Launch of our new collection: Scandal Aqua
Next Thursday, September 6th, our new Ecstatic Surface Collection 2013, Scandal Aqua will be launched at Pilevneli Project in Istanbul. Hereby two images from the collection and our portrait taken by the photographer of the gallery, Isik Kaya, together with our personal video invitation and the text written by the curator of Cobra Museum, Hilde de Bruijn.
We hope to see you with us at 7pm at Pilevneli Project.
Scandal Aqua
Ecstatic Surface Collection 2013
Thrill Seekers Leaked
Collection 2013 is the third Ecstatic Surface Design Collection by Amsterdam-based graphic design duo Pinar&Viola. Their collections are non-commissioned, autonomous projects based on current events in politics, culture and economy, encapsulating the beauty and horror of the contemporary. As the recurring term ‘Ecstatic Surface Design’ indicates, the collections (like Pinar&Viola’s other work) are strongly focused on the aestheticized and commercialized designed surfaces that surround us, and with their design they seek to investigate the latent violence, the power structures, behind these surfaces. In their own words, the 2011 Collection for instance staged oversized credit cards as “toxic pieces of plastic, shown as an all-encompassing metaphor for shattered dreams, disappointment, the changing notion of value and the mutating concept of ‘credit’”.
The 2012 collection consisted of images that belong to “the secret collection of the fictitious persona Scarf_whiz80. Snapshots, carefully manipulated pictures and skilful photomontages, all portraying veiled divas built a critique on societal norms of gender, race, religion and sexuality, including destructions of stereotypes and ideologies.”
The bath towels of the 2013 Collection are lavishly decorated with an overload of symbols, icons, and gadgets taken from popular and vernacular culture. Let me list some of Pinar&Viola’s main ingredients for this project:
Think pop star posters. Think Justin Bieber towels gone wrong. Think Tumblr.
Think Twitter. Think teen girls experiments with blingees.
Think webcam chats. Think Wikileaks. Think sexting.
And now we’re at it anyway: think Berlusconi, and the man whose name was mentioned so often in the press that we now, with an oddly intimate ring to it, refer to him as DSK. Two men whose sexual scandals are too well-known to be repeated here. Think the image of Democratic Congresman David Wu, dressed in a tiger suit with his hands in the air to a female aide. (Wu resigned after being accused of having an ‘unwanted sexual encounter’ with the teenage daughter of a friend.) And last but not least think of Congresman Chris Lee, who photographed himself shirtless in a bathroom mirror and sent the pictures to a woman he supposedly contacted on Craigslist.
The towels directly speak to our senses. In fact, at first, their pink-purplish backgrounds might even have a slightly nauseating effect. On top of that, the abundant amount of kittens, icons from Blackberry’s love theme, blingbling items, and other kitschy elements seem to have little to do with the frame of reference of the average grownup. And personally, I even felt a bit revolted by the idea of pressing the image of that overly self-aware looking, slick middle-aged man with fake smile who is at the heart of each towel’s composition, to my freshly showered body.
Clearly, the intended users of these towels must be the wet-haired teenage Tumblr generation girls, who’s photographs, taken with their smart phones in the private space of their bath rooms, are part of the Collection too. But then what is the relationship between the girls, each wrapped in one of the towels, and this man? There is a photograph of him in his bathroom too, at odds with the carefully controlled image he is presenting with the towels. In the photograph, he is wearing his own personal towel with a distorted pin-stripe pattern, and hashtag sign followed by the word charisma – as if to stress his popularity. Are the girls, all wearing the same necklace with hashtag medallion, admirers or maybe courtesans of this man? Well, possibly, as in the 2013 Collection “dubious moral standards ornament teenage dreams,”
as Pinar&Viola state themselves.
Yet, the pink-purplish towels keep drawing my attention, pulling me off and keeping me hypnotised at the same time. They raise my curiosity, not despite, but because they seem to present an impossible constellation of things which I would like to discuss in more detail. Instead of Justin Bieber, these towels feature our before-mentioned photo-shopped character. It would be safe now to presume that he is a fictitious politician, who upon further inspection is of course also wearing a wedding ring. He finds himself in five different, carefully designed settings, one for each towel: Domestic Affairs, Global Affairs, Sustainable Affairs, International Affairs, and Urban Affairs. In this parody realm, symbols, icons, gadgets, and decorations which would normally together make no particular sense, attain a coherent, symbolic meaning and become embedded in the suggestion of a narrative, a scandal even. Let’s get into detail with one example only, the Domestic Affairs towel:
This particular towel was highly inspired by the Anthony Weiner’s sexting scandal. U.S. Congresman Weiner not only send x-rated self-portraits via Twitter but also a picture of kittens accompanied by a suggestive message along the lines of “me playing with kittens”. On the background of Weiner’s picture, a photograph of the presidential family was visible. So upon further investigation, the combination of pictures of cute kittens, empty photo frames (an indication of the empty rhetoric of a happy family life), a webcam and a ‘home’ button in the Domestic Affairs towel suddenly makes perfect twisted sense. We could also further speculate now about the threesome of a ‘home’ button, the password icon, lock and key, and the inclusion of a PC and webcam in this towel – they seem to send a warning message, and tell us that our homes, where we fulfil our need for privacy and recuperate, are not as impenetrable as we like to think. The PC and webcam do not only provide us a window to the world, it brings the world in as well. It is probably no coincidence that in the Domestic Affairs the curtains are open, and the weather outside looks grim.
The Domestic Affairs towel is exemplary for Pinar&Viola’s love for the vernacular, and what they call contemporary digital folk art, as well as for the entire 2013 Collection which is inspired by the political sex scandals that were all over the news last year – although most towels are generally inspired by these and do not illustrate specific examples. With their ‘junk’ ingredients, Pinar&Viola managed to cook-up a nourishing haute cuisine which speaks of politics, media, and strategies of manipulation and diversion, and makes us chew on the question what it actually is that the media are offering us. Are we being occupied with sex scandals instead of the information we really need in order to build well-informed opinions and make decisions as responsible, self-empowered individuals? And if so, is this type of distraction all we really want? Or, alternatively, if politicians and other powerful figures get caught in a sex scandal, shouldn’t we be treating this as serious item generating further research into the dynamics behind power structures, gender roles and class divisions? Or, when it comes to the media involved, shouldn’t we be speaking about the role of social media in the self-image of teenagers, or about the penetration of the public sphere into the private lives of people?
TO CONQUER A VACUUM
Just like Pinar&Viola’s previous two collections this collection pushes the boundaries of graphic design, though not only for its autonomous character, its rich iconography, or the quite overt political message about the mediatisation and spectacularisation of politics.
At the basis of the duo’s aesthetic language lies a philosophical approach that leads to a radical working method, and to designs that are so hyper-detailed and densely pixelated that they gain an almost tactile quality. Pinar&Viola’s ecstatic surface designs in fact testify of a great digital craftsmanship, traditionally relegated to the domestic and feminine sphere of labour, and involving a time-consuming work process that goes against the standardization and democratization of design and it’s software (in which there is no room for ‘hand-crafted’ originality).
What is interesting, is how Pinar&Viola’s strategy of creating incredibly dense surfaces is a balancing act between irony and love, between their critique of populist rhetoric with acknowledgement and acceptance of our irrational desires and needs. In their practice our need for ornamentation for instance, becomes a means through which they reveal the inherent, essential qualities of a subject. It becomes impossible to distinguish form and content, surface and depth, as Pinar&Viola are well aware of, when stating that “decoration is a means by which the inherent essential qualities of a subject are revealed. Decoration is a functional and autonomous facet in our practice, existing as stylistic elements and as a subject matter at the same time.”
Pinar&Viola’s surfaces are in fact so densely ornamented that the classic art historical term ‘horror vacui’ (Latin for ‘fear of empty space’) springs to mind, which means the filling of the entire surface of a space or an artwork with detail. The classic idea is that empty or unfilled spaces are unnatural, that they go against the laws of nature and physics and that hence we feel the need to fill these spaces. Pinar&Viola take the notion of horror vacui ad absurdum; in our visually saturated environment they manage to be even louder – something I would actually not have thought possible. This is horror vacui for the affluent and well-educated consumer, Pinar&Viola’s response to the overload of information that we are surrounded with. Maybe our desire to ‘decorate’ is not caused by fear of empty space but by “a desire to adapt a vacuum, to conquer it, to mark it with one’s presence, (…),” as this is exactly what cultivators and constructors Pinar&Viola seem to do. Moreover, their rich iconography and horror vacui strategy not only conquers white, ‘unfilled’ space on a surface but also conquers empty space in a metaphorical sense: empty (political) rhetoric, superficial journalism, and information that by its sheer abundance becomes meaningless.
Hilde de Bruijn
Amsterdam, August 2012
i All Pinar&viola citations come from email and skype conversations that we had between June 2012 and August 2012
ii See note ii
iii Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking website. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog, named a “tumblelog”. The service is most popular with the teen and college-aged user segments with half of Tumblr’s visitor base being under the age of 25.
iv Animated pictures created using the Blingee free online photo editor which provides its users with a hotchpotch of “favorite topics from celebrities to anime, emo, goth, fantasy, vintage, and more!”
v The act of sending sexually explicit messages or photographs, primarily between mobile phones
vi See note i
vii As suggested by Asger Jorn in Against Functionalism, 1. Talk at the International Congress of Industrial Design (10th Triennale of Industrial Art, Milan), 1954. The text can be found online, for instance here: http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/asger-jorn/functionalism.htm
This entry was written by , posted on August 30, 2012 at 7:38 am, filed under Art, Decadence, Dematerialization, Digitalization, Ecstatic Surface Design, Exhibition, Glam Chaos, Graphic design, Pinar&Viola, Political glam, Published, Vernissage, Video, Visual ecstasy. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Our new muse: Valeria Lukyanova
This entry was written by , posted on July 17, 2012 at 12:14 am, filed under Decadence, Persona, Trending. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Yes! You can always be healthier
This entry was written by , posted on June 25, 2012 at 10:22 am, filed under Decadence, Dematerialization, Things 'n Flings. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
NEW WORK: Fan Art 4 Aynouk Tan
Opening MOAM, June 14th, 2012 at Gallery Fontana Fortuna Amsterdam
Details from the fan art piece
This fan art piece is custom-tailored for MOAM Fashion Exhibition, which took place in Gallery Fontana Fortuna in Amsterdam.
The exhibition gave place to twelve young contemporary talents to give their reinterpretation of a Dutch fashion historic highlight. We were invited to make a work together with fashion icon Aynouk Tan. MOAM connected Aynouk Tan to the historic fashion icon Mathilde Willink, a known society girl, model and muse from 60′s that lived a decadent short live in Amsterdam. In an interview Mathilde Willink said she lived in a fairy-tale world of illusions and extravagance; where fame was crucial for her. For this work we were lead by her citation, “If people do not notice you, you might as well not exist”.
Her quote became reality in today’s dynamics of online social networking. Aynouk Tan’s Facebook pictures, and their endless praising comments confirm this. We scanned her online presence and used the results to tailor a contemporary expression of intense worship. We created a fan art deluxe that portrays Aynouk Tan and her flamboyant craves for attention and recognition. The work is not only about the one being admired, it’s also about the tragic beauty of the one that admires.
Concept: Pinar&Viola and Aynouk Tan
Design: Pinar&Viola
Photograps used in the fan art: Mylou Oord
You can read more about the exhibition in Diane Pernet’s blog.
This entry was written by , posted on June 19, 2012 at 5:14 pm, filed under Amsterdam, Art, Decadence, Ecstatic Surface Design, Exhibition, Fashion, Glam Chaos, Graphic design, Persona, Poster, Published, Things 'n Flings, Vernissage, Visual ecstasy. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
$119 million dolllaaaaaarrrrrssss
This entry was written by , posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:01 am, filed under Art, Decadence, Various. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Ms. Pretty VS CEO J.P. Morgan
A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:
Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?
I’m going to be honest of what I’m going to say here. I’m 25 this year. I’m very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above.
You might say that I’m greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York.
My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married?
I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you?
Among those I’ve dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit.
If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden(?), $250k annual income is not enough.
I’m here humbly to ask a few questions:
1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)
2) Which age group should I target?
3) Why most wives of the riches are only average-looking? I’ve met a few girls who don’t have looks and are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys.
4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)
Ms. Pretty
A philosophical reply from CEO of J.P. Morgan:
Dear Ms. Pretty,
I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyse your situation as a professional investor.
My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope
everyone believes that I’m not wasting time here.
From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain.
Put the details aside, what you’re trying to do is an exchange of “beauty” and “money” : Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square.
However, there’s a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can’t be prettier year after year.
Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It’s not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worse 10 years later.
By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a “trading position”.
If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term - same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or “leased”.
Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income.This has better chance than finding a rich fool.
Hope this reply helps. If you are interested in “leasing” services, do contact me.
signed,
J.P. Morgan CEO
This entry was written by , posted on April 5, 2012 at 12:50 pm, filed under Decadence, Internet, Various. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Chinese gangsta glam *leaked*
A series of garish and violent photographs claiming to be leaked from a gangster’s mobile phone have become an online sensation, attracting nearly 5million hits.
The collection of snaps were anonymously uploaded to an image website under the heading ‘Pics from a Chinese gangster’s phone’. In the album, a young but portly Chinese man shows off his love for stacks of cash, German sports cars, parading around topless and dishing out savage beatings.
The series of shots have now been viewed more than 4.5million times in less than two days, attracting interest from around the world. One blogger said: ‘Reddit found an album of pictures ripped off a lost cell phone, normally nothing special, you’re just hoping to find some sext’s and amateur porn. ‘Except this time there’s no porn, but a bunch of pictures of what looks to be a Chinese gangster and his baller ass life style.’
Via dailymail.co.uk
This entry was written by , posted on March 22, 2012 at 11:17 pm, filed under Chinese sugar, Decadence, Ghetto gold, Internet, Persona, Utterly China, Various. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Massage Reptilia
Massage Extreme with a team of crawling chiropractors:
This entry was written by , posted on March 19, 2012 at 11:31 am, filed under Decadence. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Nailympics 2012
NailCanvas for iPhone, World’s First 3D Nail Art Simulator
This entry was written by , posted on February 13, 2012 at 5:14 pm, filed under Craftsmanship, Decadence, Fashion, Folk, Ghetto gold, Visual ecstasy. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Turkish wedding fair sensation
This entry was written by , posted on February 6, 2012 at 5:53 pm, filed under Decadence, Exhibition, Folk. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Kazakh senator with JC
A Kazakhstan senator was shocked to discover his face painted onto a Cathedral fresco depicting men welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem. Sergey Kulagin was touring a new cathedral in Rudniy, in northwest Kazakhstan, near the Russian border, where until earlier this month he had been governor.
The centrepiece of the new cathedral’s interior was a large fresco on the dome depicting a group of robed and bearded men with Jesus.
But standing at the back of this crowd, clean shaven and jowly, was Mr Kulagin.
The fresco shows Mr Kulagin standing passively and wearing a pink robe with a blue sash. In front of him several men earnestly welcome Jesus, who is riding on a donkey. Behind Jesus are the 12 apostles.
The senator described the painting as “a sacrilege”.
This entry was written by , posted on January 31, 2012 at 10:03 pm, filed under Art, Decadence, Folk, Political glam, Various. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Plastic spending power
The Black Astrum Signature Card, which is being touted as world’s most expensive business card, features a sleek, Swiss metal construction dotted with more than 30 carats of diamonds, Business Insider reports.
The cards, which are custom handcrafted to the client’s liking, are sold in packs of 25, 50 or 100 and are priced at about $1,500 per card.
On their website, Black Astrum describes the design of the Signature Card as follows:
Philosophy
We share our members’ passion for products that reflect their high standards and exclusive requirements. Each card is designed to be the ultimate expression of a member’s individuality and character. Black Astrum Signature Cards are produced in limited numbers and offered to new members by invitation only.
Heritage
The Signature Card, originally produced as a one-off commission for a wealthy Middle Eastern Family, has developed into a product for the ‘special-few’. Today our dedicated team of craftsmen, inspired by our members’ desire for a product which embodies their qualities, work in the leafy suburbs of the Royal County of Berkshire, England.
This post is made possible by Jonathan Puckey, via Nina Støttrup Larsen
This entry was written by , posted on January 16, 2012 at 7:52 pm, filed under Decadence. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
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