Celebrity Red Carpet

Andy Warhol, Pop artist, film maker and 1960’s cultural icon made a prediction on the increasing vacuousness of fame and celebrity:

“In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.”

With the proliferation of cable, satellite, on-demand TV, and the Internet we see so much more of our celebrities. The speed that information travels makes it easier for the world to latch on to the next big thing. But with fame comes an increasingly intrusive media and a very fickle public. The more obtrusive the celebrity becomes the faster the lustre of the star diminishes. Can a celebrity rely on the public to always be adoring?

It’s generally recognised that there are four types of celebrity
The A-list is a term that is used to describe the most bankable movie stars, in the Hollywood movie industry, the more successful current pop stars and the most successful sportsmen.

The term B-list is used for ex-A-listers who still are still somewhat successful but no longer ensure large returns.

The C-list is used for moderately successful TV personalities, character actors on stage and screen, fading or up and coming pop stars. While the A and B list can be interchangeable, generally, celebrities who have moved down from B to C rarely move up from C back to B.

The D-list is reserved for those who have used up their A, B and C-list cache and, although their best days are behind them, still need to be seen. This list includes Reality TV show ‘stars’, ex-cons, victims of crime, low ranking royalty, heiresses, plucky losers, and relatives of A, B and C-listers.

The Installation

1.5 minutes of fame

The ideas was to re-create a Red Carpet event: a large crowd,a velvet roped red carpet, with security and bouncers and camera flashes as the ‘celebrity’ strutted their stuff. As the user procedes down the carpet the crowd might change their attitude, and as the celeb reaches the end of the carpet a photograph is taken and uploaded to the front cover of a celebrity gossip magazine.

This installation explores the celebrity culture and gives anyone the experience of what it would be like to be a celebrity, albeit for just 1.5 minutes.

Read the process report