Secrets of the City

OMG! I can’t believe they are closing! That is so sad. I loved that place.

Is this more of a sign of poor planning on behalf of the failing art organizations or the backers of the fine arts being rather financially strapped with their contributions being axed?

It’s a sign of this Depression Era economy brought to us courtesy of Milt Friedmind, George W. Bush and the Free Market Fuckos who have destroyed our economy by taking the 300+ billion SURPLUS Clinton had built up and turned it into a 490 billion dollar DEFICIT.

Avarice and Greed have caused bridges to fall, people to die, a meaningless war and caused further destruction to American Families and the people of the world.

The are stuffing their pockets with our money as they rape and pillage like the soul-less swine they are.

But let the market decide.

Survey says: the market is amoral.

It’s a sign of this Depression Era economy brought to us courtesy of Milt Friedmind, George W. Bush and the Free Market Fuckos who have destroyed our economy by taking the 300+ billion SURPLUS Clinton had built up and turned it into a 490 billion dollar DEFICIT.

Avarice and Greed have caused bridges to fall, people to die, a meaningless war and caused further destruction to American Families and the people of the world.

So?

I have had a love/hate relationship with them over the years. I decided last year, after a series of frustrating experiences, to not renew my membership. I determined that what I thought they were supposed to be, and what they actually offered were two different things. Not that they shouldn’t be doing what they were doing, just that it wasn’t for me. Sadly, I think they could have done more to connect local artists with their patronage. I felt alienated from them, and I am a part of the local photography and arts scene.

My opinion is formed by attending many openings and lectures, participating in calls for submissions, enrolling in classes, and paying for use of their darkroom on random occasions.

The question of why they failed is split down the middle for me. Of course the economy has a lot to do with it, but the programming/management/use of space could have been MUCH better.

Regardless, it is unquestionably another loss for the local arts community.

Raindog,
with the exception of one (poorly designed) tax cut, virtually everything this administration has done runs completely counter to the teachings of Milton Friedman, especially the non-stop deficit spending. Clinton’s biggest economic successes came from doing exactly what Dr. Friedman had been preaching (free trade, welfare reform, etc.) for decades.

Maybe you should check your facts, or at least proofread your comments before you post.

Clinton’s biggest economic successes came from
doing exactly what Dr. Friedman had been preaching (free trade, welfare reform, etc.) for decades signing republican legislation.

Clinton’s biggest economic successes came from

….knowing when there was a good thing going, and leaving it alone.

I recently got into photography and sadly never knew this place existed. However, I have seen some really great local photographers’ work on Flickr.com. Check out the groups “Twin Cities“and “The Beauty of St. Paul”

New photos are uploaded every day by local photographers. It’s a cool way to see the cities and to some extent keep up on current events. Each shot may not necessarily be considered “art” but you will find some stunning photos there.

What I started out to say, instead of plugging flickr in my previous post, was that the internet and photo-sharing sites probably contributed more to the demise of The Minnesota Center for Photography than did George Bush.

But in this way, Raindogg is correct in placing some blame/credit on the free market.

Does anybody know of someplace where you can use a darkroom like you could at MCP? That’s mostly why I’m depressed about this, I kept meaning to scrape up some money and get stuff together and use their darkroom.

I used to love working in darkrooms. Developed and printed hundreds of rolls of film. Now, I’d say get Photoshop and a good printer.

All I know is the free market folks have fucked up everything.

Carry on.

Sandburg: You can become a member of IFP MN. They have a nice darkroom on University near 280.

I think mismanagement, infighting, etc. contributes to lots of art non-profit failures, but I also think it’s a failure to recognize massive shifts in how people create art, especially media.

There’s never been a more exciting time to be a photographer, a filmmaker, a craft-maker or a music-maker because you can make your stuff and distribute it over the internet.

Lots of these organizations were once the gathering place of these artists, where they’d learn their craft and/or try to get their work exhibited. The artists have moved on, many of them, and don’t necessarily need that brick-and-mortar arts org anymore.

These arts orgs need to reconnect with the makers. Education and face-to-face community are still as valuable as ever.

Was there ever an exhibit of Twin Cities Flickr photographers at MCP? Did they ever reach out to that community?

I hated having to develop film in college…in 2002. I would always go to the darkroom at 11 o’clock so that I would be motivated to do everything right and go home and go to bed. Inevitably, I would be there for three hours.

Raindog, your post this morning is the most bassackwards evaluation of economics I have ever read in my life. It’s so ridiculous that I’m wondering if you’re actually joking.

The surplus that Clinton had on hand was created by a GINORMOUS economic balloon of the 1990s. The GINORMOUS deficit that the Bush admin has created is due to a) unrestrained spending by Bush which is why most Republicans are wondering what the hell kind of Republican Bush is, and b) the end of the economic boom.

Clinton didn’t build a surplus! He GOT one because of the economy.

Jeez. Unbelievable lack of understanding of how the economy works.

Government unleashed will create huge deficits by spending on shit wars or bad programs. The economy bails them out.

It’s a sign of this Depression Era economy brought to us courtesy of Milt Friedmind, George W. Bush and the Free Market Fuckos who have destroyed our economy by taking the 300+ billion SURPLUS Clinton had built up and turned it into a 490 billion dollar DEFICIT.

But let the market decide.

Ouh, thank you Ingrid! That looks awesome!

Rat- I started out the opposite of you. I didn’t step foot in a darkroom until my senior year of high school, years after I’d been taking pictures with a digital camera and using Photoshop. I think it’s more fun in some ways to do things the analog way, but digital is without a doubt much cheaper and quick.

Sandburg, I wonder if some of the local universities offer use of their darkrooms for members of the community? I know at my college, community members could use the music practice rooms if they weren’t in use by the students.

There are times you just have to give in to the technology. There’s no point in fighting it when a company like Nikon doesn’t even make film cameras anymore.

Was there ever an exhibit of Twin Cities Flickr photographers at MCP? Did they ever reach out to that community?

Funny, I felt alienated from them because I thought they were too heavily supporting a flickr crowd. Flickr doesn’t need a center for photography to enable it’s users.

I am sad by their closing but also had mixed feelings about the place. At one point, I don’t even remember when they ended up with a sheet of my slides. I had no idea they had them until I was at a dance performance at the Southern Theater that incorporated photography into the piece. I was trying to figure out why the work looked so familiar when a friend leaned over and said “dude, isn’t that your work?” And hey, it was. Apparently, they would let people go through their collections and use work for whatever.

Now, I’m not opposed to people using my work, but giving credit whether monetary or at least a freakin’ line in a program etc would seem the least one could do. A call from the center with a simple “by the way we just lent a half-dozen of your images to another artist” would have been appreciated.

So, that’s why I have mixed feelings. Plus, they never showed my work.

But how was the dance performance?

No worries, Sal. Now they’ll never show your work…

It’s interesting to me that so much of the response to this news–of the closing of MCP–has been of the what-it-means-to-me nature. That’s humanity, I suppose, but at a certain level don’t you kind of wonder what’s going on in the world? Don’t you want to know why are mid-sized arts orgs beginning to fail one-by-one in this town? What are we doing wrong as a society–and perhaps as individuals–to encourage this failure in art (or at least not to hinder it)?

Sure, it sucks that the individual who wants to find cheap artist services in photography or the talented artist who is seeking a place to show work no longer has a place to go, but this is a institution that, for nearly 20 years, served tens of thousands of people, put up hundreds of excellent shows, fostered the careers of numerous artistic geniuses, and rocked the world of hundreds of thousands of art loving visitors.

And you know what? None of us did a thing to help keep it afloat…

(Repeat spiel for Theater de la Jeune Lune, Minnesota Craft Council, Oak Street Cinema, and perhaps various other orgs to come…)

I’ve been meaning to read that book Bowling Alone. I think part of the answer lies in the changes of traditional gathering places. I think society is turning more inward.

I think part of the answer lies in the changes of traditional gathering places. I think society is turning more inward.

It’s possible this is a factor in the recent local arts downturn. I’ve read studies about how young people are less engaged and involved in civic institutions. Also, studies show that the arts audience is rapidly aging (faster than the actual population), indicating that fewer young people are attending arts events (speculation is they’re spending time once reserved for the arts in front of their computers)… Mix in the economic downturn, the over-expansion of many local arts orgs in the past five-seven years, flat-lined civic spending on art, and you have a perfect recipe for art org failure.

Good news is, if any one of these factors were to improve, these orgs would likely see a bit of relief to give them time to figure out how to survive…

as much as I love art/culture/etc. aren’t those the first things to go when society collapses?

The term I was groping for was Social Capital.

This:

And you know what? None of us did a thing to help keep it afloat…

contradicts this:

…but this is a institution that, for nearly 20 years, served tens of thousands of people, put up hundreds of excellent shows, fostered the careers of numerous artistic geniuses, and rocked the world of hundreds of thousands of art loving visitors.

You can say “Not enough of us…” but you certainly can’t say “NONE OF US.”

as much as I love art/culture/etc. aren’t those the first things to go when society collapses?

Hm. Don’t know.
I’ve never lived in a society that’s collapsed. Have you?

You can say “Not enough of us…” but you certainly can’t say “NONE OF US.”

Yes, you’re right. Big assumption on my part, borne of my passion for the issue. Though I will add there’s a big difference between taking advantage of or participating in an arts org and actively supporting it…

And you know what? None of us did a thing to help keep it afloat…

I already mentioned I was a member, took classes, attended events and lectures and paid for use of the facility. That’s several hundred dollars in the last 3 years alone. Your statement is a bit dramatic.

When an organization dedicated to photography curates an exhibition of one local photographers lengthy career and exhibits the work on a flat screen monitor in a powerpoint slide show, something is deeply amiss.

as much as I love art/culture/etc. aren’t those the first things to go when society collapses?

I don’t know about this, but I’m pretty sure than when the revolution happens, the first thing we’re supposed to do is kill all the lawyers.

as much as I love art/culture/etc. aren’t those the first things to go when society collapses?

I guess we’ll find in five years after peak oil and the collapse of law and order, on the smoldering ruins of Hennepin Avenue East, when you and I meet under the shadow of the burnt-out shell of Nye’s and engage one another in a four-hour bout of hand-to-hand combat using sharpened sticks and rocks, furiously attempting to take possession of the lone surviving LP copy of LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver, Wayne.

So see you then, my friend!

Well, I for one am all set for up my post-revolution life.
I’ve invested in these.

Note to self:

Get Lasik before society collapses.

very very good idea pete. I should do the same.

that’s a beautiful image in my mind, andy.

and oh yes, I’ll see you there. because in the post-apocalyptic future you need a good soundtrack, and I want mine to be the best.