All posts filed under: Culture

Banksy’s Dismaland, a fabulous stunt art show. PART 2.

Many pieces are sharp critiques on modern amusement. Banksy’s whale jumping trough a ring in a toilet was inspired by Sea World that was ripped apart by the 2013 documentary “Blackfish.” Or Cinderella’s crashed carnage inside her grungy dark castle, surrounded by flashing paparazzi with motorbikes. When you leave the ‘scene’, you can buy your own souvenir photograph for 5 pound. (“Terribly expensive”, as the staff comments without asking.) Another central spot is the Jeffrey Archer Memorial Fire Pit where visitors can warm themselves around a daily burning of the local lord’s books. There is Ben Long’s sculpture of a horse constructed from scaffolding (a piece that was shown in the V&A). I loved Banksy’s model boat pond with overly crowded boats packed with asylum seekers you can operate yourself from the side with a (paying) remote controller. You never know if you will stair a police boat or the refugee boat and that’s the point. Some dead bodies floating in the water could not be more pain full, with little refugee Aylan in mind, …

banksy_dismaland_thesquidstories

Banksy’s Dismaland, a fabulous stunt art show. PART 1

The moment I got the news that Banksy was about to open an entertainment park, (one that is not) near his hometown Bristol, I knew that I wanted to be there. With any means. But as expected, we were not alone. From the first second the website was online, he crashed, due to 6 million hits from all over the world. You would crash for less, no? Our planning began, as we decided to take the car, get on the Eurotunnel, a car-train under the channel, to drive another 3 hours to this weird little coast village, called Weston-Super-Mare. (Very cool name by the way.) The quest for tickets started. (A Banksy show at Bristol city museum in 2009 attracted more than 300,000 visitors over 12 weeks, so we knew it was not going to be easy to get in). One week after the opening week, the site was back on line and the hunt kicked off. 3 hours later, we had 4 most desired tickets for an evening session, and the day after, 4 …

Hubert Duprat, insects build gold flake and pearl cocoons.

It can’t be denied that insects, though not a popular topic of conversation in most cases, are becoming increasingly more popular in various aspects of our (not so) daily life. Although usually brought up in conversations as a new source of protein, Hubert Duprat saw a more aesthetic purpose for this crawly creatures. I first got in contact with Duprats work at the exposition of international fashion designer Dries Van Noten at the MOMU in Antwerp. Dries shows all his art, fashion, music and other inspirations in relation with his collections and Duprat was one of them. I was really intrigued and started some research on this artist’s work.

Li Edelkoort, the Anti Fashion Manifesto.

I always was a fan of Li Edelkoort. From the moment I heard her speak for the first time, years ago on a future summit, I found her inspirational and at that time influential on fashion colors, prints and fabrics. Her trend books were bought, also at that time, by the biggest fashion & lifestyle brands, to base their designs on for the next coming years. Lidewij Edelkoort, born in the Netherlands in the 50ties, founded the established trend forecasting company TRENDUNION based in Paris. She and her team advise fashion companies and consumer brands around the world. Time magazine named her once one of the 25 most influential people in fashion. So Li highly influential?  For sure, but I could not help myself thinking that this was a system of ‘self fulfilling prophecies’. If everybody buys your directions, it is logic that it is a question of time that these predictions/inspirations are all over the streets.