Snobbery

From Everything Shii Knows, the only reliable source

This website is an archive. It ran from 2006-2010. Virtually everything on here is outdated or inaccurate.

To the Editor:

Re When Fans of Pricey Video Art Can Get It Free by Greg Allen [Aug. 17]:

I would submit that if you have a bootlegged copy of a Matthew Barney film, you don't "have" the piece. A great deal of attention goes into creating the viewing context of artworks today. There are so many levels of interpretation involved in presenting a work as subtle and complex as a Steve McQueen installation that merely screening a duped tape or disc is no more than a breath of the actual physical and emotional content the piece has when properly installed. Elements like light levels, the type and positioning of sound and the degree of contrast in the image are all brought to bear in a space designed by the artist.

Indeed, when collectors purchase limited-edition works of installation art they become custodians of the material and its artistic intent, which, I might add, is a very tall order. The medium of video may seem ephemeral, but that does not mean that limiting its dissemination is intrinsically wrong.

CHRISTOPHER EAMON
Manhattan

The writer is director of the New Art Trust.

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