Introducing the films and keeping time in the background is ‘The Speed of Markets’, an installation by Varvara & Mar, consisting of seven metronomes set to follow and translate into rhythm the real-time trade volume of the stock markets. The Speed of Markets sets the labor depicted in the films against the ticking of the metronomes (which frequently creates a chaotic tempo) and grounds the market’s abstraction of tangible goods and services back in the material. The complex interdependencies between humans and tools, tools and objects, and objects and humans build a shared, ambient melody that emerges across the films’ soundtracks and the metronomic rhythms. Meant as a poetic opportunity for reflection, ‘In Time’ is also a meditation on the choreography of fabrication, the dignity of labor, and the unexpected ways material becomes immaterial.
Another museum we visited today was the American Folk Art Museum. The show we visited was particularly bizarre; it was entirely made up of Masonic objects. If you’re the sort who believes in conspiracy theories and thinks the world is being secretly run by Masons and the Illuminati, this show may not be for you. And if not then we’d still recommend you should check it out all the same. On view are items used in and related to the rituals of Freemasonry and Odd Fellows, and needless to say, they are rich in Masonic symbols – the Blazing Star, the Masonic Eye, the Square and Compasses – that are at once mystical, surreal and spooky. But more importantly, these objects are amazing examples of folk art with roots in the Enlightenment and the American Revolution, thanks to people like Washington, Franklin and Monroe, all of whom were Masons. The show plumbs the still-secretive nature of a society that’s had a more significant impact on history than most people realise, even if they don’t rule the world. It’s also interesting to think that before the age of mass production, the artist who painted a portrait or embellished a piece of furniture might have also decorated a parade banner, an apron, symbols on a chart, or a backdrop for a fraternal lodge. The iconic art and objects showcased in ‘Mystery and Benevolence’ relate the tenets of fraternal belief through a powerful combination of highly charged imagery, form, and meaning. The exhibition explores the fascinating visual landscape of fraternal culture through almost two hundred works of art. The strangest/scariest aspect of it is its pretentious nature; something that theoretically has its roots in charity and altruism yet in reality it’s all about malevolence and power.
