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Pinta & the Santa Maria
Has Achieved Nirvana
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And furthermore.... Wink

I know Jews who refuse to listen to Mahler, because he was an anti-Semite. I also know Jews who love Mahler. And of course, given the nature of musical performance, there are a gajillion Jews who've made a living as professional musicians performing or conducting sacred music--and in some cases, writing it. Were they triggered? I doubt it. Surely we can rise above some things and see the beauty of a piece of art independent of the political leanings of its creator.
 
Posts: 35378 | Location: West: North and South! | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Minor Deity
Picture of Mary Anna
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quote:
Originally posted by Nina:
The athlete as artist thing--I'm not on board, either. Part of the problem I have with it is that an athlete doesn't create anything tangible. There's nothing left after the fact for us to view. An artist leaves behind a thing: composition, painting, sculpture, building, etc. An athlete's performance is ephemeral. You can say that an athletic feat is beautiful (and I won't disagree with you), but what's left of that feat is perhaps a video showing its exceptionality. In that case, the video itself is tangible, and I could argue that the videographer or filmmaker is the artist. But the athlete? Not so much.

But what about performance art? Again, more or less ephemeral, in the same way that a beautiful rendition of, say, Beethoven's 9th is also ephemeral. Is the performance "art"? Or is the composition the art, and the performance ephemeral? I tend to think the latter. Note that I'm not saying the performance isn't amazing, beautiful, emotional, and compelling. It's certainly not "lesser." But I don't think a performance of Beethoven's 9th is in the same category (as in grouping, not tier) as the composition itself.

OK, leaving now to don my flak jacket....


But what about a dancer, Nina? That's the artist I see as most akin to an athlete. Or is the choreographer the one that you see as an artist in this case?


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Mary Anna Evans
http://www.maryannaevans.com
MaryAnna@ermosworld.com

 
Posts: 15513 | Location: Florida | Registered: 22 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Minor Deity
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I do see dancers as artists, but I'm on the fence about most athletes, honestly. I'm not sure why.

I think I see art as direct (or fairly direct) emotional expression. The aim of sports are to defeat the other player(s) while remaining within the rules of the athletic activity. Some athletes, and Jordan was one of them, are so good that they could win the game while having a dancer's expressiveness. I think most of them, though, are focused on putting the ball or puck where it needs to go.

Athletes have a very real kind of genius, but it is genius of movement and teamwork and the other things associated with athletics. Is this the same thing the same thing as artistic genius. Maybe in some cases. Slow-motion films of Jordan playing would have to look a lot like slow-motion films of Baryshnikov dancing.


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Mary Anna Evans
http://www.maryannaevans.com
MaryAnna@ermosworld.com

 
Posts: 15513 | Location: Florida | Registered: 22 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
"I've got morons on my team."

Mitt Romney
Minor Deity
Picture of Piano*Dad
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I have no issue with athlete versus artist. I think arguing about it is a distraction from this issue of identity power politics.


As to why Pete Rose isn't in the Hall of Fame, that's not because a group of people a century into the future decided that he was reprehensible according to the enlightened mores of 2080. He was blacklisted according to the mores of his own time (gambling). We can argue about the details of his case, but it's not the same as deciding that Schenker's musical ideas are disgusting manifestations of Whiteness.

Heck, maybe the good folks of 2100 will decide that every human who ate meat in the past deserves cancellation! Pull their statues down! Discard their species-ist ideas about ... oh, physics.
 
Posts: 12537 | Location: Williamsburg, VA | Registered: 19 July 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Minor Deity
Picture of Jack Frost
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quote:
Originally posted by piqué:
If it were revealed that Beethoven was a pedophile, would you stop listening to the moonlight sonata?



Yes.

Jf


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Be calm, be brave, it'll be okay.

 
Posts: 17679 | Location: Maine | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Minor Deity
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quote:
Originally posted by Jack Frost:
quote:
Originally posted by piqué:
If it were revealed that Beethoven was a pedophile, would you stop listening to the moonlight sonata?



Yes.

Jf


Eric Clapton has been as important in my life as Beethoven has been to many of you. I recently discovered years ago he went on a racist rant against black immigration to England. Very ugly stuff and infuriating given how much he has borrowed from a black music like blues and reggae. Looking further into it, I discovered he later apologized and blamed it on drink or drugs he was struggling with. His rant was so awful I still have not decided whether the apology is sufficient. Have not listened to him since discovering this.

Jf


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Be calm, be brave, it'll be okay.

 
Posts: 17679 | Location: Maine | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Has Achieved Nirvana
Picture of QuirtEvans
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quote:
Originally posted by piqué:
Michael Jordan didn't create anything. He's an athlete. I can appreciate the rare beauty of his athleticism and sheer talent without calling it something it isnt.


He left videotape. Singers leave audiotape and videotape. Are singers not artists? Are actors and actresses not artists? They don't leave anything more tangible than an athlete leaves.

You have a bias against athletes, because you don't believe athletes are artists. But, when you drill down and try to come up with a dividing line, you wind up demonstrating that it's an artificial distinction.
 
Posts: 45742 | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
czarina
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I think Nina has already rebutted these points quite well. As did Mary Anna.


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fear is the thief of dreams

 
Posts: 21351 | Registered: 18 May 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Foregoing Practicing to Post
Minor Deity
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Wait a minute, Nina. I thought Mahler was himself Jewish. Or am I hopelessly confused? Maybe you were thinking of Wagner.


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“It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray

 
Posts: 13813 | Location: The outer burrows | Registered: 27 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Has Achieved Nirvana
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quote:
Originally posted by piqué:
I think Nina has already rebutted these points quite well. As did Mary Anna.


Ah, I assume you mean this part:

quote:
Slow-motion films of Jordan playing would have to look a lot like slow-motion films of Baryshnikov dancing.


You see what you choose to see.

As far as the competitive part goes, in many sports, you are not competing directly against a competitor. You're competing against yourself. Golf is a prime example.

And, if you want to say, well, you're still keeping score, how do you explain sports where there is only a subjective score? Gymnastics? Rhythmic gymnastics? Or, even a better example, ice dancing, where they are explicitly prohibited from employing ever-more-difficult routines? And how about chess? There's no art in that, either?

You have quite an artificial definition of artistry, but I suppose that people who view themselves as artists have a bias in favor the particular form of artistry they perform.
 
Posts: 45742 | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Pinta & the Santa Maria
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rp, you're 100% correct. I had a senior moment. Yes, I meant Wagner. This is how rumors get started.... eeek!

Thanks for pointing that out. Smiler
 
Posts: 35378 | Location: West: North and South! | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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