In a past life, Mexico City’s Museo Universitario Del Chopo was a punk flea market. Today, it’s gone back to it roots (kinda). Punk. Sus rastros en el arte contemporáneo is a fantastic survey of both punk and its impact on contemporary art. But when so much of that influence has been on video art, the logic of a gallery presentation is questionable.
The show feels a bit like it should be a film festival but has been squeezed into a white box. Good luck trying to sit through more than a dozen videos with overlapping sound on different loops.
For many of us feminists, the election of Donald Trump might just be the single worst event we’ve collectively experienced. This statement needs no litany of examples to back it up.
Of course, many people—myself included—have been glued to social media, religiously reading political commentary, the news, and critical theory to help process how royally fucked the world is. But honestly, the only thing that I have found to be remotely comforting is feminist punk.
Here’s my suggested playlist, paired with a stage of grieving correlated to each song.
Sometimes I think there’s an unexpected value in relating to pop culture on a wholly personal level. For example, there are pretty much just two things from the past 50 years of media that shaped my ethics and worldview: the anti-capitalist, but otherwise almost entirely separate, phenomena of Star Trek and punk.
The above GIF shows the brief few seconds when those worlds improbably collided in the 1986 film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The story was conceived of and directed by Leonard Nimoy (RIP) and involves the protagonists travelling back in time to then-present-day San Francisco to rescue whales, who had been hunted to extinction. In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, Spock (played by Nimoy) gives a Vulcan nerve pinch to a punk who is loudly playing music from a boom box on the bus. It’s exactly the kind of camp 80s-era Star Trek pulled off so well.
The song was actually written by the film’s associate producer Kirk Thatcher, who recorded the song with the band Edge of Etiquette, which was formed specifically to make this music for the movie. Thatcher also played the punk guy. In the context of a movie about time travel to reverse an ecological disaster, the lyrics are actually pretty smart:
Just where is our future, the things we’ve done and said! Let’s just push the button, we’d be better off dead! ‘Cause I hate you! And I berate you! And I can’t wait to get to you!
The sins of all our fathers, being dumped on us – the sons. The only choice we’re given is how many megatons? And I eschew you! And I say, screw you! And I hope you’re blue, too.
So when I watch a film like Star Trek: Beyond (which was directed by the guy who made The Fast and the Furious movies about cars exploding, and began production before a script was actually written) I find myself asking “Just where is our future?” For those who haven’t seen the film, don’t bother. The “plot” involves a bunch of sexy rebooted characters blasting The Beastie Boys to somehow blow up CGI aliens in order to save Space Dubai. It’s probably the dumbest possible encore “punk” could make in the Star Trek universe. Don’t even get me started on that horrible Rihanna marketing shtick…
JJ Abrams, Justin Lin, and all others responsible for the desecration of Star Trek, I have one message for you:
Someone dug up footage of Warhol Superstar Nico covering Bowie’s “Heroes” with a disco beat in a small British bar in the early 1980s. She looks totally crazy and it’s one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life. [YouTube].
More counterculture nostalgia out of England: London’s Michael Hoppen Gallery has a show of vintage punk memorabilia and 1970s photographs of Vivienne Westwood, Siouxsie Sioux, Johnny Rotten, and more. It’s on view through August 26th, if you’re planning a trip to take advantage of the cheap pound! [Blouin Artinfo]
Alexandra Lange questions the veracity and relevance of the “50% of the world’s population live in cities” assumption. She makes some good points about the inaccuracy of the UN’s methodology and the need for more nuanced looks at local morphologies for designers and theorists. In the Bay Area, for example: “I can think of a dozen other reasons, right in their own backyard, why a Silicon Valley incubator should be interested in the future of housing, transportation, regional planning, and workplace design. Why, then, must they go global? The future of one kind of city, in which people live densely and work in sprawl, is being written on their doorstep, and yet, the use of the statistic implies that they want to change a larger, less knotty idea of the city.” But isn’t the whole fun and spirit of architecture, design, and planning a never-ending strive for the utopian? [Curbed]
The New York Post unearthed pictures from the mid 90’s, when Melania Trump (then Knauss) posed with another female model for a “lesbian-themed” photoshoot. True to the Post’s classy editorial style, this just reeks of slut-shaming and isn’t really journalism. Maybe all those out-of-work Gawker staff can send their resumés over to Rupert Murdoch. [The New York Post]
Related: Australian muralist Lushsux has had his Instagram account deleted after publishing photos of a mural he completed depicting Hillary Clinton in a sexy American Flag swimsuit. [9 News]
Update: Lushux responded to the censorship by covering Clinton in a Burqa. [ABC News]
This must’ve been a fun article to research… the history of drugs in art, from ancient times to Kenny Scharf’s installations for tripping and Damien Hirst’s medicine cabinets of psychopharmaceuticals. Even Marina Abramović has dabbled in mind-altering substances! But for the best example of drug-induced creativity, rewatch Nico’s “Heroes” rendition at the top of the page. [CNN]
Job alert: Italian art fair Artissima is seeking a new director. The fair takes place in Turin in November. [artnet News]
The AC Institute is holding an open call for a gun memorial design. Those interested should submit a mock up for a memorial design at the National Mall in Washington DC. The winning projects won’t be installed at the mall, but will be included in an online show and a publication. Deadline: December 2016. [AC Institute]
Creative Time has added seven new board members: artist/actor Waris Ahluwalia, artist Trevor Paglen, designer Ivana Berendika, collector Heather Farrer, curator Sofía Hernández, Clinton Foundation program vice president Maura Pally, and Andrei Tretyakov, a venture capitalist. [ARTnews]
Huh. For some reason, someone made a kawaii commercial for Donald Trump. [Youtube]
The DAO has been attacked. The distributed autonomous organization which had centralized in one fund over $150 million in crytocurrency was hacked early this morning, with hackers siphoning off so far over $3.5 million ether, the DAO’s digital currency. To put in perspective: ether is trading at $17.50 per coin, putting the value of the stolen currency at over $60 million. [CoinDesk]
Here’s a GIF of a grandmother (the Queen) telling her grandson (the Prince) to stand up during her 90th birthday celebration. [Indy100]
Last month, Texas troubadour Guy Clark passed away. One of his final wishes, it turns out, was to have his longtime friend, singer and artist Terry Allen, make a sculpture using his ashes. “I think it was kind of like a ‘Fuck You, Terry,” joked Allen. [Glasstire, Rolling Stone]
What’s the next frontier? For Star Trek, which is marking its 50th anniversary with a new movie and TV series, turns out its unifying ts fanbase. Trekkies basically invented fandom — slash fiction, for instance, was famously coined from all the “Kirk/Spock” stories written by female fans as far back as the early 1970s — and it looks like their fan films are now competing with the official franchise productions. At the center of this is Axanar, a fan film that crowdfunded a seven-figure budget, and is now being sued by Paramount and CBS for copyright infringement. [BuzzFeed]
San Francisco poet Bill Berkson has passed away. Linked to the New York School of poets and artists, Berkson went on to become a prolific art critic, publishing reviews in Art News and Artforum. He also taught art history and critical writing at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1984 to 2008. [SF Gate]
According to this list of punk-inspired artworks for sale at Art Basel, punk’s not dead. But Jesus Christ, if it were it would be rolling in its grave. [The Art Newspaper]
Here’s good news: even if you suck at making art, the act still reduces stress hormones, according to researchers. [The Creators Project]
Sun Ping has been expelled from the official China Artists Association because, according to the CAA, Ping “ruined calligraphy at will and trampled on civilization.” Ping’s crime? A video of a woman writing calligraphy with her vagina. [artnet News]
Privately-owned “public art” can be sold or destroyed without governmental approval, in most cases. Now, Pittsburgh is trying to brainstorm ways to keep track of, and hopefully preserve, all the artwork in the public sphere that the public doesn’t actually own. [Next City]
Holland Cotter writes about the Antonio Lopez survey that just opened at El Museo del Barrio. As this show charts, Lopez created an out-gay art and helped change the ethnic profile of the fashion industry. Cotter gives the show two thumbs up, calling his art “true L.G.B.T.Q., loud and proud and unguarded.” [The New York Times]
An SPCA shelter in Scotland is looking for someone to adopt this giant rabbit. The internet is going crazy. THE RABBIT IS HUGE! [Jezebel]
Is a Rotterdam museum’s new open art storage facility a game changer for cultural institutions? Set to open in 2018, the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen’s storage space will enable its entire collection to be viewable to the public, a first in the institutional world. And 10% of its storage will be rented out to private collectors for €350 to €400 per square meter. Beyond the potential conflicts of interest, this seems like a win-win situation — collectors get access to conservation services, the museum gets more private investment and artwork loan opportunities. [The Art Newspaper]
Sergei Shchukin amassed one of the most impressive collections of modern art in the early 20th century. After the Russian revolution, those artworks were scattered to state-owned museums. Now, they’re being reunited for a show at the very-capitalist Louis Vuitton museum in Paris—the first time the collection has ever been shown outside of Russia. [The Guardian]
According to Kate Wadkins, punk is in the air: she surveys the current wave of shows, including PUNK Magazine’s 40th anniversary exhibition at HOWL! Happening and a collection of West Coast punk-related Xerox prints and zines at Printed Matter. [Hyperallergic]
The latest from the blue chip rumour mill: it appears White Cube no longer represents Marc Quinn. [The Baer Faxt]
If you’re looking to expand your art therapy coloring book collection, the National Archive’s coloring book of strange patents (chicken goggles! robot rides!) might fit the bill. [Popular Science]
There is a genre of fan fiction known as “Larry” that imagines a homoerotic relationship between two members of the boy band One Direction. London artist Owen G Parry has used this material (mostly written by teenage girls) as inspiration for his latest exhibition. Picture pregnant Harry Styles, and you get an idea of how very, very weird this is. [The Telegraph]
The strange history—and even stranger success—of Jerry Vile’s annual erotic art festival in Detroit, The Dirty Show. [Detroit Metro Times]
Like a great eternal Klansman
With his two flashing red eyes
Turn around he’s always watching
The Washington monument pricks the sky
With flags like pubic hair ringed ’round the bottom
Reviews of the Met’s Punk show seem unilaterally negative so far. The Times, Gallerist, ArtInfo and Hyperallergic don’t like it (an understatement for Hyperallergic’s Geraldine Visco). My review comes out in the L Magazine next week.
Gawker reporter John Cook has seen a video of a man he’s told is smoking crack cocaine. He believes that man is Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Toronto Star reporters are claiming to have seen the video too. Ford’s denies the allegations and has had his lawyers send Gawker an email threatening legal action. Gawker has responded by posting the request. [Gawker]
Relatedly, Rob Ford is the worst mayor Toronto ever. [Wikipedia]
Tom Moody isolates the 180-degree rule as important in an essay about GIFs as micro-cinema. “Both [Bruce Conner’s] A MOVIE and these animated gifs employ some common cinematic principles. The cuts create an eyeline match, which make it appear as though the characters are looking at one another, and obey the 180-degree rule (meaning that if you draw a straight line between their eyes, our perspective stays to one side of it).” [Indiwire: warning, there’s a 15 minute static ad that pops up before the article can be read!]
AFC Alumn Julia Halperin will be moderating an ArtsTech meetup on the Art Market. If you live in New York and aren’t in Venice, you should go to this. [ArtsTech]
Roberta Smith isn’t thrilled with the dick measuring contests going on in Chelsea between David Zwirner/Jeff Koons, Gagosian/Jeff Koons, and Hauser & Wirth/Paul McCarthy. Nonetheless, she measures, and concludes that Hauser & Wirth/Paul McCarthy has the biggest dick of them all. [NYTimes]
Fiercely Independent. New York art news, reviews and culture commentary. Paddy Johnson, Editorial Director Michael Anthony Farley, Senior Editor Whitney Kimball, IMG MGMT Editor
Contact us at: paddyATartfcity.com
