Disc_connect

- or simply not quite connected
take the time to click on everything you might get educated???

Ever felt you'll never quite make it? Or perhaps it's not you but the place you live? Or the fact that you don't like networking? Or you don't know the right people. Long Beach, Ca., just like Atlanta seems to sort of miss the boat. And that is where I live. Long Beach 20 miles South East of the very hip Los Angeles, a place where curators find it a little to far to travel, where performers can't quite make it to and the art, digital and cultural scene never quite makes it. 2 not quite connected events happened in the great Long Beach this last week!! Have you heard of Molaa?The only Latin American Museum of Art in America - Betcha you haven't!!! My sister in law visited and loves the Latin culture - you see in Australia we are sooo isolated that anything non-British is exotic and exciting. In southern California we are meant to be consumed, integrated and embracing the Latin culture - NOT!!!

A very bold new building lured us in, only to be mostly shut down due to installation. Of the tiny exhibit we were taken by 2 fish-eye videos of a man under a square of desks. He was moving the desk, like one of those small shuffle puzzles where the part images are shuffled to make a whole image - "Chucky Cheese" has them too. Chilean artist Amilcar Packar - video 11. Standing on the cement floor ee spent quite a bit of time discussing why he was stark naked crawling under the tables, and what a large penis he had. He does like being enclosed in box like forms - see other work? We came up with no great insight to the piece. But it was visually satisfying? Does that make good art? We liked the idea of moving desks - education? institutionalization? Adam? Claustrophobia? Never fear Javier Tellez video - The last supper was there.
We stood and looked, felt a little uncomfortable as we both tried to figure out if the people in the video were mentally disabled or not. I guessed yes, Jo was not sure until they were viewed close up. Yup we were watching adults sitting along a bench, eating and celebrating an event in a sanitorium somewhere in Latin America. A single female sang to all the men. I won - it was the several toothless grins that gave it away! Did you know he was in the Whitney in 2008?

Then TED came to town. Technology, entertainment, design.... Have you heard of this???? Street banners and all.....