New Poems

I wrote four new poems.
They are after "the jump."

Also, David Leighty made a portrait of me. It captures the scorched earth of my soul.

CSBYS FEBRUARY ISSUE

Chris Burden's "Shoot"

Here is a section I left out of the essay:

In the background of one post-shooting photo a woman smiles, talking with an out of frame audience member. Her face is behind and to the left of Burden’s frenzied one. She could be in any gallery opening "Who's who" slide show or tagged on Facebook in one of her friend’s party pics. The installation of actual violence inside a gallery did not structurally change the dimension of spectatorship. “Shoot” did not necessitate a new viewership, one with moral obligations to the proceedings. This should not be a surprise – how many Communications studies' cases demonstrate the point that the disinterested public rarely reacts to violence in the public sphere? Compound that with art world traditions of not touching, and the posture of ironic removal endemic in art types. Extrapolating this to international relations of violence and we see the lack of international recourse to the “pre-emptive” invasion of Iraq as unsurprising. But it is too much for individuals to stop another individual’s artwork (or another nation's war). This is something Burden obviously thought about and fit into a career of similar actions. It would be absurd to ask otherwise of a select group of intimates and acquaintances privy to Burden’s modus operandi.

So, in some sense because of audience size and make up, “Shoot” is a
failure. What does it mean to not have someone intercede when there is
no likelihood they would do so anyway? To properly make this point
“Shoot” would have had to have been a more public affair, with the
artist’s intentions broadcast widely and clearly. If still no one had
interceded that would have meaning. Depressing meaning.

Essay after "The Jump."

November CSBYS Monthly

This is the second month of editor Deller's adventure into the world of alt-mags. Among its contents you will find can collecting stories, comics, "Kristina's sister," and plenty of leftist chit-chat.