The exhibition at Postmasters, on view
until May 11, is a bit of an event, offering the art world its first
chance to view physical evidence of the cultural phenomenon that is
etoy in the art world’s favored setting: the white cube. The show
consists of sixty photographic prints -- etoy "share certificates"
-- and a contamination tent (also safety-orange) housing Web
projections from the etoy site. Founded in 1994, etoy spent the next
few years pulling pranks, refining its brand of cross-disciplinary
irony. The group attained brand-name status after on-line toy seller
eToys.com sued them in a trademark dispute last fall. etoy declared
war and countersued in the court of public opinion, initiating a
global performance piece that rallied netizens far and wide. eToys,
which incorporated two years after etoy, soon found itself the
victim of negative press and e-terrorism, including
denial-of-service attacks, or bogus requests to its site that wound
up blocking legitimate requests. In the two months that followed,
eToys' shares dropped from $67 to $15. Bewildered and limping, in
late January the toy store dropped its suit and paid off etoy's
legal fees. etoy calls it "the most expensive performance in art
history."
In its insistence on dissolving the border between art and
commerce, etoy leaves the cash-crazed New York art world staring
uncomfortably at its own reflection. "This is an overt retail
operation," says Suzanne Meszoly, who curated the Postmasters show.
"It demystifies the art gallery as a rarefied palazzo for
culture." While you can’t exactly collect etoy, you can "invest" in
it. A share in the company costs three thousand dollars and entitles
the buyer to one of the lushly designed, high-definition
photographic prints of orange-suited etoy agents engaged in such
faux-cloak-and-dagger acts as reconnoitering on mountaintops from
helicopters. As Zai admits, if etoy is a business, it’s also an art
business. And it’s a good thing, because the aesthetic of etoy --
what New York Times art critic Roberta Smith calls "Devo
crossed With Neo Geo mixed with a dash of James Bond" -- is at least
as interesting as its work as a "global media virus." Through the
group's fascination with branding and corporate identity, etoy
manages to critique and celebrate the new economy at the same time.
Buying an etoy share allows the shareholder to own part of a company
whose product is its very existence. Trés pomo, non?
What emerges is a portrait of the artist as a corporate entity.
There’s a tendency to dismiss this as a marketing gimmick, but it’s
one frustrated by the knowledge that etoy uses marketing gimmicks
the way other artists use oil paint. Zai, who is in charge of the
etoy "corporate identity," says an artist’s duty is to reflect the
times -- and from this time-honored perspective, etoy is only
utilizing the tools society has left at its disposal.
Jeff Howe is a frequent
contributor to The Village Voice and Time Out New
York.
Post your thoughts on today's column in the FEED
Daily Loop. For discussion of other recent FEED Dailies, check
out last month's Daily Loop.
Ever wonder who's
hands your money has been in? Where's George will track it for you. Chances are
that your dollar bill hasn't been entered yet, but we found one of
ours this morning: It had travelled all the way from Brooklyn to
Soho.
The Boston Review examines the Gould-hostility
among evolutionary biologists: "One would expect Gould’s fellow
evolutionary biologists to celebrate each new essay as it flies from
Gould’s prolific pen. In reality, however, many evolutionists
believe that Gould has exercised his considerable skills as an
essayist to misinform the public about research in evolutionary
biology."
|