Opinion
Posted inOpinion

How is MoMA’s “Abstract Expressionist New York” Faring Online?

by Kyle Chayka

The Museum of Modern Art’s Abstract Expressionist New York: The Big Picture, an ambitious exhibition that (kinda) rethinks the standard narrative of Abstract Expressionism (aka AbEx), has been open since October 3. The show complicates things by reintroducing us to artists not entirely within the AbEx canon, putting old favorites in a new context and shining a spotlight on the people and places of AbEx.

The question is: did MoMA and its curators accomplish their goal? We turn to the internet at large for a look at how people have reacted to the exhibition!

Posted inOpinion

Designers Talk Desks as Creative Spaces

by Kyle Chayka

This video from Imaginary Forces is a short film directed by Mark Gardner that interviews various creative types on the idea of a “desk.” Not just the plain old place you throw down your laptop and toil, but the concept of what a desk really is. Is a desk just the place where you work, or can a desk be an entire creative vision, a space in which new ideas are formed and the world changed? Being desk people ourselves, we at Hyperallergic are particularly fascinated by the possibilities of a workspace and what creativity it can foster. The designers, architects and creatives interviewed for the video speak of the physical desk as well as their mental state when working, the separation between a “home desk” and a “work desk.”

Posted inOpinion

Chinese Artist Bleeds For Democracy [NSFW]

Avatar photo by Hrag Vartanian

Chinese blogger Mélanie Wang has a report — with graphic photos — of an October 10th performance by artist He Yunchang (Ah Chang) where he executed his new work “One Meter Democracy” at Cao Chang Di in Beijing.

Wang describes the performance and its premise: “At the beginning, he presented his proposal … he would cut a wound on the right side of his body all the way from the clavicle down to below his knee; a wound one-meter long and 0.5-1cm deep. The whole process would be executed under the assistance of a medical doctor, yet without anesthesia.”

Posted inOpinion

“Duke Fuck List” vs. Tracey Emin

by Kyle Chayka

When a female Duke student’s “fuck list” went viral, the entire online world was exposed to her in-depth list of male conquests, a powerpoint presentation of sex that was less sexy than academic. Framed as “thesis research,” the document is so detailed that it actually reads more like research than fun at points.

As a symptom of our always-online generation and the culture of omnipresent social media, the list is another example of oversharing, aptly summed up by Urbandictionary.com as “providing more personal information than is absolutely necessary. Typically done when two or more people are conversing and details of one’s sexual life creep into the discussion.” This immediately sounded familiar. A certain Young British Artist came to mind.

Posted inOpinion

Banksy Spray Paints on Cartoon Walls

by Kyle Chayka

Establishment iconoclast Banksy just took his next step into the mainstream. The street artist, known for his pranks that stretch from painted urban walls to film, has directed the opening sequence for The Simpsons television show.

The animation is an interesting vehicle for Banksy given its massive reach, the TV equivalent of a well-placed wall tag; it’ll reach millions of viewers for sure. The question is, what can viewers take away from Banksy’s latest work?

Posted inOpinion

New Gap Logo is a Generic Fail

by Kyle Chayka

Gap definitely knows how to make it viral. The question is, was the Internet scandal caused by its new logo actually worth the publicity? When the historically consistent clothing brand switched the logo on its website from the old three-letters-in-a-square to the new monstrosity, the web reaction was immediate and decisive: the logo sucks. Not only does it suck on the level of the 2012 London Olympic Games logo, unlike London, the re-design doesn’t even have the balls to be interesting.

The logo isn’t anything revolutionary. At this point, a switch to Helvetica — or Corporate A Pro Demi Condensed, News Gothic Demi or whatever it is — is about the oldest trick in the book. But what’s more surprising is that the design doesn’t seem to have anything to redeem it at all. It’s a masterpiece of ambiguity.

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