"You've been asking me that question for four years!" says Michael Krichman, executive director for the U.S. for Insite97.

        The question: Why do you do this?

        More important right now: What is Insite97?

        The answer: A monumental binational graphic arts happening.

    Using the San Diego/Tijuana cross-border area for a backdrop, Insite97 will feature 42 site-specific projects in public places created by about 50 artists representing 11 countries of the Americas. The installations for the triennial, some of them mobile this time, will be available to an international audience from Sept. 26 through Nov. 30. The happening should ring up $2 million in tourism for San Diego.

    Be on the lookout for "Alien Toy, UCO (Unidentified Cruising Object)" by Los Angeles filmmaker and truck mechanic Rubén Ortiz Torres and "Toaster Truck Wagon" by Canadian Kim Adams that will stop and solicit your help in constructing double-ended tricycles.

    This is the second triennial installation art-fest that began with Insite94. Expectations are triple for 1997: three times the special tour visits sponsored by other museums, for example, and three times the media coverage. Writers already have been assigned by Travel & Leisure, Mirabella, Art in America, New Art Examiner, Los Angeles Times, Sunset, Poliester (Mexico) Inter-national Contemporary Art and Parachute (Canada) and Art Nexus (South America). Many more periodicals and the electronic media are expected to attend.

    So, why does Krichman spend three years organizing a major international event that will endure for only two months? (By the way, he does this gratis, deriving his personal support from real estate investments.) The answers are persuasive.

    "This exhibition and program generally really has a lot to do with this very interesting region we find ourselves in," Krichman says, referring to the San Diego-Tijuana megalopolis/U.S.-Mexican interface.

    He adds, "It is a microcosm of the Americas in terms of people, migration, materials and economies. Bringing artists into this concept and having them work in the public sphere provides us with an opportunity to view the region and ourselves from a totally different perspective. Artists really do see things in a different way than a potential maquiladora operator or a politician, diplomat or financier."

    A Brandeis and Georgetown Law graduate and former environmental attorney with Latham & Watkins, Krichman says, "It’s also important what this project represents in terms of strategic partnership in the cultural realm between Mexico and this country. What we have done with institutions in Mexico is really unprecedented. We have as good an understanding as any organization in San Diego of how institutions in Mexico operate."

    So rapidly has Insite's reputation for having this knowledge and ability spread that other organizations now turn to it for advice. "The country is coming to know there's an organization thinking binationally," says Krichman. Insite is part U.S. 501(c)(3) private nonprofit and part Mexican government department, the Instituto Nacional de las Bellas Artes.

    "Visitors should leave Insite97 with the understanding that this is part of a much larger program that involves a partnership between the U.S. and Mexico - educational programs, community engagement programs, public programs, as well as the exhibition itself," Krichman says. "In September of this year, San Diegans will have a very, very significant international event taking place in their midst. I'd like them to know they are invited to participate in what promises to be an extraordinary exhibit and array of programs, all of which are free to the public."

    He's right; there's nothing like Insite97 anywhere else in the world; don’t be caught napping.

        But why does Krichman do it?

    "I’ve always been interested in contemporary arts and in facilitating the realization of new work. The opportunity to help shape a project like this comes along once in a lifetime. I don’t do it for the money or because it’s easy and not frustrating.

        But why does he really do it?

        "Because," he says, "I like it!"

An author, lecturer and consultant, John Willett has critiqued music, dance and the arts for more than 16 years.

    There is absolutely no question who rates the August Cultural and Artistic Nonsense Award: Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Imperial Beach).

    Prior to the recent vote in the House of Representatives on whether or not to slash funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, Congressman Bilbray was handing out printed information about the $8 million in funding that would be lost to California, the $700,000 that would be lost by nine San Diego arts organizations and letting it be known that he would not vote for the cuts.

    Bilbray then promptly turned around and voted for the 90 percent reduction in NEA funding that would effectively kill the organization that for more than a quarter of a century has been one of the most positive influences in the American arts equation.

    Isn’t that forked tongue a little difficult to talk with, Congressman?