The Agenda

By Dan Verrier

[This article first appeared in The Agenda #16, July/August 2006]

Hipness was around even before Lord Kelvin said “Now this is as cool as it gets,” and even just in the present day, there are any number of different definitions for it, depending on the clique being discussed. Analysis, however, leads us to some basic mechanics common to all forms of cool, regardless of period.

The reasoning behind a given thing’s popularity seems ultimately based in some quest for dominance—everybody clamoring to be the Alpha Dog—but what’s In or Out for any one group is apparently arbitrary. A given definition spreads as all memes do: from person to person, reliant upon people with varied interests to travel to other cliques, who then put their spin on it. Evolve and replicate—pure Richard Dawkins. Which isn’t to say that it’s worth liking (trucker hats and Ann Coulter are both popular in some circles, despite sucking ass). When a meme takes hold, it becomes the new Big Thing, complete with dedicated adherents…until something else comes along.

By Joan M. Wyand

[This article first appeared in The Agenda #19, July/August 2006]

A Monday in March was a beautiful day for a bike ride. After scoping out the construction of the impending 195 bridge, I biked up towards India Point Park.

I passed a dilapidated marina club that my friends and I had previously explored at night. The building is three or four stories tall and covered in rust colored paint. In the back there are two docks that could house about 20 boats. Two staircases align with the boat docks, leading up to multileveled cement decks with abandoned outdoor bars. The building seems as if it went through a hurricane. The metal handrails are contorted in the same way that the industrial steel billboards were demolished in New Orleans after Katrina. I had come back to retrieve the turquoise awning material I scouted out last time I visited.

• Art and culture are everything we do and everywhere we are.
• Art and culture are inalienable human rights essential to our survival.

featuring Zane Claverie and Quinn Corey

On Thursday, June 22, Firehouse 13 opened its doors to the public for the first time. Previously home to cadets in training for the Providence Fire Department, the building at 41 Central Street has been unused for many years now. The newly renovated three-story firehouse, purchased five years ago by owner Nicholas Bauta, is nearly ready for occupancy. The open house was a chance for the Firehouse 13 folks to show off the new facilities and some local talent.

Zane Claverie’s colorful collages spanned the length of the available wallspace in the experimental gallery. Every piece delves into a different theme and subject matter, each meticulously laid out in a chaotic jumble of imagery and found trash. The amount of imagery is staggering: from Tootsie pops, religious iconography, and instruction manuals, all the way to hardcore porn and back again, Claverie’s work is refreshingly honest. No inside jokes or artistic self-reflections here, only an artist working with what the world has left behind in its dumpsters.