TOKers: I just took advantage of the Thanksgiving promotion by HBO and watched their 2018 documentary "The Price of Everything." It's very well done and, like the subject of "contemporary art" being examined (through the lens of a Sotheby's auction &c), totally superficial. Near the end, one of those interviewed about where this was all heading said, "I can smell the smoke." https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.thepriceofeverything.com_&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=KQkgbQC380_mf2MaFTO0cZ3sqIYW9IOxn54LSvItNZE&s=BUs03NVMmGfNphAEkdXKAQ4ApThv6K2_yu0X9vqRNaQ&e= In the closing sequence, a fellow is interviewed and asked if "art" is really needed. His answer was, "Well, probably about as much as religion . . . But not as much as freedom." How ELECTRIC of him. This reminded me of the trip that Debbie and I took to the Antiquarian Book Fair a few years ago at the Park Avenue Armory. My mission was to interview those selling "incunabula" (i.e. books printed before 1501) to see what they might think about the transition from SCRIBAL to PRINT. I did this by asking if they also sold manuscripts and, in particular, how much of the manuscript world made it into print. Their answers were surprisingly uniform, "Maybe 25%, or so. Probably less." Oh, how we forget. This past year we went back -- only this time on the hunt for early Aristotle. Especially medieval manuscripts. As it turns out, none are for sale. But a 14th-century "Pseudo-Aristotle" in French could be had for $37,500 (negotiable, or so I recall.) It is a quite remarkable version of the "Secret of Secrets," apparently first composed in Arabic and intended to reveal what Aristotle gave as the "secrets" of warfare to his pupil Alexander. Obviously, much of what was ORAL was lost to SCRIBAL, since not every chatter was worth writing down. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that much of what was SCRIBAL was lost to PRINT, since most of it wouldn't sell anyway. Or, that much of what was PRINT was lost to ELECTRICITY, since nobody thinks that way anymore . Oh, how we forget. The collector who is at the center of the film is Stefan Edlis and his wife Gael Neeson. They made a deal with the Art Institute of Chicago (where my daughter thought about going to college, before settling on Pratt) that would display their Warhols perpetually -- except for a "Liz" that was initially only on a 6 month loan. Then Gael went out an bought a "perfect" reproduction. Complete with the imperfections. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.artic.edu_artists_37219_andy-2Dwarhol&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=KQkgbQC380_mf2MaFTO0cZ3sqIYW9IOxn54LSvItNZE&s=swj1wQX-Em0k_i5NDvU2H6GZSqLTCWM5lg2N1B0kCWw&e= When Stefan was asked about this, his reply was, "Now you've stuck your finger in the wound." I wonder what DIGITAL will mean for "art" -- which Andy Warhol famously said is "Whatever you can get away with" (as captioned in Jerome Agel's "The Medium is the Massage," presumably taken from one of Marshall McLuhan's files) -- and, indeed, for memory. Mark P.S. I have a collection of Durer and Rembrandt etchings. Yes, they are all fakes, but pretty good ones. In the late 1970s, the East Germans decided that they could run-off a series of "restrikes" using the copper-plates in the basement of the East Berlin "Staatsmuseum" (originating in the "Kunstkammer" of 16th-century Joachim II, Elector of Brandenberg.) The first one I bought was at a shop in Weisbaden, where I was on a "diplomatic" mission. It is a Rembrandt "self-portrait" as an "alchemist," that is typically called "Doctor Faustus" or "The Alchemist at Home in his Study," originally executed in 1652, produced in four "states" and officially known as B.2701. In the Cold War hunt for "exchange currency," the East Germans did many creative things. They struck a deal with the Print Mint in Berkeley to resell these "restrikes" and I bought probably 30+ of them, often giving them away as Xmas presents. I still own seven of them, including Rembrandt's "Ecce Homo." I also have photographs of the original Durer "Knight, Death and the Devil" (one of which Nietzsche apparently gave to Wagner, plus another to his sister, the mayor of Nuremberg gave one to Hitler in 1933 and, about which, Jorge Borges later wrote two poems), "Saint Jerome in his Study" and "Melancholia I." I've gone over my etchings (not prints, actual copper-plate "strikes") and the photos with a magnifying glass. Maybe some differences in the "melancholia" gown. But I'm not sure. Now I'm studying the Teutonic Knights (as a continuing part of my trip to Poland), who, as it turns out, wore the same armor as Durer depicted in 1513 (alas, minus their black-crossed tunic). Oh, how we forget -- but, thanks to digital, not for long. ############################ To unsubscribe from the TOK-SOCIETY-L list: write to: mailto:[log in to unmask] or click the following link: http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1