the definition of banality

Many of you probably saw the e-Flux email announcement of this that went out this morning, but for those who did not, read it and weep:

Regarding Evil
A one-day summit at MIT
Sunday, April 3, 2005
11am-4pm
Reception to follow
Free and open to the public

WHAT:
A one-day symposium in which internationally-recognized artists and scholars will participate in a bold assessment of Evil, it's aesthetic lure, pervasiveness in political rhetoric, and the spectacle of war.  The event will commence with a global "Sounding of the Trumps," simulcast from six countries. 

The event will close with a special showing of the film "De Lama Lamina" (2004) (http://web.mit.edu/evil/participants_mb_press.htm) by artist Matthew Barney and musician Arto Lindsay.

INTERLOCUTOR:
Ross Cisneros, artist, conceiver and organizer of the event will realize the global collaboration for the summit and present "ETHICS BORE ME TO DEATH"

FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS:
Matthew Barney, multimedia artist, has contributed his film "DE LAMA LAMINA" (2004) 35mm screening

Jodi Dean, political theorist, will present a critical survey of rhetorical strategies that polarize nations into the Good and the Evil in her presentation "EVIL'S POLITICAL HABITATS"

Beau Friedlander, author of poems, essays, and translations will describe his lengthy relationship with Ted Kaczynski, the acquisition of his memoirs, and a psychological insight into the Unabomber in his presentation "TED AND ME"
   
Ronald Jones, artist and critic, has investigated the role that both artist and designer play in proliferating and manifesting an immoral universe in his presentation "LET'S BE OUTRAGEOUS, LET'S MISBEHAVE"

Julian LaVerdiere, artist and co-creator of the "Tribute in Light" World Trade Center memorial, will unfold the performative history in the destruction of monuments and cultural signifiers.  Julian will expand upon how this phenomenon relates to his art practice in his presentation "DAMNATIO MEMORIAE".

Boyd Rice, author, musician, and outspoken Satanist, will speak of his relationship with Anton LeVay and the Church of Satan, his long correspondence with Charles Manson, and the sado-masochistic lure of Nazi aesthetic in his presentation "IDEOLOGUES OF THE REJECTED".  A special performance will follow.

I especially like the "Reception to follow" note.  <Satan voice>There will be little sandwiches!</Satan voice>.  Oh jeez . . . check out the website for more.  I hate to come off as some sort of anti-academic, theory-hating type.  As I'm trying to write in another post, I like that sort of thing.  And no one would deny that evil is a topic for the most serious, wide-ranging thought and expression.  Perhaps that's the problem - I don't like to judge something I haven't heard, but a conference on evil that features a talk entitled "Let's Be Outrageous, Let's Misbehave" doesn't sound to me like it's going to give Augustine a run for his money.  LaVerdiere's presentation sounds like it could be something interesting and worthwhile, and one can imagine Dean's and Friendlander's (even given the latter's subject matter) as not unworthy fare.  But the rest simply make me wonder why those involved aren't ashamed of themselves.     

Comments

[Dan]

Here's to the further institutionalization of the language of transgression.

Open the seal and sound the trumpets... How rich.

On a related note (and bringing things back around to music), I was (casually) watching Headbangers Ball on Saturday as I chopped tomatoes and onions for some pasta sauce and decided that, based on viewing half of their video for "Deadly Sinners", 3 Inches of Blood has the very real potential of becoming one of my most favorite things.

You don't see bands rocking the old school butt-rock soprano howls so much anymore (at least I don't), let alone mixing them in with a hardcore/death metal growl to such glorious effect.

[MS]

Dude! Makes devil's sign. That rocks!

On the pop metal side, The Darkness gave me much enjoyment last year. The part in their video when the camera kept pulling back to show an ever-larger wall of Marshall amps was very funny.

Given the subject, perhaps it's time for another link to the top 10 most ridiculous black metal pics of all time. I wonder if any of these guys will be invited to the conference?

[Franklin]

They have a singer named Cam Pipes! Dude!

[Franklin]

"Since when did Satan have his own ice hockey team?" Lordamercy, I'm LMAO. I think I'll go put on some Rage.

[Dan]

3 Inches' solid tribute to The New Wave of British Heavy Metal® almost makes up for how much Judas Priest's new single blows.

[MS]

3 Inches' solid tribute to The New Wave of British Heavy Metal® almost makes up for how much Judas Priest's new single blows.

It is indeed quite Iron Maiden-like. Guaranteed to make your spine tingle, your blood curdle, and your eyes bulge out of your head.

I still have a hard time believing no one looked at Rob Halford back in the day and said the obvious.

Many years ago, while in Salisbury, England, I wandered into a record store that turned out to be dedicated to the toughest kind of British metal and biker culture. It was an interesting experience.

[Franklin]

I remember that Kerrang! did a timeline of the development of heavy metal and one of the entries was:

(date?): Rob Halford goes onstage wearing chaps, studs, and a military cap. Metal fashion never recovers.

[Franklin]

I still have a hard time believing no one looked at Rob Halford back in the day and said the obvious.

You'd figure that three songs about fellatio on Defenders of the Faith (Jawbreaker, Love Bites, and Eat Me Alive) might have tipped a few people off.

[Miguel Sánchez]

And with that, this thread has found its level.

[Dan]

Metal heads learning to deal...

"Are there any hidden meaning in a Maiden Song, I mean, like Judas Priest's Jawbreaker..."

"Good thing I never sing along to this song or lsiten to it....what was it like when you found out about it? were u discusted at yourself?"

"Maiden doesn't look gay now does it?"

"As long as that hidden meaning has nothing to do with gays or anything gross am cool with it"

"Halford is proof that gays rock."

[Miguel Sánchez]

"Halford is proof that gays rock."

And don't just take their word for it - check out Pansy Division's cover of "Breaking the Law". Ahem.

Welcome, readers of The New Criterion! I hope you are finding this edifying.

[Dan]

The metal–occult–queer nexus is probed (as it were) in some surprisingly delicate baroque collages by artist Scott Treleaven.

Treleaven had a show here in Chicago this past fall that was actually kind of sweet (a crucial critical term if there ever was one). Somewhere, resigned to hard drive oblivion, I have a half-written post on this which I think I ought to dust off for a bit of the old Art in America treatment.

The group show Treleaven appeared alongside of, "Emo Eco" (you heard me), was quite decidedly not sweet:

Emo Eco brings together a group of painters connected by their use of natural and ecological imagery and their embodiment of a sensibility that reflects the emotional energy and personal conviction of emo-punk music.

One of the most exciting musical movements today, emo-punk is driven by its desire to speak out against social and ideological constructs that inhibit individuality and free expression...

(Someone alert Michelle Malkin.)

[Miguel Sánchez]

Oh no! Not emo! Does anyone actually say "emo-punk", by the way?

I'd have to say that of all the adjectives one could apply to emo, "exciting" would be about the last that would cross my mind.

[Kriston]

Man, emo. Mock it, yes, the genre certainly deserves it, but when I was younger it really was a way to escape the goth that permeated the high school I attended for a short time in Florida. (I'm showing my age here.) How good did Braid or Mission of Burma sound compared with Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids? Or ska? Emo sounded good. Emo sounded very good.

[Miguel Sánchez]

Well, as for showing one's age, imagine being in high school when The Wall was something still fairly new. It wasn't pretty.

I never really thought of Mission of Burma as emo. It was always a little disturbing when I did the graveyard shift at the college radio station to get 4 AM requests for "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" from morose drunks.

My favorite anecdote from the ska craze of the nineties stems from a New York Times article on a music industry convention of the time. The reporter asked for opinions on the phenomenon and got some great blind quotes, like "Every song sounds the same" and "Happy when that's over." And soon it was.

[Tronn]

Small note--it's=it is; its=belongs to "it."

Interesting that none of the usual MIT suspects are being trotted out. CreMaster Barney gives me a headache--or ball-ache.

[MS]

Small note--it's=it is; its=belongs to "it."

Yes, yes, yes. I suppose that I should have marked that "[sic]", but I thought the context was clear that it was their error. I just cut and paste the thing. Anyway, this is a blog - horrors of spelling and grammar are to be expected.

The event - happening today! - is put together by a grad student, so I'm not sure how much pull he has. And some of the people are definitely impressive, even if not MIT. Though that may be telling as well: it may have been easier to get a person away from Cambridge to respond to an apparently prestigious invite than someone in the department next door who can see what a freakshow it's going to be.