#Connect_BTS

There is no one correct way to appreciate art. If you enjoy looking at a painting because it’s visually pleasing that’s not better or worse than somebody who enjoys looking at a painting because they can parse and appreciate the technique that went into creating it. It’s not better or worse than somebody who enjoys a painting because of the historical significance of the piece.

It’s the same in music-- enjoying a song because you like how it sounds is a completely valid way to enjoy music. You don’t need to be able to write an essay to justify your tastes with concrete proof in order to enjoy a song. You can just enjoy it. As Debbie Harry of Blondie was quoted as saying about the lyrics to the excellent song "Heart of Glass," it's just a pop song; it's not that deep.

But the culture surrounding art appreciation has become incredibly toxic. Sociological and political analysis has gone from the gated domain of university departments to tumblr, losing any nuance in the process. And if we aren’t critiquing based on whether or not you are a Good Person for consuming art that telegraphs the Correct Opinions then we’re judging based on numbers. How much did a film make opening weekend? How many albums were sold? How much money did that painting sell for? All of the metrics and statistics that used to be of interest only to industry watchers looking to make a deal have moved into the mainstream discourse.

How many times have you heard, “That flopped” as a reason not to watch or listen to something? But what does “flop” mean outside of fewer people than expected paid for it. Was it boring, was it enjoyable? These questions have gotten lost.

All of this is a roundabout way of getting to BTS Connect, the project that appears to have the group funding 22 contemporary art projects around the world. In theory, it’s a nice idea: a popular pop group using their influence to expose young people to modern art. But in practice?

In practice, I saw an awful lot of tweets echoing the infamous “To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty” post on Reddit and holding this project up as both 1) unique and 2) further “proof” that BTS is not like other pop groups.


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And here is my point: You do not get to simultaneously be the fandom that brags about its intelligence and appreciation of art and the same fandom that thinks Lisa Frank’s corporate schlock designed for literal children is anywhere near the ironic pop art of Murakami Takashi.

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There is a wonderful (and infamous) essay by Jed Perl which is paywalled at the New York Review of Books but well worth reading if you can get access that has an incredibly evocative image that captures the feeling of this project for me:

Imagine the Jeff Koons retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art as the perfect storm. And at the center of the perfect storm there is a perfect vacuum. The storm is everything going on around Jeff Koons: the multimillion-dollar auction prices, the blue chip dealers, the hyperbolic claims of the critics, the adulation and the controversy and the public that quite naturally wants to know what all the fuss is about. The vacuum is the work itself, displayed on five of the six floors of the Whitney, a succession of pop culture trophies so emotionally dead that museumgoers appear a little dazed as they dutifully take out their iPhones and produce their selfies.

What is at the center of this storm?

From what I can tell, it’s seven men looking miserable over videolink as curator Lee Daehyung (of the Hyundai Commission) takes center stage in all of the press coverage. That would be the Lee Daehyung who said:

When you talk about cultural marketing, there are companies for whom it’s important to have a collection and companies for whom it’s important to create an art institution itself. For a corporation like Hyundai Motor Company, partnership is very important. In a way, it’s mutual growth.


Here he is featured in the Guardian (Members mentioned: 0).

From all appearances this project appears to be a cynical attempt to further build Big Hit’s brand to demonstrate that they are on par with, well, Hyundai.

The problem I have with all of this is not necessarily the art itself. Although I have a limited tolerance for the type of art that typically ends up in these types of corporate backed projects, that doesn’t mean it’s bad or without value.

The problem isn’t even the “High IQ” fans who have all become art experts overnight (seemingly without ever having seen TOP’s Doom Dada or, indeed, The Plastic Ono Band despite the fact that they are all also supposedly Beatles fans). Although these “High IQ” fans do more to turn people off of their faves than any antis ever could, they are not the issue here.

No, the biggest problem is that vacuum. I am a fan of BTS because I like the members and their music. Where are the members in all of this? Where is their music? When there are two members who have demonstrated over and over again that they enjoy the visual arts, why are we not seeing their work? Why is one of the members lamenting that he’ll never get a chance to display his work until he’s in his 40s when their company, which is supposed to be working to further their careers, has the money to fund 22 artists around the world? Where is his exhibition?

Why are the members interviewing other artists instead of talking about their own art?

Where is the hype and promotion for the upcoming album?

Why do we know more about what Lee Daehyung has to say about the role of art of in the world than what BTS member Min Yoongi has to say ABOUT THE SONG THAT JUST DROPPED?????????

(originally posted 1/15/2020)

Filmi Girl

I’ve been a fan of Asian pop culture for over 20 years and want to help bridge the gap between East and West. There is a lot of informal (and formal) gatekeeping that goes on and I’d like to help new fans break through the gates.

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