Meret Oppenheim. (Swiss, 1913-1985). Object. Paris 1936.
Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon, cup 4 3/8" (10.9 cm) in diameter;
saucer 9 3/8" (23.7 cm) in diameter; spoon 8" (20.2 cm) long, overall
height 2 7/8" (7.3 cm). Purchase. © 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York / Pro Litteris, Zurich
Object (1936), Meret Oppenheim’s fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon, is a beacon. Before I moved to New York City, I used to visit the Dada artwork like an old friend. The piece puzzled me when I was a kid, taken to MoMA because of my precocious interest in art, but I liked it. Deep into an undergraduate Dada phase, I felt empowered by its perverse feminine wiles. Later, with the opening of the new building, it was heartening to find the seventy-year old object still winking in the design section. So it was really no surprise that when furry and hairy pieces showed up in Design and the Elastic Mind, MoMA’s very strong, science fair roundup of geek designs, the artwork quickly sprung to mind.
Curators Paula Antonelli and Patricia Juncosa Vecchierini are clearly interested in the body, or at the very least, the human scale. The show, which opens on the 24th, is broken into sections by scale: nano, human, and global. While the nano section features Rules of Six, a nice installation by it-boys Aranda Lasch, and various data mapping projects are represented in the global section, it is the human scale that dominates with a cheeky, fleshy attitude.
I snapped a few pics at yesterday's press preview:
Epidermits Interactive Pet from the Cautionary Visions project, model, 2006, Stuart Karten Design
Necklace, 1995 and Chocolate Nipples, 1995-2003, Ana Mir, Emiliana Design Studio
Chest Hair Curler from the Accessories for Lonely Men Project, 2001, Noam Toran
Hair Alarm Clock from the Accessories for Lonely Men Project, 2001, Noam Toran
…And a couple more hirsute things which I need to go back and identify.
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