The Last Minute Show Man

Hello,


I'm back from doing many things.

That includes a (re)visit to the Mass Moca, which is perhaps
my favorite museum ever.

I can't think of another museum that is this top notch.



And I'm not talking about programmation, but about logistics:
the atmosphere of the entrance hall,
with the music coming from the café, the way they let visitors
breathe through the spaces and the art, the way they publish
cards with all the necessary information, the architecture
(including some cool restrooms), etc...


I was there to visit Cai Guo-Qiang, who is one of my fave artist,
and who just exhibited one of his best work ever in those spaces,
a work that will probably end as my top favorite show for the year
2005.


I was there last minute, a day before the end, so there is
no way any readers here could attend, but there was another
show that includes at least 6 works worth the detour.
This show is titled "Becoming Animal", and for now I will only name
my fave artists from it: Kathy High, Patricia Piccinini,
Mark Dion, Rachel Berwick, Michael Oatman, and especially,
Sam Easterson (who wins my trophy for that show). I will
come back to it.



What I really wanted to say is that I've been visiting
many shows lately in the couple last days of their schedule,
if not the very last day. Considering the amount of shows that I
visit, I would say that it's normal that I'm forced to push
back my visit to some of them (actually not even a fifth of
all that I see). And usually, these last day shows are shows
that are either set afar from where I stay, or which I am
reluctant to visit.



The strange thing is, there is this man that I keep
encountering during those last-days visits. He must
have an agenda like me, with dates of ending
shows marked so that he rushes to visit them
when the times come near.


I think he's embarassed to see me. Or shy.
Or maybe it's me, I'm such an anti-social.



Here are places (and last minute visits) where I've seen him
recently:


- Dino-Fossils (But hey...I announced on this site that I was going to be there last minute.)

- The Last Spike: National Icon at Musée McCord (I soooooo didn't want to go to that show, and indeed it did bore the hell out of me. But it was part of the Mois De La Photo so I HAD to go, on the very last day).

- Quatier Ephemere (Ok, this was actually my second visit to that show. I came back for a series of conferences and performances that turned out to be kinda boring. Just a talk from Atsa)

- Les Impatients: Noir Et Blanc 2 (I was there last minute because I wasn't too interested by that show, which turned out to be better than I expected)

- Vox: Iain Baxter (I was there 4 days before the end but I had a good reason, being very busy with a film festival)

- Digs In The Zone at Maison De Culture Notre-Dame-De-Grâce (I was there 3 or 4 days
before the end, because it is very far from where I stay)

- Neverlands + Glooscap at Maison Frontenac (This is another case where I returned to the show a second time, because the first time I thought Glooscap was too exhaustive for me to grasp all at once. Still, even the second time was about a week before the end, so that one is pure coincidence).


That's all, but I also saw him at the film fest, so that is like,
8 times in 3 weeks? To me that's a lot.


Maybe it's simply the effect of the Month Of Photo
being so exhaustive, so we all get to visit
these shows late. A friend of mine was saying
"ce mois qui n'en finit plus de finir" (this month
that never finishes ending).


I used to be able to spot the cinema
fanatics in the front rows of cinema festivals.


Perhaps now I'm slowly starting
to notice the regular art lovers
in this city. I mean... I remember
I used to see Emmanuel Gallant in galleries
a lot. Caroline Andrieux too. Gennaro
Di Pasquale too (saw him tonight at the Mac).
Some guy from Syn-Atelier. Some woman and her boyfriend
that I don't know who they are. Bernard Lamarche: very
often. Pierre Landry (from Mac), a couple times last year,
which frankly surprised me (I never see museum curators anywhere).
Nicolas Mavrikakis: never. (which goes to demonstrate how this
game doesn't fully work)




I do wonder about these statistics.
How many people visit galleries
regularly ? Maybe a gallerist could know.
Who do you keep meeting when visiting galleries?



I know people recognize me.
They recognize me in New York,
a place where galleries are packed as hell.
It is sometimes embarassing, but I do
wonder: if they were that many regular
visitors, they wouldn't be able to remember
me, would they ?


I'm really starting to wonder just how small
is the circle of art fanatics in this city.
The ones who visit more than 20 shows a year.



That guy whom I meet everywhere
certainly is one of them. He's not a journalist
or he wouldn't visit the shows this late.
I think he saw me quarrel with
an artist many years ago.



Speaking of artgoers and mois de la photo,
Mike Patten released his
top 5 choices for this event. We have different tastes, but it's interesting.


I need to write mine, then,


Cheers,


Cedric Caspesyan
centiment@hotmail.com