MAI in Hudson
Last month, Gossips reported that the Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI) was planing to hold an event in Hudson this September. Last night, Gossips learned what the event being contemplated is: a 10K run, tentatively scheduled for September 14.
Danica Newell and Pericles Kolias of MAI were in Hudson yesterday checking out routes and meeting with people at Hudson High School to find out how to involve students in a run that Kolias described as a "little marathon" and a "long-durational race"--long-durational being the essential characteristic of Marina Abramovic's performance art. Given that the proposed length of the race is twice as long as other road races that take place in Hudson--for example, the Rotary Club Fools' Run (April), the Hudson Area Library Ghostly Gallop (October), the Elks Club Turkey Trot (November)--the real novelty may be figuring out a 6.2-mile route through a city with a total area of less than two square miles without retracing or making lots of switchbacks.
Addressing the Common Council Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee on Tuesday night, Newell spoke of the community race being planned as one of a series of events in Hudson--"to present ourselves and let people know what we do"--leading up to the opening of the Marina Abramovic Institute, which is anticipated to happen in about 18 months. Newell indicated that the renovation of the building would be carried out through the coming winter and the spring and is expected to be completed by the fall of 2014. That expectation prompted Council president Don Moore to ask about fundraising for the $15-million project, suggesting that it must be proceeding as anticipated, to which Newell replied, "We can talk about that later."
all you Abramovic fans may be surprised to see whom she's befriended.
ReplyDeleteGo to the latest V magazine online & click on the pic
As running events go, 10K is hardly durational. Most runners will finish in under an hour. They were in Park Falafel and I was helping them plan routes. I also proposed a 6-hour run (with a relay option) as an homage to the minimum length of performances at MAI.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, next Wednesday at 6:30 PM the Onteora Runners Club will be hosting a 10K at Olana. The course is challenging but incredibly scenic. It costs only $2 and is open to all, but the ORC warns, "No whining allowed....complainers will be fed to the bears!!!!"
http://media.onteorarunners.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Catskill-Mt.-Spring-Series-entry-2013.pdf
How about a little reality check before we welcome this Trojan Horse within the walls of our already-beleagured town administered by clowns?
ReplyDelete---Fact: this enormous property is 501(c)3 tax-exempt and will never contribute to the city's operating overhead
---Fact: there are no stated parking plans for this facility
---Fact: there are no stated traffic pattern impact studies
---Fact: this facility is in direct line of egress (Seventh Street) for the community's consolidated firehouse, with attendant street parking issues
--Fact: Nonprofit organizations contribute zilch to a community's economic base. MAI will not use local contractors or suppliers, MAI will not help local restaurants because MAI will keep this income stream within its walls (ask the restaurants and coffee shops around NYC's Met Museum of Art how many patrons spend money with them). MAI will not help local antique dealers; MAI may help local hoteliers, but more realistic will be broad arrangements made with non-local motel franchises and shuttle transportation.
---This list can go on indefinintely, but for more hard facts, check in with the town government of Beacon to see how disillusioned they became after DIA:Beacon settled in. It remains a financial disaster for the town.
If MIA wants to bunk with Hudson, they should pay their way and not try to snow us with these comic attempts at "community outreach" (a run? Cheeseball!)
MIA should be seen for what it is: elitist art for the urban rich created by a privilged white woman for an audience that can afford $150. tickets. Of course MIA wants to settle in Hudson; she knows an easy mark when she sees one.
Clown Town, I disagree that "Nonprofit organizations contribute zilch to a community's economic base." Don't see where that is a fact. Are you therefore saying that Hudson Opera House contributes zilch?
ReplyDelete