Meet Matthew Cooke, a Stranger reader who has vowed to do everything The Stranger suggests for the entire month of February. Look for his reports daily on Slog. —Eds.
Before I start, I’m tempted to apologize for certain aspects of the last post covering the reading on Saturday. I was annoyed about being inside on a sunny day, and I may have described a scenario involving The Stranger having carnal relations with itself, or something to that effect.
I blame the growing pressure of this task. In fact, it’s probably smart to withhold my apology as I will almost certainly get even pissier as the month goes on (to the delight of Slog commenters, no doubt…vultures!). You can only apologize so much; may as well wait until I say something truly vicious.
My mood was better on Sunday, but there was a problem: I’m not a fan of video art. When it comes to film, I’ve been trained to expect some level of story to emerge. Video art, however, is conceptual and often bereft of narrative (that I can discern, at least). Watching it, I tend to be vaguely disturbed or, worse, openly derisive.
But how do I evaluate the recommendation? It seems unfair to call it a bad one, since I’m not really a good judge. However, The Stranger’s audience has biases of their own, so why should mine not count?
Hence, I will respectfully say that personally, I didn’t approve. If you’re a student at the university (or you work there) the Henry is free, so go and see what you think. Everyone else: I would wait for another show. Ms. Graves can take solace in my glowing review of the last visual arts recommendation—Tim Rollins at the Frye, which you should see immediately.
