Last Friday a few of us went to see the Banksy Pet Shop installation. I won’t go into it in detail – you can read about it here – but we weren’t wowed. The points being made were valid, and the animatronics impressive, but ultimately it was kind of creepy and a bit silly and we didn’t really want to look at it for more than 10 minutes. By contrast, this past weekend I saw Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, at the newly re-opened Museum of Art and Design. This show features works of art made from everyday objects which make subtle commentary on the issues of our time but also look good:
“The exhibition examines the ways in which artists transform our world, respond to contemporary cultural paradigms, and comment on global consumerism…Second Lives strives to broaden definitions and ideas about beauty, function, and overall necessity in everyday objects. Using a wide variety of mediums, the exhibit is a fascinating exploration on just how crafty we might need get in order to reduce the waste in our lives.”
OK yes, this is all very trendy now what with everything going green, but it’s a great example of how important points can be conveyed in an subtle but effective and attractive way. For example, a “Full Metal Jacket” made of military dog tags, an installation of butterflies made from old vinyl records and a dress of rubber gloves:
Other highlights include a portrait of a garment worker made from designer clothing labels, an oversized piece of coral made from clear plastic buttons, a giant abacus made from old bowls and plates – which actually changes to reflect fluctiations in the world’s population – and other pieces made from hypodermic needles, Fed-X packaging, spools of thread, plastic spoons, shopping bags, old textbooks and more.
Last month I talked about a very nice-looking but ultimately useless information graphic. The point here is that the reverse is also true; even if your information is meaningful, making it look good won’t hurt. This way, people will want to look at it and maybe even buy it and hang it on their wall. The shocking-but-ugly will make you look, but will you want to spend time with it and learn from it, or will it just make you hungry for fish sticks?