Vagina Dentata Redux
March 11, 2007 7:08 AM Subscribe
"Seeing those photos from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, I decided I was looking at the perfect conflation of two constituents of Julia Kristeva's 'Abject': Horror and the Female. Every theater of war requires specific armory, and now America has produced a narrowly targeted new weapon, incorporating a kind of 'vagina dentata', designed to inflict maximum psychological damage in traditional societies." Russian/Dutch artist Bee Flowers has a new (NSFW) show at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. See also Megastructure, Soviet Sublime, and much more.
bad art aside, why bother namedropping what is now post-poststructuralists...
We get women into our society at all levels. They do what men do. In this insance, abuses at POW prisons. Muslims continue, mostly, to segregate women...but they are now coming right along and ladies can now serve as sucide bombers and get? l72 virgins when they get to martyr's heaven.
posted by Postroad at 7:46 AM on March 11, 2007
We get women into our society at all levels. They do what men do. In this insance, abuses at POW prisons. Muslims continue, mostly, to segregate women...but they are now coming right along and ladies can now serve as sucide bombers and get? l72 virgins when they get to martyr's heaven.
posted by Postroad at 7:46 AM on March 11, 2007
Bad art sucks. Pompous bad art sucks even more.
posted by malaprohibita at 8:14 AM on March 11, 2007
posted by malaprohibita at 8:14 AM on March 11, 2007
The Vaginator?
posted by The Straightener at 8:16 AM on March 11, 2007
posted by The Straightener at 8:16 AM on March 11, 2007
Umm, I don't get it.
Why does all the art look like something out of second life?
What does this have to do with Abu Ghraib? Did they actually dress women up like this?
And... umm... how do I put this... all these pictures look like something out of the handbook for some twisted RPG. I'm thinking Rifts with boobies.
posted by Afroblanco at 8:37 AM on March 11, 2007
Why does all the art look like something out of second life?
What does this have to do with Abu Ghraib? Did they actually dress women up like this?
And... umm... how do I put this... all these pictures look like something out of the handbook for some twisted RPG. I'm thinking Rifts with boobies.
posted by Afroblanco at 8:37 AM on March 11, 2007
I really don't understand this either. And what's a poststructuralist?
posted by Justinian at 8:58 AM on March 11, 2007
posted by Justinian at 8:58 AM on March 11, 2007
Yes, boobies are our trump card.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 9:07 AM on March 11, 2007
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 9:07 AM on March 11, 2007
"Political" art is almost always awful, but this is completely stupid. On her home page, this "Bee Flowers" quotes something called the "Fluxus Manifesto" as stating:
"...art must appear to be complex, pretentious, profound, serious, intellectual, inspired, skillful, significant, theatrical, it must appear to be valuable as a commodity..."
She pulls off that second one pretty well. I can't say she can do the rest, however.
posted by koeselitz at 10:43 AM on March 11, 2007
"...art must appear to be complex, pretentious, profound, serious, intellectual, inspired, skillful, significant, theatrical, it must appear to be valuable as a commodity..."
She pulls off that second one pretty well. I can't say she can do the rest, however.
posted by koeselitz at 10:43 AM on March 11, 2007
it's all buxom fantasy swordswomen with a thick overlay of gratuitous anti-americanism. next week: armored bunnies and kitties take a stand against u.s. global hegemony!
posted by bruce at 11:09 AM on March 11, 2007
posted by bruce at 11:09 AM on March 11, 2007
this reminds me of when my brother first decided to become a photographer. he went around taking pictures of "meaningful" things like a homeless guy sleeping front of a really fancy building ("don't you get it?? the nice building? but he's homeless!!")
after a few months he grew out of it and started taking pictures of things that actually made good pictures.
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:11 AM on March 11, 2007
after a few months he grew out of it and started taking pictures of things that actually made good pictures.
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:11 AM on March 11, 2007
Not Safe for Work? I'd change that to "Not Comprehensible at Work".
And this is from someone who has at times appreciated works like "Pure White Paint Totally Covering a Metal Panel".
posted by fydfyd at 11:15 AM on March 11, 2007
And this is from someone who has at times appreciated works like "Pure White Paint Totally Covering a Metal Panel".
posted by fydfyd at 11:15 AM on March 11, 2007
it's all buxom fantasy swordswomen with a thick overlay of gratuitous anti-americanism
until someone puts an eye out.
posted by sidereal at 11:24 AM on March 11, 2007 [2 favorites]
until someone puts an eye out.
posted by sidereal at 11:24 AM on March 11, 2007 [2 favorites]
Not Safe for Work? I'd change that to "Not Comprehensible at Work".
Fortunately, I'm at home today!
. . . No, it still doesn't make sense / not suck.
posted by grobstein at 11:39 AM on March 11, 2007
Fortunately, I'm at home today!
. . . No, it still doesn't make sense / not suck.
posted by grobstein at 11:39 AM on March 11, 2007
So, wait, are the male soldiers supposed to wear this too?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:57 AM on March 11, 2007
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:57 AM on March 11, 2007
And thanks, metasonix, for the Banksy link. I love the "remixing masterpieces from the flea-market" section.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 12:05 PM on March 11, 2007
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 12:05 PM on March 11, 2007
I'm normally not moved to comment on art posts I don't like or think aren't art, but this reeked of pretension and condescendion. I can't believe someone produces that stuff.
posted by frecklefaerie at 12:30 PM on March 11, 2007
posted by frecklefaerie at 12:30 PM on March 11, 2007
how come artists never got the memo that side scrolling websites are fucking annoying?
posted by afu at 1:34 PM on March 11, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by afu at 1:34 PM on March 11, 2007 [1 favorite]
This post is so dripping art-babble that I presumed it was parody. I might have been wrong.
IMO, It is crap like this (not the actual art, but the babble that goes with it) that has made art and the general public part ways.
Some of the interiors are pretty good, IMO. Actually, looking around, the Abu Ghraib seems to be weakest, trying far to hard to be art.
posted by Bovine Love at 1:39 PM on March 11, 2007
IMO, It is crap like this (not the actual art, but the babble that goes with it) that has made art and the general public part ways.
Some of the interiors are pretty good, IMO. Actually, looking around, the Abu Ghraib seems to be weakest, trying far to hard to be art.
posted by Bovine Love at 1:39 PM on March 11, 2007
The the other photos on his page are much, much more interesting.
posted by c13 at 1:39 PM on March 11, 2007
posted by c13 at 1:39 PM on March 11, 2007
Well, I was going to ask whether I was humor-impaired, or whether I was missing something. But given there are other people with the same sort of "uh, what?" looks to their comments, I don't feel so bad. Perhaps (poststructuralist?) I am a bit art-impaired as well.
posted by avriette at 5:14 PM on March 11, 2007
posted by avriette at 5:14 PM on March 11, 2007
Why does all the art look like something out of second life?
Oh thank Dog it's not just ME.
These images aren't bad art per se, but uh, WHAT does pierced labia have to do with Abu Ghraib? I feel like this is a punchline to a bad joke.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:25 PM on March 11, 2007
Oh thank Dog it's not just ME.
These images aren't bad art per se, but uh, WHAT does pierced labia have to do with Abu Ghraib? I feel like this is a punchline to a bad joke.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:25 PM on March 11, 2007
If Gee Vaucher were just starting out now, I imagine the result might be something like this.
posted by poweredbybeard at 9:54 PM on March 11, 2007
posted by poweredbybeard at 9:54 PM on March 11, 2007
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