After three attempts to write and to maintain a blog, here's blog number four! Number three wasn't really a blog; it only has three posts. But the last one I'd like to share on this new one. I initially wrote it because I wanted to blog about a trend. Since "Beetle x the world" is intended to be exactly about that subject I thought it would be nice to do my last post on the previous blog as the first post of my new blog. And look: the awkward first post problem is solved! So without further ado, here it is:
The Age of Irony
Why is it that inspiration or new insights always come at the craziest times and places? Last Friday I was at this really random party where everyone was dressed up as either a hippie, star wars themed or as an Arabic King. Anyway I started talking to someone (a philosopher) about my ambition to become a trendforcaster and he put me on the spot right away. "What trends are you seeing now?" I hesitated answering, and before I could say anything he started talking about this article he thought captured the time spirit perfectly. Since it was the end of the night he'd promised me to send it the day after.
The article he send was this one, "How to Live Without Irony" by CHRISTY WAMPOLE. Originally published in the Times. I thought it was as good as he said it would be. Here are my thought on the article.
Christy Wampole starts out by claiming that if irony is the ethos of our age, the hipster is our archetype of ironic living. He has a nostalgia for times he never lived himself, wears outmoded fashions ( the mustache, the tiny shorts), harvests awkwardness and his clothes refer to much more then himself. When I read this I almost felt guilty about that party. I have never lived in the 70'ties, but I enjoy dressing up like it. Is that irony? Maybe not in this situation, but I do have the picture of the party as my Facebook profile picture now. I like the clothes and maybe the awkwardness; you can't really take it seriously.. It is "just a joke". Still I like to put myself out that way.
Then she goes on saying that the hipster is merely a symptom and that irony is the primary mode in with which our daily life is lived. It's shown in advertising, politics, fashion and television. In a lecture about visual culture two weeks ago we briefly discussed this video:
This displays irony perfectly in fashion, advertising and television. In comparison to other high-fashion brands, where commercials are always serious and beautiful, LANVIN is just making a big fool out of themselves. " Take, for example, an ad that calls itself an ad, makes fun of its own format, and attempts to lure its target market to laugh at and with it. It pre-emptively acknowledges its own failure to accomplish anything meaningful. No attack can be set against it, as it has already conquered itself."
I think the reason why I'm so excited about the irony is that I finally can put the artist "Maxó" in a big trend. While I was in Barcelona last week, we went to his gallery twice. The first time was an "accident"; we walked by and thought his work looked really interesting. He let us take a look in his workspace and there he had all kinds of stuff sorted out hanging on the ceiling and on the walls. He makes strange little sculptures that consist out of weird combinations. The second time we went there was for a dinner my school had set up. In his art gallery! It was great, and I spend the whole night drinking wine and looking at these weird Barbie legs underneath a camera.
As you might can tell from the pictures his work fits in with many trends; craft? re-using products? and my favorite over-used word: authentic?? I find it more interesting to look at it through this point of view of irony. Might it be that he is just trying to create weird looking stuff, with no meaning, something that is not mainstream (also a hipster thing) and he's just harvesting awkwardness?
Then the article goes on about where to find non-ironic living, and life should be free from irony. It's not even that to do so, according to Christy Wampole: just remove all the things that aren't meaningful or you don't REALLY like. I doubt about it being that easy, but I really like her point of view as a mega trend. You'll definitely hear more about this one from me!
