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We meet Paul Pfeiffer inside his retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago to talk about ghosts, spectacle, and the metaphysics of sports. Known for erasing athletes from footage and turning stadiums into stages of worship, Pfeiffer opens up about boxing as performance, the haunted loop of fandom, and building media rituals in the Philippines.
Also: parrots, Deion Sanders, lip sync monks, and the death of the moment.
Names dropped:
Deion Sanders – https://www.instagram.com/deionsanders/?hl=en
Manny Pacquiao – mannypacquiao.ph
The Bible (yes, the text) – https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/hail-satan?srsltid=AfmBOoqTwkeDSDwxOmlvVLQX8QQduw8ehfzt3sYzUMFMvJO-_ym35hOg
Tom Gunning – https://cms.uchicago.edu/people/tom-gunning
Joshua Oppenheimer – https://cream.ac.uk/people/josh-oppenheimer/
DJ Spooky (Paul Miller) – djspooky.com
Gina Osterloh – ginaosterloh.com
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago – mcachicago.org
Biennale of Sydney – biennaleofsydney.art
Contemporary Art Gallery Vancouver – cagvancouver.org
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On this week’s harrowing tale of Art, Bad at Sports visits the Salt Shed for Shred the Shed, an event celebrating the latest release of Portable Gray, a biannual journal published by The University of Chicago Press. In the first segment, Duncan and Ryan get the scoop from Megan Jeyifo from Chicago Abortion Fund on how to throw a righteous abortion party. In part two, Duncan and Ryan are interviewed by brothers Shane Heyl, founder of Shake Junt – a skateboard/apparel company, and Brent Heyl, Director of Music at 16 on Center, co-organizer of Shred the Shed. Obviously it is all too much to explain, so just listen. ]]>
Why does the unicorn have pentagram eyes, Zachary?
Because satanism freaks people out
Because they are evil
Because I worship at the altar of Baudelaire
Because “The Good” is a liar, has always been thus
Because witches will have their day
(and I’ll be burned on a pyre for Tyche)
Because all good table-turning starts by turning the tables
Because magic is spelled with a “k”
Because empires will fall
Because Capitalism is afraid of Satan, even though it is deeply satanic
Because there are so many things I forgot to say
Because you would never believe me if they didn’t
Because sometimes for no reason that is obvious I start weeping uncontrollably in the shower-
I crumple and weep – the room just fills with steam
Because that is what love looks like
Because that is what god looks like
Because if I told you I would have to kill you
Because some days are better than others
Because fairytales require judgment
and a sentence
Because music is something I hate more than anything else
Because Hecate
Because turning away is a turning towards
Because you are unwelcome here!
Get behind me Satan!
Because if I stop breathing for a second, you won’t remember me
So I keep breathing even though maybe, it would be easier if I didn’t
Because I was always afraid of vampires
Because I’m still afraid of vampires
Because I believe in the apotropaic nature of vision
Because unicorns have convinced you that they are harmless
Because glitter is worse
Because all the plains of heaven tremble at the sight of them
Because this is what apocalypse looks like
This is what apocalypse looks like!
[cue audience chant]
This is what apocalypse looks like!
Because all my friends are suffering
All of them
Every
Single
One
And most of them are trying to cover their psychic wounds with laughter
But that’s not working out so well either
It’s not funny
Because there is nothing POST about our Traumatic Stress DisOrder
No “P” just “TSD”
Because I have howled on Instagram for years and it made not one bit of difference… the Moon is still the Moon
Because animals believe in one god
And that one god is definitely not god
Not your god
Not mine
Because the god they worship is coming for you
It’s coming for everyone
Because you’ll never worship the same way again after they are done with you
The animals
Because all my people are broken
and there is nothing I can do
I’m broken
and there is nothing I can do
Because it is my only option
Because I took the wrong path to start doing hard drugs at this point in my life
(too late for that…sorry Charlie, I am not an orthodox Baudelairian)
Because that is the way the ink smudged and then it stuck
Because it’s just a drawing
Because it doesn’t really mean anything
Because I have no claim on any symbol (grad school robbed me of that)
Maybe that’s for the best
Because if you wait a thousand years they’ll mean something different
Like, maybe, pentagrams will be a new symbol for currency
If it’s not already
it should be
The sign for money is now presto change-o ta-dah: pentagrams!
Or maybe it’s a sign of stupidity
Same difference
That’s a phrase I struggled with as a child… like gift-shop
Because sometimes I go off on a tangent
Because sometimes I go off the rails
Like some sad middle-aged romantic cliche
Because I have no idea when all my hair turned grey
Because I thought it was obviously a cry for help
Like all my art and everything I have ever written
Help!
Because I wouldn’t know what to do with that help if it ever I arrived
Because maybe that’s what love is
Maybe it is something so scary, fire-breathing, and mystical that you have no idea what it is when it is looking right at you
When it’s right in front of you staring into your soul and it is just freaking you out because that invisibility rhymes with your deep sense of existential loneliness but inverted
but still the same thing and you just want to scream in the night as those blazing pentagram eyes meet your gaze in your unicorn dream
in your unicorn love dream
In your unicorn love dream apocalypse
In your unicorn love dream apocalypse monster of loneliness, fear, and desolation monster monster
Who whispers in your ear to settle down zach
Calm down now
Calm down
Stop your crying
Stop
I’m here
I’m here with you
I’m here with you
Alone together
in the vast empty night sky at the end of the world
where your tears are meaningless flashes of liquid fire destroying all creation forever
and ever and ever and ever
Sad tears of fire
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This week Bad at Sports attempts to get to the bottom of whether foundation.app is a marketplace, a platform, or a cultural hall. Dana Bassett and Duncan MacKenzie are joined by Kayvon Tehranian, CEO and Lindsay Howard, Head of Community who are lighting our way towards how artists can get paid for their content while creating a new way to sell and consume art works, and just maybe, building a new internet in the meantime.
Duncan is trying to convince Lindsay to start a book club. If you’re interested slide something into his DMs. Or maybe you are interested in the official NFT of this conversation? The first officially minted podcast by Bad at Sports an NFT about the meaning and possibilities of NFTs what could be more meta and more B@S? Dropping soon on Foundation.
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In what feels like a throwback episode Ryan and Duncan record IRL with Holly Holmes and Tom Burtonwood. We explore the legacy of Sabina Ott, the future for the Terrain Biennial and its 2021 iteration, then we talk through what is going on in their studios and focus around their exploration of the NFT artwork space.
https://terrainexhibitions.org/
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This week on the B@S, Stella Brown and Nick Wylie join Jesse and Brian to talk about Buddy — the new artist-run shop/gallery/venue at the Chicago Cultural Center that features works and products by more than 220 artists — and Co-Prosperity Catskill — the new exhibition space in the Hudson Valley. These two new projects from the Public Media Institute, whose many many include WLPN, Lumpen Magazine, Lumpen TV and the Co-Prosperity space in Bridgeport, extend the ever-shifting and growing publicnesses that amplify, support and nurture so many artists and thinkers in our city. We talk about the realms of the possible, the concept of the public and end up making an ad (-vertisement and -vocacy) for Chicago in many acts.
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On today’s episode Dana and Ryan join painter Christina Quarles [in person!] to discuss her eponymous exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. We talk painting (of course), and discuss pandemic cancellations and inspirations. We hope you enjoy the sound of face-to-face conversation and Christina’s giggles as much as we enjoyed recording them. ]]>