29 May,2011 11:26 AM IST | | Dhamini Ratnam
Renowned artist John Baldessari's new installation is a large signboard like the ones you see in Las Vegas. On display, flashing like the light of a million stars, will be the name of the latest celebrity in town -- You! Welcome to a world where everyone gets a shot at being famous thanks to an artist who disagrees with Andy Warhol,
the '60s pop art celeb
On June 1, 2011, a 30 metre-long and two metre-high LED signboard will go up on the Museumplein (museum square) in Amsterdam.
Stedelijk Museum curator Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen says John
Baldessari's (above) work is inspired by symbols of celebrityhood like
the neon lights on Broadway. (Pics/Hotze Eisma & Sydney B Felsen)
This square is home to five centuries of art and houses the Rijksmuseum (a national art museum that holds masterpieces from the 16th Century onwards), the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum (for modern and contemporary art and design).
Starting Wednesday, at 9.30 pm IST, Internet users sitting anywhere in the world will get to rub shoulders with Rembrandt and Van Gogh, as their names flash bright on the signboard -- for 15 seconds.
Starting June 1, Baldessari will give you an opportunity for 15 seconds
of fame by displaying your name on this illuminated LED sign.
Renowned American artist John Baldessari's new work Your Name in Lights gives people a shot at being celebrities by inviting people to register online if they want to see their names on a Broadway-inspired LED display at the museumplein.
At the same time, Baldessari is also making a tongue-in-cheek comment on our obsession with fame and yearning for celebrity status.
The Stedelijk Museum will display Baldessari's work for the duration of the Holland Festival, which ends on June 26. Sunday MiD DAY speaks to the museum's curator Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen.
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What is John Baldessari's work seeking to achieve?
Inspired by mass cultural symbols of celebrityhood like the neon lights on Broadway and the marquees of Hollywood cinema halls, Baldessari gives spectators an opportunity for a glittering 15 seconds of fame by presenting their names on an illuminated LED sign.
The need to be in the spotlight in our 'culture of celebrity' has become a goal in itself. It is everywhere: look at all the reality shows on television like Big Brother and YouTube (the Big Brother format was created in the Netherlands, by the way). Your Name In Lights playfully comments on that burning desire for acknowledgement and the yearning for fame by the masses. Baldessari recalls Andy Warhol's (famed American artist of the '60s) oft-quoted 1968 statement, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."
"Warhol is so yesterday", says Baldessari, "be a celebrity for 15 seconds!"
The Internet is beginning to be used elaborately by the art world. The first online international art fair was held in January; the Dubai Art fair in March had an online section as well. The Guggenheim tied up with YouTube to display video art last year. Now, Baldessari seeks to use the Internet to 'create' his work.u00a0
Baldessari's work connects people and audiences all over the world; you don't even need to be in Amsterdam to participate. This gives a new dimension to the idea of participation.
Museums are increasingly experimenting with the Internet, new media and social media -- and it is an exciting time. The Stedelijk is very active on social media such as Facebook. We have also used art-based Augumented Reality applications and regularly commission artists to create AR works for the smartphone.
The project, Your Name In Lights is, through its web accessibility, another example of our art ventures into the World Wide Web. These are all new ways of telling stories and interacting with our audiences.
Unlike a painting or a video art, this piece of work cannot be bought by individuals. How does conceptual art (such as this one) work in the art market?
This is community-based work. It does not operate on the level of private ownership. Through its location at a very public spot in the city (Museumplein) and through its accessibility via the web, Your Name In Lights is a public and interactive work. Its mere existence is dependent on the interaction with large groups of viewers.
Want to see your name on the signboard? Register at https://www.yournameinlights.nl/ and watch the livestream that starts 9.45 pm on Jun 1
