Breaking News

Driven Bananas by ApeFest 2022

June 23, 2022 ,

The same week that KAWS illustrated an inexplicable New York cover story, Manhattan’s art world was again brought to its knees by the explosion of Bored Apes across New York. Welcome to ApeFest 2022.

In fairness, what with NFT.NYC going on simultaneously, the Apes weren’t even the biggest eyesore in town. It’s just that they were inescapable. Sure, no one who actually lives in New York would’ve been bombarded by the screaming neon signs hoisted in Time’s Square but Bored Ape graffiti and ads peppered the city, from borough to borough.

Luckily, the infection was quarantined to the Chelsea Piers from June 20-23, mostly relegating the NFT monkey fans to a single event space on the far west side of New York. Even still, I glimpsed no fewer than three different dudes with Ape shirts — one of whom was sporting jaw-dropping Bitcoin-branded sneakers, no less — around town in a single day.

ApeFest, now in its second year, is an annual event for the individuals who hold Mutant and Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. You know, those people who have bong-smoking monkey avatars on Twitter.

Bored Ape dudes tend to embarrass themselves well enough as is but ApeFest brings ’em all together for a thoroughly unpleasant event, one that you can only enter as a verified BAYC or MAYC NFT holder.

Imagine The Gathering but for folks less cool than Juggalos and you’ve got ApeFest.

The jokes write themselves — just check Twitter! — but the actual festivities actually aren’t much to write home about.

You can buy burgers and coffee with Ape imagery stamped upon them or buy insider-only monkey merch to broadcast your secret shame to the world, but only if you attended ApeFest 2022 IRL — otherwise you’ll have to fork over hundreds of fiat dollars to scalpers, because people really will attempt to flip everything.

Famous guests at ApeFest included Timbaland, who plugged some new crypto doohicky, and Amy Schumer, who sounded like she’d have rather been anywhere else on a federal holiday than performing on Pier 17 for crypto dudes.

Inexplicably, ApeFest also included sets from The Roots, Future, Haim, and Lil Baby, which sounds more like Coachella madlibs than an NFT party flanked by inflatable chimps wearing flip-flops.

Perhaps the saddest appearance was from LCD Soundsystem, the influential indie band that was so New York that its 2011 farewell tour culminated in a sold-out Madison Square Garden set.

Over a decade later, a decidedly more defeated James Murphy and co. played “All My Friends” to a crowd of disinterested armchair investors. You’re bringing me down, indeed.

“Shop

Recipe T-Shirt
BUY

Recipe T-Shirt

Bar Basso x Highsnobiety $55
BUY $55


from Highsnobiety https://ift.tt/6BUksFz
via IFTTT

No comments

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )