In its broadest sense, conventional wisdom considers art as taking an idea out of the air and creating something that didn’t exist before.

Susan Crane, an art student at the University of Maine in Farmington put American flags on the floor of a museum as a way to “make a statement.” She said she did it to “spark conversation and thought about how we really feel about our flag.”  She went on to say that about 95-98% of the people who came to see her exhibit didn’t walk on the flags.

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As far as Michael Haneke's Funny Games (2007) is concerned, there is another and third level of analysis the basis of which I tried to establish in the second part of this meditation.

By stripping off the protective layer of redemption within which all crime thrillers and even slasher movies are wrapped, Haneke is actually denying us our human yearning for better tomorrows.

He is declaring that we have no RIGHT to HOPE for anything better in the future.

He assumes the DISCONNECT between his reality and our images is proof enough of our eternal guilt.

The worst point Haneke misses is this – denying us the right to maintain hope through symbols and narration is tantamount to saying that we have no right to ANY art, period.

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(Photo: Gugenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain)

Frank Gehry has arguably been the most controversial architect of the late 20^th and early 21^st century. Just one look at his Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain is enough to give an idea about his unusual approach to architecture.

A Gehry building is like nothing else you've seen before. It's outrageously creative, unique, and flamboyant. It's a classic head-turner.

As far as I'm concerned, Gehry is the unacknowledged founder of the "Why Not? School of Architecture."

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