Last week, something unusual appeared in the middle of Times Square for a very short time. He wasn't the latest TV celebrities to take part in Broadway shows or marquee to unveil the signs with lingerie-covered models. And it wasn't one of the cartoon mascots, costumed Disney princesses, cowboys, and space creatures, posing to take photos with tourists.
Still, we combined all of the above aspects. For two days starting March 4th, 60-foot rubber, inflatable version of Kim Kardashian (an icon depicting the sexopot of major American celebrities) occupied the famous land. Except for almost nude for the tiny blue bikini, Balloon Kim was there to promote her new swimsuit collection, launched by Kardashian's fashion line Skim.
Balloon Kim has taken the court into custody from an elevated platform decorated with Skims labels. She lay on her right side, bent her knees slightly to emphasize her figure's torso, maximizing the exposed surface area of her body. A small portion of this figure resisted our gaze. Her face crossed at eye level, as if she was protecting her from tropical glare.
Of course, the March sun in Manhattan is barely glamorous. But the same cannot be said about the horde of passersby staring at the pictures of the charming billionaire in this huge pool float version. At any time, dozens of people were sitting around the mobile phone cameras, which were around the platform.
Such a scene – a stranger's line dodging the exposed woman's body lying in the middle of the street – might think that, like the opening of an episode of “Law and Order,” you will feel anxious or arrogant. Instead, the atmosphere felt calm and cheerful, and people exchanged gazes in amusement, shrugged and filmed. Nothing happened here, as Balloon Kim appeared to be protected from personal violations. Naturally, it was 60 feet long. This creature was a titan more invincible than the suffering maiden. Onlookers are similar to the Liliputian discovering Gulliver.
But balloon Kim appeared impermeable to the violation for reasons beyond her impressive size. Although there is similarity to the original, Balloon Kim didn't portray much of a person like one of the most commercial zones in the world, a merchandise, an abandoned outer shell specially designed for consumption by the crowd. And it provided the features that were designed to.
By covering her famous face, Balloon Kim refused to return the onlooker's gaze. She did not portray personal representations, and even blocked portrayals of access to internality. This structure was not a portrait or sculpture of the Kardashian Empire, but rather a very faithful recreation of the work of Ms. Kardashian Empire, built on a meticulously raised project made with her body. I volunteered and emulated by purchasing the product.
Ms Kardashian long ago handed over the “it” body – the commercial construction of it – to the public, crystallizing it into the corporate logo.
For those who remember the “old” Louch Times Square, which came back before becoming a shopping mall, the Skim Balloon sculpture may remind me of a different connection too. Supported next to Smutty Photos or Fetish Costumes, those dolls had visible faces, but they were blank and lively and the most important part of their anatomy. These expressionless faces speak of the world that women are quiet and penetrating, that is, objects purchased and used, easily replaced by several feet of rubber vinyl and air pumps.
Such a small sex shop almost disappeared from Times Square and was replaced by the Corporate American giants by NeonFeston's family-friendly sea of Emporia. And balloon Kim Kardashian finally ends with this transition – not an anonymous sex object, but a seamless, hairless, sanitized statue of a capitalist Titan who knew exactly how to accurately change her own aesthetic to make her look great around the world after gaining early fame from leaked sex tapes. She is the giant of that company in the form of an inflatable doll, a fusion of the old Times Square and New Times Square.
However, Balloon Kim is a Kardashian doll. She owns the right to it and benefits from it, presenting it as a pure and inexplicable surface, self-contained and lonely. Pneumatic Odalisk of our time.
