Art for Business Sake

We stood and watched heavy silver duck tape being painfully removed from a girl's body. In the next room, there was a slide show of thoughts centered on fame or money, pearls, oysters and sugar and one woman's passions. The slideshow switched mid-way into graphic pictures of the artist surrounded by some of her favorite things. She was naked and on a bed. This kept a lot of viewers sitting through the whole presentation. You could sit on an actual bed in the room, with pearls, magazines and Ritz crackers strewn about.

The art-exhibits were alive with expression at the ANE Exhibit opening for "Business Art Business 2000" on Saturday, January 22. Tall, beautiful Marni Kotak, a new media veteran, held court with her exhibit "Livesystems.net." In addition to exposing herself literally, she called our attention to just how integrated and prevalent advertising space is in our lives. As people watched her show, she encouraged them to participate in the raffle for advertising on her body. Of course, "the price goes up as the ad space moves down" (the body). Iconocasters Michael Tchong and Beth Weintraub even came out on the cold bristly night to take in the avant-guard scene.