The desperation on Anna Wintour’s part to be a mainstream celebrity is painful. For me this is just another example of SUBURBANISM: THE SOFT-CARPETED WORLD.
The basic error on her part is that she is attempting to be both mythical and historical when the true power of our era is algorithmic. She is using a model which is of very little value at this moment in the flow of ideas. The leadership at CONDE NAST of which she is at the very top are trapped as are all FASHIONWORLD happenings by needing to be visible.
We have now transcended the visible [photography, film, TV] and have transformed our world into a series of invisible mathematical processes.
The algorithms that are GOOGLE, Facebook, Instagram and all that will follow are our world. What has reduced all FASHIONWORLD imagery and happenings to a secondary cultural status is that it is image and not calculus.
The current cultural hierarchy including the great exchange valuation given to Pop art and its syndicated reruns including Jeff Koons and Richard Prince is that they rely on irrelevant processes.
The mythical and the historical have been replaced by the computational. One Donald Judd conclusion is conceptually worth 100 Andy Warhol paintings. The Warhol represents a system of exchange value [image] that is as obsolete as 8-track tape.
The software that creates the wealth that has transformed Warhol’s works into powerful financial instruments are more profound on every level including social, economic, and political. Anna Wintour represents IMAGES IN POWER unfortunately for her [CONDE NAST] reality is now defined and directed by NUMERALS IN POWER.
STEVE OKLYN
Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah
May 10, 2015