Avant Garde
Pre-internet Underground Book Distribution
Original ad here.
Gather around, children, and you shall learn of an ancient time, before the internet. A day of paper fanzines and weird information obtained only via books delivered by snailmail.
The main purveyor of such good stuff was the Loompanics catalog. Alas, they were driven out of business in 2006. The current website using their domain name is a shell and a scam by cybersquatters.
Over one hundred Loompanics books have been tagged as a Goodreads collection. You can get a small sense of what they were all about there.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 11, 2013 -
Comments (9)
Category: Drugs, Avant Garde, Books, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, Conspiracy Theories and Theorists, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s
On Space Time Foam
This is an art installation in Milan, where you crawl with other museum patrons over a plastic surface. Lot of weird pics at the link.
But is that plastic suspended over a high well of emptiness, an atrium or courtyard, as it seems in the video? And guaranteed not to break?
Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 10, 2012 -
Comments (4)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Performance Art, Science, Europe
Documenta
I'm sorry I learned about the Documenta Art Festival only just now. The thirteenth one occured this past September, and there won't be another for five more years.We'll have to content ourselves with these videos till then.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 06, 2012 -
Comments (3)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Performance Art, Bombast, Bloviation and Pretentiousness, 1950s, Europe, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
Jack’s Dream
Until recently, I was not aware that the famous surrealist collage artist Joseph Cornell also made films. Here's one delightfully weird sample. Many more on YouTube.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Sep 08, 2012 -
Comments (2)
Category: Dreams and Nightmares, Movies, Avant Garde, Surrealism, Myths and Fairytales, Fictional Monsters
Don’t Drink and Paint
Another installment in the "I've failed at everything, but maybe I can make it in the exciting industry of road painting."
Maybe this painter is really into abstracts -- could Van Gogh have started this way?
Posted By: gdanea - Sun Sep 02, 2012 -
Comments (14)
Category: Avant Garde
Creative Destruction
"A short film inspired by EDWARD SCISSORHANDS..."
Curse your soul to hell, Tim Burton!
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 30, 2012 -
Comments (3)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, Avant Garde, Performance Art, Dance
Longfellow’s Wayside Inn
Please rate this video for its boredom content, always using "Wooden Bridge Inspection" as your gold standard.
Add some extra points for the irritating traffic and nature noises in the background, and the wandering eyes of the narrators.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jul 31, 2012 -
Comments (8)
Category: Boredom, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Video, Avant Garde, Landmarks, Monuments
Turner Prize 2012
It's that time of the year again, a favorite moment for all WU-vies. The shortlist for the UK Turner Prize is announced! We get to see a selection of the best and the brightest UK artists, those figures who contribute to humanity's glorious heritage of imperishable art that uplifts the soul and defines what it is to be human.
My personal fave this year is Lali Chetwynd. "She reworks iconic moments from cultural history in deliberately amateurish and improvisatory performances." Such as you see above.
Monet, eat your heart out!
Posted By: Paul - Wed May 02, 2012 -
Comments (7)
Category: Annoying Things, Art, Avant Garde, Performance Art, Science Fiction, Europe
Angel
See how long you can last through this 1966 film without ingesting any drugs. Caffeine permitted.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 14, 2012 -
Comments (13)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Surrealism, Body Modifications, Dreams and Nightmares, Drugs, Movies, 1960s
La Napoule
According to this LIFE magazine article, art collector Henry Clews had a taste for the bizzare, as seen in the statue above. His French Mediterranean home is now a museum, and you can visit, or even apply for an arts residency there!
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 09, 2012 -
Comments (5)
Category: Aliens, Art, Avant Garde, Surrealism, Dreams and Nightmares, Eccentrics, Collectors, Museums, 1950s, Europe
| Who We Are |
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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 |