Sudo Magazine | Edition 02 by dillon.king

_ THE WORD _

DILLON KING, EDITOR

Pseudo. Fake. Ersatz. Hoax. Fraud. Counterfeit. Forgery. We are fascinated with fakery in the myriad of ways that we find it in our lives. We are always asking ourselves if we can believe what we see or hear. Because we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. Think: Sometimes the fake is an intentional tool and makes us think. Always the unmasking of the fake makes us think. And that is the purpose of this magazine, to make you think and to make you question. And sometimes to entertain. Look: We live in a time that has so much potential and in a time that tries the ethical and moral boundaries of what is real. Having grown up in the age of entertainment, tv, movies, videos, and video games, we have been primed for unreality but perhaps have retained a healthy skepticism about the inter- section of the real and fake. The fake can entertain and it can inform us â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and it is all around us if we look for it. Sometimes it comes in the form of art, and then it delights as well as informs.

_ UP-CY-CLE _ JAMES MCNABB

A collection of cityscape inspired sculptures that explore sociological concepts regarding transformations of cities and urban landscapes, their beauty, uniqueness, and over-development. James McNabb uses discarded pieces of wood to create sculptures, some with very unique and alluring characteristics, that are contextualized to draw new meaning out of the material and force viewers to create their own unique perspective of the urban landscape.

SUDO_ENVIRONMENT

Our environment is all around us, and man has created much of it. We think we know what is genuine. This issue looks around at some that reproduce the real in disturbing, funny and surprising ways.

TRUE_OR_FALSE_P.16_

MAILBOX_P.90_

FILM_REVIEW_P.20_

PEOPLE_P.118_

HEADLINES_P.88_

PRODUCTS_P.120_

26 44

VEGAS_ Why are we fascinated with Las Vegas?

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F_02

MINIACS_ Lose yourself in the world of the mini

74 92 113 122

INTERIOR WORLD_ A world without windows

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THE AIR WE BREATHE_ Recycled or refreshed?

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UNDER WATER_ Will we be making new water worlds?

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WHAT NEXT FOR DISNEY_ Virtual or reality?

DEPARTMENT

TRUE OR FALSE OUR WRITERS WROTE THREE STORIES ABOUT CRIME THAT DOES NOT PAY, ONLY ONE OF WHICH IS TRUE.

_02

Crime is rampant all over with thefts, carjackings, but there is hope. We heard a story this week of the authorities coming to the rescue and proving crime does not pay.

TRUE OR FALSE

AN ILLEGAL RUBBER DUCK RACE ON A RIVER IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE, ENGLAND

01 If you want to hear a really outrageous story involving the Brits, check out what went down recently in Gloucestershire, England. A local charity was holding a fundraiser, involving releasing 100 or so rubber duckies into the towns river, which is called the River Windrush and sounds like a thing you have to cross during “Lord Of The Rings” to escape some orcs. Anyway, no sooner had the adorable, pretend water fowl started bobbing down the River Windrush than a swarm of police descended on the event to break it up. You see, according to an ancient bylaw, the river cannot be used on Sundays for fundraising purposes. Insanely, the only group allowed to hold an event on a Sunday is a brass band. The local business owners who called the police stand by their decision to crush the dreams of innocent children, pointing out that the group did not have the proper permit and had parked motorcycles all over the grass, which is really bad for it.

On the plus side, the group says they still raised over 500 pounds at the event. On the minus side, after the Brexit, that comes out to about 85 cents, U.S.Rostorosky. Imitating Russian accent, I thought I would hold a grudge for many more years than I have. But Aleksandr made for my daughter Olga’s curvy Barbie a warm snow pant that does not make her look big. It’s hard to dislike a guy who can do that even if he did once rip your chest muscle from your rib cage.

DEPARTMENT _02

A HIGH SCHOOL REUNION IN NEWTON, MASS

02 Mara Sims, a fellow associate, told police she’d heard Janice expressing anxiety about the reunion for weeks because her ex-boyfriend, Mark, had posted on Facebook he was attending with his hot fiance. As cops sped towards the reunion, Janice was having a great time flashing her ring and talking about her imaginary fiance, who she described as an architect for the Navy SEALs. Just as Janice and Mark were saying hi for the first time in two decades, a SWAT team burst through the door, guns drawn. Janice tried to explain she was always intending to return the ring on Monday morning, but For the last 11 years, Janice they threw her to the ground and Hitchcock was a trusted employee in the engagement ring department charged her with federal grand larceny. Still, there’s a silver lining of the legendary Tiffany’s in New York City. By all accounts, she loved for Janice. Mark, who was so impressed by the lengths she went her job, which is why her coworkto impress him, has asked if she ers were so shocked at Janice’s dramatic arrest by an FBI task force wants to go out again. As it turns at her 20-year high school reunion. out, his hot fiance was actually just a coworker friend from work It began during Friday inventory who he brought so no one would when her floor manager noticed that a 9-carat yellow diamond ring, notice he’d gained 50 pounds valued at $3 million, was missing. since high school.

TRUE OR FALSE

A MONOPOLY GAME IN ELKO, NEV

03 planned their bust. You have to remember, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talk of printing money and building hotels in a gambling town. We had to invest- igate. When we heard the meet to distribute the cash was going to be in the game room of the Gold Dust casino, we had to move and move fast. After a raid on the most soph- isticated middle school monopoly cheats ever. We warned them that cheating is no way to win and in real life jail is more than not just passing go and not collecting $200.

ANSWER - 01

The secret service prides itself on monitoring social media, catching criminals who love to brag. They thought they caught some major players in Elko, a small Nevada casino town. The first tip was a Twitter direct message about having to make some money to bring down The Hat. Every time we start to get ahead, paying The Hat slows us down, said a player known only as Dog. He controls too much territory. We got to make our own damn money, responded Flat Iron. These conversations set off some red flags and the secret service grew more interested. Secret service agent Darrell Jones explained, upon hearing The Shoe brag about being able to duplicate cash with his new printer and Dog telling them they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t control the whole boardwalk, but they can build hotels all around it to bring The Hat down, the secret service

DEPARTMENT

ART AND CRAFT FILM REVIEW

_02

Mark A. Landis, the cadaverous, soft-spoken art forger profiled in the documentary “Art and Craft,” is not a fictional character, except perhaps in his own mind. In 30 years of deception, he has donated at least 100 pieces — many of them doctored photocopies of small works — to at least 46 museums in 20 states. The film shows him creating several of these pieces, which seem authentic if you don’t look too closely and notice that the paintings are copies augmented with pigment and placed in carefully distressed frames, many purchased at Walmart. There is no question that Mr. Landis is an excellent draftsman schooled in the intricate rituals of the art world. Some of the works are donated in memory of a sister who never existed. “I didn’t do anything wrong or illegal,” he says of his “philanthropy,” which, to the embarrassment of museum personnel, has landed multiple copies of the same work in several institutions. When confronted, Mr. Landis replies mischievously, “Where would the church be if St. Peter hadn’t lied?” Since Mr. Landis didn’t commit legal fraud by earning money from his forgeries, he was able to get away with his charades for many years.

The New York Times about him in January 2011 that attracted the attention of the film’s directors, Sam Cullman and Jennifer Grausman. (Mark Becker is credited as co-director and editor.) Mr. Landis, who lives in Laurel, Miss., and has operated under several pseudonyms, is the enigmatic core of a movie that becomes pedestrian only when the focus switches to a one-man crusade to expose him. Matthew Leininger, a blustery former registrar at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, is the self-appointed prosecutor of Mr. Landis. But the movie fails to give dramatic heft to their cat-and-mouse game, which seems to end when a museum in Cincinnati mounts an exhibition of Mr. Landis’s fakes, and both attend. But what a fascinating character Mr. Landis, 59, turns out to be. In one of his several guises, inspired by the G. K. Chesterton character Father Brown, he dressed as a priest to visit art museums under the pseudonym Father Arthur Scott. His soft voice, with its Southern inflection, evokes Truman Capote’s. His politeness and obsession with his

A REAL-LIFE COMIC MYSTERY FIT FOR HERCULE POIROT, COMPLETE WITH A CAST OF PRIVILEGED DUPES THE AVERAGE VIEWER PROBABLY WON’T FEEL MUCH SYMPATHY FOR.

DEPARTMENT _02

mother bring to mind Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, and Mr. Landis has received a diagnosis of schizophrenia. His hushed delivery and creepy stillness at times also recall Peter Lorre. If a feature film were made of his life, the ideal actor to play him might be Zeljko Ivanek, that master of sinister furtiveness. “Art and Craft” adds fuel to the argument that the art market is a rigged game manipulated by curators and gallerists spouting mumbo-jumbo. Whom can you trust in a world where Norman Rockwell, dismissed for years as a mere “illustrator,” ascends to the pantheon of American greats? What’s the difference between a Warhol silk-screen and a Landis copy? It’s not out of the realm of possibility that forgeries could one day become the next big thing in art.

WORDS_ DENNIS HARVEY

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FAKE A L IKIN G I T 28

VEGAS

N D LIVING WITH THE FAKE I do not know just when we lost our sense of reality or our interest in it, but at some point it was decided that reality was not the only option. It was possible, permissible and even desirable to improve on it; one could substitute a more agreeable product. Architecture and the environment as packaging or playacting, as disengagement from reality, is a notion whose time, alas, seems to have come. Give or take demolition and natural disasters, architecture is the most immediate, expressive and lasting art to ever record the human condition. Cities are the containers and generators of our history and culture. We are what we build; stone and steel do not lie. But there has been a radical change in the way we perceive and understand this physical reality. Surrogate experience and synthetic settings have become the preferred American way of life. it is the theme park with the enormously Environment is entertainment and artifice; profitable real-estate bottom line and a stunning record as the country’s biggest growth industry. Build an ‘’enclave’’ of old buildings moved out of the path of development, and you have the past; build a mall and multiplex, and you have the future. Build a replica of New York in Las Vegas as a skyscraper casino with Coney Island rides, and you have a crowd-pleaser without the risk of a trip to the Big Apple. Distinctions are no longer made or deemed necessary between the real and the false; the edge usually goes to the latter, as an improved version with defects corrected — accessible and user-friendly. As usual, it is California that sets the trends and establishes the values for the rest of the country. Only a Californian would observe that it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell the real fake from the fake fake. All fakes are clearly not equal; there are good fakes and bad fakes. The standard is no longer real versus phony but the relative merits of the imitation. What makes the good ones better is their improvement on reality. 29

ARTIF

ICI A L

The real fake reaches its apogee in places like Las Vegas, where it has been developed into an art form. Continuous, competitive frontages of moving light and color and constantly accelerating novelty lead to the gaming tables and hotels. The purpose is clear and the solution is dazzling; the result is completely and sublimely itself. fake has developed its own indigenous style and life The outrageously fake style to become a real place. This is an urban design frontier where extraordinary things are happening The Los Angeles architect Jon Jerde, an established master of the modern shopping mall and all its clones and offspring, understands this transformation well. Using a salesman’s pitch and psychologist’s insights he speaks of ‘’place making,’’ in which advanced technology and programmed perceptions are used for unprecedented solutions and sensations. The dream of pedestrianism, so valiantly and fruitlessly pursued by planners who have looked to the past and overseas for models of historic hill towns and plazas, has been aggressively naturalized; the social stroll has become a sensuous assault. In a Jerde makeover, a 1,400-foot-long, 90-foot-high arched space frame spans Las Vegas’s Fremont Street — the original, now dated Strip — wrapping the nighttime walker in a computer-generated sound and light show provided by 211 million lights and a 540,000-watt sound system. This ‘’Fremont Street experience’’ is billed as ‘’a linear urban theater for pedestrians along the city’s familiar icon and historic heart.’’ Yes, Virginia, Las Vegas has a historic heart; you are too young to remember, but Fremont Street was invented and incorporated in 1905. More than 90 years old now, and getting a little tired, it is part of historic America along with Williamsburg and more recent landmarks like Route 66, the Mom and Pop motel and the earliest golden arches of McDonald’s. The street is still evolving in a uniquely American way. It would be a mistake, as the Swiss philosopher and student of American urbanism Andre Corboz has pointed out, to mistake Las Vegas for Monte Carlo. A singular confluence of desire, flash and the big sell has created its character and destiny. Built to be exactly what it is, this is the real, real fake at the highest, loudest and most authentically inauthentic level of illusion and invention. It must be understood on its own terms. Since gambling has been renamed gaming (another triumph of still another uniquely American phenomenon, public relations), and thus cleansed of all pejorative connotations and rendered euphemistically harmless, it has emerged at the top of the list of America’s favorite pastimes. Today, Las Vegas and Atlantic City (one offers the desert and the other the ocean to those who venture outdoors) are being touted as family vacation spots. It has finally come together: the lunar theatrical landscape of the Strip and the casino hotels, the amusement park and the shopping mall, all themed and prefabricated and available as a packaged vacation for all. Morris Lapidus’s Miami hotels of the 1950’s — the unforgettable gilded excesses of the faux-French Fontainebleau and the sluggish crocodiles in the equally faux jungle under the Americana’s lobby stairs — have evolved into the breath-stopping extravaganzas of Caesar’s Palace with its heroic Styrofoam statuary and the Luxor’s Sphinx and mirror-glass pyramid. The latest drop-dead entry in this pantheon of exuberant terminal pretense is New York, New York, a hotel and casino complex designed as a pastiche of New York’s most famous buildings; a collage of pin-striped towers makes its wonderfully improbable facade. In front of this mirage-melange of skyscrapers is a dotty row of older New York landmarks, side by side, almost holding hands — Grant’s Tomb, Ellis Island, Grand Central Terminal, the Brooklyn Bridge and SoHo’s cast-iron Haughwout store (a dead giveaway that some real New York architecture buffs have been at work) all laced together with the airy, looping curves of a giant roller coaster. The

R E

F A

VEGAS

T H E A L R E A L Since gambling

has been renamed gaming (another triumph of still another uniquely American phenomenon, public relations), and thus cleansed of all pejorative connotations and rendered euphemistically harmless, it has emerged at the top of the list of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorite pastimes.

K E 33

GAM B G A

LING MIN G

architects, Gaskin & Bezanski, working with the firm of YatesSilverman, seem to have perfected the genre of inspired looniness and outer-edge spectacle of the best of these undertakings. The family that games together also shops together in the Forum Shops, a 250,000-square-foot addition to Caesar’s World, where moving sidewalks take them through six triumphal arches rising from cascading fountains into the streets of stores. ‘’Your typical Roman via,’’ the critic Aaron Betsky reported on the occasion of the grand opening in 1992, ‘’where the sun sets and rises on an electronically controlled cycle, continually bathing acres of faux finishes in rosy hues. Animatronic robots welcome you with a burst of lasers, and a rococo version of the Fountain of the Four Rivers drowns out the sound of nearby slots. In Las Vegas, ‘’history repeats itself neither as farce nor as tragedy but as a themed environment.’’ Once the substitute, or surrogate, is considered the more acceptable experience, remarkable things occur. There are rain forests in Las Vegas that casino guests find infinitely more impressive than the South American variety; they prefer the combination of tropicana and silks (the trade name for false foliage) with the added attraction of live white tigers. In Texas, when movie makers planned a film about the Alamo and found the real landmark small and unprepossessing, they built a bigger and better Alamo in a nearby town. Today both the false and the genuine Alamo are equally popular tourist attractions. (If one is good, two are better. And the new, improved version is best of all.) A start has been made on taking the pressure off national parks by bringing tourists to a high-tech show-and-tell presentation of Zion Park, with a drive-by en route; one can experience it all that way and still get to Vegas by night. Nor are the fine distinctions between the real fake and the fake fake always clear. The surrogate version is rarely sublime; more often it is a reduced and emptied-out idea based on what Corboz has called the ‘’poverty of the re-invention of the not known.’’ Surprisingly, it is only in the freewheeling and not too fussy commercial world that the substitute comes off. in a much more subtle and insidious and dangerous way. At a higher level, confusion is encouraged of art and scholarship, where they really know the In the world difference, there is a growing interdependence of the real and the fake, with a disturbing identification of the values of the original and the copy. The slippage is taking place at institutional and cultural sources that have always been the defenders and keepers of authenticity. Museums, dependent on tourism, must compete for attendance with entertainment-geared attractions. That takes a lot of hype and high-class souvenirs in the gift shop. The art, science and culture museum of the University of California at Berkeley, located not in Berkeley but in the affluent suburb of Blackhawk, augmented a 1991 show of New Guinea artifacts with a ‘’science theater,’’ where an experience called Nature’s Fury produced a rocking earthquake simulation from a mini-volcano; going a step further for ‘’lifelike’’ relevance appropriate to the community, a suggested survivor’s kit was displayed in the trunk of a BMW. Life-size scenes in narrative settings subordinate the thing itself to a dramatic re-creation. With nothing to recommend them except their often shabby authenticity, the real objects simply have less appeal than snappy simulations. While art museums are more removed from the tourist track where ‘’the world’s great masterpieces’’ are re-created in everything from living tableaux to glow-in-the-dark copies on velvet, even the primary citadels have not escaped the trend. High art has been ‘’contaminated’’ — this is the semiotician and novelist Umberto Eco’s word; no one else would dare use it — by the ‘’blurring of the boundaries’’ of original and reproduction. It is common practice for originals, reconstructions and reproductions to be mingled in an effort to bring museum displays ‘’to life’’; one must read the exhibition labels to know what is real and what is not. The leveling of the works of art with copies for sale in the museum shop is omnipresent. The ostensible purpose of the reproduc36

VEGAS

tion, to make one want the original, has been supplanted by the feeling that the original is no longer necessary. The copy is considered just as good and, in some cases, better; Eco and the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard both argue that the simulation replaces the original to become the reality in most minds, even if this is not overtly expressed, and even in those places meant to guard the uniqueness and the meaning of the work of art. According to the American cultural historian Margaret Crawford and Richard Sennett, the novelist and sociologist who specializes in the philosophical and symbolic aspects of urbanism, there is a relationship between the museum shop and that feature of mall salesmanship called ‘’adjacent attraction.’’ In both the commercial and the cultural setting, there is a transfer of values, from real objects of esthetic and historical validity to lesser products. Even when direct copies are not involved, the frequent use of real objects as promotional devices raises the price and perception of the thing for sale, through the kind of association that ‘’blurs the boundaries,’’ as Eco expressed it. But the process also works both ways. The commodity (for a price) becomes identified with the qualities of the object (no price, or even, in the case of artworks, priceless), so that the same value is given to both. The blurring of the boundaries has now become a constant in scholarship and connoisseurship. The computer substitutes the picture on the screen for the original work of art. Because the computer and the camera have made available an incredible array of research sources, arcane problems can be explored as never before; scholars can deal with masses of data and remote collections of awe-inspiring completeness and diversity. This is one of the seductive miracles of the electronic age. Entire dissertations can be written without ever seeing the originals. Access is increasingly limited to the fragile drawings, documents and rare books that are primary resources. Since this is the point of scholarship where the eye is trained, the loss of direct contact is incalculable. It is through the immediate visual and sensory response engendered by repeated exposure to the actual work of art that connoisseurship is created — the related sequence of close knowledge and informed taste by which works of art can be accurately understood, compared, defined, judged and enjoyed. There is no replacement for this primary experience — the direct connection with the hand of the artist in the actual touch of the pen or the stroke of the brush — no matter how technically perfect the reproduction. Eco of the impeccable, bemused and outraged eye has given the subject of authenticity an unexpected and very important spin. Rather than liking reality or the real thing too little, he says, Americans love it too much. We are obsessed with reality, with the possession of the object, determined to have it at any cost, in the most immediate and tangible form, unconcerned with authenticity or the loss of historical, cultural or esthetic meaning. This pervasive attitude, established through a massive popular network, has ‘’spread to the products of high culture and the entertainment industry,’’ Eco notes, where the relationship among values, judgment and authenticity has virtually ceased to exist. The theme park has no such problem of degenerative authenticity. Nothing in it is admired for its reality, only for the calculated manipulation and simulation of its sources. It is not surprising that much of the most popular and profitable development of the genre is spearheaded and bankrolled by the masters of illusion; the movie and entertainment businesses have become the major innovators and investors in theme parks and related enterprises. An entire industry has sprung up to serve themed entertainment, providing those erupting volcanoes and fiberglass rock formations on the grounds of Las Vegas casinos; according to an industry spokesman ‘’you get a very artificial appearance with real rock.’’ Those who wonder what happened to American know-how have just not been looking in the right places. With reality voided and illusion preferred, almost anything can have uncritical acceptance. For those without memory, nostalgia fills the void. For those without reference points, novelties are enough. 37

MIR MI R

ROR AG E

AMERICAN

DREAM

With reality voided and illusion preferred,

almost any-

thing can have uncritical acceptance.

For those without memory, nostalgia fills the

void. For those without reference points, novelties are enough.

For those without the standards supplied by familiarity

with the source, knockoffs will do. Escalating sensation supplants intellectual and esthetic response. For all of the above, the outrageous is essential. There must be instant gratification;

above all,

one must be able to buy sensation and status; the experience and the products must be for sale. The remarkable marriage of technologically

based and shrewdly pro-

grammed artificial experience with a manufactured and managed environment, for a real-life substitute of controlled and pricey pleasures, is a totally American product and the

real American dream.

MINIACS

IT BECAME AN ESCAPE FROM REALITY TO PLACES I WOULD LOVE TO TRAVEL TO

F_02

MINIACS

WE SPEND A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF TIME IN FANTASY WORLDS

MINIACS

THE MODERN MINI MOVEMENT BY WAY OF A CHILDHOOD LOVE

MINIACS

READING LOTS OF STORIES AND BOOKS IN MY CHILDHOOD INSPIRED ME TO BUILD THE SCENES FROM THOSE STORIES

MINIACS

MINIACS LIVE IN A SMALL SMALL WORLD

t the Chanel boutique in Bushwick, Brooklyn, black and-white tweed skirts hang near gold lamé gowns. Classic black-toed beige pumps are on display on a glass platform lit from below. A quilted leather handbag with a gleaming gold clasp is also on view, perfectly paired with a rabbit fur coat. This shop is not open to the public. That’s because it’s just two feet long by two feet tall, and it’s inside the apartment of a man named Phillip Nuveen. Mr. Nuveen, 27, is a designer who works almost exclusively in miniature, often making minute versions of the most sought after luxury goods. Each item is made by hand or with the help of a 3D printer. He has designed little Hermès bags, Eames chairs and Louis Vuitton steamer trunks that Barbie most likely would be only too happy to have Ken carry for her. “I love fashion and style, so my miniature world has become a very chic one,” he said. Kate Ünver’s aesthetic is far darker than Mr. Nuveen’s. But it’s just as tiny. Ms. Ünver, 29, is a collector of tiny objects that may decorate a dollhouse, or at least the spooky place next door. She is the proud custodian of a 2-inch bull skull, an itty-bitty motorcycle and a freckle-size pair of antique scissors that actually work. “I’ve seen mini pistols that fire,” said Ms. Ünver, the founder of Dailymini, a website devoted to all things diminutive. Eensy switchblades that actually pop out. Nearly microscopic marbles. An electric chair that fits in the palm of your

hand. Like so many “miniacs,” as some of the collectors and artisans call themselves, she came to the modern mini movement by way of a childhood love of dollhouses. Mr. Nuveen often makes versions of the most sought after luxury goods. Like other miniacs, he works in 1:12 scale, which is the traditional ratio for miniatures, dollhouses and dioramas. Credit Ike Edeani for The New York Times Apparently, it really is a small world, and it’s getting progressively smaller, thanks to young artists working in 1:12 scale, which is the traditional ratio for miniatures, dollhouses and dioramas. Instead of dreamy young schoolgirls adorning pint-size Victorian mansions, today’s miniaturists are creating perfect parallel universes in the vein of the Thorne Miniature Rooms on permanent exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. Type in “miniature” on Etsy, the online marketplace for handcrafted items, and some 400,000 items appear, from wee cereal boxes to dime-size waffles. A large part of the allure comes from a defining influence of the D.I.Y. movement, an embrace of tactile crafts as an antidote to digital living. Many miniac artists create their work by hand. Others sometimes rely on modern tools like laser cutters and 3D printers. “Miniatures of all kinds are huge among young adults, who are rethinking dollhouse,” said Darren Scala, the owner of D. Thomas Fine Miniatures, in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., and a trustee of the International Guild of Miniature Artisans. “It’s about a return to the physical, being able to touch and handle and actually play with something tactile.”

MINIACS

EMBRACE OF TACTILE CRAFTS AS AN ANTIDOTE TO DIGITAL LIVING

Mackenzie McAlpin, 36, is a sculptor who makes microscopic replicas of people’s pets from polymer clay. “This art form is not necessarily easy on the body,” she said. “Your eyes go and your back starts hurting.” For some miniacs, there is a voyeuristic appeal commingled with the universal desire to inhabit and experience multiple environments at the same time. “It’s a way to explore worlds you can’t explore, and tiny fake worlds are easier to make, and less destructive, than secret real ones,” said Louise Krasniewicz, an adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. “We spend a tremendous amount of time in fantasy worlds: TV, reading books, playing videos. Miniatures provide a way to practice things that we can’t practice in reality.” Dr. Krasniewicz has built her own diminutive creations, most notably a perfect replica of the set of the Alfred Hitchcock classic film “Rear Window.” It comes complete with windows depicting each

apartment and its inhabitants. “The things people are most curious about are other people and their lives,” she said. “We’re all interested in doing fieldwork in other people’s worlds.” Some may think artisans focused on minis reflect an older demographic. “For a very long time, miniaturists have had this very ‘Grandpa in the basement working on model railroad’ vibe to it, or ‘Grandma with her dollhouse,’” said Thomas Doyle, 39, an artist who works exclusively with contemporary miniatures. “But the miniature is most certainly a growing trend in contemporary art. I’ve seen a lot recently. We are at a point where contemporary art is becoming so diversified. What I’m interested in coincides with our current society, and especially now that we’re living in this age of anxiety. Every age probably says that, but things that are small remind us of our childhood, a very ordered world.” It’s no coincidence that the mini movement is having a moment during a time of political uncertainty and international tur- moil. While many of the artists are attracted to the creative process, “there’s also a level of control that is appealing,” said Nicole Cooley, who teaches creative writing at Queens College, City University of New York. Ms. Cooley is writing a book on mini- ism and has 25 dollhouses in her Glen Ridge, N.J., home. A miniature universe can also provide a psychological respite. A year and a half ago, Ali Alamedy and his family were driven out of Iraq by the Islamic State. Mr. Alamedy, 33, has been making miniature worlds since he first bought a computer at 16. With the help of 3D software, a piece of balsa wood and a hobby knife, he constructed his first miniature farm scene. 68

MINIACS

TINY FAKE WORLDS ARE EASIER TO MAKE, AND LESS DESTRUCTIVE, THAN SECRET REAL ONES

“I weathered it with coffee, and there I discovered my love to rust and age wood and urban scenes,” said Mr. Alamedy, who lives a few hours outside of Istanbul. For four years, Ms. Ünver has promoted artists who create miniatures. Since then, he has used household items like aluminum foil, plastic rods, paper clips and foam boards to build scenes from places he has never been: a French cafe, an English bookstore, a New York alleyway. (Mr. Scala, the shop proprietor, himself a miniaturist, is planning to introduce Mr. Alamedy and his work to the United States market this year.) “Reading lots of stories and books in my childhood inspired me to build the scenes from those stories,” Mr. Alamedy said. “Later on, it became an escape from reality to places I would love to travel to, but I can’t.” There are emotional and therapeutic benefits, too, some of the artists express. Amanda Speva, 30, a Chicago-based filmmaker who is making a documentary on miniatures, recalls her friend having built a diorama depicting a happy time in her life: the early days of her childhood before her parents divorced. “There’s a big theme of fantasy, of living out something you can’t have in real life,” she said. “It’s about capturing a moment in time that you want to remember.” For Mr. Nuveen, the Chanel-boutique creator, a foray into the world of miniatures grew out of necessity; he had no other way to show off his talents. In college, he studied graphic design, but he dreamed of being an architect. He wanted potential clients to see his work, but he couldn’t reach them in his Bushwick flat, on the fifth floor of a walk-up.

Then it hit him: “I could build something tiny, post it online, and viewers would have no idea the scale,” he said. “I can show an idea for an interior, and I don’t have to do it in a real-life human scale. I can make it miniature, and no one knows the difference.” Mr. Nuveen also operates a two-foot-tall art gallery to help gain exposure for some of his artist friends. “They’ll send me images of their painting or drawing,” he said. “I’ll print them, frame them, hang them in the model and photograph them. It looks like a real-life exhibition, big art, little gallery.”

MINIACS

WORDS_ ABBY ELLIN

LIVING OUT SOMETHING YOU CAN’T HAVE IN REAL LIFE, IT’S ABOUT CAPTURING A MOMENT IN TIME THAT YOU WANT TO REMEMBER.

MINIACS