BY In the Name of Art in News | 14 JUN 18

You can Hit Harvey Weinstein with a Dildo in Pornhub’s First Futuristic ‘Interactive Art’ Exhibition

‘Pornhub Nation’ reveals all, the latest from Yeezy Home and why the Royal Academy rejected Banksy: further adventures in dystopian art world mania

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BY In the Name of Art in News | 14 JUN 18

Maggie West portrait of Kendra Sunderland, 2018. Courtesy: Pornhub

We’re very sorry to report that adult entertainment website Pornhub’s shameless pursuit of corporate rebranding – in recent years they’ve launched a panda conservation venture, a sexual health centre, and helped plow snow in Boston – has finally led it into the art world. Its first ‘interactive art’ exhibition, titled ‘Pornhub Nation’ opens in Los Angeles today. The show imagines a world 50 years from now: a futuristic society in which Pornhub rules the roost and ‘sexuality runs free’. Artists Maggie West and Ryder Ripps have created a journey across seven rooms which begins with a National Gallery of neon-smeared portraits of Pornhub Nation presidents featuring pornstars such as Asa Akira and Riley Reid. The ‘freaky’ exhibition continues with a BDSM dungeon called the Domination Masochistic Vroomvroom, and a virtual reality room where you can throw dildos at Harvey Weinstein. ‘As a frequent user of Pornhub's fantastic services, both within my ‘art’ and ‘personal’ practices, this project has been a lot of fun and ontologically stimulating,’ Ripps said. We bet it was.

New Kanye West-founded Yeezy Home design. Courtesy: Yeezy Home

In further dystopian news, Kanye West is getting into the business of solving the housing crisis. Last month we reported that the rapper was setting up an architecture practice, Yeezy Home – ‘for architects and industrial designers who want to make the world better,’ he claimed. Now Yeezy Home have released images for a ‘low income housing scheme, made of prefabricated concrete and expanded polystyrene components’, with Kanye collaborating with architects Petra Kustrin, Jalil Peraza and Nejc Skufca on the project. Kanye hasn’t elaborated on his ambitions for socially-engaged architecture, and the requirements needed for high-quality low-income housing, apart from boasting in a recent interview: ‘I’m going to be one of the biggest real estate developers of all time. Like what Howard Hughes was to aircrafts and what Henry Ford was to cars.’ Remind you of anyone?

Banksy, Vote to Love, 2018. Courtesy: the artist

Oh dear. Over on Banksy’s Instagram account, the artist has revealed that when he submitted an artwork anonymously to the Royal Academy, it was initially rejected – only for it to be accepted when they realized it was a Banksy. He says that he had originally sent the work to the RA’s Summer Show under the name of Bryan S Gaakman (an anagram of ‘Banksy anagram). ‘It was refused.’ Then, a month later, Grayson Perry, who has co-curated this year’s Summer Show, asked him to submit something, so he sent the same work in again. ‘It’s now hanging in gallery 3’. Vote to Love features a heart spray-painted over a ‘Vote to Leave’ placard from the 2016 Brexit referendum, priced at GBP£350 million (a reference to the amount that the Leave campaign fictitiously claimed the NHS would gain each week if Britain left the EU).

In the Name of Art is our semi-regular compendium of (almost) unbelievable art world stories. Send your worst to digitaleditors@frieze.com

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