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# What's Up With "Shia LaBeouf"?
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/whats-up-with-shia-laboeuf/
- Published: 2014-01-03T01:11:42.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:17:33.000Z
- Description: "Julian Schnabel , Jeff koons, Duchamp ect……"
- Author: Mostafa Heddaya
- Tags: Art, Jeff Koons, Julian Schnabel, Kenneth Goldsmith, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![shialaboeuf](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/01/shialaboeuf.jpg)

(image at left via Wikimedia, image at right via Flickr user OliBac)

Strictly speaking, “Shia” is the Arabic proper noun denoting the [Shi’ite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia%5FIslam?ref=hyperallergic.com) religious practice, a sect of [Islam](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam?ref=hyperallergic.com). According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com), it is the short form of the historical phrase *Shīʻatu ʻAlī*, meaning “followers,” “faction,” or “party” of [Muhammad’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad?ref=hyperallergic.com) son-in-law and cousin Ali, whom the Shia believe to be Muhammad’s successor in the [Caliphate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphate?ref=hyperallergic.com). LaBeouf is French for “the” and [“ox,” or “beef,” or “a jam session,”](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/b%C5%93uf?ref=hyperallergic.com) but with a gender disagreement: “La” is feminine, whereas “boeuf” is masculine (it is also normally spelled with a [ligature](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typographic%5Fligature?ref=hyperallergic.com) between the o and e: “bœuf”).

**So, does “Shia LaBeouf” make sense?**

No.

**Is “Shia LaBeouf” art?**

[Ask](https://twitter.com/kathkells/status/418818926747729920?ref=hyperallergic.com) Kenneth Goldsmith.

**Who is** [**Kenneth Goldsmith**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth%5FGoldsmith?ref=hyperallergic.com)**?**

“Kenneth Goldsmith (born 1961) is an [American](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United%5FStates?ref=hyperallergic.com) [poet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry?ref=hyperallergic.com). He is the founding editor of [UbuWeb](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UbuWeb?ref=hyperallergic.com), teaches Poetics and Poetic Practice at the [University of Pennsylvania](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University%5Fof%5FPennsylvania?ref=hyperallergic.com), and is a Senior Editor of [PennSound](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PennSound?ref=hyperallergic.com). He hosted a weekly radio show at [WFMU](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WFMU?ref=hyperallergic.com) from 1995 until June 2010\. He has published ten books of poetry, notably *Fidget* (2000), *Soliloquy* (2001) and *Day* (2003) and Goldsmith’s American trilogy, *The Weather* (2005), *Traffic* (2007), and *Sports* (2008). He is the author of a book of essays,*Uncreative Writing: Managing Language in a Digital Age* (2011). As editor he published *I’ll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews* (2004) and is the co-editor of *Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing* (2011). In 2013, he was appointed the [Museum of Modern Art](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum%5Fof%5FModern%5FArt?ref=hyperallergic.com)‘s first Poet Laureate.”

**What is the** [**meaning**](http://www.dictionary.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) **of all this?**

“[Julian Schnabel , Jeff koons, Duchamp ect……](http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/01/02/authorship-is-censorship-bleeding-cool-in-conversation-with-shia-labeouf/?ref=hyperallergic.com)”

*This has been Hyperlinks with Hyperallergic.* © *2014, or so.* 

*Editor’s note: This post originally misspelled “LaBeouf” as “LaBoeuf.” It has been corrected.*