Where's my money?

shenanigans61

I can call anything I want art. It will, however, be viewed, analyzed, and commented on by the rest of the world. Ultimately, they decide what it is. If this had been real, it would have been really cool. But its not. Thats why its called conceptual art. The only thing I'd like to know is weather or not this was labeled as conceptual art before or after it was exposed as being a "fake." I can respect conceptual art. I think ALL artists have ideas that are too expensive, or too complicated to expect to actually execute. But faking conceptual art is just a low blow.

RolfeNardwuar

@PollockRoc: Maroon? Like a sort of dark-red-purplish color?

Xenobiologista

seems like a proposal, more than anything else. the art is the idea, not the execution these days. even if it did happen, i'm not sure "real" would be the right word.

arachnophilia

For all you disheartened geek-artists, you might want to surf on over to Zefrank's website (www.zefrank.com). He had one of the more creative GPS/art mashups I've come across, making an "earth sandwich". Might want to check out the vids too. So funny I poop my pants.

mildretard

His conceptual self portrait certainly made him look like a douche of global proportions, but now I guess Devendra Barnhart's claim to "World's Biggest Douchebag" is secure.

Lorne

SHUNED!

thomusvoo

@Fierock: The minimalist movement did a very similar thing claiming art in the most simplistic of ideas. Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" was merely a urinal in a new location (an art exibition) and the only change he made to it was to sign it! I love art... but I have to admit the minimalist movement has always irked me just a bit . Actually make something that is art worthy! Pick up a brush... actually send a gps tracked package all over the world and see what you come up with! but at least take it beyond the idea.

sonburn

Someone will eventually do this someday. I hope they draw a big penis though.

smashingparadox

@ANoel: Cool!

My head is full of art, my movements are art, my body is art, my accidents are art, the things I do on purpose is art, my doodles are art, my farts are art, my thoughts are art, my walking is art, me on the couch is art, my eyes looking at art is art, my bag is art, my seat on the subway is art, my spit on the ground is art, me calling things "not art" is art, this comment is art!

cello

@ANoel: Thanks for the info on Lawrence Wiener. It is interesting, though I still can't completely buy into it otherwise I'd have affirmation that I'm the greatest artist in history and there is a chunk of swiss cheese orbiting Saturn to prove it.

Fierock

WARNING - ART RANT AHEAD
@neuralien:
You're correct in calling this "conceptual art".
The idea for the "art" can be manifested in a number of different ways, including just by "telling".
Even more than Fluxus, the artist, Lawrence Wiener comes to mind.
His work from the 60's and 70's is like urban/street art today: tagging or otherwise leaving your mark on a pre-existing environment. His work was very minimal though and rather than calligraphic or representational, it was about process which can exist in a number of forms. You can read/hear about it and "do-it-yourself". He can "give" it to you in person by receiving his instructions. He can "do-it-for-you". As he says,
"1. The artist may construct the work
2. The work may be fabricated
3. The work need not be built"
The price range for Wiener art pieces then goes from $0.oo up to many thousands of $.
His titles (artworks) operate simultaneously on many levels: sculpturally, metaphorically, politically, and humourously.
Examples of his work: "A Wall Cratered by a Single Shotgun Blast"
Or: "Two Minutes of Spray Paint Directly Upon the Floor From a Standard Aerosol Spray Can".
One of my favourite examples (which you can also make yourself) is... A Square Removal from a Rug in Use.
So, next time you enter a room with a heirloom kilim rug that has a square missing from it ... that may be a priceless work of art.

ANoel

well, obviously it was a fake. I taught ye knew that.

hu_hu_cool

UPS should work with an artist to do a similar drawing of a huge middle finger with the letters DHL at the bottom...

IphtashuFitz

@neuralien: Who am I, or is anyone else, to tell someone whether or not their work is actually art or not. I understand the point of not limiting what art can be, if that's what the Fluxus movement was actually about, but this guy barely even had a medium, just an idea in his head, a pencil and a crude map of the Earth - that in itself could be art, but to pretend that the line was plotted GPS co-ordinates makes his work incomplete or incorrect, unless his actual work of art is all the ensuing commentary and discussion on blogs, websites and coffee shops.

While the idea is plausible the only reason we guessed it was fake when we first read it is because we couldn't fathom someone wasting a fortune to send various vehicles wandering around the globe and paying so many people to keep it from becoming public before its completion.

Fierock

@PollockRoc: LOL planes and ships get lost too! Just imagine the captain "HONEY I KNOW WE'VE BEEN DOWN THIS ROAD ALREADY, I'VE GOT IT UNDER CONTROL!"

Joseph

How shocking! You mean to say that DHL *doesn't* allow struggling artists to dictate nonsensical routes to them with nautical mile precision?

ChoadNamath

you mean all those loops in his hair arent real?

gusnyc.com

I hate to say it but, i told you so!!!
it was simply impossible.
that is all.

HoseHead

@Fierock: actually, that would be called "conceptual art". Look up the Fluxus Movement of the 60s and 70s.

neuralien

Damn you Mercator!!!

Windhawk

Cannot say I'm surprised :P

Lestat

So this was a senior thesis?

Congratulations, Erik. For your thesis in advertising, you were exposed as a hoax by bloggers and now the "client" - DHL - wants to find out exactly how much access to its facilities and distribution you obtained. Additionally, there is talk that you copied your thesis from someone else, which you are disputing. As you have just been exposed as a hoax, I'm guessing your credibility is in the poophole on that front. And you did it all on the internet, where your hoax can be exposed through a 10-second Google search.

Way to destroy your career in advertising before it even started.

OMG! Ponies!

@robotleawesome: It's on the internet, it must be true!

davet

oh and i totally thought DHL was stopping in the ocean and looping around for this

robotleawesome

Unreal that people actually believed this, just look at the full-sized picture and apply some common sense ...

davet

What DHL did right: Not letting people transport activated, GPS-enabled devices and giving those people access to their facilities and aircraft.

What DHL did wrong: Letting people think that it lets people transport activated, GPS-enabled devices while allowing access to their facilities and aircraft.

I'd rather have secure mail service than artsy mail service. Maybe DHL will keep that in mind next time it needs to submit its screening and inspection processes to the US Customs Service.

OMG! Ponies!

wow, i feel like i just got pwned. i had totally believed this.

wolfenstein-3d

Classic example of the lack of fact checking these days and the "put anything up to get hits" mentality of blogging.

nospamsam

I think i will try to make a giant penis by mailing a GPS locater in an envelope to different corners of asia... who is with me?

pradster

Since when do artists get away with simply making suggestions? I could have had the idea to put a massive hunk of swiss cheese in orbit around Saturn and called it a moon, but it isn't considered a work of art unless I actually do it (or atleast paint it or something)

Fierock

thought so, but he could have at least drawn himself better on the map, hes not an artist.

Hawkskater

Also where they gave the size of the work in thousands of miles - it wasn't. Even if the work had existed, it would have left the earth unchanged, so the size was only ever notional at best.

iTheophilus

What a maroon. I think anyone who took more than a passing glance at this thing could tell that those loops in the middle of the ocean are a bit far-fetched.

PollockRoc

Still, this is a really cool idea. Sure, it's fake, but I'd like to see someone do this for real.
Maybe just in the US or some huge country for starters. and then, THE WORLD!

judacris

That sucks. But if someone actually does it, it better be with fucking Rick Astley

videoCWK

I'm not a violent guy, but I would kinda like to see someone punch him in his face. I might regret this post later.

Stearns

Well crap. I thought 'twas real. :P

Mongoose