Friday, March 29, 2024

Weight

“All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.”

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Life grows heavier as we move along. We begin with the effervescence of youth only to wander without warning into the density of adolescence before emerging into the weight of adulthood. For a time, many hold onto their youth, stirring it up now and again although perhaps they are a little more tired for it than they once were. We travel on. That lightness of childhood begins to seem such a distant memory. Perhaps we have children of our own, or children to whom we are close, and through their eyes, we glimpse what we have left behind. We remember, if only for a moment, the levity, the carelessness that once – for a fleeting moment – was ours.

Marta Popivoda spoke to us from Belgrade in April where the pandemic has affected her work in many ways. Travel is typically a large part of her role as a filmmaker, so the restrictions in place have changed things significantly in that regard. Popivoda had been in Germany but chose to return to Belgrade to receive her COVID vaccination. Despite travel difficulties, she was preparing to go back to Germany for the premiere of her new film at festival. The pandemic has given rise to hybrid festivals where films are viewed projected in person as well as streamed online. While these formats are vastly different, Popivoda considers both valid ways to experience film. To hear more about her work and the film festival scene amid a pandemic, listen to the complete interview.

Christy Gast spoke to us from a tiny cemetery in the middle of Amish country in Pennsylvania. She was halfway between Ohio, where her family lives, and New York where she lives. She was on a road trip visiting her parents for the first time since Christmas 2019. During the pandemic, Gast was part of a group working on eco-political issues invited to participate in a residency at the New Museum. Deciding to do the residency virtually, they worked for the first six months to rewrite the first act of Maria Irene Fornes’ play Fefu and her Friends as Cuckoo and her Fishes, an eco-feminist journey where women were meeting to plan an activist project. To hear more about this work and more, listen to the complete interview.

A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket:

Remember your youth but do not cling to it, rather allow it to inform and lighten the heaviness of growing older.

Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android please click here. All weekly essay pieces in a shareable format are here. The full archive of interviews here.

Books to Read

What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here. Marta Popivoda has been reading contemporary interpretations of Marxist theory by writers like David Harvey. She recently became a mother and so has also been reading to her child recently – one title that stands out is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Deadlines:

Refresh Art Award is currently accepting submissions of 2D work, sculpture and sound. Every entry is included in the online gallery and a select number of artists will be invited to participate in a show in London in November 2021. There are cash prizes for outstanding work. For more information and to submit your work for consideration, visit the website. Deadline for entries is July 2.

Brainard Carey is an author, artist and educator. He is the director of Praxis Center for Aesthetics. He has written six books for artists; Making it in the Art World, New Markets for Artists, The Art World Demystified, Fund Your Dreams Like a Creative Genius, Sell Online Like a Creative Genius, and Succeed with Social Media Like a Creative Genius. His forthcoming book, Making it in the Art World, is available for pre-order with bonus content here.

 

From 24 June to 20 August 2021, Marian Goodman Gallery and Holt/Smithson Foundation will present the first exhibition of Robert Smithson’s work in the gallery’s New York space. The exhibition, Abstract Cartography, will focus on a crucial five-year period in Smithson’s development: 1966 to 1971, a time when his “inklings of earthworks” began. This careful selection of artworks will trace Smithson’s radical rethinking of what art could be and where it could be found.

 

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