AIR May 2019

AIR
“To talk about Camp is
to betray it”, posited
Susan Sontag in the
introduction to her seminal and
controversial essay on the topic.
The late American writer penned
her Notes on ‘Camp’ back in 1964,
and it was a sensation. As her first
contribution to Partisan Review, the
prose served as a comprehensive pulse
check, an explanation of subtext, a
charting of camp's evolution, and
secured Sontag intellectual notoriety.
Her essay took the form
of 58 notes, and included a list of
"random examples of items that are
part of the canon of Camp" – among
them Tiffany lamps, Aubrey Beardsley
drawings, Swan Lake, certain turnof-the-century
picture postcards,
and the Cuban pop singer La Lupe.
“At the time she wrote her essay,
camp was largely ‘a private code’ and
‘a badge of identity’ among small
urban cliques,” explains Andrew
Bolton, the curator of a current
exhibition at The Met, which is
using Sontag’s insight as the axis
for an immersive investigation.
It changed the privacy of camp
“irrevocably,” he elaborates.
“She essentially catapulted camp
into the mainstream, where
it’s remained ever since.”
“
Sontag wrote
that if you look at
art through camp
eyes, a Caravaggio
painting has the
same visual appeal
as a Flash Gordon
comic
”
At the press introduction to the
exhibition, held at Teatro Gerolamo,
the curator noted that, “The word
camp first entered the hallowed and
sanctioned ‘space’ of a dictionary –
Ware’s Dictionary of English Slang
and Phrase – in 1909. The entry read:
‘Actions and gestures of exaggerated
emphasis. Used chiefly by persons of
exceptional want of character.’”
There have been moments when
camp has come to the fore “to
become the defining aesthetic or
sensibility of the times, reflecting the
zeitgeist,” says the fashion expert.
“The 1960s was one such moment,
as were the 1980s, and, arguably, the
times in which we’re now living.”
He told The New York Times that
"Whether it’s pop camp... high camp
or political camp – Trump is a very
camp figure – I think it’s very timely."
This year The Met is grabbing
the bull by its feathered boa. For
starters, it has selected ‘camp’ as
the theme for its annual Costume
Institute Benefit: the showstopping
society-soiree also known as
The Met Gala, held on 6 May.
Previous themes have been as diverse
as ‘China: Through the Looking
Glass’, ‘Manus x Machina: Fashion
In An Age Of Technology’, and ‘Rei
Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art
of the In-Between’. This time, the
invitation-only attendees have been
tasked with capturing the parody,
pastiche and theatricality of camp.
Then there is the immersive
exhibition titled Camp: Notes on
Fashion, made possible by Gucci,
which serves as the topical reflection
behind the red-carpet regality.
“It’s an examination of how fashion
designers have used their métier as
a vehicle to engage with camp in a
myriad of compelling, humorous,
and sometimes incongruous
ways,” Bolton enthuses.
A simple understanding of camp’s
far-reaching influence could be gleaned
simply by reading the line-up of
the designers whose ensembles will
be featured. They include heavyweights
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