In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen
minutes
Andy Warhol, 1968
In February 1968, Andy Warhol opened his first international retrospective exhibition at the Moderna Museet gallery in Stockholm. The catalogue accompanying his show contained the now legendary phrase “In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.” Warhol repeated the quote in 1979, claiming that “my prediction from the sixties finally came true”. With the subsequent rise of celebrity culture, reality television and social networking, Warhol’s quote today seems profoundly prophetic.
Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Modern Art at Harvard University, Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, believes the core underpinning to Warhol’s aesthetic lay in “the systematic invalidation of the hierarchies of representational functions and techniques” of art, which corresponds directly to a belief that the “hierarchy of subjects worthy to be represented will someday be abolished,” meaning that “everybody” can be famous once that hierarchy dissipates and by logical extension therefore, “in the future, everybody will be famous,” not merely those people worthy of fame.
A more recent adaptation of Warhol’s quote, attributed to David Weinberger and most probably prompted by the rise of online social networking, is the claim that “In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people”.
What then is it to be famous or ‘celebrated’? The historian and social theorist Daniel J. Boorstin defined celebrity in his book The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America (1961) as “a person who is known for his well-knownness”. In this he argues that the graphic revolution in journalism and other forms of communication has separated fame from greatness, and that this separation has helped turn the idea of fame into one of mere notoriety, in other words, ‘a celebrity is someone who is famous for being famous’.
In October 2011, Decca Aitkenhead interviewed the British singer/songwriter Jarvis Cocker in the Guardian newspaper during a return trip he made to his childhood school in Sheffield at the launch of his new book, Mother, Brother, Lover. Aitkenhead wondered if, as a child, he had shared the longing for fame which seems so common to today’s teenagers. Cocker was born into a lower-middle-class family in 1963; he was an archetypal arty misfit – insecure, short-sighted and “a little bit different”. He revealed to Aitkenhead that he thought becoming famous would be a solution to this, and he unsuccessfully pursued this dream throughout the 1980s with his band Pulp. However, things turned around and by 1995 Pulp were headlining Glastonbury and Cocker had become a superstar, at which point he realized he didn’t like being famous after all. After a few years of the usual clichés – groupies and cocaine, chat shows and excess his creative inspiration dried up, and in 2002 the band split.
Aitkenhead asked Cocker why he believed his own particular childhood longing for fame has now become the ambition of almost every teenager and if this means that all youngsters possibly feel as he did – inadequate and insignificant? Cocker replied that, “I think basically becoming famous has taken the place of going to heaven in modern society, hasn’t it? That’s the place where your dreams will come true. It’s an act of faith now; they think that’s going to sort things out.”
Andy Warhol, 1968
In February 1968, Andy Warhol opened his first international retrospective exhibition at the Moderna Museet gallery in Stockholm. The catalogue accompanying his show contained the now legendary phrase “In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.” Warhol repeated the quote in 1979, claiming that “my prediction from the sixties finally came true”. With the subsequent rise of celebrity culture, reality television and social networking, Warhol’s quote today seems profoundly prophetic.
Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Modern Art at Harvard University, Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, believes the core underpinning to Warhol’s aesthetic lay in “the systematic invalidation of the hierarchies of representational functions and techniques” of art, which corresponds directly to a belief that the “hierarchy of subjects worthy to be represented will someday be abolished,” meaning that “everybody” can be famous once that hierarchy dissipates and by logical extension therefore, “in the future, everybody will be famous,” not merely those people worthy of fame.
A more recent adaptation of Warhol’s quote, attributed to David Weinberger and most probably prompted by the rise of online social networking, is the claim that “In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people”.
What then is it to be famous or ‘celebrated’? The historian and social theorist Daniel J. Boorstin defined celebrity in his book The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America (1961) as “a person who is known for his well-knownness”. In this he argues that the graphic revolution in journalism and other forms of communication has separated fame from greatness, and that this separation has helped turn the idea of fame into one of mere notoriety, in other words, ‘a celebrity is someone who is famous for being famous’.
In October 2011, Decca Aitkenhead interviewed the British singer/songwriter Jarvis Cocker in the Guardian newspaper during a return trip he made to his childhood school in Sheffield at the launch of his new book, Mother, Brother, Lover. Aitkenhead wondered if, as a child, he had shared the longing for fame which seems so common to today’s teenagers. Cocker was born into a lower-middle-class family in 1963; he was an archetypal arty misfit – insecure, short-sighted and “a little bit different”. He revealed to Aitkenhead that he thought becoming famous would be a solution to this, and he unsuccessfully pursued this dream throughout the 1980s with his band Pulp. However, things turned around and by 1995 Pulp were headlining Glastonbury and Cocker had become a superstar, at which point he realized he didn’t like being famous after all. After a few years of the usual clichés – groupies and cocaine, chat shows and excess his creative inspiration dried up, and in 2002 the band split.
Aitkenhead asked Cocker why he believed his own particular childhood longing for fame has now become the ambition of almost every teenager and if this means that all youngsters possibly feel as he did – inadequate and insignificant? Cocker replied that, “I think basically becoming famous has taken the place of going to heaven in modern society, hasn’t it? That’s the place where your dreams will come true. It’s an act of faith now; they think that’s going to sort things out.”
Yet Fame it seems has a dark side, and far from “sorting
things out” seems to make matters worse for many who achieve the status of ‘famous’.
People like Peg Entwistle who performed in 10 New York plays yet nurtured a
greater ambition to appear in movies. She finally achieved her dream when she
gained the role of “Hazel Cousins” in the film Thirteen Women (1932). Yet when
no further roles materialized she became depressed and began drinking heavily.
Then, on Friday 16th September 1932 she left her Los Angeles home and walked to
the foot of the Hollywood sign where she climbed a workman’s ladder to the top
of the letter “H” and leaped to her death. She is now remembered as a symbol
for the lost aspirations of actors who move to Hollywood to become stars.
We might also remember Margaux Hemingway, actress, supermodel and the granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway. She appeared on the covers of Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, and Harper’s Bazaar and acted in a number of films which included Lipstick (1976), Over the Brooklyn Bridge (1984) and Deadly Rivals (1993). By the time she was 21, Margaux had a film career and a $1 million contract with Faberge perfume. Yet, within a decade she had lost it all. Margaux’s sister Mariel Hemingway had also acted in Lipstick, a part which had been suggested by Margaux and which ended up being a much greater success than her own. Margaux subsequently began drinking heavily and in 1988 she checked herself into the Betty Ford Center for rehabilitation. Attempts to revive her career failed and by the time she was 41, Margaux was living alone in a studio apartment. In July 1996 her neighbours informed the authorities that she had not been seen for days which led police to enter her home through a 2nd floor window where her body was found. Dental records had to be used to confirm her identity. She had taken an overdose and died aged 42.
It seems the bright light of celebrity offers a mirror too difficult for many to view.
Robert Priseman
See the exhibition 'FAME' at http://www.robert-priseman.com/projects/fame/
We might also remember Margaux Hemingway, actress, supermodel and the granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway. She appeared on the covers of Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, and Harper’s Bazaar and acted in a number of films which included Lipstick (1976), Over the Brooklyn Bridge (1984) and Deadly Rivals (1993). By the time she was 21, Margaux had a film career and a $1 million contract with Faberge perfume. Yet, within a decade she had lost it all. Margaux’s sister Mariel Hemingway had also acted in Lipstick, a part which had been suggested by Margaux and which ended up being a much greater success than her own. Margaux subsequently began drinking heavily and in 1988 she checked herself into the Betty Ford Center for rehabilitation. Attempts to revive her career failed and by the time she was 41, Margaux was living alone in a studio apartment. In July 1996 her neighbours informed the authorities that she had not been seen for days which led police to enter her home through a 2nd floor window where her body was found. Dental records had to be used to confirm her identity. She had taken an overdose and died aged 42.
It seems the bright light of celebrity offers a mirror too difficult for many to view.
Robert Priseman
See the exhibition 'FAME' at http://www.robert-priseman.com/projects/fame/
