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Time Out
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Virtual Beauty
'Instagram face', CGI influencers and AI sex dolls are all going under the microscope in the new Somerset House exhibition, Virtual Beauty. Through more than 20 works, this pay-what-you-feel show explores the impact of digital technologies on how we define beauty today. The exhibition traces the origin of the digital selfie from the first flip phone with a front-facing camera, to today's minefield of deepfake pornography, augmented reality face filters and Instagram algorithms. It's primarily concerned with the 'Post-Internet' art movement, a 21st-century body of work and criticism that examines the influence of the internet on art and culture. In the first room, we encounter early artworks that comment on society's gruelling beauty standards, like ORLAN's disturbing 1993 performance that saw her going under the knife live on camera, and taking recommendations by audience members over the phone. Famous celeb selfies like Ellen DeGeneres' A-lister packed Oscars snap are shown on a grainy phone screen, then we're taken on a whistlestop tour of digital artworks, each one providing some sort of comment on beauty, society and the online world. There's a lot in Virtual Beauty that is pretty on the nose. We are shown a Black Mirror -style satirical advert for a pharmaceutical company called 'You', that offers people the chance to alter their appearance without plastic surgery – simply have a chip inserted into your brain, and the technology makes you appear different, essentially like an IRL TikTok filter. It's amusing to watch, but not particularly original. fans of Black Mirror will be entertained by this unsettling and sometimes beautiful exhibition In the same room is a 3D-printed handbag resembling a womb; a deep reddish-pink sack with snaking silver veins crawling across it. Accompanying the bag is a video of a faux fashion advert – a comment on how technology might one day allow prospective parents to make 'designer' babies, selecting their hair colour, eye colour and the like. Again, you'd think that an artwork about designer babies could have taken the word 'designer' a bit less literally. There is good stuff in here too, though. One of the best pieces is a work by 3D makeup artist Ines Alpha. We see a video of her face, she looks like a geisha from the future, pale-skinned with bright pink cheeks, eyelashes, eyebrows and a smattering of beauty spots. An alien-like mask begins to emerge, with pink and silver tentacles snaking around her eyes, forehead and cheeks. Next to the video is the 3D-printed real mask, and then there's an augmented reality (AR) video where I get to try this wacky-but-beautiful thing on virtually. That this is the only interactive element of the exhibit seems to be a missed trick – for a show entirely focussed on the digital age, I wish there had been more opportunities to get involved with the tech myself. Virtual Beauty also looks to the future with the beguiling 'Virtual Embalming', a 2018 video by Frederik Heyman that considers how people want to be remembered after their death. The piece imagines its subjects in a virtual shrine, surrounded by paraphernalia they want to sum up their life. It's haunting and beautiful – model and musician Kim Peers is suspended in bondage ropes over a bed in a decaying 'abandoned Asian hotel room', while fashion designer Michèle Lamy stands on a sandy plinth in the Gobi desert, lions at her feet. Many topics are touched on, but not fully delved into. At once, Virtual Beauty tells us that cosmetic surgery is bad, that we are slaves to the algorithm, everyone is just one AI-augmented selfie away from becoming a bodily dysmorphic wannabe cyborg. But it also suggests that technology can free us by allowing us to take control of our digital image. There are lots of complex ideas at play: verbose gallery text tells me that we are in a post-internet, post-facial and post-physical age. One artwork highlights how AI tools have a racial bias, another reclaims technology used in deepfake pornography to make a gender-defying portrait of a woman with a bodybuilder's physique in skimpy black lingerie. There's a lot going on, but I don't feel a strong point of view coming through.
Associated Press
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Peanut the Squirrel: MAGA's Cutest Martyr Immortalized in Statue in NYC Art Exhibit
NEW YORK, N.Y., May 28, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — A movement's beloved squirrel is being unveiled as a heroic MAGA icon in New York's Chelsea gallery district. In 'Opposing Visions: The Trump Era in Art,' Peanut the Squirrel is memorialized in a gruesome form as a tiny martyr alongside political titans Elon Musk, RFK Jr., and President Donald Trump, ready to do their bidding for a fantastical third-term campaign, the Iconoclast Room announced today. Peanut's story began in 2024, when city officials euthanized a squirrel suspected of rabies. What could have been a fleeting public health incident was transformed by MAGA outrage and a viral post by Elon Musk into a right-wing folk tale of 'government overreach.' In 'Opposing Visions,' a MAGA-hat-clad Peanut reappears at the base of Daniel Edwards's ' Project 29: The MAGAnaut ' – a towering, grotesque cyborg hybrid of Trump, Musk, and RFK Jr. Here, Peanut haunts the exhibit in a kind of afterlife, clawing for relevance from beyond the grave. 'Peanut is back to exact revenge on the liberal government that killed him,' Post-Internet artist XVALA says. 'He's the spirit of the culture war—scrappy, and unwilling to stay dead.' XVALA's own contribution is a gold-plated bronze MAGA hat designed for ceremonial display atop the Resolute Desk, offering a reverent counterpoint to Edwards's dystopian satire. Where Edwards skewers Trump's persistence with a grotesque vision of biotech-fueled power, XVALA treats the MAGA movement as revolutionary heritage. This tension between dark satire and genuine veneration animates the volatile heart of Opposing Visions. Alongside Edwards and XVALA, Jarva Land's stark pen-and-ink courtroom sketches of Trump's ongoing legal battles add a sobering counterpoint – a reminder of the real-world consequences behind the pageantry. WHEN AND WHERE: Experience 'Opposing Visions: The Trump Era in Art' at the Iconoclast Room, located in the West Chelsea Building at 526 W 26th Street, Room 511, New York, NY. The exhibition runs from May 27–31, 2025. There will be a press opportunity on Thursday and Friday mornings, an art gallery walk on Thursday evening, and an Artists' Reception on Friday evening from 5 to 8 p.m. ET. LEARN MORE: For press inquiries, interview requests, or additional information, please contact us at [email protected] or call (646) 657-8028. VIDEO (YouTube): IMAGE LINKS FOR MEDIA: [1] [2] [3] Photos Caption: Peanut the Squirrel in 'Project 29: The MAGAnaut,' featured in 'Opposing Visions: The Trump Era in Art' at Chelsea Gallery District, New York. Underlying art shown in images is Copr. © Daniel Edwards. NEWS SOURCE: Iconoclast Room Keywords: Fine Art and Artists, the Iconoclast Room, Peanut the Squirrel, artist Daniel Edwards, XVALA, Opposing Visions: The Trump Era in Art, NEW YORK, N.Y. This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Iconoclast Room) who is solely responsibile for its accuracy, by Send2Press® Newswire. Information is believed accurate but not guaranteed. Story ID: S2P126522 APNF0325A To view the original version, visit: © 2025 Send2Press® Newswire, a press release distribution service, Calif., USA. RIGHTS GRANTED FOR REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART BY ANY LEGITIMATE MEDIA OUTLET - SUCH AS NEWSPAPER, BROADCAST OR TRADE PERIODICAL. MAY NOT BE USED ON ANY NON-MEDIA WEBSITE PROMOTING PR OR MARKETING SERVICES OR CONTENT DEVELOPMENT. Disclaimer: This press release content was not created by nor issued by the Associated Press (AP). Content below is unrelated to this news story.
