God in the Gallery goes to IAM Encounter 10

I'll be speaking tomorrow at the IAM Encounter 10 conference in New York City. The conference starts today, but I have classes to teach and so will be flying in tomorrow. If you are interested in the conference, register here. I have been looking forward to speaking at this conference for some time. Although I was invited to speak primarily (or perhaps exclusively) because of God in the Gallery, my presentation will make no mention of it. I will use this opportunity to present another project, a much more ambitious project. The ten featured speakers at this year's conference have been asked to shape their presentation around ten specific questions. I have been asked to respond to the question, "can museums and galleries serve as catalysts for cultural transformation?" 

My response might surprise you. 

Comments

[Kevin Hamilton]

I hope you post it later!

[Christopher Benson]

"Can museums and galleries serve as catalysts for cultural transformation?"

Regrettably, no. I contend that cinemas have replaced museums and galleries as catalysts for cultural transformation, as these quotations suggest:

I meet people occasionally who think motion pictures, the product Hollywood makes, is merely entertainment, has nothing to do with education. That’s one of the darndest fool fantasies that is current . . . . Anything that brings you to tears by way of drama does something to the deepest roots of our personality. All movies, good or bad, are educational and Hollywood is the foremost educational institution on earth. What, Hollywood more important Harvard? The answer is not as clean as Harvard, but nevertheless farther reaching.

–Carl Sandburg, poet laureate

I believe cinema is now the most powerful secular religion and people gather in cinemas to experience things collectively the way they once did in church. The cinema storytellers have become the new priests. They’re doing a lot of the work of our religious institutions, which have so concretized the metaphors in their stories, taken so much of the poetry, mystery and mysticism out of religious belief, that people look for other places to question their spirituality.

–George Miller, filmmaker

[daniel a. siedell]

Hi Kevin, I'll try to post some notes from the presentation in the next week or so. I introduce my involvement with Whale & Star and outline its mission as a means to respond to this question.

Chris, I'm not overly interested about those meta-issues cultural issues that concern many evangelicals, including their love of film and cinema, whether as illustrations for sermons or as cultural criticism.

My presentation at IAM addresses a very practical concern. How do artists who are actually working in the contemporary artworld (not academics opining about art) interact with museums and galleries? Whether art has lost its dominant role in culture is not my concern.

[Michael Winters]

Hi Daniel, I was there at IAM and really enjoyed your talk. Your answer DID surprise me. With God in the Gallery I got the impression your were so pro contemporary art that you possibly didn't see its pitfalls. But in the IAM talk, it was refreshing to hear that it might be best to start new - but not isolated - art centers. That's what I've been trying to do with the 930, a venue for art and music in Louisville, KY. We've also latched on to the phrase 'in the world, but not of it.' I think the work you are doing is fantastic. Keep it up.

[daniel a. siedell]

Hi Michael, Glad you liked the presentation and was surprised by it. I am very happy that you noticed a difference. My goal with God in the Gallery was to demonstrate to an Evangelical audience that modern and contemporary art, theory, and criticism is worth taking seriously and worth devoting one's life to. And the book has often been criticized in reviews because it was not critical enough. However, the audience for IAM is different. The question of taking seriously modern and contemporary art or of devoting one's life to cutting edge cultural work is a given. So, my goal with IAM was to present, within the context of those who don't need to be encouraged to engage in it, how to proceed in a discerning way inside it. God in the Gallery is an attempt to sketch a context in which Whale & Star, for example, can proceed. Thanks for your keen insight. And blessings on your own work and keep me up to date.