Against Articles of Faith
by Geoff Wichert
Mass delusions can come about in two ways. The failure to discern the difference between being certain and being correct seems endemic in America today, drawing ignorant and opinion-driven men and women to take charge and run the country to destruction. Each of these worthies comes by the delusion individually. Then there are shared phantasms that sweep across the land like a pop song that everyone is suddenly singing. Take, for example, the therapeutic notion that you can achieve anything you set out to do. It’s hard to imagine a more pointlessly stupid article of faith, unless it were the calm faith that one day, without any effort on my part, I shall be rich.
Arguing against such articles of common faith is pointless, but art has powers to reveal truths where persuasion can’t get even a foothold. Minerva Cuevas has posted an interactive video on the web that promises, “Believe and it will happen,” illustrated by a series of powerfully eloquent symbols, alternating religious icons like the cross and Magen David, financial signs like the euro and the dollar, and political signs like the anarchist A and the swastika. Of course the categories are porous: the swastika was a religious icon before it acquired political significance, while the six-pointed “shield of David” moved in the other direction. There is cause for much thought in these swiftly alternating, black-and-white images. If thinking can, indeed, make anything happen, is that a positive discovery of power and an encouragement to act, or should we take it as a warning to, as my father often said, measure twice and cut once?
Minerva Cuevas comes to us from Mexico City, making her the second artistic pilgrim in a year from the largest city in the Americas. Adriana Lara was the creator of Salt I, a compelling exhibit noted for her original use of banana peels. Cuevas can be counted on to produce something different, but equally sensational. She’ll be speaking at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, on the U of U campus, at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16. After her remarks there will be a reception in the Art Building, across from the UMFA. This event marks the intersection of three local interests: Artes de Mexico en Utah, U of U’s Latin American Studies Program, and the Art/Art History Department.
Categories: Happenings
