Category:
Art
Art
Homage to New York
Paul posted yesterday about the Metamatics (art machines) of Jean Tinguely. Another certifiably weird work by Tinguely was his "Homage to New York" (aka "self-destroying work of art"). It was an elaborate sculpture designed to destroy itself, which it did for the amusement of an audience on the night of March 17, 1960. As described on Moma.org:During its brief operation, a meteorological trial balloon inflated and burst, colored smoke was discharged, paintings were made and destroyed, and bottles crashed to the ground. A player piano, metal drums, a radio broadcast, a recording of the artist explaining his work, and a competing shrill voice correcting him provided the cacophonic sound track to the machine’s self-destruction—until it was stopped short by the fire department.
Some more footage (non-embeddable) here.
Waterloo Courier - Mar 18, 1960
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 06, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Art, 1960s
Tinguely’s Metamatics
His Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 05, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Technology, Twentieth Century
Exploding Fish
When South Korean artist Lee Bul's work Majestic Splendor, which features sequin-covered rotting fish in plastic baggies, was displayed in 1997 at New York's MoMA, the smell made visitors feel so sick that the artwork eventually had to be removed.So when the piece was going to be shown recently at London's Hayward Gallery, Lee put the fish in a blend of chemicals to suppress the smell. The result: this time around the fish spontaneously combusted and once again had to be removed.
More info: The Art Newspaper, Frieze.com
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 02, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Art
The Cry Closet
Installed last month at the University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library. A sign hanging on it explained: "A Safe Place for Stressed Out Students. Otherwise known as The Cry Closet. This space is meant to provide a place for students studying for finals to take a short 10-minute break."An art project, of course. Created by graduating senior Nemo Miller. (More info).
It obviously struck a nerve because this thing got a huge amount of media attention.
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 29, 2018 -
Comments (4)
Category: Art
Roman Signer
Swiss artist Roman Signer is known for performing various stunts with explosives. So he's a bit like the Gallagher of the art world. He blows things up, crashes them, tosses them out windows, etc. It's all with the intent of creating conceptual absurdity.In honor of his recent 80th birthday, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation put together this short compilation video of some of his works.
More info: wikipedia, swissinfo.ch
And a few of his full-length works:
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 24, 2018 -
Comments (0)
Category: Art
Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 13
A three-fer this time!The artist, Lottie van der Gaag.
Posted By: Paul - Wed May 23, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Russia
RIP Luiz Gasparetto
Gasparetto was a medium who claimed that the spirits of famous artists created new works by employing him as a channel. Above is a little trifle that Degas dictated.
Here he is in action.
More on the man here.
His obit, in Portuguese.
Posted By: Paul - Sat May 05, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Art, New Age, Twentieth Century, Twenty-first Century
Vogue Picture Records
For a brief time, one company produced records with illustrations imprinted into the vinyl.Visit this site for a big archive of charming, sometimes bizarre artwork.
Posted By: Paul - Wed May 02, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Art, Music, Twentieth Century
Retyping as art
Performance artist Tim Youd retypes famous novels word for word on old typewriters. The only change he makes is that he leaves out all the spaces between the words, producing page after page of unbroken text. He does this as performance art events at museums, art galleries, coffee shops, etc.I figured that since typing was his thing, he'd probably be a pretty good typist. But as can be seen in the video, he turns out to be a two-finger, hunt-and-peck typist. Although a relatively fast one.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 01, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Art, Performance Art
Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 12
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Apr 25, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Art, Statues and Monuments, Sexuality, 1940s, Russia
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |