ePub Twyford Down: Roads; campaigning and environmental law by Barbara Bryant in Arts-Photography

Review

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Worst Book that Ive Ever EncounteredBy RlotzIn Kayes Multi-Media; he mainly discussed the intersection of live theater and pre-recorded film; and the ways that various artists have sought to integrate them. An intellectual current that runs through this is post-modernism; that is; the desire to make art that calls attention to itself as art. A similar trend hit anthropology in the 80s and 90s; leading to ethnographies that were more about the process of writing an ethnography than the people they purported to describe. Books from this period are not very informative.These artists seem to be indulging in similar navel-gazing; apparently bored with the conventional uses of technology as a medium. Technology is unreliable; narratives are fragmented and nonsensical; recordings are problematic; and in general the art forces that reader to think about how it was made; rather than what its about.In Kayes descriptions of these; I constantly got the feeling that he was conciously emulating it in his writing. The writing in Multi-Media constantly calls attention to itself as writing; mainly through the use of the frequent quotes; italics; and its generally fragmented nature. But what makes it so hard to follow (for me at least) is the lack of organization.Open a book; any book; and you will see paragraphs. Writing is normally organized on the order of paragraphs; with a strong topic sentence; some elaboration; and a concluding thought that logically leads into the next paragraph. Examine this book; and you will see none of this. Instead; massive; winding paragraphs are only broken up by frequent; long quotes. The only organizing principle are the different pieces that Kaye discusses. But even these discussions lack structure. The logical way to discuss a piece of art would begin with a description of the piece; followed by analysis; and ending; perhaps; with a lesson to be learned or a general principle. Instead; these elements are splattered top of one another like a work by Jackson Pollock.Also; I find it telling that the books ends where the end of the final description is. There are no concluding thoughts; no speculations as to the future of the genre; or any original ideas whatsoever. It sometimes seems as if Kaye lacked the confidence to go out on a limb and inject his own thoughts. Instead; he hid behind quote after quote; as if he wrote the book via copy and paste.In the end; I find this book sympyomatic of a trend that also affects the artists described therein. Namely; lack of technical ability. No longer are these artists interested in putting on seamless productions or professional performances. Instead; plays about putting on plays; music about composing music; televisions that break down; and nonsensical narratives. Yes; I appreciate their efforts to do something outside of the conventional framework; but why abandon it so completely?The thing that hath been; it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)These words were written thousands of years ago; before television; planes; trips to the moon; or ice cream. It turns out; there are new things under the sun; even if it eventually melts on a hot summer day. And so; I find it depressing to hear about these artists: those who dont want to write a new movie with a plot; but resort to making movies about making movies. Or scholarship about scholarship about art; in Kayes case.