Monetizing Myth at Apex Art
This evening after work I dropped by Apex Art for a guided tour of its new exhibit, Nessie Does New York: Monetizing Myth, Legend & Culture. The host for the evening: the illustrious and able Dr. Alexis Macnab, who besides being an internationally renowned Scottish cryptozoologist is also a rising star at Tribeca's Bat Theater.
The event was a wonderful display of museum exhibit as performance art, taking us through a mock-serious mash-up of various cryptozoology myths that then sequed into a playful debunking in the presence of various forms of trading on the myth.
Pictured above is a close-up of one of three ceramic dioramas prepared for the exhibit; the scene, you might recognize, is the infamous Patterson Bigfoot film referenced on this very blog a few days ago. The stylized folk-art pop evinces the populism of the myths as cultural elements prior to becoming mass market industries.
From there the exhibit moves to TV documentaries on the featured cryptids, a subtle jab at how commercial and nonprofit educational media perpetuate the myths for their profit (as if to underscore the point, this is where Alexis debunks reported sightings, while four different docs somberly recount the evidence as fact).
The exhibit ends with a couple fun scenes. One is a wall of drawings made by museum visitors, with most of the drawings done by children. Finishing it up is a room of crypto-tchotchkes, many of which come from various tourist sites associated with the creatures. If business is commodifying the lifeworld, this is the lifeworld getting a piece of the action for itself.
All in all a great break; if you're in town by August 2 and interested in the relation between commerce and creativity, it's well worth checking out, even without the talented Dr. M. If not, you can take a video walkthrough & read the explanatory brochure on the Apex site.
Though if you're like one of the people in our group who thought it was straight crypto with a real visiting cryptozoologist, you might want to stick with National Geographic.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Monetizing Myth at Apex Art.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://uncivilsociety.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/851
With the economic development, most people are beginning to buy those luxuries, which are renowned all over the world. However, some people dont have the ability to buy them, but they would like to own those products that replicate those renowned brands. Therefore, more and more replicas spring up in the market, for instance,replica jimmy choo shoes and fake moncler jackets and so on. Of course, if you have the ability to buy the renowned brands, you can make a choice of the products with the brand of manolo blahnik, Christian Louboutin, Alexander McQueen and Chanel. At present, there is a Discount Chaneland Discount Alexander McQueen in the stores, so you should grasp time to Buy Chanel and Alexander McQueen online or in the stores. There are some famous brand stores, which Buy Christian Louboutin andarc teryx acrux 50 backpack and other products. Lastly, there is an advertisement of manolo blahnik store sale. If you are interested in it, please pay attention to this piece of advertisement.Canada Goose Yorkville Parka