#contemplating the void

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Two Connected Houses is Mark Manders‘ proposition for the Guggenheim’s exhibition Contemplating the Void (see previous article). In fact, this artist proposes to link a little house in the the void of the Guggenheim, with another house on the other side of the street by a tunnel excavated from New York’s ground. “It will take four days to construct the tunnel”, he writes.

Took a vow in June to stop using social media to see to my failing health, which was caused by social media harassment because it's an election year and it was feeling like a Red Summer. So I vowed not to post anything until after the election. The election happened, and I've been ruminating on the history of the world since then. And whether tumblr has any use for the older generation.

One of the things that made me question tumblr and all the young people that populate it was a conversation in the nudist group I belong to. Someone asked "can millennials be nudist?" which sparked a long discussion. Most nudists are elderly, and nudist resorts have been closing down-but not because we are dying off...no, because we are fleeing our nation's youth. It turns out young people have been coming to the resorts and sexually harassing the old folks, who have zero tolerance for that behavior, cancel their membership because management won't do anything, and the resort goes bankrupt.

And it made me very bitter, because it reminded me of all the harassment older queers, including myself, receive from the younger generation. The kink at pride debate, driven entirely by youth. The bi-lesbian debate, driven entirely by youth. The bi vs. pan debate, driven entirely by youth, and lots of teenagers at that. Literal children. Being called a pedophile by thirty-five-year-old bisexuals because I find them attractive.

I am sick of it.

It appears among the younger populace that there is a widespread belief that queer culture did not exist prior to the 2000's, thus, any mention of queer culture prior to the 1980's (no, you twerps, we did not all die) must be a hoax.

There is so much anti-queer propaganda coming from queers on tumblr that creating historical archives on said platform is a cottage industry among older queers. Is that my fate? To sit in my rocking chair and knit the old pride flags? Because none of you fucking...none of you seem to believe anything we have to say.

The day after the election I heard calls to lgbt crisis hotlines increased by 800%. In my day, we didn't have hotlines; we were told fags got what they deserved. We didn't have therapists, because we were told liking gay sex made us schizos. Hate crimes wasn't a concept back then, nor would we have reported a crime because the police were more than likely to have perpetuated it.

All we had was each other and an impregnable sense of humor that all of you appear to be lacking.

I keep abreast of political news around the world, so it didn't surprise me that the trends in Europe were followed in the United States: people in their twenties carried the right-wing vote. And that is very easily explained, from an old person's point of view: we remember what the Reagan years were like; we remember what the Bush years were like; we remember what the Thatcher years were like; we remember what the Nazi years were like...YOU, do not.

I'm not saying queer youth participated in this trend; polling doesn't support that...what I'm saying is that the historical revisionism among youth, queer or otherwise, the...uninhibited quickness to sexual harassment and violence I've seen among young people this year, queer or otherwise...I was not surprised by the voting trends: that is the pattern youth culture has formed in this generation.

Or not, I don’t know what ya’ll think of me

Anyway, my life is a mess, so think of this as a journal entry for ya’ll to read about why I haven’t been posting much recently.

TL;DR, I JUST FAILED AN EXAM, SO I’M GOING TO BE TUMBLRING MY FEELINGS AWAY SO GET READY FOR THAT.

Tribute to Hans Haacke and Edward Fry (2009) Doris Salcedo 

Alwar Balasubramaniam, Contemplating the Void

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About Contemplating the Void:

"For the building’s 50th anniversary, the Guggenheim invited scores of artists, architects, and designers to leave practicality or even reality behind in conjuring their proposals for the space... Submissions were received from all over the world from a wide range of artists, designers, and architects, including emerging as well as established practitioners." http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/past/exhibit/3361

The Guggenheim empty http://web.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/exhibition_pages/void/index.html#/home (move cursor right to scroll)

All 200 proposals by invited artists, designers and architects http://web.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/exhibition_pages/void/index.html#/proposals

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