Trending: #Hashtag Event Names
Pitchfork, the inveterate hipster music site, recently announced plans for a music festival in New York City named #offline. Social media is great and all, but the sudden popularity of names that begin with the Twitter hashtag-indicating # are starting to be mildly annoying, however niche it is. Jus
Pitchfork, the inveterate hipster music site, recently announced plans for a music festival in New York City named #offline. Social media is great and all, but the sudden popularity of names that begin with the Twitter hashtag-indicating # are starting to be mildly annoying, however niche it is.
Pitchfork’s move brings to mind the antics of Jennifer Dalton and William Powhida’s Winkleman Gallery-hosted #class, the dynamic series of events, lectures, and social media-integrated happenings that critiqued the entrenched art world, just like #twitter critiques #mainstreammedia. The artist duo just announced a sequel to the first event, deemed #rank, to take place at the 2010 Art Basel Miami Beach-adjacent SEVEN fair. No doubt the name will be tweeted often.
The omnipresence of Twitter nowadays has led to an extreme glut of #hashtag consideration. From deciding what hashtag is best for the event being talked about to measuring whether its best to have single or multiple hashtags, it’s just too much. Do we really need hashtag theory? The 2010 Whitney Biennial sparked comment with its blogger-led #whibi, and internet denizens poked fun at Bravo’s Work of Art reality show with the middle-school #workoFart. And what about Art Basel Miami Beach this year? #abmb2010? Writing it out in full would pretty much knock out that 140 character count.
Internet humor is great and all, but as the Trending Topic says, if we could all just chill on the hashtags, #thatwouldbeawesome.
