Press texts can be so obnoxiously bad. I had to laugh when I read the first paragraph of SAVVY Contemporary that entered in my mailbox last week:
“How do we celebrate with one hand up in praise, and another hand up calling for attention to question and reprimand? [...] We at SAVVY Contemporary are bound to negotiate that in-between space, off the path paved by the canon,” explains Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, founder and director of SAVVY Contemporary."
I was trying to imagine Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung standing like a pope with his one hand in praise and in his other hand wagging the finger while reprimanding. Such a pompous gesture and a totally shallow statement meaning nothing much but quoted as if it's the most radical thing that had been said in the 21st century. Adding to it, just for the sake of backing up the statement with authority: this important statement was made by the founder and director of SAVVY. The traditional power talk but one that is so-called intended to be off the canonical path. And the funny thing is that this is what the conventional art world loves. They love this shit. I just wish project spaces would be more critical of the language they use and the structures that underlie it. There is a lot that SAVVY could do by looking critically at its own workings.