Let's just ignore the fact that I completely fail at life (aka this blog) and instead concentrate on this:
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/artdesign/story/2008/04/22/schneider-art-dying.html?ref=rss
Whoa! Creepy, right? But...maybe...a little compelling? Maybe I'm just weird? So...if there are any of you out there who still read this thing (does it count as a "still" if there was never anything to read in the first place?), I'm curious as to what you think...does this have artistic merit (whatever that means), or is it just a really morbid spectacle? Are you repulsed by this or fascinated by it? Both?
While I definitely understand why many roll their eyes at art that puts natural processes (or objects, persons) on display, one of the things I find most interesting about this type of "performance" art is that it defines the context of viewership. I have to admit that, exploitative or no, there is a part of me that is completely intrigued by the thought of watching somebody to whom I have no specific emotional attachment pass away....watching that person in an explicitly detached context, where I am not thinking about how the loss of that person will affect my own life, but about the loss of life itself. Again, maybe I'm weird, but I think that there is something kinda beautiful and very powerful about that.
