Deeper
“As soon as he saw me, he started talking about artists who had been bad fathers. He spoke with great ease, as if we were intimate friends who had discussed the topic many times. I smiled politely and nodded while feverishly trying to get my bearings. What was the connection? Was it because I had written about being a father? Did he himself have a bad conscience as a father? Or was there another reference I hadn’t picked up on? The whole situation was unclear. I wasn’t there to interview him, and we didn’t know each other — I wasn’t even sure if he knew who I was.”
– Karl Ove Knausgaard, “Into the Black Forest With the Greatest Living Artist,” The New York Times.
A meeting of two major (and masc) egos, the neurotic Norwegian novelist Knausgaard devotes months — and a hefty word count — trying to understand what makes Anselm Kiefer tick. Tautology and transference ensue.
“Globally, if we look at the 50 percent who live outside of cities, there are actually two billion people living in the countryside, not working in agriculture. They live in the countryside and we don’t know what they do there.” – Rem Koolhaas, “Countryside,” 032c Issue #23.
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Opening this week at the Guggenheim museum in New York, “Countryside: The Future” exhibits the last decade of Koolhaas’ work outside the city – which, hopefully, has shed light on these activities.