Blow-by-blow
Our very first Flux Death Match gladiator-debators got in the pugilistic spirit well before convening at the Flux gallery on March 21st for an historic art world melee. On the day of the event, Paddy Johnson allied herself with Hrag Vartanian in a debate-til-the-rhetorical-death against John Powers and William Powhida in this blog post on Art Fag City. There was also some trash talking on Twitter, where Hrag Vartanian promised to “eat their hearts” and John Powers chided that “reading about Occupy Museum in preparation for tomorrow’s #deathmatch is pissing me off.”
Our audience chimed in during the event via Twitter, too. Some highlights include:
@jen_dalton accused us of false advertising – “Flux factory Art and OWS #deathmatch surprisingly high-minded and un-deathy.”
@clairenicole – “@hrag asks ‘what if Rosa Parks had been a performance artist?’ Major #deathmatch impact question.”
@museumnerd – “Artists are poor people that rich people like and are not afraid of.”-@starwarsmodern at the @Flux_Facrtory #deathmatch.”
@manbartlett – “Strange that @starwarsmodern keeps saying ‘they’ and ‘you’ and then follows that up with how he wants #ows to look.”
@manbartlett – “Paddy says there’s a moral imperative for artists to get involved with the Occupy movement. #deathmatch.”
@dylanschenker observed, “@starwarsmodern is wrong. Nobody should say what #ows is about. Narrows Focus of movement. Must learn to sacrifice for nothing.”
@mariuswatz – “#deathmatch takeaway pt.2: How did it even get this messed up in the first place unless artists are complicit in their own demise?”
We at Flux were too fearful of the blood, guts, and gore to declare a real winner, so we determined all four panelists winners with a silent display of twinkle fingers. In case you missed it, you can hear the Flux Death Match broadcast on free103point9 on March 31 from 7 – 9 pm.
(photo courtesy Claire Sexton)