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Post by technick on Jan 11, 2014 8:39:05 GMT -5
Went to see the Chris Burden sculpture & video performance show filling NYC's New Museum (until 1/12/13). Saw this - "Two Cities" only there were lots of people partly blocking the view.   So my old friend from art school says, "well I guess it's a really long wait to get the binoculars" then all of a sudden his date hands me binoculars. Turns out some fairly tall stranger viewing with binoculars mistook the top of her head for his own date who had wandered off and then did a double take at the mixup only after passing the binoculars. Anyway the first thing I see is an Arklon Mecha Gomora  Then I notice an area just full of vintage diecast like Voltes V  |
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Post by TheMazingerZ on Jan 11, 2014 11:44:46 GMT -5
Awesome! Thanks for sharing it here!  }D |
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Post by magengar on Jan 12, 2014 1:01:17 GMT -5
I love it when artists showcase something like that and viewers look at it and just assume it's a typical diorama... ...until you get a closer look at the detail and find peculiar recognizable objects thrown into the mix.  zozo-mag |
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Post by OJA on Jan 12, 2014 10:29:58 GMT -5
Then I notice an area just full of vintage diecast like Voltes V The sword guard is upside down. It should be M instead of W. And panzer wheels are facing forward/ missing rubber threads. Love that chunky diecast army of mekanda robots. Thanks for the post tecknick. |
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Post by magengar on Jan 12, 2014 12:25:05 GMT -5
I see the Voltes, and the Mekandas. I also see the black Sigma robo and the red Sigma robo, but I can't find the yellow Sigma robo- you know, the three sigma bots which form God Sigma. Then, up in the top left corner, I see a pair of Great Mazinga chogokin legs. Never mind. That's an awesome exhibit. Thanks to Technick for sharing that article with us! I did a search for " Chris Burden, A Tale of Two Cities, 1981" and found this... www.toyasobject.com/chris-burden-a-tale-of-two-cities/You'll see a better view of all the Mouth-watering Eye-exploding Mind-blowing vintage robot toy objects for that exhibit piece. At some point, elements in the piece had suffered damage to deterioration and displacement; so much that even the artist himself was considering to ' destroy' his exhibit piece. The following article explains how the exhibit was saved and the measures which museum staff took to restore some elements. So, if you found yourself out-bidded for robot toys at eBay sometime last year, you may probably wanna blame these museum curators! lol Read on... www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Burdens-war-saved-from-brink/30483I then ran an image search for better photos of " Chris Burden, Tale Of Two Cities, 1981" and found some really nice pics in the search results... images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0oG7kQXyNJSkAUAjaVXNyoA?p=Chris+Burden%2C+A+Tale+of+Two+Cities%2C+1981&fr=moz35&fr2=piv-webLast, but not least, I dig this as one of my favorite exhibits by Chris Burden...  This piece is called " Metropolis II"... Chris Burden spent four years building this piece, using 1500 Hotwheels cars, vehicles, and electric trains, along with a variety of materials for the buildings and city structure, and the electronics to power it all. Warning: this "Metropolis II" exhibit piece is ALIVE... I wish I could win the lottery so I can buy a building and have That kind of display space and resources for my toys!  zozo-mag |
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Post by Mr. Ginrai on Jan 12, 2014 17:11:08 GMT -5
The toyasobject article was a write up by Sean aka diceone on here and the other forums. If you like coverage of this and other stuff where toys cross into the art medium, he is a good person to read stuff from, as he is right in the middle of that environment in NY.
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Post by magengar on Jan 12, 2014 17:32:46 GMT -5
Thanks Mr. Ginrai, I'll continue following Sean's articles. Every time I see stuff like this my mind races with ideas. zozo-mag |
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Post by Watari on Jan 12, 2014 22:17:01 GMT -5
wow, that's a lot of Bullmark Mekandas  Thanks for sharing  |
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Post by KingboyD on Jan 13, 2014 8:37:28 GMT -5
Pretty cool. But considering the size of those toys, I don't understand why you need binoculars to see them. The top photo shows a person right adjacent to the exhibit.
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Post by Mr. Ginrai on Jan 13, 2014 12:41:30 GMT -5
Pretty cool. But considering the size of those toys, I don't understand why you need binoculars to see them. The top photo shows a person right adjacent to the exhibit. I think the pictures featured were meant to evoke the feel of looking at the battle from a distance, hence the binoculars. |
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Post by KingboyD on Jan 13, 2014 15:13:14 GMT -5
I'm not sure I understand you, or perhaps you are not understanding me. Are you referring to the bottom two blurry photos? Yes, I could understand that - that they represent what a viewer would see through binoculars. However, these were taken by technick, so they were either taken at a distance and/or his zoom is not that accurate (hence the blurry pics). But a DX Voltes is a large toy, and the others are not particularly small. The exhibition, as stated by the artist, is meant to represent a miniature of conflict between two cities. He specifically states that "[t]he piece can be viewed in detail only through the use of a set of binoculars." From the first photo, which I assume is a true photo from the actual exhibition, the ropes are set directly around the piece, only a few feet off. Everything can clearly be seen at this distance. In order to get the true effect, the ropes should have been set back about thirty feet plus. Then the use of binoculars would make sense. Now maybe the first photo is not accurate. But I can only go on what is presented. Or you just stand at one end and only look at stuff in the distance, not close up. But that sounds kind of stupid. If that were the case, technick could have gotten clearer shots (walked up to the area of the gokins). Maybe I am over-evaluating this. LOL. But I assume that the issue here is that the first photo is inaccurate.
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Post by KingboyD on Jan 13, 2014 15:21:24 GMT -5
OK, I guess that is how it is really set up. I found a lot more images online. www.google.com/search?q=Chris+Burden+New+Museum+tale+of+two+cities&espv=210&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=sknUUpjHH8jCoATr2IGwBA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=630#imgdii=_Lots of good toys in there - Bullmark DX Mekanda parts, Kyodain base parts, Nakajima Groizer, Robocon Gantsu Teacher, ... 1.bp.blogspot.com/-25GKlbQFUqo/UqJHWV48InI/AAAAAAAAHCQ/J_n6OClRnqs/s1600/P1070448.JPGPlus I spied Godaikin Gardian, Mekanda jets, Shogun Great Mazinger and Poseidon, Legioss toys, Popy Getter 2, Dougram stuff, Nakajima UFO base, Voltron ST, ... I'm shocked to see some of these rare and expensive toys (e.g., Mekanda DX and jets) used in this manner. |
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Post by Mr. Ginrai on Jan 13, 2014 19:34:05 GMT -5
I know it's odd to see the toys but wasn't this artwork made in 1981, or the 80s? That would account for the vintage stuff being in such large quantities.
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Post by magengar on Jan 13, 2014 20:04:48 GMT -5
The vintage stuff Now wasn't so vintage back then,
and they were in circulation more often; mostly because
the 'network' media was limited to local coverage
and in-person meetings.
Not to mention, we didn't even have such a thing as
the internet back in those days.
eBay was never even a concept back then, if anything.
So, you mostly knew about those items in your local area
if a local vendor happened to have them on sale at his
antique show, toy show, or flea market.
Other than that you have to travel around to meet folks
and network In Person with whoever had those toys available.
I'd say, that for his "Tale Of Two Cities" 1981 exhibit,
the artist had to travel around the country to find as many
of those vintage robot toys as he could get his hands on.
zozo-mag
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Post by technick on Jan 18, 2014 21:07:18 GMT -5
Just to clarify, the top photo is something I linked from the museum site, the others are mine. I would have taken more if they were coming out better and if I wasn't with friends. As for binoculars (mini, not full size), I'm sure they were to give another perspective. The depth of field and narrow detailed view is radically different. Sure you could see them fine without binoculars, other than the place was packed with people so clear views took waiting for people to move. I couldn't quickly just walk closer to another part. Anyway on first look at the far right side with no binoculars I just saw model train buildings and military stuff. The model train stuff seemed HO scale and German in origin (Japan model trains are mostly N fwiw) and then, as I mentioned I was handed the binoculars and the first thing that came in focus was the Arklon Gomora which surprised me, then I continued to be surprised as a little to the left suddenly there were many vintage diecast.
The right side was supposed to be Japanese toys, though I see German tanks (though could be Japanese made toys). The left side was supposed to be America. Looking at the toyasobject.com pics, in the bottom one I see a Gachaman G-1 over on the "American" side right behind the "Attention!" sign.
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Post by magengar on Jan 21, 2014 5:35:15 GMT -5
As I was looking at the photos for that "Tale Of Two Cities" exhibit, I reminisced a time when the world was at war (still is) between the major super-powers... ...the U.S., the U.K., Russia, and Japan. At the time of that exhibit (1981), we were still in the Cold War era and it seemed like there was no end in sight. lol While the others were busy flexing their military muscle, Japan was busy developing its economic/technological power. The use of these various toy items clearly symbolized to me what each super-power was bringing into the arena. Who would ever have thought that eight years later the Berlin Wall would come down and Germany would be reunited, AND Communism would fall in Russia. Meanwhile, Japan continued in its economic growth and advancing technology. Whether other nations are at war, or a natural disaster strikes, nothing seems to distract Japan from moving forward. You can see that in the way those military battle scenes are staged with the robots advancing into enemy territory... ...nothing can stop them. All those vintage toys of robot characters would represent the progress Japan has been making to exceed as a world super-power, with each robot breaching yet another perimeter. I went way off topic here, but this just my own interpretation that I got from viewing that exhibit. zozo-mag |
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