Curator’s Shoes Steal the Show at MoMA Reception
“It is rare to see something so marvelous in a gallery,” said one of the VIP guests.
At the long-awaited members-only preview of the much-anticipated Museum of Modern Art exhibition, the temporality of interlocuting objects, the guests couldn’t help but meditate over one question:
Where on earth did the curator get those gorgeous shoes?
The multi-degreed curator, whose name the attendees forgot 16 minutes into the complimentary champagne, wore the most fabulous footwear they had ever seen.
Now, of course, this exhibition opening crowd had encountered its fair share of artful footwear — the strappy espadrille, the high-tech ON sneaker, the classic black Dansko clog — but nothing compared to the set of stompers in front of them last Wednesday night.
Appearing as if several pairs of Fabelus, Tabis, and Danksos birthed a healthy Mahogany-colored shoe child, these slippers were something of a Cinderella fairytale.
As the shoe-bearing curator droned on and on about what it means to really touch something, as was the gist of this exhibition, her footwear clicked against the hardwood floors, filling the audience with pure delight.
“It is rare to see something so marvelous in a gallery. They look Italian,” a man who looked like Stanley Tucci told Hyperallergic. “Oh, you meant my impressions of the show, not the shoe. What’s this called again? Where am I?”
The Tucci-faced man grew increasingly agitated until he once again settled his gaze upon the dazzling shoes. He whipped out his checkbook.
“How much?” he asked the curator.
“Sir, this is a museum,” she replied. “You cannot buy art off the walls.”
“But may I please buy the shoes off your feet?” he propositioned in a highly unusual move.
A big, burly docent promptly carried him out of the gallery by his waist as the other guests gawked.
While this particular man may have been the only attendee to be barred from the museum for life over these stunning slippers, others at the preview also felt their inhibitions lowered by the curator’s hearty clacking.
One 20-something Bushwick type pretended to faint (“Sorry, ZYN withdrawals,” she told everyone). Rolling around on the floor, the woman thought she might be able to identify the brand label ... until another guest helped her up and ruined her plan.
The VIPs continued their tour through the gallery, gazing downward at a 45-degree angle as the curator walked, without further incident.
In a statement to Hyperallergic, a spokesperson for MoMA said that due to “unforeseen consequences of a recent footwear debacle, all curators will now have to wear surgical-grade shoe coverings in the workplace.”
