Thoughts in the aftermath of an art historical conference:
-Most young male associate professors use way too many complicated words. This makes their lectures almost impossible to understand, and it makes the debate following the lectures slightly ridiculous. This is especially true if the person asking the question is another young male associate professor – then the communication breakdown is complete. So note to self – go to lectures held by older, female professors. They call a painting a painting, and not a two-dimensional, visual object whose content must be seen in the context of the visual tradition.
-Also avoid lectures that consist completely of theory, as they have no connection to the real world. Okay, this is a pet peeve – but I feel that if theory isn’t connected to one or several examples its use is kind of limited. As any action flick will tell you – it was a good plan, in theory…
-How come on a conference spanning several days, with almost 70 lectures, no one talks about art outside Western Europe? Fine, I’m guilty of this my self, but the fact still worries me.
-Watching BSG and LOTR is a good way to relax when you head is still buzzing with visual theory. I’m still not sure of BSG S2 though – the story keeps telling me that Starbuck is so, so special – and I can’t see it. She shows up in each episode and behaves with the maturity of a five year old, and sulks her way through storyline after storyline. She is really starting to annoy me. And why do all the storylines in the later part of the season depend on the incompetence of the characters? The Pegasus is having trouble – their leader is incompetent. Or there is a hostage situation – Starbuck is incompetent. It just seems sloppy.
-As for LOTR – I still get emotional when Boromir dies. It might be the Sean Bean factor, but still.
-Most young male associate professors use way too many complicated words. This makes their lectures almost impossible to understand, and it makes the debate following the lectures slightly ridiculous. This is especially true if the person asking the question is another young male associate professor – then the communication breakdown is complete. So note to self – go to lectures held by older, female professors. They call a painting a painting, and not a two-dimensional, visual object whose content must be seen in the context of the visual tradition.
-Also avoid lectures that consist completely of theory, as they have no connection to the real world. Okay, this is a pet peeve – but I feel that if theory isn’t connected to one or several examples its use is kind of limited. As any action flick will tell you – it was a good plan, in theory…
-How come on a conference spanning several days, with almost 70 lectures, no one talks about art outside Western Europe? Fine, I’m guilty of this my self, but the fact still worries me.
-Watching BSG and LOTR is a good way to relax when you head is still buzzing with visual theory. I’m still not sure of BSG S2 though – the story keeps telling me that Starbuck is so, so special – and I can’t see it. She shows up in each episode and behaves with the maturity of a five year old, and sulks her way through storyline after storyline. She is really starting to annoy me. And why do all the storylines in the later part of the season depend on the incompetence of the characters? The Pegasus is having trouble – their leader is incompetent. Or there is a hostage situation – Starbuck is incompetent. It just seems sloppy.
-As for LOTR – I still get emotional when Boromir dies. It might be the Sean Bean factor, but still.