That's the second biggest pile of $#!+ I've ever seen.

April 30, 2013 7:26 PM

INFLATION! is the self-described "(con)temporary installation" curated by M+, a not-yet-built museum for visual culture at the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong and located in a future park next to the future museum. As you can guess, all the works on display are large-scale inflatables, and the contribution of American artist Paul McCarthy is "Complex Pile", a 51-foot-tall representation of ... poop. Designboom has a gallery of all the pieces, which also include a giant roast pig and a full-sized replica of Stonehenge.

NEWSFLASH: Bad weather and an unseen flaw combined to flatten "Complex Pile" into a representation of a big brown stain. Repairs are underway.

posted by oneswellfoop (11 comments total)

In the new museum's first
Exhibition, balloons burst
Diarrhea
Diarrhea
posted by Sys Rq at 7:34 PM on April 30, 2013

I guess you could call it "Popped Art"
posted by azarbayejani at 7:36 PM on April 30, 2013

Fuck that site navigation, god damn.
posted by ryanrs at 7:40 PM on April 30, 2013 [2 favorites]

Three comments in, and nobody's said anything yet about artists having an inflated sense of their own worth? You're slipping, MetaFilter.
posted by benito.strauss at 7:48 PM on April 30, 2013 [3 favorites]

ryanrs: Fuck that site navigation, god damn.

If a client ever asks me for something like that I'm going to look up, sigh, and say, "Run." Then calmly close my notebook; lay my pencil across it just so; take off my watch and ring; crack my knuckles; and slowly rise out of my seat, never once taking my eyes off them. If they're not gone before I get to my feet…


Still, this is kind of hilarious. Especially the Complex Structures (Curatorial Statement) [PDF], which includes this gem:

For M+, which on the masterplan was purposely situated adjacent to the park, “Mobile M+: Inflation!” presents a rare opportunity to imagine new ways to use this space and to reflect on the notion of an outdoor sculpture garden in all its variant forms. Some questions it actively seeks to frame are: What are the ways in which art in a public setting can reflect meaningfully on its surroundings? And how, in some cases, can these works offset predetermined assumptions of leisure, entertainment and attractiveness?

The one thing I never saw discussed was money. It can't be cheap to build and erect a 15.5 meter tall, inflatable pile of shit. One wonders what patron of the arts we have to thank for this thoughtful installation of art in a public setting meaningfully reflecting on its surroundings.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:13 PM on April 30, 2013

Poop Pop Art
posted by panaceanot at 8:30 PM on April 30, 2013

I consider the web design for M+'s site to be an act of Performance Art by itself. But it's not as bad as The Webby Awards' semi-infinite page showing this year's winners (in partnership with Internet Explorer... honest!)
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:52 PM on April 30, 2013

That's a pile of crap.

No really, metaphorically speaking, that's shit.
posted by notyou at 9:54 PM on April 30, 2013

Is this where we get that bouncy druids song out again? Well, regardless, here it is anyway.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 4:17 PM on May 1, 2013

I didn't even attempt to navigate the main site after reading these comments (I can't even handle google street view), but I thought there was some interesting work shown in the designboom photos. I especially liked 'poetic cosmos of the breath' by tomás saraceno.
posted by treepour at 4:27 PM on May 1, 2013

Related, inflatables-wise: the World's Largest Rubber Duck floats into Hong Kong Harbor.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:43 PM on May 1, 2013 [1 favorite]