Zeer wel mogelijk

Het kandidaatschap van Curtis Yarvin en de Nederlandse Tarik Sadouma voor Trumps inzending naar de Biennale 2026 bezigt de gemoederen al sinds juni in het prestigieuze Vanity Fair. En vandaag weer, ditmaal in de Washington Post. Ja, er zijn andere, veiligere kandidaten, maar daar wordt niet met zoveel fascinatie over geschreven. Washington Post:

"For 2026, Yarvin — and his collaborators from Unsafe House, an Amsterdam-based “post-woke art collective” led by Dutch Egyptian artist Tarik Sadouma — have proposed an exhibition that would showcase artists who have been “previously excluded or underrepresented by the hegemonic and ideological American art world”; artists who “challenge progressive orthodoxies” with a vision of “patriotism and traditional values,” according to their application. Their proposal also includes a workshop for “public figures aligned with conservative or MAGA-related values,” like movie stars, to “co-create artworks in collaboration with traditional American craftspeople.”

“We will strive to create a space for the more unapologetic, direct, and indeed humorous communicative style of the Donald Trump MAGA era,” the proposal says. Their vision calls for the U.S. pavilion to be rebaptized as the “Salon des Déplorables” (the final consonant silent, like proper French), a reference to the Salon des Refusés, the 19th-century Parisian exhibition of rejected avant-garde works. A “Museum of Dark Enlightenment” will showcase artwork of “creation and destruction” that “will declare the ‘old’ art world to be dead.” A series of Hollywood-style sets will offer “a provocative mimicry of pop-art, without its often-disdainful view of American identity.”"

Kortom, échte subversie van de cultuursector, in plaats van die eindeloze vertolkingen van de intersectionele adagia. Er zijn nog andere kandidaten, maar die zijn veiliger, daarmee saaier en hebben de door MAGA bewonderde Curtis niet in hun hoek. Eind september wordt de inzending bekend gemaakt, en we durven de kans op 50/50 te zetten.