Britney Spears for y'all
Howdy!
Last week, during our public discussion, Marc Mayer almost lost his cookies when I suggested that Contemporary Quebecois Art should be marketed like "Britney Spears." He was way too diplomatic to laugh in my face, but...
Then yesterday, I came across this bit of news. Apparently in an attempt to score some publicity for an upcoming auction, Bonhams and Bonhams & Butterfields auction house staged a recreation of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's bed-in for peace.
What's this got to do with art? Well, back in May of 2003, Yong Soon Min and Allan deSouza did the same exact thing, only in an art gallery here in town. As a consequence it got called "art." So we have two events, doing the same exact thing. One marketed and promoted as "art." One marketed and promoted as "rock 'n' roll." One has been forgotten, one made headlines around the world.
For what it is worth, apparently Yoko Ono sent flowers to Ms. Soon Min and Mr. deSouza as recognition/gratitude for what they did. I'm fairly certain that she did not send flowers to Bonhams for their re-creation.
Last week, during our public discussion, Marc Mayer almost lost his cookies when I suggested that Contemporary Quebecois Art should be marketed like "Britney Spears." He was way too diplomatic to laugh in my face, but...
Then yesterday, I came across this bit of news. Apparently in an attempt to score some publicity for an upcoming auction, Bonhams and Bonhams & Butterfields auction house staged a recreation of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's bed-in for peace.
What's this got to do with art? Well, back in May of 2003, Yong Soon Min and Allan deSouza did the same exact thing, only in an art gallery here in town. As a consequence it got called "art." So we have two events, doing the same exact thing. One marketed and promoted as "art." One marketed and promoted as "rock 'n' roll." One has been forgotten, one made headlines around the world.
For what it is worth, apparently Yoko Ono sent flowers to Ms. Soon Min and Mr. deSouza as recognition/gratitude for what they did. I'm fairly certain that she did not send flowers to Bonhams for their re-creation.
posted by Zeke's, the Montreal Art Gallery on 25.10.05
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