Jake Oldershaw

MassMoca is a unique venue, housed in an old factory complex last used to employ 4,000 out of a population of 16,000 people in North Adams, Massachusetts - Prime stat territory right there. The staff and interns were incredibly friendly and we were fantastically looked after. It was great to be out of the city, pretty much a first for the show, and i made the most of it in between work and -15c temperatures by climbing up the Appalachian trail nearby.

As seems to be the case increasingly when we leave the UK, the press showed a lot of interest with the New York Times and the Boston Globe both featuring us in a big way. Craig and I even got to do a radio phone-in which was fun

Once again, one of the notable interactions with the audience surrounded the representation of Jews who died in the Holocaust (see Kicks like a Melbourne Mule entry). A school group was in and I asked a boy of 9 or so if there was anything that had made him laugh. "Yeah, the Jews in the Holocaust" he said. "Why's that then?" "Because it's an insult to call someone a Jew" I had to think for a minute that we hadn't made a terrible mistake but I suppose he'd only ever heard the word used as an insult. We talked about how that might be the case and that he might want to think about that for a bit. It's incredible how the show has that possibility to expose thought processes, not just in children, and encourages a debate as to wether those thoughts are justified or might need reassessment.

The first weekend of opening coincided with a quite highbrow arts get-together. I ended up eating with the provost of Harvard University and talking about David Beckham which was odd. It seemed all the millionaire patrons of the venue were attending in force and everyone was treated to a tour of the museum. There was much talk of 'the show that may never open' in the largest, football pitch sized gallery. "Training Ground for Democracy" by Cristoph Buchel was intended to open mid-December but he'd apparently walked away from the whole thing. I expect I can't talk about what's in the installation but as the people who'd paid for the thing demanded answers from the curator my thoughts moved from hating the artist and the art to wondering if he might just deliberately be pushing a handful of rich people in the most powerful country in the world to see how far he could go. It was impossible to separate the situation with the art, especially in relation to our own show.

So today I went to see "Simply Botiful", his installation in Shoreditch, to get a more objective take on his stuff. No luck i'm afraid. The jury is still completely out on it. As you walk through the junk, dirt, knackered vehicles, shipping containers etc. you realise the man does have a strong political and aesthetic thoughline to his work. You appreciate the effort involved and wonder how much is chosen and how much is arbitrary. (In the case of the Mass Moca show it seems everything is chosen). I also really admire the fact that your engagement begins before you've even entered the show. Completely unannounced except for a generic office buzzer and a tacky 'Hotel' sign, it took a while to find even if you wanted to. That personal investment is echoed when you sign a disclaimer on entering and then are more or less invited to explore as you wish. You are almost a character in a film, a detective piecing together the evidence, discovering a story of industrial and sexual filth, colonial and environmental guilt. A jigsaw puzzle that mirrors the process of understanding contemporary art as a whole but in a much more active and exciting way.

Having written that down I suppose I've got a whole lot out of his work. My only criticism is that having seen the finished product, and knowing a little bit about the costs and ball-aches that people have to go through when they build his shows, I can't help thinking it's a lot of effort for a relatively small pay-off. Seeing through the smoke, mirrors and fine art disneyland I still wonder what exactly is your point?

So no closer after all that. Worth seeing though, showing until 18th March, see here for details

http://www.ghw.ch/exhibitions/pressrelease.php?exhibition_id=415

In the meantime I go to WomAdelaide for a mad 10 day round trip with the rice. Apparently they're offsetting every performers carbon footprint for the journey. Good on 'em i say, I wonder if they'll ofset our lost sleep while they're at it?