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Namedropping

by David Walsh, Emma Pike, Jane Clark, Luke Hortle, Sarah Wallace, Museum of Old and New Art (Mona)

This work examines the biological and social motives behind human creativity, status, and the value attributed to objects. It explores how essentialism and signalling influence reputation, identity, and the universal human instinct to communicate through art.

Accession 28076 ISBN 9780648785965 Publisher Museum of Old and New Art (Mona)
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TAGS
Curated Derived
Art Creativity Evolution Perception
CONNECTIONS
No connections
State
on_shelf
False
position_updated_at
never
orientation
unknown
Details

Physical

binding_type
Hard Back
dimensions
none captured
spine_text
none captured

Metadata

Book form
LOCATION HISTORY
G:W1:11 2 Current horizontal
3 weeks ago
G:W1:11 2 horizontal
3 weeks ago
G:W1:11 2 horizontal
3 weeks, 1 day ago
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Frozen copy of Vernon's record from the last sync. Fields tagged → flow back into the Pulse record.

Last synced 2026-06-05 15:01 (5 days, 1 hour ago)

Identity

name→ title
Namedropping
vernon_id
39873
accession_no→ accession_number
28076
vernon_slug
namedropping

Drives Pulse state

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Storage
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location_reason
Storage
isbn_issn→ isbn (when valid)
9780648785965

Descriptive

production_date
2024
object_type
Books/Document genres/Information forms/Visual and Verbal Communication, Exhibition catalogues/Catalogues/Document genres/Information forms/Visual and Verbal Communication
object_status
Accessioned
brief_description
David Walsh owns a cricket bat autographed by stars of the 1980s: Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee, Viv Richards and Abdul Qadir to name a few. David shows his mates and they refuse to bowl at him. 'You can't play cricket with that!' they cry. 'Of course I can, it's a fucking cricket bat,' he replies. He's wrong, of course, and he knows it. Not only does he know it's a special cricket bat-an unsigned bat cannot take its place-it's no longer really a cricket bat at all.This is not an exhibition about cricket. But the status of David's non-cricket bat brings certain questions into focus. Why are we drawn to certain objects and people? What makes the big names big: Porsche, Picasso or Pompidou? What is the nature of status and why is it useful? One possible explanation is essentialism, which is the sense that things and people have an essence, spirit or soul, that transcends their material state. Figuring out whether or not this can provide an accurate description of the world isn't really our objective; essentialism appears to be more about perception, the way we think about things.Are things-like cricket bats, works of art, books, and other special objects-meaningful to us as a proxy for this essence? Is that why we (people in general) love originalé, and get upset about fakery, not to mention modern art that thwarts detection of 'the artist's hand'?This is where status and our ferocious human pursuit of looking good in the eyes of others come into play. A fundamental component of creativity appears to be its use as a status enhancer, for attracting appropriate mates and allies-which is biologically useful. This is why we believe namedropping, signalling for status by association-be it for getting sex, power, enhanced reputation or in-group identity-is probably a universal human instinct. Social position is a life and death matter for human beings. Put simply, we are not evolved to survive and thrive alone. We're born with brains primed to think about what other people think about. Namedropping can help you influence other people's thoughts and narrow down who takes notice.This is not the first time we've laid our cards on the table with a hypothesis about art not based in culture. Saying that art is useful in a deep, biological sense doesn't mean you have to throw the cultural baby out with the bathwater. But if art were purely cultural, it would be a choice. If art were a choice made by those who make it, why are there no cultures that don't make art? And why do all individuals explore creativity in their childhood? Culture gives us an excuse; biology gives us a motive. All art-and all namedropping for that matter-is communication: sometimes broadcast for maximum but indiscriminate everyone-knows-Picasso effect; but often narrowcast and targeted. Because whether you know it or not, you don't need everyone to like your particular brand of bullshit.

Subjects & people

authors→ author (initial fill only)
Jane Clark, Luke Hortle, Emma Pike, Museum of Old and New Art (Mona), David Walsh, Sarah Wallace
tags→ tags
Arts, Art -- Exhibitions, Art, Modern -- 21st century, Art, Modern -- 20th century, Social status in art
subject_people
Museum of Old and New Art (Mona)
subject_objects
—

Cover image

vernon_cover_image_id→ cover_image
47435

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Topics and Themes