Watched a very interesting documentary this afternoon on BBC
World about this young British artist, Michael Landy, who created a kind of
piece of performance art based on the destruction of all his possessions. It
was oddly powerful - funny, disturbing, moving, thought-provoking. The artist
himself came across as very likeable, even if obviously a driven kind of guy.
Certainly the ambivalent feelings I experience about my possessions and
consumerism in general surfaced strongly as I watched. If art is meant to
engage you then this art succeeded in a big way.
Just checked on Wikipedia if the chap's still at it, and he is, though the entry didn't say much about his work beyond the 'piece' I remember. Generally I'm a bit of a cynic about all this conceptual art malarkey, but this was one example that opened my eyes in some small way to the possibilities involved. I actually remember the programme in question in vivid detail a decade on whilst being completely clueless with regard to references I made on the adjoining days to what I was then doing at work.
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