Lonelygirl15, meet your new rival, Cheekygirl10

April 12, 2007 5:18 PM

They use complicated words here. I will look those up in the dictionary later on... A New Zealand filmmaker responds to the fakeness of the Poor Pluto episode in the lonelygirl15 saga by filming a ten-year-old girl let loose with a microphone in the Govett-Brewster art gallery. Her spontaneous reactions to the Wind Wand and other kinetic sculptures by Len Lye ("sounds like my old Barbie car") and Tony Nicholls ("It's connected to those little hinge-y thingies") manage to take the piss out of both modern art and the lonelygirl15 phenomenon simultaneously.
posted by jonp72 (23 comments total)

That little girl could make a sponge museum interesting.
posted by inconsequentialist at 5:29 PM on April 12, 2007

And unlike certain "journalists," she writes her own material....
posted by rob511 at 5:44 PM on April 12, 2007

DID SOMEBODY SAY SPONGE MUSEUM?
posted by grobstein at 5:44 PM on April 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

Actually, Bree is 17. And being mad about lonelygirl15 being "fake" is so 2006. The story is just getting good now.
posted by roll truck roll at 6:02 PM on April 12, 2007

Sorry, that sounded pissy. These videos are pretty fun.
posted by roll truck roll at 6:04 PM on April 12, 2007

I did not, in fact, know that sculpture probably doesn't move, nor did I know that Tony Nicholls is not Len Lye.

These were great.
posted by WolfDaddy at 6:09 PM on April 12, 2007

Hi, I'm from metafilter, and I could overthink a sponge museum?
posted by anthill at 6:40 PM on April 12, 2007

Now THAT is how you support the talent and promise of a young person. Very cool. She's certainly more professional and has more presence before the camera than most American adults trying to do the same thing on network morning shows. With more practice she'll be less self-conscious and will build from experience an arsenal of techniques to work around hitting big words she can't say and performing impromptu interviews with strangers. The best way to learn such techniques is just to jump into the proverbial pool and swim. Very cool.

Comparing this young lady to LG15 is insulting. Carmen Electra did LG15 better than Jessica Rose does and Carmen can't act. At best she can pose. Yeesh.
posted by ZachsMind at 6:56 PM on April 12, 2007

I recently saw my first lonelygirl video at YT. Either they've gotten less believable or there are some really, really, REALLY gullible people on the Internet. Or both.
posted by DU at 6:58 PM on April 12, 2007

That was BRILLIANT. She was absolutely charming and definitely has talent in presenting. Someone get her on TV, please.
posted by divabat at 7:25 PM on April 12, 2007

Yeah, she's great. Wish I was half as articulate.
posted by maxwelton at 7:34 PM on April 12, 2007

DU, yes, they've gotten considerably less believable. It was pretty much exposition for the first three months or so.

Now that the story's progressed, I've thought about making an FPP about it, but... you know.
posted by roll truck roll at 7:41 PM on April 12, 2007

Thanks that was refreshing. Gimme me art and more young minds.
posted by homodigitalis at 7:50 PM on April 12, 2007

"This isn't as bad as I thought, but I'm still looking forward to the water park."

That kid is awesome.
posted by Salmonberry at 8:03 PM on April 12, 2007

little kids + contemporary art = the best!
posted by garethspor at 9:33 PM on April 12, 2007

manage to take the piss out of both modern art

Why did you think that? If I were the sculptor I would weep with joy at how those kids were responding.
posted by dhartung at 10:06 PM on April 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

This is a delight and a half. Thank you, jonp72!
posted by Mmmmmm at 10:14 PM on April 12, 2007

(And I think you're right on, dhartung. This is art-audience interaction at its best.)
posted by Mmmmmm at 10:16 PM on April 12, 2007

I like that kid and what she does. Art should be appreciated liked (or disliked) on a basic level first and last.*

* I just hope her dad's "my kid could critique that -- and will" approach isn't taken as encouragement by the mean-spirited "my kid could make that" folk. Maybe their kids could make things like that one day if they didn't grow up in anti-art households.
posted by pracowity at 1:51 AM on April 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

Great videos. I'd like to see that kid present more art. She did a fantastic job with those sculptures.
posted by Kikkoman at 3:44 AM on April 13, 2007

She's fab, though much more skeptical of contemporary art than most children - I always eavesdrop on kids when I'm reviewing shows, and they're often way more perceptive than their parents. A few I've noted down recently:

10 year old in front of David Shrigley's Sculpture of a Piece of Paper, to nonplussed Mother: 'Mum, it's not just a real piece of paper on the floor, it's a sculpture of a piece of paper on the floor. That's why it's art.'

8 year old running around on Jim Lambie's ZOBOP while his Dad drones on about parallel lines: 'He must've squashed a disco to make this! Ha ha!'

10 year old at a Mapplethorpe show: 'Mum, this is boring - it doesn't matter what the photo is of, they're all the same really.' [Now that's liberal parenting, taking a kid to a Mapplethorpe exhibit!]

Young teenage girl at a Fred Sandback show: 'This one is big and heavy, even though there's nothing there!'
posted by jack_mo at 4:19 AM on April 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

She needs to slow down a little so she doesn't trip over her lines. That and lose 50 pounds.
posted by oxford blue at 5:58 AM on April 13, 2007

Spontaneous opinions free of tedious irony and sarcasm = fun. I loved it. She was great.
posted by sparkzy at 8:08 AM on April 13, 2007