N° 4 2008 August/September
Therapy
In the current therapeutic era, in which the care of souls has become a commonplace article of consumption, replete with the attendant media attention in glossy magazines, television shows and newspaper supplements, art is also continually addressed for its spiritual salubrity. As a time-honoured bearer of inner truths, it has often proven extremely adept at offering (quasi) therapeutic insights in cases of spiritual distress. Yet there are also many artists and art observers who strongly question this spiritual benefit of art. For them, art is just as often a cause of the problem as it is a solution. At a time when belief in the salutary effect of art is again emerging and magical power is being ascribed to art in all sorts of exhibitions and performances, METROPOLIS M enters the debate on the therapeutic capacity of art.
A Night of Psicomagia
25/08/08 Danai Anesiadou
Artist and theatre-maker Danai Anesiadou was invited to put on a performance at the recent Berlin Biennial. The following is her report.
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In the coming months Metropolis M will introduce several of the key note speakers of Now is the Time, the extensive lecture series on the topic of 21st century art and theory. The first is Laura U. Marks, a media theoretician from Vancouver with a pronounced interest in Middle Eastern culture, who wil speak in Amsterdam on October 3rd.
The family house, the flag he carried rolled up under his arm at his father’s funeral, a girl who allowed him to unbutton precisely four buttons on her blouse: scraps of memories from his childhood form the basis of the bizarre magic art of Andro Wekua (Sochumi, Georgia, 1977). A portrait on the occasion of his solo presentation in De Hallen in Haarlem.
Read more..Historic Indeterminacy The Polyphonic Work of Wendelien van Oldenborgh
11/08/08 Anke Bangma
Salah Edin, who plays an Indonesian hero of the resistance; a Surinamese woman, who stands for Johan Maurits of Nassau: the art of Wendelien van Oldenborgh is borne by many voices. In her theatrical video installations and films, performances and lectures, she presents personal versions of history.
Read more..Larger than Life
11/08/08 Aaron Schuster
The idea that art harbors a curative power is a very old one, hearkening back to Aristotle’s theory of catharsis and ancient shamanic rituals. Since, the tasks of the artist have broadened, though that of healer is still popular. Question is, does art lend itself to such a therapeutic role? Shouldn’t we be saying instead: art isn’t good for you?
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