AWAY FROM THE MANGER
Eric Bangeman sent this note along with the following link:

A good friend of my from my old church is hosting this exhibit in his front yard this year, and I wanted to share it with you. The image is here.

From an e-mail he sent: "I met this artist from Minneapolis recently who does a lot of art installations involving television sets. His name is Brian Christensen and he was gracious enough to do this installation in my front yard for the holidays. It's a statement I really like about how our focus has shifted in this society. It's caused quite the uproar in the neighborhood with people constantly stopping to talk about it or just stare at it for a while. Alderman Mell (Father-In-Law to our next governor) asked if I was a communist. The Chicago Reader came out and took a picture of it and published it in the current issue. A limousine pulled up and sat there for a while. (I think it was Governor-elect Rod Blagoyevich because he lives just around the corner from me. ) We've gotten notes on our door and sometimes we sit at night in the living room with the lights off watching people drive past... slam on their brakes... then back up for another look.

It's been a lot of fun and it just once again demonstrates the power of art to engage culture with meaningful dialogue.

Depending on your screen size you may or may not be able to tell that's a TV set they're gathered around. The TV is running 24 hours a day with whatever it can get on the antenna. Fox comes in the best so they watch a lot of the Simpsons.... The baby Jesus is in the manger in front of the house.... alone.