The Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences here in Sioux Falls is currently hosting an exhibit called “LC Bakery,” also known as “The Blackery.” Without going into too much detail, I’ll tell you that the gist of the exhibit is this: the artist is inspired by burned loaves of French bread. He sees their individual curves and shapes and imperfections as something to be admired and displayed. Venturing into the world of sight and smell displays, LC has arranged his loaves of bread on the top floor exhibit hall of the Pavilion. What’s unique about this exhibit is, unless you go every day, you’re likely never to see the same design twice.

When my friend and I stopped by to see it Friday night, we honestly had no response. It’s probably one of the first art displays I’ve seen in awhile where I did not feel compelled to give a response. I just wanted to look at it. I want to stand close to the wall and squint up at the bread. I wanted to stand as far away as possible so as to feel the wave effect produced by the few, every so slightly tilted loaves.

Unfortunately, however, my friend and I were in the minority in terms of our responses (or lack thereof) and many others felt compelled to give there own in the Comment Book. I’ll be honest, it was by far the most scathing comment book I’ve ever read, filled with comments like “This sucks,” “This is not art,” “What a waste of money,” “I don’t understand.” Few of the comments were legible, let alone intelligent and I was actually modestly ashamed of the Sioux Falls audience that I now feel compelled to do one of two things. 1) Go back and fill a page with a stellar review or 2) Write to the Argus Leader. Before I do either, however, there are a couple of things that need clearing up.

1) The Pavilion received grant money for this so your tax dollars are not being used.
2) One of the most common observations in the horrible Comment Book was, why waste the grain when we’re in the middle of a food crisis. My response: the bread was baked locally, using local grain (that probably would have never gone to those who need it most). Thus, it prevented a food crisis in Sioux Falls and the surrounding area for that much longer.
3) Of course it’s art. If you don’t understand it and you keep on talking about it and it expresses different shapes, meanings and concepts (and it’s in an art museum selected by a committee that has always had good taste), then it has to be art. In fact, you walk into the room and there’s no doubt that it’s art.
4) The Pavilion is seeking national accreditation meaning, if their certification passes, you can use your Pavilion member card at the Met or the MoMA, should you ever leave the state.
5) This is only the second time the exhibit has been diplayed–ever. Read about it HERE and HERE.

As the Democratic Primary race winds down (that’s a figure of speech of course, for this race is sure to continue for decades, eons even) there is more and more speculation about an Obama/McCain matchup or a Hillary/McCain matchup. A major component of these speculations is about which states will be “in play.” While it remains somewhat ambiguous as to what “in play” means, I think the essence of the idea is that the pundits are stumped as to which state the candidates will screw up in next and lose all of the votes. In that vein, everyone’s favorite conservative loving terrorist hating Argus Leader Editorial Board put South Dakota  “in play” yesterday by forcing Hillary to say this (transcript at the bottom):

To be honest, I don’t know what any of this means or what the RFK remark has to do with anything. However, it does accomplish one thing: her incredulous tone about the need for party unity starts openning doors for her to take this fight to the primary. Whether or not she will actually do that remains highly uncertain, and, in the words of Peter Whathisface on MSNBC this morning, “an armegeddon scenario.” While I don’t find this remark particularly offensive to anyone (granted, I’m not a Kennedy or someone who was around when the assassination happened) I find it interesting the big deal everyone is making out of these words like they did Rev. Wright’s comments. Maybe there isn’t such a double standard after all. I also find it incredibly frightening that there is now public acknowledgement of security concerns for Barack. (Did anyone else notice the bullet proof glass and overprotective security guards at the Des Moines Speech on Tuesday?)

Anyway, here are a few links to interesting followups to the South Dakota fall out: The Financial Times, Wonkette, Andrew Sullivan, Rolling Stone, Gawker, BBC

Excerpt of Argus Leader Editorial Board Interview with Hillary Clinton:

EB: You don’t buy the party unity argument?

CLINTON: I don’t because, again, I’ve been around long enough. You know my husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know, I just don’t understand it and there’s lot of speculation about why it is, but . . .

EB: What’s your speculation?

CLINTON: You know, I don’t know, I find it curious and I don’t want to attribute motives or strategies to people because I don’t really know, but it’s a historical curiosity to me.

EB: Does it have anything to do with gender?

CLINTON: I don’t know that either.