Kylie Minogue: Exhibitionist

February 07, 2007

Much ado about Kylie in London this week. The Victoria and Albert Museum is set to open it’s “Kylie: An Exhibition” tomorrow, featuring costumes, sound, and visuals of the changing career of the pop icon.

The museum’s website says that the exhibition “will also examine life behind the scenes and give some insight into how a major international tour develops -- from initial concept to first live performance.”

But an article in today’s New York Times is stating that criticism of the event is growing. A former director of London’s Design Museum, Stephen Bayley, has criticized the show, saying, “You can make excellent things popular, but it’s not the same as saying popular things are excellent.”

The Minogue exhibition is the tip of the ice-berg. Art critics have also taken issue with the National Portrait Gallery’s “Face of Fashion” exhibition, which is set to feature photographs of Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Kate Moss.

While he kind of has a point about just what is interesting about 200 objects and 45 costumes (including the overalls that Ms. Minogue wore when she played a character on a TV show…) – we think he’s not giving nearly enough credit to the impact that things popular (and in many ways, important) have had on culture.

Gay culture alone. So far, the Kylie Minogue show has sold over 4000 tickets.
Low-brow or not, we’re not worried.