A social life in the present turn of the century dismisses the interest I have in the far future of the mid-22nd Century, but a recent conversation on the nature of contemporary art has given me a new perspective to make it that much more tangible. I was saying how when I look at art I’d like to think that it would one-day hang in New York’s Metropolitan or the AGO (though the National Gallery in Ottawa would be more apropos). That is, I’d like to think that anything I make or see will still be around for my great-grandkids’ great grandkids to see. Some quick math estimating a generation to be approximately 30 years and guessing that I might have children within a decade places that generation of lineage in the mid 22nd Century.

Although I didn’t use this generational marker in the conversation, only naming the museums, the reply was that contemporary art is so fashionable: that like clothing, it fades in popularity and disappears. It becomes dated. The effect of being dated is precisely why I find the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia embarrassing. Two many hard edged color field paintings – that medium’s response to 1970s conceptualism. Art now favors the museuological rather than the salon – the presentation of work to be admired or contemplated. We preserve these fashion items for the future bewilderment of folks living in a world not such as ours. The way that we now preserve contemporary fashion for historical curiosity, rather than examples of human achievement, is illustrated by the V & A’s acquisition of Vivian Westwood’s Moc-Croc shoes, which “became world-famous when Naomi Campbell wore them on the runway – and tripped and fell! They remain one of the popular displays at the Victoria and Albert Museum.”

That incident occurred in 1993. Naomi Campbell is now 34 and increasingly disappearing from the spotlights which graced her chocolate features throughout the 1990s.