“Both of them knew that the time garden was dying.”

May 31, 2024 2:22 PM

The Garden of Time is a 1962 short story by J. G. Ballard [archive] which was the theme of this year’s Met Gala. Partly because of that incongruous fact, Thomas Jones, who wrote about Ballard back in 2008 [archive], and Edmund Gordon, whose piece on Ballard appeared last week [archive], had a discussion about Ballard on the London Review of Books podcast.
posted by Kattullus (16 comments total)

disdain a cbe? respect
posted by HearHere at 2:46 PM on May 31 [1 favorite]

Well, that was an edifying read. Not to mention harrowing.
posted by y2karl at 2:53 PM on May 31 [1 favorite]

If I were an extremely rich person and I read "The Garden of Time", I would not immediately think, "this is a splendid theme for my rich-person fashion gala, I will wear flowers" unless I were either a terrible reader or good at irony.

Did anyone attend the gala as the rabble? Surely someone must have, or was that just the actual rabble working their shifts?
posted by Frowner at 4:15 PM on May 31 [9 favorites]

There were several intense protests going on outside the MET that would qualify…
posted by catrae at 4:28 PM on May 31 [3 favorites]

If attendees are wearing flowers, and one must pick flowers to keep the paparazzi at bay . . .
posted by mecran01 at 4:56 PM on May 31

On rabble: "A ticket to the 2024 Met Gala costs $75,000 — up 50% from last year’s ticket price of $50,000, per Time. A table, which is commonly purchased by a brand or business, costs $350,000." (Deseret).
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:05 PM on May 31 [3 favorites]

Using this story for the evening's dress code is a decent tie to this year's exhibition, "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion." Per the press release: Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion will make use of first-hand research, conservation analysis, and diverse technologies—from cutting-edge tools, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and computer-generated imagery to traditional formats of x-rays, video animation, light projection, and soundscapes—to reactivate the sensory capacities of masterworks in the Museum’s collection.

Approximately 250 garments and accessories spanning four centuries will be on view, visually united by iconography related to nature, which will serve as a metaphor for the fragility and ephemerality of fashion. [...]

Punctuating the exhibition will be a series of “sleeping beauties”—garments that can no longer be dressed on mannequins due to their extreme fragility—that will be displayed in glass “coffins” allowing visitors to analyze their various states of deterioration as if under a microscope.

"ST smell artist and researcher Sissel Tolaas will contribute her work with smell to bring select garments to life."
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:22 PM on May 31 [3 favorites]

Think of the money the could raise by charging $10 to throw a stone at an attendee….
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:23 PM on May 31 [7 favorites]

harrowing...
i actually found this uplifting:

In his spare time – and he had a lot of it – he wrote stories, and read. Reading matter at Moose Jaw was limited to what was available on the magazine racks at one of the two filling stations or the bus depot: either local newspapers that contained nothing but reports of ice hockey matches, or magazines like Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy and Fantasy & Science Fiction. ‘These I seized on and began to devour. Here was a form of fiction that was actually about the present day, and often as elliptical and ambiguous as Kafka ...

even the connection with Baudrillard
a world of hyper-technology without finality – is it good or bad
posted by HearHere at 5:38 PM on May 31 [3 favorites]

A table, which is commonly purchased by a brand or business, costs $350,000." (Deseret)
why it is so powerful to see Lewis Hamilton buy a table (revolt)
posted by HearHere at 5:42 PM on May 31 [1 favorite]

The Met Gala is the sequel to High Rise right?
posted by srboisvert at 6:45 PM on May 31 [6 favorites]

Morton Hull : Do you realize that more people will be watching you tonight, than all those who have seen theater plays in the last forty years?

Chance the Gardener : Why?
posted by clavdivs at 8:44 PM on May 31 [3 favorites]

(almost 13 million people)
The Met Gala is the sequel to High Rise right?
more like a prequel? except cyclical:
"fashion's not about looking back; it's about looking forward"

if you want to know more, there's also an entire film about the Black man who says
"famine"
The Gospel According to Andre
posted by HearHere at 11:58 PM on May 31 [3 favorites]

They should double down next year and do Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan from The Atrocity Exhibition.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 8:07 AM on June 1 [3 favorites]

I’d love to read a fan fiction about Camilla Cabello’s ice block purse keeping the MET gala rabble at bay until it melts away. I’m certain her designer/stylist team were one of the few that actually read and took inspiration from the Ballard short story.
posted by Flecks of light at 6:33 PM on June 1 [2 favorites]

various Staff linger with nitrogen spray cannisters. what's in that thing. well you're cold as ice, you're not willing to sacrifice those gloves. why, metallurgy sitting in the audience and the jeweler does not seem present. going to drip. that's the theme. no car keys but a single Copper Rose and I think melts in a thick enough plastic bag the patina like a Miami Beach. this is how things Fall apart by creating new ways to keep things temporary. some are in the correlation between vision and sight the mode of glamor and exogenous fame. is there a point. there's always been a point. like a tiara with lasers. gauntlets made of sugar. you're being bellicose. do you think it's cold. the world is on fire and your philosophizing about props. you dream of ice cube trays and thin plaque of lapis carefully carved smooth where you see constellations and The lure of gold flex pointing to Miami Beach.

posted by clavdivs at 7:13 PM on June 1 [2 favorites]