- August 19th, 2009
- Filed under Art, Local, Public Programs, The Toby
When is destruction gorgeous and true? At the Marion County Fair Demolition Derby. On a trip there earlier this month, I was awed by the performative aspects of the event. You could say the derby was as spectacular as anything we’ve presented at the IMA, except perhaps the stunning 2008 Summer Solstice event featuring a Japanese Butoh dancer named Oguri who moved into the fountain on the Lilly House allee and emerged, steaming, in the rays of a powerful searchlight at the moment the sun dropped below the horizon.
Back at the derby: spray-painted, crumpled automotive beasts tumble against one another. The air is filled with terrific absurdity. These vehicular masochists have planned these clashes. They have intended it, and yet not intended it – very much like an artist’s relationship to the work of art s/he creates.
I learned three things at the demo derby:
- Embrace the ugly
- Push through anything crippling
- Take things that are hard by nature and try to soften them
Some of these concepts underlie the abstract form of movement called Butoh, made with slow-mo gestures, prolonged facial expressions and the baring of the unconscious. The dancer Oguri returns to the IMA November 7 with another Butoh-inspired performance, this one an interpretation of the literary experiments of American author William Faulkner (The Sound and the Fury, Absalom, Absalom!). Fear no art: what appears incomprehensible and senseless at first actually might actually reflect the order of the universe.
More on the November 7 event as it nears. Until then, keep smashing, clashing, and seeking truth.
August 19th, 2009 at 11:01 am
The title of Faulkner’s book, as well as the historical figure, is spelled Absalom, not “Absolom.” Just to let you know.
August 19th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Thanks Amy! We’ll make that correction.
August 19th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
I love the demolition derby! It’s one of those activities you watch not expecting to like but end up loving by the end. Another lesson learned at derbies: if the car catches on fire, jump out the windowless windshield. Anyways, nice post.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Great observations, Anne. Funny, I never find things such as this ugly. I suppose if one’s definition of beauty is not tied up in aesthetics – then beauty might be defined by some sort of intellectual intensity?
But I really love this line: Take things that are hard by nature and try to soften them. Poetic, especially in terms of a crash-up derby.