Fur Cups and Atomic Jesus

On Wednesdays we share things.

First

Where do you fall on the great Barbie vs. Oppenheimer debate? This is my vibe.

“Everything man makes is nature, even plastic. Even the atomic bomb.”
–Meret Oppenheim

Let’s not talk about how long it took me to make that, except to say it was 100% worth it, I’m going to see Oppenheimer next week*, it’s my first movie theater visit in four years, I’ve never seen a Nolan movie in the cinema, and I’m tired of dolls.

*Duh, it has espionage in it.

Second

The Vatican has a piece in its collection that depicts Jesus rising from the crater of a nuclear bomb in the Garden of Gethesemane.

It’s called The Resurrection (La Resurrezione), by Pericle Fazzini, made in 1977-ish. The above image shows the detail of the work but doesn’t get across how massive Resurrection is—this thing is 66 feet hight, the largest art piece created for the Vatican since the Sistine Chapel. Here it is with a tiny seated Pope for scale.

Fazzini was a devout anti-Fascist, literally. He sometimes portrayed resistance fighters as religious martyrs, and he wanted to make art that showed how religion could help solve the world’s ills.

But why a nuclear Christ? For one thing everyone was talking nukes those days, especially Catholics. In 1963 Pope John XXIII published Pacem in terris, a treatise denouncing nuclear weapons, not denouncing Communism, endorsing the UN, and mildly supporting women’s rights and human dignity. Pacem was a bomb of a different kind. While the sentiments don’t feel particularly bold today, at the time it had immediate geopolitical ramifications.

Still, the atomic bomb, the destroyer of worlds, is a weird choice to bring into your massive sculpture about the resurrection. The Times quotes Fazzini saying, “I had the idea of depicting Christ as if He were rising again from the explosion of this large olive grove, peaceful site of His last prayers. Christ rises from this crater torn open by a nuclear bomb; an atrocious explosion, a vortex of violence and energy.''

I’m…kind of into it? I can’t go along with Meret and say nuclear weapons are part of nature, unless we are going to have a tedious discussion about the construction of the category “nature,” and… let’s not. It’s funny to think that the Vatican spent millions for a superhero origin story where Christ survives a nuclear explosion and then saves the world, even if I’m not down with the Catholic Church save a few renegade nuns here and there. Resurrection dominates the papal audience hall where the pope receives visitors and I love that everyone has to stare at a nuclear explosion the whole time the guy is talking.

Third

I’ve been learning about design reparations in Dorie Tunstall’s book Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook. Tunstall describes decolonization as a fluid set of practices that includes representation, equity, and inclusion, and gives thoughtful, sometimes spicy, case studies and personal history as she discusses ways they can be implemented.

What a gift to read her thoughts. Generously written for anyone to benefit, whether or not you’re a designer (I’m not.) (Except for the movie posters.)

Deeper links

• Tunstall has also written about supertokenism.

• Isn’t it exciting when you learn about a new game? Humans!

• A little followup to last week. Robots!

• If you are going to be in NYC on August 4th, you are a lucky human because one of my favorite humans, Annie Hart, is doing a free in-store appearance at Rough Trade.

• She also has a new record out!

• Annie ALSO did the music for one of my favorite movies, Olympic Dreams, directed by another fave, Jeremy Teicher and starring Jeremy, Nick Kroll, and yet another favorite, Alexi Pappas. (Nick Kroll might someday be a favorite human but I haven’t met him so it’s TBD.) Alexi is an Olympian, and OD was shot on site at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, but it’s not a movie about sports. It really is about dreams, about the hope inherent in just putting one foot in front of the other. You can watch it on Amazon Prime and many other platforms and you should.

Please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Without getting into it (although you never know? ), it’s pretty desperado around here. If you can’t, that’s ok! Maybe you can help spread the word to people in general so we can get past this cringey aspect of the whole thing. If you can do it, please go for it. xom