European Art Snobbery meets Urban Development greed: a lovechild is born

Villa Sculptura is the latest product in our contemporary gimmicky, Damienhirstized art world. Hush! Damienhirstized is a word, and if it isn’t, it should be; it denotes gimmicky, overpriced art with dubious aesthetic qualities designed and sold with the sole purpose of creating market value and more specifically, with the financial market in mind; when stock traders decide to dabble in art, they usually promote Damienhirstized products. Damien Hirst, the epitome of this kind of art is a darling of the stock trader cum art gallerist who wishes to make a difference. A monetary difference, to be more precise.

Villa Sculptura is a house for sale in The Netherlands, more precisely, a neighborhood in the city of Utrecht. For one million Euros you buy the land, the design of the house and the exterior customization so that your home can look like a tapeworm. Not included: construction of the house itself, materials to build the house, building permits, etc, etc.

If I was a communist, this is the time I would be muttering to myself “when the revolution comes”, etc. Since I am not, I just shake my head and tsk tsk in disbelief.

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