Michael Workman

What is a network?

I'm asking this question since I've lately been confronted with some highly concretized, albeit profoundly divergent networks. Attending the opening of "America's Best: Art Inspired by Pabst Blue Ribbon" at the March to the Sea Gallery in the Humboldt Park neighborhood this past Friday, for instance, I was keenly aware of the presence of a commercial network. Organized by directors Joel Alford, Craig Doty and Joe Eros, the show was supplied, stocked and funded by Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Alford says that he's "hoping they'll sponsor us permanently, at least with beer." The show was held in what looked like a stripped-down neighborhood bar with banners hanging from the walls bearing the Pabst Blue Ribbon logo. A long wooden bar ran the length of the front room. Crowds of Pabst drinkers and art patrons milled around both inside the space and out front, huddled together in groups along the sidewalk.

My skepticism had been fired by an article I'd recently read on the viral marketing techniques of Pabst, and so, when I heard about the show, the nagging question was whether this was actually supposed to be an art exhibition or just a marketing ploy. I concluded that it was pretty much both. There are some obvious drawbacks to unsuccessfully navigating this strategy. The title of the show, for instance, implied that patrons would be treated to work "inspired" by the famous brand, though presumably with plenty of complimentary beer available for patrons. Once inside, however, I realized almost immediately that I'd seen some of this work before, and much of the rest of the work's connection to Pabst seemed unconvincing or tenuous at best. Uninspired, even. Among the most amusing works on display were Doty's head-shot portraits of party-trick victims, their faces scrawled on with black magic marker allegedly while passed out in an alcoholic stupor. As for the free beer, well, there was such a mash of people at the bar that wading through the crowd seemed an uninvitingly Sisyphean task.

Most successful, then, seemed to be the marketing aspect. But standing there and talking with people, I noticed that everybody was completely absorbed in conversation. About their friends' lives, jobs and art. Here, in an atmosphere dripping with crass commercialism was the budding of a nascent social support network. Precisely taking place outside the formal network of the professional art world, streaming outward as it does from established institutions, and materialized in the loose conversations that take place at gallery openings, panel discussions, and places where the likeminded gather to make progress in their careers. This institutional network is indispensable, of course, but is there not some benefit to shifting the context of social engagement from the professional to the recreational? Of course.

Indeed, at this show the very notion of a dialogue about art over a few beers was purpose enough to draw crowds of people. It seems useful to view Pabst's sponsorship in this way. After all, we live in a mercantile democracy and, much like a brand image, art builds its value out of social constituencies. So, it makes sense to take advantage of a sympathetic commercial network to provide a space for social engagement--though the long-term success of an exhibition space located in an old bar with a beer sponsor seems to hinge on the peculiar quandary of what to do next.

On the record

Another way to poke your ear (if not your whole head) into the local network without having to meet face-to-face or, indeed, without having to even leave the comforts of your own home, is The Kit. A modest project operated by Gregg Perkins, Amanda Browder, Curtis Whaley, Carl Johns and Amy Saxe, The Kit is both an archive (www.thekit.org) and a series of audio recordings with "artists, critics, curators and musicians." Still a relatively new project, there is already an impressive array of interviews available.

Usually lengthy and in-depth, recordings with such participants as Michelle Grabner, Scott Speh, Melissa Schubeck, Carla Arocha and a host of others offer a delightfully broad sampling of reflection on art production in Chicago by some of the area's most prolific and thoughtful figures. After listening through three or four of these interviews, you'll have a handle on what people who are involved in the art community here spend their time thinking about and, more importantly, how they think about it. Full interviews are available only on disc, which you can order from The Kit directly for $5 through their site.

"America's Best: Art Inspired By Pabst Blue Ribbon" shows at the March to the Sea Gallery, 1659 N. Campbell, (773) 278-7004, through July 12.

(2003-07-02)

Also by Michael Workman

Eye Exam
Attendance numbers at the opening night of any exhibition serve as no more an indicator of the success of the art on display than prowess at the game of Scrabble functions as a measure of literary talent.
(2003-06-25)

Eye Exam
An impressive amount of art is being done online, and some of the more interesting of these projects shine through as participatory in their approach
(2003-06-18)

Eye Exam
Even if you've never heard of The Roof, you're not likely to be surprised to find out that it's exactly what it sounds like: an art space on the roof of an apartment building.
(2003-06-11)

Eye Exam
Encountering The Renaissance Society space at the University of Chicago for the first time, we are told by the catalog copy that Brussels-based artist Joëlle Tuerlinckx (pronounced TUR-lynx) was struck by the context of the Society space.
(2003-06-04)

Eye Exam
(2003-05-28)

Neo-religion
(2003-05-28)

Eye Exam
(2003-05-21)

Eye Exam
(2003-05-14)

Eye Exam
(2003-05-07)

Eye Exam
(2003-04-30)

Sex in Public
(2002-12-12)

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