PROFESSOR McCABE!

There was soooo much anticipation for this episode.

It was the perfect timing to talk about SMoCA (Scottsdale Musuem of Contemporary Art), and the current Director and Chief Curator, Jennifer McCabe. First and foremost, because of my own tradition with the Musuem, and the fact that I have been an Advisory Board member for more than a decade, and secondly, because due to the pandemic and all the social distress, the world of art always takes a stance and communicates one way or another the emotions of the current times via art.

And this was no exception!

We learned that SMoCA has a number of incredible exhibits that will help us to create momentum and ask ourselves about our own society.

The current exhibit “UNAPOLOGETIC; All women, All year” that goes until January 17, 2021 is a reflection of that. And it is very exciting to knot that. And I am excited to learn during our conversation, that the museum will be open with all CDC guidelines in place and all sorts of sanitation measures to welcome guests, while keeping the on-line reach in the community.

Also, the conversation touched a point, I wanted for a long time to get to the public;

• What is Contemporary Art?
• How did we get to Contemporary Art?
• What are “Art Installations”, and
• What is “Conceptual Art”?

If you have the same questions, professor McCabe gave us a 5 minute presentation to anser somehow those questions, and you should see it and listen. Very insightful.

What I really love of the 5 minute presentation, was the ability to understand that modern and contemporary art is a mix of “contemplating, questioning and participatory” emotions from the viewer, so, your experience past the visual and goes into the questioning.

Like this piece;

“The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living”, 1991. by artists Damian Hirst. London

A Shark floating in formaldehyde? Really? is that art? – Yes! it is a questioning by the artist if the world keeps going as it is going, and will loose those elements and organisms we know today in nature, we might end up contemplating nature as a piece of art. If you want to learn more, here is a great read written on WideWalls website.

What did not work this time due to the technology fluke, was a surprise message I have crafted for Jeniffer from the team at SMoCA. So I am sharing the video with you here;

or directly on YouTube;

So, I invite you to watch the episode here;

A fantastic conversation with someone I admire as a professional and as a teacher to the world of arts to all of us.

See you next Wednesday for another exciting guest.

Alwyas in style

~ Oscar