Wasting time with art.

Yesterday I visited some galleries. Since the guide I’m writing is mainly focused on history and culture, I am supposed to ‘know’ about the cultural climate and the (contemporary) art scene in Prague, and visiting galleries is always a good way of getting a taste. Unfortunately, as I already wrote two weeks ago, I have become completely jaded when it comes to modern art. So when I saw that one of the galleries I wanted to visit hosted an exhibition entitled Don’t waste time with art, that sounded promising! The artist, an Austrian ‘media mannerist’ (whatever that may be) named Markus Huemer, didn’t ring any bells, but I was definitely up for some self-mockery.
Unfortunately, the gallery-space itself was more interesting than the exhibition. Huemer does a good job at painting a few bird-like figures on huge, empty stretches of canvas though. It was pretty nice, aesthetic, and sometimes even beautiful. But boring.
One part of the gallery was closed off by a heavy black curtain; a sign next to it warned the visitors only to go in one by one. There was no one there, so I went in and entered a large room, completely dark apart from the bright and sharp light coming from a beamer. In the opposite corner of the space, around 50 small birds huddled together on a wooden branch attached to the walls. It was hot and muggy inside, and the birds seemed scared. On the floor were big bowls filled with water and birdseed, and bird droppings all over. I wondered what the fuck this was supposed to be.
I stood there for a few minutes, observing the birds and taking a few pictures (without flash of course). Nothing happened: there was no sound, no visuals. Just those poor animals caught in a beam of white light, for art’s sake. The brochure accompanying the exhibition contained an interview with the artist, who explained that it was entitled Action Painting: “A conic ray of white light illumines the floor of the black box with hundred alive birds [I guess half of them had died by the time the exhibition was reaching its end] and creates an interesting image on it. Flying birds and their silhouettes affect the spread of light in the box and thus the whole impression from the installation. The birds’ droppings on the floor create haphazard patterns reminding Pollock’s drip paintings.”
Yeah, whatever! I may not be the biggest Jackson Pollock-fan in the world, but this comparison is simply ridiculous. I have seen some of Pollocks works up close in New York in 2005, and I when I entered that 'Pollock room' in the MoMa, I was seriously moved by those huge paintings, bearing an impact still so violent after all those years. Pollocks work is agressive, desperate at times; with an urgency you hardly ever seem to find in contemporary art, since a lot of artist nowadays seem more concerned with being ironic and 'aesthetically sculpting their concept' than just spilling their guts for once.
If Hueller really knows Pollock so well, I'm very suprised that he dares to compare himself to him. To lock a hundred birds in a black box for six weeks and let them eat, drink, fly and shit in the dark, and call that 'Action Painting' is not only pathetic; it's pretty disgusting too.