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Maggie Goldenberger
by Michael Anthony Farley on October 16, 2015
- In what has to be the most thoroughly-researched article about a meme in the history of investigative journalism, Darryn King traces the strange provenance of the “ERMAHGERD GERSBERMS” image. It turns out Maggie Goldenberger (the ERMAHGERD girl herself) and her friends staged the photo as tweens in the mid-90s, replete with considerations of costuming, hair, and styling down to the now-infamous retainer. It was part of a game they would play inventing characters to document with Polaroids. Essentially, the “BERKS” girl was somewhat of a Cindy-Sherman-esque prodigy—creating a character that’s probably now more iconic than any one created by professional artists who employ the same tactics. Unfortunately, she didn’t make any Cindy-Sherman-esque money from it. [Vanity Fair]
- Let’s hope that some iteration of the glorious ERMAHGERD meme is archived for posterity, because most of the internet’s content won’t be. This pretty depressing (but wholly fascinating) article paints a pretty bleak picture of how rapidly the web’s vast stores of cultural detritus and priceless, irreplaceable patrimony of knowledge alike can disappear. The internet is likened to antiquity’s Great Library of Alexandria, which is great, except we all know how successful that endeavor at preserving data turned out to be. [The Atlantic]
- French critics are complaining that the Musée d’Orsay is deliberately staging “racy” exhibitions that come with content warnings in a bid to attract crowds. The latest, Splendour and Misery: Pictures of Prostitution, 1850-1910 follows a show about the influence of the Marquis de Sade’s super-NSFW writings on the arts as well as a collection of male nudes. Whoever thought present-day French art critics would have something in common with American Republican politicians from the 1980s? [Observer]
- Empty galleries were a thing, and for some reason, sometimes still are. Gallery-subsuming installations are surely en vogue this year. The latest trend? Exhibitions devoted to a single artwork. [ARTnews]
- This is crazy. In 1979, Patti Smith’s tour truck was stolen in Chicago. 36 years later, a fan named Noreen Bender (who had come into possession of some of the personal effects) returned the stolen items to Smith at a recent book reading, moving her to tears. [The Guardian]
- Because BIG can never design a pretty, functional building that is just a pretty, functional building without having an inane new buzzword attached to it, Bjarke Ingels describes his forthcoming Kistefos Museum in Norway like this: “With the inhabited bridge, we stumbled upon our first experiment with social infrastructure – a building that serves as a bridge – or a cultural institution that serves as a piece of infrastructure.” [Dezeen]
- “What art criticism needs to be is just criticism. It cannot be all praise or even cheap flattery or adulation. It cannot indiscriminately apply Western theories to reshape Chinese aesthetics or use commercial standards in place of artistic ones, completely equating art works with ordinary merchandise and embracing the belief that ‘the positiveness of a commentary is equal to the thickness of red envelopes.’” Chinese President Xi Jinping has a lot of opinions on all things related to the arts. Now, you can read all of them. [The New York Times]
- Okay, I am the one gay man in the world who has never watched “Empire” but apparently it has some pretty amazing artwork decorating the sets. [The New Yorker]
- In related TV news, one Staten Island mother has contacted the New York Post to complain about a “Boo Bees” Halloween T-shirt she thinks is offensive. What does this have to do with TV? Seemingly nothing, but apparently the anonymous mom is afraid the mafia will go after her because a reality TV star has something to do with the “Boo Bees” shirt and the mafia. What? [Gawker]
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