On my way out the door this morning I stopped and considered a safety related object attached to the door.
Asphyxiate the Japanese way.
The walk to the market was mostly uneventful, beyond passing by this.
“Giant Welcoming Sculptures…The faces represent four races of the world: Western, Arab, African, and Asian so guests from all over the world can feel at home as they walk past massive stone carvings of what looks like their grandfather.” Again, I am trying desperately not to take a photo of every insane thing you have in this country but you are making it hard okay?
And it is not a rhetorical question. They have you vote.
I guess this is also a thing we should leave to democracy? As an American I am culturally compelled to skip the first step, of course.
I don’t feel qualified to answer such a question, but I seemed to end up going the direction of much of the audience. As I looked at the objects, I started to find patterns in what I was choosing:
Is it principally for commercial purposes (e.g., an advertisement for something else)? More likely to mark it as “design”, but not always.
A good example of something that is clearly an advertisement - in this case for an all-female musical theatre troupe - but I marked it as art because…I mean just look at it for a second. Obviously I am a fan of all things horny in such a conservative society, but I was particularly taken by the earth melting into a heart shape.What if I want to call it art just because I like it? But I guess more to the point, while this is theoretically an “advertisement” for a conference, I think one would be hard pressed to call it “commercial”.
Practicality and functionality - what this a thing meant to be used? Does it have a dedicated purpose?
Good examples of what most people called design rather than art. But if someone plopped this down in an art museum and didn’t bother you with the question at all, would we call it art by default/context?But this is concept art for a thing that never existed and thus has no technical functionality. Still design? How about the one (not pictured) that was concept art someone later bejeweled with rhinestones? If that is art, when did it become it?
The ending bit - the Outro - was kinda wild. At the end, they literally show you the stats in three lively projectors showing animations over upbeat piano music - the pieces are bouncing in time with the beat. I hung out there a while to validate my choices.
Anyway, here are a few more pieces I just thought were neat:
Oh, yeah, what are you gonna do? Release the dogs? Or the tiny dogs? Or the dogs with tiny dogs in their mouth and when they bark, they shoot tiny dogs at you? (I’m Here by Kazumasa Nagai)This is fine. Really though, the text are credits for a movie (directed by, screenplay, etc) called Kitchin. “The story centers around Mikage, a young woman who loses her parents when young. …Grief-stricken, she finds solace in the kitchen. Yuichi, a friend of Mikage's deceased grandmother, invites her to live with him and his mother. Then Mikage discovers that Yuichi's mother is actually his cross-dressing father.“ Cool.
Final thing I found in the gift store that I regret not buying but my bags were already really full yall.
“Chimi's true nature is an enigma. What even is this thing? Play your cards right, and they could become a faithful companion you will want by your side all the time!” There is no enigma: this is a butt. What does “playing your cards right” mean in this context? And good luck with your “no eating” rule with how many consumers are now millennials. This ass is getting ate.
