Dear Architect,

Upon reading that “James Cameron has shored up his position as king of the worldwide box office,” we recalled that just weeks ago he also “shored up his position as king of the worldwide ocean diving.”

Both “stunts” sadden us.

And the hype publicized on http://news.yahoo.com/3-d-release-steers-titanic-past-2-billion-182151091.html about the “sail beyond the $2 billion mark in lifetime ticket sales” saddens us further. To reduce both life and art to such “stunts” is to acknowledge that there is in man (in general) an insatiable and vulgar desire to prove his limitless ego, through numbers, numbers, numbers. Capitalism, through a vulgar definition of man, measures everything quantitatively, preferably in money, money, money, or inches, inches, inches.

 We express our opposition and we launch, now, a call for entries for THE HOUSE OF STUNTS (or its very opposite – which we prefer, actually).

Thank you,

ICARCH Gallery

THE HOUSE OF STUNTS

(or its very opposite)

Art is immeasure and so is life.

If there isn’t such a word, immeasure, it should be!

No true art, or life, is defined primarily by measures, be them the height of Everest, or the depth of the deepest ocean.

But movies like Titanic, or Avatar, are measured in the millions or billions they made. Inasmuch as the “exceptionalism” of their creator is likewise measured in the number of feet he dived into the ocean.

Numbers, numbers, numbers.

Stunts, stunts, stunts.

“Man”hood.

Indeed, man (mainly man in this case) measures his worth in numbers… of all kinds.

But the Universe laughs at our numbers.

Mere numbers…

Who cares that one went one inch further…?!?

It is still measure, that is, LIMIT.

We advocate THE LIMITLESS.

Could Cameron reach THE LIMITLESS…?!?

Preferably through his movies, and only then, through his “stunts…?!?”

We just read, now, that The United States paid “unusually large amounts of money” to the victims of the recent Afghan massacre.

Numbers, numbers, numbers… what do 50,000$ mean compared to DEATH, DEATH, DEATH…?!?

We find it vulgar, very vulgar, as vulgar are the “successes” of Titanic and Avatar, or the “deepest plunge ever” (until now).

We should remember that what truly counts is immeasurable.

And we should read again the beautiful letters of Vincent Van Gogh, who understood, so very lucidly, that the “mystery” of life does not reside in the measurable highest and deepest, in the measurable most distant, but in the very moving immeasurableness of a pair of old shoes, in a modest gathering of potatoes eaters, in a “mere” wooden chair, or in the bent posture of an old man, reflecting on his life, looking inwardly…

This is art, and this is life.

True art and true life.

Neither are stunts.

We ask you to design THE HOUSE OF STUNTS, or its very opposite, THE HOUSE OF TRUE LIFE / ART.

One OR the other.

Thank you,

ICARCH Gallery