All of my work is about optimism and pessimism. In late 2007, I decided to be an optimist. I am thinking about being a pessimist again. Here’s why:

Bummer: With all the spectacular financial ruin on Wall Street, I was thinking that maybe I should pull my money out of my bank. Too late!

Bummer: I know everyone’s got it tough, I’m afraid these lean times will get even leaner. Like Emil Hirsch’s character in Into the Wild, says, Where are the the F’n animals?

It’s not all pity party yet. There are still a few things that float my boat– examples of smart people doing interesting things:

Red Lines
Death Vows
Foreclosures
Risk Structures
September 9 – December 21, 2008
Architectures of finance from the Great Depression to the Subprime Meltdown
An exhibition by Damon Rich and the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)
Commissioned by the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS)
Hosted by the MIT Museum
MIT Museum Compton Gallery, Cambridge, MA
How timely! What a great idea to develop an exhibition model for examining these rather convoluted economic structures.

Won Ju Lim: 24 SECONDS OF SILENCE
September 27 – November 26, 2008
Curated by UCCA Curator David Spalding
I really loved Won Ju Lim’s work at Patrick Painter, and I’m sure she’s up to something amazing at the huge, recently opened Ullens Center.

Apex Art’s Franchise opportunity.
Strange curatorial potential.

Josiah McElheny’s “The End of the Dark Ages” sculptural infographics of the Big Bang at Andrea Rosen Gallery
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And finally, a smart person has written a (presumably) interesting book about a really, really big bummer:

David S. Mason’s blog for his new book, The End of the American Century, is already really topical, though the book isn’t due out until Oct. 1. The timing really couldn’t be worse, if you’ve already got the bad news blues, or better, if you’re a fan of Lehmannfraude.