walls touched the museum’s floor. Being joined by another person in this situation — where most of the visual clues to human identity were masked out — was intensely dramatic and rivetingly strange. “One has entered a murky Stygian world without personal identity and history,” McEvilley explains. If you haven’t experienced Zero Mass , McEvilley’s comments may sound a bit theoretical and dramatic. Having been there, I find them accurate. “A lot of people walk in for a few seconds and then just leave,” Max the shadowy security representative explained calmly. I have to admit, it makes sense that walking into a room of “nothing” could frustrate impatient museum goers. It takes a few minutes, and some sensitivity, for Orr’s installation become anything other than the darkest room you have ever been in. Metzler went on to mention that he had spent more than three hours standing in Zero Mass on opening night, and it was clear that he had become completely attuned to the installation’s unsettling effect, and quite expert on how it all worked. “If you leave for a few minutes and then come back your night vision still works,” he explained. As Metzler and I chatted a bit more I was struck by how bizarre it was to have a friendly conversation with someone who I had never “seen.” He was there in the room, and leaned on what appeared to be a cane, but was utterly flat and featureless. Using a photo I took of Max after leaving the exhibit, I was later able to approximate what I saw when he entered the room. My photoshop simulation is below, followed by the unaltered photo of Max that it was derived from. Max Metzler, MCASD security services representative, as he appeared standing inside Eric Orr’s Zero Mass ; Image created in Photoshop by the author. Max Metzler, MCASD security staff member Leaving Zero Mass after about a 10 minute visit, the natural light and ocean vistas that rim the west edge of MCASD were richer than ever before. Still, the strangeness of what I had experienced inside Orr’s work lingered. An hour later, after I had already started my car to leave, I had to race back inside and ask Max Metzler if I could take his picture. I needed something to ground my imagination a bit, as if what I had experienced just might have been a dream or hallucination. The experience of Zero Mass had opened up my visual sensitivity and my imagination. “Life itself does not belong to us,” proclaimed the artist Yves Klein in 1959, “it is with sensitivity, which does belong to us, that we are able to purchase it.” If you want to challenge your sensitivity, forget everything I have just said about Zero Mass , drive to La Jolla and walk in. It will provoke your senses, incite your imagination and open you up a bit. And don’t worry, if you feel a bit freaked out Max Metzler and other members of MCASD’s excellent security staff can talk you through it a bit, if you don’t mind chatting with Stygian shadows. “Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface” at MCASD La Jolla runs from Sep. 25, 2011 through Jan. 22, 2012. Read more here: John Seed: Inside Eric Orr’s Zero Mass at MCASD La Jolla
LOS ANGELES — Engelbert Humperdink has one. Clint Eastwood does not. John, George and Ringo – yes. Paul McCartney? Not yet. And George Clooney would be in the club if only someone could convince him to show up for the ceremony. When it comes to receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the sidewalk tourist attraction that encompasses 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of intersecting Vine Street, it’s not so much who you know, but whether you’re willing to play by the rules. For starters, someone in the celebrity’s camp must first fill out an application form that includes the star’s signed promise that they will attend the ceremony. No pledge? No ceremony. Which is why Eastwood, Julia Roberts and Clooney aren’t among the 2,450 honorees lining Hollywood’s sidewalks. A five-member committee meets annually in June to consider some 250 to 300 applicants from five categories of the entertainment industry – film, television, music, broadcast radio and theater, a category added in 1984. As you might imagine, some of the candidates possess light resumes. Others wouldn’t be able to show up for obvious reasons. “We’ve had applications from Santa Claus and the duck that represents an insurance company on commercials,” says Walk of Fame producer Ana Martinez, who attends the voting meeting and decides where the stars are eventually placed on the street. “Somebody insisted Shakespeare should have a star,” Martinez adds. Typically, the Walk’s committee annually selects 20 to 24 new honorees, who must then pay a $30,000 sponsorship fee. This covers the cost of constructing the three-foot-wide stars as well as the cost of the ceremony. A portion of this money also goes to the Walk’s trust fund for continued maintenance. Of course, the honorees themselves rarely foot the bill. Recipients have five years to schedule their ceremony. Most celebrities time the event to coincide with a promotional opportunity. “Stars like to make it a big deal,” Hollywood Chamber of Commerce president Leron Gubler says. “That’s the way they are. They get a little more bang for their buck out of it when they time it right.” Thus, September’s star recipients Neil Patrick Harris and Jon Cryer scheduled their ceremonies to coincide with the fall premieres of their long-running television series, “How I Met Your Mother” and “Two and a Half Men,” respectively. The shows’ production companies each paid the $30,000 fee. Rock star Melissa Etheridge, a recent honoree, saw her star unveiled in front of the Hard Rock Café, which, not coincidentally, paid her bill. Etheridge used the ceremony both to thank her fans and launch Hard Rock’s Pinktober breast cancer awareness campaign. Etheridge, 50, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004 and has been a spokesperson for the event for the past six years. “It’s forever,” Etheridge says of her star, following a morning ceremony attended by an estimated 500 people, including many fans who traveled on their own dime from across the country to be at the event. “We’ve been playing this fame game for 100 years here in this city of dreams,” Etheridge adds, noting she came to the Walk of Fame when she visited Los Angeles as a teenager. At 51, the Walk of Fame is roughly half of Hollywood’s age, and many of its stars are in need of a little cosmetic surgery. Tree roots along Vine Street have caused the stars’ black and pink terrazzo concrete to crumble. Heat and foot traffic are factors, too, contributing to the buckling of the stars’ brass name lettering, borders and emblems. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce initiated a restoration project in 2008, grading each of the walk’s stars. Nearly 800 were targeted to be repaired or replaced. Raising the $4.2 million needed to complete the project hasn’t been easy. Corporate sponsors have donated about half the total, to go along with money from private donors and a portion of the proceeds from the star ceremonies. Though still short of the goal, Gruber says he hopes work can begin next year. “We don’t have the money to do the whole walk,” Gruber says. “We’ll start with the worst sections and go from there.” Redevelopment, including the Hollywood and Highland complex and its Kodak Theatre, the permanent home of the Academy Awards, have bolstered the fortunes of the walk’s west end in the past decade. The Walk of Fame, along with the famous movie star footprints at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, remain popular attractions for tourists visiting Los Angeles. “They’re iconic places that still resonate with people, though what’s in the imagination probably doesn’t align with the reality,” says USC professor Leo Braudy, whose book “The Hollywood Sign” covers another area landmark. “It’s a way for people to connect with their favorite celebrities,” Braudy continues, “though if you really want to meet one, you’d have a lot more luck going to the nearest supermarket.” ? Read more from the original source: Why Doesn’t George Clooney Have A Star On The Walk Of Fame?
