Museums are falling over themselves to produce the quirkiest posts on the blockbusting new social media platform Threads. The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York is one of the cheekiest contenders, posting this weekend a rather cryptic “thread”: “What threads wants me to see: Sports, Misogynistic jokes, Barbie. What I want to see: Art, Artists, Barbie". The Guggenheim Museum meanwhile was also keen to tap into Barbie (who isn’t), posting a fetching image of a 1939 assemblage by Joseph Cornell incorporating a bird effigy and a music box. “When you ask your mom for Barbie doll but get a parrot instead,” quipped the jolly social media feed.
Tate is also trying to hit the funny bone, posting for instance pictures of Cornelia Parker’s Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View (1991), a garden shed exploded by the British Army. “Note to self: look for the spare shed key BEFORE asking Cornelia Parker and the British Army for help,” says the enlightening social media post. Belly laughs by the heap.