Highbrow legitimacy cannot be borrowed through performative art stunts

Evidence

Perhaps feeling pressure to keep up, Jay-Z made his own attempt to go avant-garde. He performed a new track, “Picasso Baby,” for six straight hours in a New York gallery as part of a Marina Abramović–inspired piece. Despite notable attendees like Rosie Perez, Adam Driver, Judd Apatow, and Glenn O’Brien, the effort fell flat. Critics derided it as “cultural cringe,” a transparent bid for highbrow legitimacy. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 367

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the core thesis of this book about cultural capital being auctioned off; Jay-Z’s failure shows manufactured legitimacy doesn’t work when the drive toward it is visible.