What Was The Hipster?

by Art Fag City on April 16, 2009 · 15 comments Blurb + Events

dash snow, art fag city
Dash Snow, art hipster

The porn star mustache and aviator glasses came up several times in What Was The Hipster, an N+1 discussion examining the hipster at NYU Saturday.   Nothing particularly profound was uttered on the subject of accessory identification but people at least sounded smart while talking about it.   Panelists each expressed reservations about hipsterism as an expanding but essentially empty consumer class, and observed the difficulty in even identifing core characteristics due to its pervasiveness. Following the structure of all good academic investigations, talk about the “death” of hipsterism took place.  No conclusions were reached on that subject. A full transcript from the panel will be available online shortly.

{ 14 comments }

Jill Conner April 16, 2009 at 2:42 pm

Doesn’t sound surprising, given that the Hipster is a retro-appropriation of 60s and 70s hippie counter culture. The movements back then were far more deep as there was a true struggle for Civil Rights. There is no social struggle now, but even as the economy continues to erode the art market, artist are still hipster, still obsessed with appropriations (YTJ, for example) and occupied with an intense romanticazation of a much deeper era. Maybe re-instituting the military draft would bring back some real catharsis, since that was a HUGE topic of the 60s and 70s. Now it’s simply an elective. Steve Mumford is the only artist I can think of who really took an honest “crack” at leaving the insular USA.

Jill Conner April 16, 2009 at 7:42 pm

Doesn’t sound surprising, given that the Hipster is a retro-appropriation of 60s and 70s hippie counter culture. The movements back then were far more deep as there was a true struggle for Civil Rights. There is no social struggle now, but even as the economy continues to erode the art market, artist are still hipster, still obsessed with appropriations (YTJ, for example) and occupied with an intense romanticazation of a much deeper era. Maybe re-instituting the military draft would bring back some real catharsis, since that was a HUGE topic of the 60s and 70s. Now it’s simply an elective. Steve Mumford is the only artist I can think of who really took an honest “crack” at leaving the insular USA.

Jill Conner April 16, 2009 at 7:45 pm

To clarify, though, Steve Mumford went over as an artist not as a drafted militarist. But it would be intersting to see work by more artists willing to take on the real issues of the world. We need more Kim Jones-es!

Jill Conner April 16, 2009 at 2:45 pm

To clarify, though, Steve Mumford went over as an artist not as a drafted militarist. But it would be intersting to see work by more artists willing to take on the real issues of the world. We need more Kim Jones-es!

Brian April 16, 2009 at 11:38 pm

I went to this
felt very un-hip being there
somebody in the crowd talked about postcolonialism
he was fat and lisped
a guy in new balance sneakers with a shaved head and a fleece in front of me ranted

Brian April 16, 2009 at 6:38 pm

I went to this
felt very un-hip being there
somebody in the crowd talked about postcolonialism
he was fat and lisped
a guy in new balance sneakers with a shaved head and a fleece in front of me ranted

Brian April 17, 2009 at 3:16 am

I saw you asking questions Paddy
you were cute
is n+1 qualified to talk about what is hip anymore?
is n+1 the new status quo?

Brian April 16, 2009 at 10:16 pm

I saw you asking questions Paddy
you were cute
is n+1 qualified to talk about what is hip anymore?
is n+1 the new status quo?

Bob April 17, 2009 at 3:55 pm

The fascination with hipsters and their eminent demise astounds me more than hipsters themselves. Did they hold similar forums in the 60s, 70s, 80s to discuss the fate of their so called ‘countercultures?’ What is wrong with our culture that we have to? So ridiculous

Bob April 17, 2009 at 10:55 am

The fascination with hipsters and their eminent demise astounds me more than hipsters themselves. Did they hold similar forums in the 60s, 70s, 80s to discuss the fate of their so called ‘countercultures?’ What is wrong with our culture that we have to? So ridiculous

jhs April 17, 2009 at 9:17 pm

LOL Ya’ll

jhs April 17, 2009 at 4:17 pm

LOL Ya’ll

white beard May 23, 2009 at 1:49 pm

this provided a full on lol
wtf
who cares about hipsterism –
can someone please DEFINE it for me because from here it just looks like some bullshit sweeping term for young people

I need HELP ON THIS TOPIC OF INTEREST

white beard May 23, 2009 at 8:49 am

this provided a full on lol
wtf
who cares about hipsterism –
can someone please DEFINE it for me because from here it just looks like some bullshit sweeping term for young people

I need HELP ON THIS TOPIC OF INTEREST

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