Condom Art at Centre Pompidou in Paris
From November 22 to December 5, 2011, installation artist Bryan McCormack will highlight a hall of condoms on 6 floors of the National Modern Art Museum of France (Centre Pompidou). The artist has chosen to multiply the condom and take it out of its normal context as to create a motif of protection seen in a new light.
“Condoms evoke imagery not only of protection from STI’s but also symbolize the male gender, sexuality, eroticism, religion, customs and values. Thru art, I’d like to eliminate all associations around it and consider the condom as an object beyond its functionality”, says McCormack.
As you walk through the hall and to the middle of the installation, you are spun into a mix of your own associations with condoms coupled with consistent condom repetition designed to liberate your perceptions. The installation is paired with environmental sound and music.
ONE Condoms supports self-expression and art especially in the pursuit of research against AIDS. ONE donates a portion of each sale to HIV/AIDS prevention efforts at home and abroad.
Do you think that the exhibit will spark a discussion to combat religious negativity surrounding condom use?
Friday Links Roundup 10/28/11 - Safe Sex, Sex Education, Condoms
Condoms, Sex Education, & Safe Sex - Friday 10/7/11 - Links Roundup
Are Body Parts a Commodity Item?
A body art exhibit on display at the University of Iowa has taken the Cows on Parade concept to a new level. Emily Barwick, a 27 year old M.F.A. student, has decorated plaster castings of a late pornography star’s penis and put them on display. Over 24 penis castings are being “paraded” at the art gallery to bring up questions of body ownership.
Barwicks concept was drawn from a 2004 public art project where Iowa City artists painted and decorated 75 blank statues of the UI mascot. These statues were placed around town and later sold. “The John Holmes Prick Parade,” as Barwick titled her exhibit, is a different type of parade to address whether or not body parts can become a commodity.
According to Barwick, “each individual art sculpture has a different theme and unique name, and each attempts to demonstrate the message of the body as a product.” The idea is to demonstrate how easily someone’s body part can be construed into a commodity item. By making body casts, a direct replica of a body part produced, leaving a copy of someone else’s property. The sculpture leaves the viewer thinking of body ownership, who owns the body and who is licensed to the body.
Are your body parts yours and your own or is there a right to manipulate and tamper with this property after death? ONE believes in the protection of your sexual health and well being and the openness to new ideas and concepts .
What are your thoughts on the art exhibit?
Check out this lovely condom life-sized statue of Tiger Woods. Oh, the irony!
