G.H. Hovagimyan responds to:
Shawn Chappelle wrote:
>
> The fact that Catherine David thinks of the documenta as a CULTURAL
> MANIFESTATION is a guilt disease endemic of the last 20 or so years of HI
> Art.
G.H. Replies:
The Documenta and the larger "International Art" circuit are part of a post World War II diplomatic project whose discourse has been exhausted for some time. As with any aging institution or person they must argue for their own relevance and importance while paying lip service to younger more vital mechanisms.
The art world is object driven. It cannot engage in "Cultural Manifestation" . As Anne Richards former Governor of Texas once said, "You can dress a hog up, put lipstick on it and call it Monique, but its still a hog.
Real world consciousness is just beginning to form on the internet. Many who access still don't get it. Especially art institutions. I receive countless announcements and calls for local workshops, residencies and so forth in email. When I respond saying I would like to participate the answer is often; an embarrassed this is only for Germans or English or whoever.
Somehow internationalism is understood only in the form of staged events such as The Documenta.