BRANDING ART SPECTACLE

 (NOTE:Updated 22July2014/ Karawalker-selfie-generator. HyperAllergic with links)

The digital version of this NY Times simulation may be found here http://nytimes-se.com/
And the Backstory of this public spectacle Here (includes VIDEO)
http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/newyorktimes



WRAPPED REICHSTAG, by Christo & Jeanne-claude, BERLIN 1995
From the Artists' website:
"After a struggle spanning the seventies, eighties and nineties, the wrapping of the Reichstag was completed on June 24, 1995 by a work force of 90 professional climbers and 120 installation workers. The Reichstag remained wrapped for 14 days and all materials were recycled. 1,076,390 square feet (100,000 square meters) of thick woven polypropylene fabric with an aluminum surface and 9.7 miles (15.6 kilometers) of blue polypropylene rope, diameter 1.26 inch (3.2 centimeters), were used for the wrapping of the Reichstag. The façades, the towers and the roof were covered by 70 tailor-made fabric panels, twice as much fabric as the surface of the building. The work of art was entirely financed by the artists, as in all previous projects, through the sale of preparatory studies, drawings, collages, scale models as well as early works and original lithographs. The artists do not accept sponsorship of any kind."

YOUTUBE video (timelapse) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esiErDm62E4

http://christojeanneclaude.net/projects/wrapped-reichstag

The late "Francis Bacon" and The Spectacle of WEALTH and the strategies of Art & corporate branding...The AUCTION HOUSE  and the Museum or the Gallery as EVENT SPACES where the spectacle is performed --One example of such spectacle is Marina Abramovic http://youtu.be/OS0Tg0IjCp4


http://flavorwire.com/403559/jay-z-and-marina-abramovic-pop-music-stops-ripping-off-high-art-starts-trying-to-become-high-art/

A SUBTLETY, OR THE MARVELOUS SUGARBABY by Artist Kara Walker , 2014, New York City USA
 with the assistance of CREATIVE TIME and DOMINO SUGAR Corporation
(Creative Time's PR may be seen HERE http://creativetime.org/projects/karawalker/ )

The Pre-Publicity chronicled the coming of this public spectacle of art:
http://blogs.artinfo.com/the-daily-pic/2014/04/28/daily-pic-kara-walker-on-what-got-her-here/

The artist is interviewed and speaks about the evolution of this specific art project on the tv program ART21 (see video below) or the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRkP5rcXtys

 The artist is also interviewed for National Public Radio (NPR)
http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/313017716/artist-kara-walker-draws-us-into-bitter-history-with-something-sweet

The cosponsors CREATIVE TIME are interviewed by Kathy Bird of Fresh Art International:
http://freshartinternational.com/2014/05/29/fresh-talk-creative-time-with-kara-walker/
 #KaraWalkerDomino was promoted
See: http://hyperallergic.com/135502/lowest-common-denominator-a-kara-walker-selfie-generator/
See: http://web.stagram.com/tag/karawalkerdomino/?npk=1403942532126486
and
See: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23karawalkerdomino&mode=photos
and

#KaraWalkerDomino sugar babies bleeding molasses. Red sweetness shimmers, then shatters. Sugar is slavery. pic.twitter.com/PegT0VFQJk
— Tavia Nyong'o (@Afrofabulist) June 20, 2014

A FLICKR search will produce these astonishing results:
https://secure.flickr.com/search/?q=kara%20walker%20domino

Public commentary was not limited to instagram. Platforms such as YELP
http://www.yelp.com/biz/a-subtlety-by-kara-walker-brooklyn
provided the public with a "voice" to articulate their feedback on this mediated sculpture project.
Here are some sample comments:

"Although the front of the Sphinx is what is displayed in photos, the backside was the real buzz!"

"Good Lord I thought I was approaching the Great Wall of China! We arrived in Brooklyn around 2:30pm only to find a line that stretched for blocks.  It was almost 90 degrees and I don't recall a breeze.
After lunch we got on line Saturday the 5th , on the eve of the exhibit's closing. Oddly enough it only took us about 1 hour and 10 minutes; I was so relieved!
"Subtlety" also known as "The Marvelous Sugar Baby" exhibit is  SOMETHING that you have to see with your very own eyes! 35 feet tall and 40 tons of sparkly white sugar sprayed on to a form, to create this astounding  Southern American"

   

  (right) "For the Love of God" by artist Damien Hirst (Left Cambel Soup cans and Skulls by Andy Warhol) From Wikipedia on this artwork: "For the Love of God is a sculpture by artist Damien Hirst produced in 2007. It consists of a platinum cast of an 18th-century human skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds, including a pear-shaped pink diamond located in the forehead that is known as the Skull Star Diamond. The skull's teeth are original, and were purchased by Hirst in London. The artwork is a Memento mori, or reminder of the mortality of the viewer. In 2007, art historian Rudi Fuchs, observed: 'The skull is out of this world, celestial almost. It proclaims victory over decay. At the same time it represents death as something infinitely more relentless. Compared to the tearful sadness of a vanitas scene, the diamond skull is glory itself.'[1] Costing £14 million to produce, the work was placed on its inaugural display at the White Cube gallery in London in an exhibition Beyond belief with an asking price of £50 million. This would have been the highest price ever paid for a single work by a living artist.[2]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_Love_of_God

The artist speaks about his Artwork in a short VIDEO via the GUARDIAN Here
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/video/2012/apr/18/damien-hirst-tate-modern-skull-video

( A fuller background on the artist may also be seen on the guardian in discussion over his TATE retrospective http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/video/2012/apr/16/damien-hirst-tate-modern-exhibition-tour-video )

And n the USA ..."Jeff Koons Is the Most Successful American Artist Since Warhol. So What’s the Art World Got Against Him?"
  http://www.vulture.com/2013/05/age-of-jeff-koons.html

Art Critic Jerry Saltz on the Trouble With Mega-Galleries  http://www.vulture.com/2013/10/trouble-with-mega-art-galleries.html

Art Critic Holland Cotter on BIG MONEY in ART http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/arts/design/holland-cotter-looks-at-money-in-art.html?_r=1

Robert Hughes - *The Mona Lisa Curse 1hr 15min "At the end of 1962 the Louvre in Paris loaned Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa to the U.S. government for exhibit in the United States. The painting was endlessly hyped by the media, resulting in a sort of frenzy, or what arts writer and social historian Robert Hughes came to call, the Mona Lisa Curse." http://youtu.be/JANhr4n4bac

What makes art valuable? - BBC Documentary 1hour Go inside the glittering world of the super-rich as art critic and journalist Alastair Sooke explores the remarkable stories behind the Top Ten Most Valuable Paintings in the World to sell at auction. The documentary tells the stories behind the astronomical prices of art and why the world's richest people want to spend their millions on it. http://youtu.be/QXOPBZFvBQ4