Samstag, 16. März 2013

And what about the Kitsch?!

My artist friends were quite irritated by the fact that the Director of the Neues Museum Berlin had disagreed with NEFERTITI IN HER NEW LOOK in the letter they sent me.

"What about the kitsch they are selling in the museum shop?!" they exclaimed instantly when we sat around my kitchen table - "What about the pseudo Warhol of Nefertiti, the mouse pad, the obnoxious bottle stopper - all of them carrying a vague version of her likeness!? And what about the Donald Duck Nefertiti they have on display?! Is that something one can seriously agree on selling in the context of the museum?!"

Oh well, I cannot answer this question. I guess in the end the Museum has a kind of monopoly on Nerfertiti, not really caring about the "holy beauty icon" they wrote about in their letter, in which they are refusing to take the postcard of NEFERTITI IN HER NEW LOOK in stock.
I am sure they know that it´s really kitsch what they sell and it is part of todays museum marketing.
Maybe they just hope that Nefertiti is strong enough to cope with it.

I really appreciate my friends´ spontaneous reaction.
They and me know that NEFERTITI IN HER NEW LOOK has nothing to do with that kind of kitsch.
And I really do appreciate that the Museum wrote back to me.