2 replies to this topic

[yank_eh]

Just saw this announcement and thought some of our UK A+Fers might be interested.

Curiously, I don't think the announcement says where it's taking place...

[yank_eh]

Just found out: it's an online symposium. Ie. A blog a day, with the author responding to any comments/questions.

Part 1

[jfutral]

yank_eh, on 07 February 2012 - 07:24 AM, said:

Just found out: it's an online symposium. Ie. A blog a day, with the author responding to any comments/questions.

Part 1

Just want to say thanks for pointing out this blogsite. It has quickly become one of my favourites.

As for this symposium in particular (right now they are doing an arts and missions series, which could either be interesting), once they got past Betty Spackman's post it slowly degenerated into some sort of, well, I'm not sure what. It was never quite clear what people were actually railing against. Is kitsch a mindset? Particular genre of work? Is it the work of the artist or the viewer? I never felt like anyone zeroed in on what was kitsch and what exactly was the issue. But I could have just not read carefully enough.

I always have issues, especially among Christians, with people who take pot shots at things that are spiritually significant to others, whether it is style of worship, particular doctrines, "experiential" vs whatever the opposite is, etc. At some point, if the argument hasn't veered into vitriol, the parties start to sound a bit snobbish. And I say all this as I've participated in such arguments. I've been, and probably will be again, a prime example. Some of the posts took on decidedly "protestant" points of view.

At the very least, on the plus side, I feel like I'm reading articles from people who at least are attempting to take art seriously from the perspective of art, whether I agree with anyone's opinions or not. As a working artist, it has been more encouraging than other blogs like The Gospel Coalition or The Lausanne Global Conversation.

Joe