Spencer Alley

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Parallel Lives








at 7:00:00 PM
Labels: animals, friends, furniture, green, house plants, Mission, San Francisco, summer, sunlight, tchotchkes
Newer Post Older Post Home

COMRADES OF TIME

"Hesitation with regard to the modern projects mainly has to do with a growing disbelief in their promises. Classical modernity believed in the ability of the future to realize the promises of past and present – even after the death of God, even after the loss of faith in the immortality of the soul. The notion of a permanent art collection says it all: archive, library and museum promised secular permanency, a material infinitude that substituted for the religious promise of resurrection and eternal life. During the period of modernity, the 'body of work' replaced the soul as the potentially immortal part of the Self. . . . But today, this promise of an infinite future holding the results of our work has lost its plausibility. Museums have become the sites of temporary exhibitions rather than spaces for permanent collections. The future is ever newly planned – the permanent change of cultural trends and fashions makes any promise of a stable future for an artwork or a political project improbable."

– Borys Groys, Comrades of Time, 2009



"I study only what I like; I occupy my mind only with the ideas that interest me. They may or may not prove useful, either to me or to others. Time either will or it will not bring about the circumstances that will lead me to a profitable employment of my acquisitions. In any case I will have had the inestimable advantage of not having been at odds with myself, and of having obeyed the promptings of my own mind and character."

– from Products of the Perfected Civilization: selected writings of Chamfort, edited and translated by W.S. Merwin (1969)

Most Favored

  • Silas & Eppie
    1 year ago

Consanguinous Site

  • Pippa's Cabinet

Blog Archive

  • ►  2024 (544)
    • ►  November (8)
    • ►  October (62)
    • ►  September (60)
    • ►  August (62)
    • ►  July (62)
    • ►  June (60)
    • ►  May (62)
    • ►  April (60)
    • ►  March (48)
    • ►  February (29)
    • ►  January (31)
  • ►  2023 (365)
    • ►  December (31)
    • ►  November (30)
    • ►  October (31)
    • ►  September (30)
    • ►  August (31)
    • ►  July (31)
    • ►  June (30)
    • ►  May (31)
    • ►  April (30)
    • ►  March (31)
    • ►  February (28)
    • ►  January (31)
  • ►  2022 (366)
    • ►  December (31)
    • ►  November (30)
    • ►  October (31)
    • ►  September (30)
    • ►  August (31)
    • ►  July (31)
    • ►  June (30)
    • ►  May (31)
    • ►  April (30)
    • ►  March (31)
    • ►  February (28)
    • ►  January (32)
  • ►  2021 (365)
    • ►  December (31)
    • ►  November (30)
    • ►  October (31)
    • ►  September (30)
    • ►  August (31)
    • ►  July (31)
    • ►  June (30)
    • ►  May (31)
    • ►  April (30)
    • ►  March (31)
    • ►  February (28)
    • ►  January (31)
  • ►  2020 (436)
    • ►  December (31)
    • ►  November (30)
    • ►  October (31)
    • ►  September (30)
    • ►  August (31)
    • ►  July (31)
    • ►  June (30)
    • ►  May (31)
    • ►  April (30)
    • ►  March (41)
    • ►  February (58)
    • ►  January (62)
  • ►  2019 (730)
    • ►  December (62)
    • ►  November (60)
    • ►  October (62)
    • ►  September (60)
    • ►  August (62)
    • ►  July (62)
    • ►  June (60)
    • ►  May (62)
    • ►  April (60)
    • ►  March (62)
    • ►  February (56)
    • ►  January (62)
  • ►  2018 (611)
    • ►  December (62)
    • ►  November (30)
    • ►  October (31)
    • ►  September (30)
    • ►  August (34)
    • ►  July (62)
    • ►  June (60)
    • ►  May (62)
    • ►  April (60)
    • ►  March (62)
    • ►  February (56)
    • ►  January (62)
  • ►  2017 (664)
    • ►  December (62)
    • ►  November (60)
    • ►  October (44)
    • ►  September (52)
    • ►  August (43)
    • ►  July (41)
    • ►  June (60)
    • ►  May (62)
    • ►  April (60)
    • ►  March (62)
    • ►  February (56)
    • ►  January (62)
  • ►  2016 (522)
    • ►  December (62)
    • ►  November (60)
    • ►  October (62)
    • ►  September (60)
    • ►  August (58)
    • ►  July (31)
    • ►  June (30)
    • ►  May (32)
    • ►  April (31)
    • ►  March (32)
    • ►  February (29)
    • ►  January (35)
  • ►  2015 (375)
    • ►  December (31)
    • ►  November (31)
    • ►  October (33)
    • ►  September (32)
    • ►  August (32)
    • ►  July (32)
    • ►  June (30)
    • ►  May (31)
    • ►  April (30)
    • ►  March (31)
    • ►  February (30)
    • ►  January (32)
  • ►  2014 (415)
    • ►  December (23)
    • ►  November (35)
    • ►  October (33)
    • ►  September (32)
    • ►  August (34)
    • ►  July (34)
    • ►  June (34)
    • ►  May (36)
    • ►  April (40)
    • ►  March (41)
    • ►  February (35)
    • ►  January (38)
  • ►  2013 (482)
    • ►  December (40)
    • ►  November (33)
    • ►  October (36)
    • ►  September (34)
    • ►  August (33)
    • ►  July (48)
    • ►  June (37)
    • ►  May (54)
    • ►  April (38)
    • ►  March (41)
    • ►  February (43)
    • ►  January (45)
  • ►  2012 (539)
    • ►  December (55)
    • ►  November (40)
    • ►  October (47)
    • ►  September (41)
    • ►  August (47)
    • ►  July (43)
    • ►  June (45)
    • ►  May (42)
    • ►  April (50)
    • ►  March (51)
    • ►  February (38)
    • ►  January (40)
  • ►  2011 (492)
    • ►  December (45)
    • ►  November (40)
    • ►  October (57)
    • ►  September (33)
    • ►  August (37)
    • ►  July (35)
    • ►  June (32)
    • ►  May (41)
    • ►  April (65)
    • ►  March (28)
    • ►  February (41)
    • ►  January (38)
  • ▼  2010 (462)
    • ►  December (40)
    • ►  November (37)
    • ►  October (34)
    • ►  September (19)
    • ►  August (32)
    • ▼  July (49)
      • Geranium
      • Progress
      • The Baby Glows
      • Prehistoric Leaf
      • St-Sauveur
      • Bande-Annonce
      • Excellent Numerals
      • Sunday Sunset
      • Bright Monotony
      • Surreal Sweetpeas
      • Bramante's Tempietto
      • Daily Fix
      • Wassermann Test
      • Giovanna
      • Weathered
      • Blue Garden
      • Completed Baby Dwelling
      • Mission Art
      • Mission Architecture
      • Sweetpea Climax
      • Ancestors
      • Preparations
      • Three Roses
      • Buttons to Buzz With
      • Crescent
      • Ford
      • Summer Reindeer
      • Afternoon Garden
      • Office Adornments
      • Frames of War
      • Parallel Lives
      • Predominantly Sweetpeas
      • Bahá’í Architecture
      • Standard Issue
      • Bus Stop Views
      • Behind Glass
      • Buena Vista
      • Red Fireman
      • 1977
      • Fog Pictures
      • Final Favorites
      • Workers
      • El Greco
      • Garden in July
      • Italian Artifacts
      • American Galleries
      • Naiad
      • Gifts
      • Before the Revolution
    • ►  June (50)
    • ►  May (42)
    • ►  April (36)
    • ►  March (36)
    • ►  February (39)
    • ►  January (48)
  • ►  2009 (489)
    • ►  December (54)
    • ►  November (34)
    • ►  October (38)
    • ►  September (50)
    • ►  August (33)
    • ►  July (32)
    • ►  June (35)
    • ►  May (43)
    • ►  April (48)
    • ►  March (37)
    • ►  February (38)
    • ►  January (47)
  • ►  2008 (273)
    • ►  December (37)
    • ►  November (32)
    • ►  October (48)
    • ►  September (58)
    • ►  August (51)
    • ►  July (47)
Title image reproduces an oil painting of 1654 from Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the double self-portrait of French artists Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne and Nicolas de Plattemontagne
Simple theme. Powered by Blogger.