Karaoke as Art

Em and I went to the SF Moma this past weekend, and saw two very interesting special exhibitions; being modern art, there was absolutely no relationship between the two.

The first was a video exhibit by Phil Collins (no, not the 80's singer). Walking into this exhibit was at first like walking into the cinema - posters outside, dark crowded room and large screen inside. We as the viewers witnessed a string of Turkish young people karaokeing (sp?) songs by The Smiths. They didn't just sing, they were possessed by song (anyone who has participated in a rousing evening of karaoke knows what I mean). What I found so interesting was that in singing these songs, the twenty-somethings of Istanbul had not only learned Western music and lyrics, but also essentially taken on the "western emotions" associated with these songs - everything from cynicism and malaise to satisfaction and exuberance. Not that these emotions can strictly be categorized in terms of Anglo-Modern culture, but they certainly seem to characterize much of the culture of post-WWII European/American society. Turkey of course is straddling the East-West divide, and so this work by Collins has something meaningful to say about the somewhat bizarre impact globalization is having in the country.

The second exhibit was a display of the work of Anselm Kiefer who has some extremely provocative pieces, using very creative methods to say the least. Just one comment: I thought it interesting that Kiefer in an interview with the curator had said something like "I would prefer to work solely with spiritual material (for my art), but I am forced to create art using tangible material." Unconsciously, he acknowledges the Creator/creature distinction!