Today we had an informal student led crit in which we all discussed our projects and helped each other out with the directions we should be going.
There were some really interesting projects in my group and the feedback I got was positive and genuinely helpful.
We noted the similarities between the project and Marcel Duchamp's infamous 'Fountain' urinal artwork, which took advantage of people's preconceptions of art and the taking as a given that anything in an art gallery is art. We discussed how in the case of Kanye's $120 shirt, Kanye's reputation and all that precedes him as an icon equal the art gallery, the white t-shirt is the urinal - the object that harnesses the aura.
Next we discussed value and it's ability to simply be placed on an object. At the far, silly end of the spectrum This ball of Nothing (below descibed) has been given 6 gbp of value, and has a concept to back it up, even though the owner knows it is nothing.
Nothing... for the person who has everything. The ultimate in minimalism. Less is more, more or less. Nothing is simple. Nothing is sacred. Open the pack and be enthralled when nothing happens. Allow nothing to flow through your mind and calm your soul. Savour the moment. Soon you'll discover that Nothing really is so much better than something.
In a similar, ostentatious move, app maker Armin Heinrich produced 'I Am Rich', an app for the iPhone that cost $999.99 per download before it was removed by Apple. When opened, the app contained a spinning red gem, which when pressed displayed the text:
I am rich
I deserv [sic] it
I am good,
healthy &
successful
What we're seeing here is the modern implementation of the base human lust to display one's wealth in the quickest and most broad-reaching way. To be seen to have this app is route one to another person knowing you're wealthy. It again relates to identity theory, appearance, pastiche and paying over the odds for designer clothing. Is Kanye's t-shirt not roughly the same concept?
NYC Garbage is a project by Justin Gignac who 'began selling garbage in 2001 after a co-worker challenged the importance of package design. To prove them wrong, he set out to find something that no one would ever buy, and package it to sell. Looking around the dirty streets of Times Square, garbage was the perfect answer. Twelve years later, over 1,400 NYC Garbage cubes have been sold and now reside in 30 countries around the world.'
The cubes are aesthetically very nice and work as a concept in giving rubbish an intrinsic value.
http://nycgarbage.com/
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In summation, we decided that anything could be given a value. Kanye and A.P.C gave the t-shirt $120 of monetary value but it's their involvement in the production of the piece and their history, reputation, life work is distilled into the intrinsic value of the t-shirt.
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