Blogs offer a lot on the internet in relation to the arts. I read many articles with contemporary art subject matter. One blog that I found to be particularly interesting in scope and depth is the 3 Quarks Daily Blog. 3 Quarks Daily has articles from all areas of cultural concern including contemporary art. I contacted Abbas Raza of 3 Quarks Daily and requested an interview.
What is your role with 3 Quarks Daily? “I am the founder and primary editor.”
What has been the main focus of 3 Quarks to date? especially in relation to art? “We don’t have a focus and we are proud of that. We feel like we engage any and all fields of intellectual endeavor. Six days a week, we link to articles from the more
serious magazines and journals and book reviews, and sometimes blogs, and one day -Monday - we have original writing by our editors and guest columnists. So we are a combination of filter blog and weekly magazine, in a way. The Monday columns are all collected here:
Your blog includes commentary on art but this seems to be more from the observation of a social or cultural phenomena - do you have an interest in the esthetics of art? “I personally do happen to have an interest in aesthetics. As part of my Ph.D. program at Columbia, I took one of my qualifying exams in aesthetics and worked with Richard Kuhns and Arthur Danto, and I retain a fascination with some of the areas of philosophy of art that I was exposed to then. As a site, we often post links to art-related material - especially my co-editor and president of the well-known Queens art-collective Flux Factory, Morgan Meis - and we have had original writing about art, as well - for example see Timothy Don’s columns at 3QD. In addition, my sister Sughra, who is a very fine doctor but also has a fine arts degree, posts an art image every Monday, with some links to more information about the art, artist, etc.”
When considering contemporary art what kinds of creative expression would you like to see? “Some of the most arresting
visual images I have been seeing in the last ten years have been on ads on billboards, in magazines, etc. I think fine artists should relax their focus on the cognitive aspects of art - stop trying to be meaningful in some deep way — that’s SO last-millennium, as my niece might say! - and produce stuff which is cool to look at. And there is a lot of cool stuff out there. Playfulness is key, I think.”
Do you have any conceptions on what the limits of art creation should involve, or what the limits of art exhibition should
involve? “No, I don’t.”
What kinds of relationship would you see as healthy between art and world culture? “Identity. In other words, art IS world culture and vice-versa.”
Where does abstract or nonobjective art sit on your spectrum of creative expression? “I don’t have some sort of hierarchy of art in my head into which I might attempt to fit abstract forms of art. Obviously, they have an important place.”
“Perceptions: Chaos or Choreography?”
Photograph by Harry Callahan. Circus, Chicago, 1955.
Does 3 Quarks have any upcoming directions or projects? “3QD itself is an ongoing project and we plan to keep doing what we do. We do ten posts a day, every day, so it is quite relentless!. We don’t have any special projects coming up, though we are considering holding some online seminars on interesting and important topics.”
What are your sources of inspiration? “For me, personally: ideas coming out of the academy, ideas coming from the intellectual journals, ideas coming from the press, ideas coming from the blogosphere, ideas coming from my cat, ideas coming out of my own head. In that order.”
What other blogs do you admire - especially arts-related blogs? “I like, in alphabetical order: Amitava Kumar, Arts & Letters Daily, Cosmic Variance, Crooked Timber, David Byrne’s Journal, Jason Kottke, The Loom, Majikthise, Mtanga, and Wood’s Lot. And other’s too numerous to list here. Have a look at the ‘Links’ page at 3QD.”
What has been the most difficult content or controversy you have had to deal with - especially art-related? “We haven’t ‘had’ to deal with anything, really. We do post about ongoing controversies sometimes, but it’s not as if we are getting death threats or anything. . . The worst abuse anyone on our site has gotten has probably been when my friend and co-editor Robin Varghese got a comment on something he had written, saying, ‘Shut up, you commie pinko!’”
Do you have any interesting experiences with arts-related material that you can share? “No, they are all top secret and highly classified. I could tell you, but then I’d have to . . .”
Thank you Abbas Raza for your candor and the fine blog reading. I wish 3 Quarks Daily continued success and the best of readerships.
- Giselle Borzov
