1987.10 review of Neoism & SMILE in New Art Examiner - Washington, DC, USA - Grant Kester
As I recall, I was exasperated by this article because its author, typically, made no mention of the US@ connection to Neoism - this despite the fact that the 1st International Neoist Apartment Festival was organized by me (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE) in BalTimOre in 1981 before there was one anywhere else but in Canada & the fact that there were 2 such Neoist APT Fests in BalTimOre by 1987 (when the article was written) & one in NYC & the fact that Kester had learned about SMILE & Neoism through BalTimOreans. Instead, Kester refers to APT Fests "which have been held in Germany," [ONE in 1986 at that point] "Italy," [ONE in 1985 at that point] and Canada" [6 or 7 at that point depending on what one accepts as an APT Fest].
My explanation for this neglect is partially the usual one: because BalTimOre was (is?) largely a working-class city it is (or, perhaps, was) consistently written off as place where anything culturally significant can happen. Aside from this, the article's riddled with inaccuracies of the usual underinformed art-speak of the time:
Neoism wasn't "initiated in Canada in 1977", it was founded in 1979; Karen Eliot wasn't created in 1984, it was created in 1985; many Neoists were mostly or completely unaware of FLUXUS & the Situationists; Kester appears to've been almost exclusively familiar with Stewart Home's SMILEs &, as such, generalizes from there; Kester's references to Situationist text used in SMILEs is limited to Stewart's & those of a few others. To be fair, Kester probably got much of this misinformation from one young Neoist whose involvement with Neoism was still too fresh to be very well-informed.
idioideo at verizon dot net
to the SMILEs index
to the Neoism page
to the Neoism/Anti-Neoism page
to the Anti-Neoism page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE as Interviewee page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE as Interviewer index
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE movie-making "Press: Criticism, Interviews, Reviews" home-page
to the "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - Sprocket Scientist" home-page
to the "FLICKER" home-page for the alternative cinematic experience
to find out more about why the S.P.C.S.M.E.F. (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sea Monkeys by Experimental Filmmakers) is so important
for info on tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's tape/CD publishing label: WIdémoUTH
to see an underdeveloped site re the N.A.A.M.C.P. (National Association for the Advancement of Multi-Colored Peoples)