Avignon festival 'catastrophe' meets with boos

Expatica ^ | July 21 2005

[July20]

two young administrators Hortense Archambault, 35, and Vincent Baudriller, 37

Are there still people named Hortense in the world?

[yankeedame]

On Tuesday there were shouts of abuse during a show -- part dance, part installation --

What were they going? Putting up dry wall?

[Howlin]

but the real audience is a tiny in-crowd, drunk on its own pathetic audacity ....

That about sums it up, doesn't it?

And I do mean the entire leftist movement in the entire world.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

I was at the Festval of Avignon a few years back and was not all that impressed with it. It's the oldest continuous show in Europe but that is about it. The best memories were of the sunset sky that still hang in my office today.

[muir_redwoods]

""You think you've reached the last point in mediocrity, pretentiousness and confusion. But no. There is always something worse," said Le Figaro's drama critic."

There is so much that this statement describes. It should be carved in stone somewhere.

[Little Bill]

Only in France.

[Hexenhammer]

I would like to thank you for the link you posted. It's nice to know that there are others who don't swallow the modern abstract tripe fed to them at school and university. I always felt like an outsider or philistine because I couldn't bring myself to like most popular modern art.

I can't tell you how much it means to me to know that I am not alone. Again, thank you.

[FreedomCalls]

It does really sum up modern art doesn't it?

[FreedomCalls]

I couldn't bring myself to like most popular modern art.

Not only are you not alone, there are millions like you.

[dfwgator]

Was Leonard Pinth-Garnell from "Bad Art" there?

[radiohead]

masturbatory autism.

Damn. And I chose knowledge management for my dissertation topic.

[Hardastarboard]

this year's offerings were marked by "a triumphant sense of masturbatory autism."

Wow. A festival where my only talent can be recognized. I'll have to attend next year.

[Calvin Locke]

It does really sum up modern art doesn't it?

I thought it hit bottom when Andy Warhol was selling his urine-on-copper "paintings".

Actually, that's not true. The "modern" art period ended around 1970, and we've been in the post-modern era since.

The urine creations were toward the end of his life, and he died in the early 1980s, iirc.

[Tacis]

About my thought! When avant garde becomes such garbage that even the French notice, it's got to be bad.

Maybe, this will set the French back on the path of wit, brilliance and humor that Jerry Lewis founded along with the wonderful comedy of Marcel Marceau. Those were the French glory days!!!

[steve8714]

I call this sort of thing a "crap-fest"..sort of like going to see "Lost in Translation".

[pax_et_bonum]

a commentator for the Communist newspaper L'Humanite said this year's offerings were marked by "a triumphant sense of masturbatory autism."

I think this means he didn't like it.

:-)

[stripes1776]

"Prototypes are being launched for the public to test, but the real audience is a tiny in-crowd, drunk on its own pathetic audacity .... Most spectators are not totally new to the world of the arts and can make up their own minds. Every evening they come out revolted.

That describes most of the crap that goes by the name of modern "art."

"You think you've reached the last point in mediocrity, pretentiousness and confusion. But no. There is always something worse," said Le Figaro's drama critic.

It just never ends, just like the stupidity of left-wingers has no end.

Belgian visual artist Jan Lauwers...announces that "Needlapb 10" is "not a show or a work of creativity but a mental space, an experiment."

So called "artists" have been using a pretentious imitation of the sciences for about 80 years now. Notice the scientific sounding name of the work with the number in it. Even the work itself is called an experiment, as if in a lab discovering new laws of art.

"We have seen a lot of feeble and problematic shows in this Avignon festival. But this is sheer imposture, bloated by its own importance and of unfathomable tedium," Le Monde said.

But don't look for anything to change in the near future. The world of art will continue to grind out the same demonstrations of lack of talent.

As Henry James said over 100 years ago: "Nothing is more contemptible than a mediocre artist."

[stripes1776]

As Henry James said over 100 years ago: "Nothing is more contemptible than a mediocre artist."

Correction: that quote is by Henry's brother William.

[Lockbar]

"a triumphant sense of masturbatory autism."

DAMN! They stole my new tag line!!

[FreedomCalls]

The world of art will continue to grind out the same demonstrations of lack of talent.

As long as government money is used to fund them that is. Let them compete in a market where true talent will rise to the surface and the current hacks will fade away.