Yes it’s art – six deadly computer viruses inside one laptop – for sale if you have a million dollars to spare. And if we would just keep a sufficiently open mind we may be able to see that there is a lot of original – perhaps bizarre – thinking that qualifies as art: such as The Persistence of Chaos, the Art Eggcident, the Flesh Dress, My Bed, Giant Turds, Giant Webs, flat ground that looks like a chasm…
This Samsung netbook contains six pieces of deadly malware that have been known to cause losses or up to $95 billion: ILoveYou, MyDoom, SoBig, WannaCry, DarkTequila and BlackEnergy. Artist Guo O Dong wanted to demonstrate the dangers posed by ‘weaponized viruses that affect power grids or public infrastructure can cause direct harm.” The bidding is now closed because the laptop was bought at an auction; fetching $1.34 million.
Canadian Jana Sterbak created the ‘Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic’ which was displayed at Montreal's Galerie Rene Blouin; made from 50 pounds of raw steak. The idea of the installation was to convey the idea of the impermanence of the body and the meaninglessness of vanity. After all the time and effort we spend trying to look a certain way, in the end, we are all just ‘meat hanging from bones’. Macabre, but true!
This is not just a sloppy person's bed, but an art installation by Tracey Emin exhibited at the Turner Contemporary Gallery. The rubbish around the bed, the unmade bed reveal the intimate details of a life in the aftermath of a nervous breakdown, when Emin did not leave her bed for 4 days. The installation immortalises over a hundred lovers from her past as well as the things she has given up: sex, smoking, drinking etc.
Henk Hofstra created this public installation in the public square of Zaailand in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. The eight 100 feet wide eggs were supposed to show us how it would look if God threw down giant eggs at us. Hoftra hoped the square would become a ‘meeting place with room for art.’
This is giant inflatable poop, yes, poop as in excreta as art. Artist Paul McCarthy wanted to create something mocking and something that makes fun of the “prudent qualities of public sculpture”.
This is more of a collection than an art installation: Chinsekikan (or the house of curious rocks) contains 1700 rocks that look like human faces. Some of these ‘faces’ resemble celebrities, such as Elvis Presley and some that look like ET, Nemo and Donkey Kong.
This Melbourne installation consisted of books placed where there would usually be traffic. These were discarded books no longer needed in libraries and collections. The ‘river of books’ installation was in place for a month as a symbolic gesture to draw attention to literature; reclaim mind-space and physical space.
This was a street illusion in Sergels torg in Stockholm which gave the impression of flat ground being a deep chasm with a jutting outcrop. People are clearly having a great time with it… though you may well ask quite seriously… but is it art?
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