“Everyone wears Hood by Air, but do you dine Hood by Air?” spokeswoman Kelly Richards coyly asks, touting a wine glass and salad bowl stamped with the HBA box logo. But don’t set up camp outside Sur La Table waiting for that #trill kitchenware drop just yet. Richards’ endorsement arrives via the infomercial for DISown—Not For Everyone. New York-based art collective DIS' latest project takes the form of an art exhibition posing as a retail store. "Or maybe it’s the other way around," the press release muses.
The idea for DISown came from the logic of diffusion lines such as Karl Lagerfeld for H&M, where luxury brands make cheaper versions of their products (belts, underwear, sunglasses) for the average consumer. DISown test drives this model in the art world by making the belts and underwear versions of visual art: everything from the aforementioned HBA housewares to Bjarne Melgaard beanbag chairs.
So before we start physically assaulting one another trying to grab a Jon Rafman Emma Watson body pillow or Frank Benson salt and pepper mill à la the great Tickle Me Elmo fiasco of Christmas '96, I caught up with two of four DIS co-founders Lauren Boyle and Marco Roso, as well as DISown co-curator Agatha Wara, to discuss the logic behind the exhibition and what we'll see on its shelves. Check out the infomercial and interview below!
DISown runs from March 6 to April 6, 2014
RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK
220 W 18th St,
New York, NY
10011
MAP
Emily Manning: How did the central tenets of DIS as a collective inform this project? What motivated the decision to launch DISown?
Lauren Boyle: It’s forever been [part of] our methodology to create [collaborative] platforms, from DIS Magazine to DISimages. And we’ve always wanted to make products, we’ve always been interested in diffusion lines in general, and this was the perfect opportunity to finally do it. It’s just another extension of how DIS institutes.
Marco Roso: What's interesting right now with the digital world are all the possibilities you have to build these kind of platforms; it allows you to suddenly play with the culture of the corporate world, and that’s something that interests us. We’re always playing with this culture but with our critical point of view.
Can you elaborate on the notion of the “artist diffusion line?”
Agatha Wara: “Diffusion line” has a specific meaning within the context of fashion. It’s interesting for me because I come from the side of art, and trying to conceptualize what an artist diffusion line would mean—I can’t really think of any good examples or historical precedents. I guess if you think about the commercialization of art, you would automatically think about the art market, but that doesn’t exist for the average consumer. The art market is for a really specific group of people.
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The idea for DISown came from the logic of diffusion lines such as Karl Lagerfeld for H&M, where luxury brands make cheaper versions of their products (belts, underwear, sunglasses) for the average consumer. DISown test drives this model in the art world by making the belts and underwear versions of visual art: everything from the aforementioned HBA housewares to Bjarne Melgaard beanbag chairs.
So before we start physically assaulting one another trying to grab a Jon Rafman Emma Watson body pillow or Frank Benson salt and pepper mill à la the great Tickle Me Elmo fiasco of Christmas '96, I caught up with two of four DIS co-founders Lauren Boyle and Marco Roso, as well as DISown co-curator Agatha Wara, to discuss the logic behind the exhibition and what we'll see on its shelves. Check out the infomercial and interview below!
DISown runs from March 6 to April 6, 2014
RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK
220 W 18th St,
New York, NY
10011
MAP
Emily Manning: How did the central tenets of DIS as a collective inform this project? What motivated the decision to launch DISown?
Lauren Boyle: It’s forever been [part of] our methodology to create [collaborative] platforms, from DIS Magazine to DISimages. And we’ve always wanted to make products, we’ve always been interested in diffusion lines in general, and this was the perfect opportunity to finally do it. It’s just another extension of how DIS institutes.
Marco Roso: What's interesting right now with the digital world are all the possibilities you have to build these kind of platforms; it allows you to suddenly play with the culture of the corporate world, and that’s something that interests us. We’re always playing with this culture but with our critical point of view.
Can you elaborate on the notion of the “artist diffusion line?”
Agatha Wara: “Diffusion line” has a specific meaning within the context of fashion. It’s interesting for me because I come from the side of art, and trying to conceptualize what an artist diffusion line would mean—I can’t really think of any good examples or historical precedents. I guess if you think about the commercialization of art, you would automatically think about the art market, but that doesn’t exist for the average consumer. The art market is for a really specific group of people.