from zing #15, Momoyo Tormitsu “somehow i don’t feel comfortable”

What could artistic commentary on the Japanese commercialization of cuteness at the turn of the millennium predict about the state of the world in 2025? In some respects, quite a lot.

Momoyo Torimitsu debuted the iconic installation somehow i don’t feel comfortable, two inflatable pink bunnies scaled so that they appear cramped and uncomfortable in a gallery exhibition space, in Paris in 2000. It was a year when the texture of reality had already begun to feel slightly fake – often, if not always – in a fun way, so long as you didn’t look closely enough to notice the brewing problems that would only become more complex and dire in the coming quarter century.

Some other interesting things that happened the same year:

You could wait for your grandmother’s flight at the gate instead of beyond a ticketed obstacle course.

Cellphones and wi-fi were still rare and quasi-futuristic.

Social media didn’t exist (though AOL chatrooms did).

4chan didn’t exist yet.

Incels did, but in their gentler, mostly feminine, original form.

Jeff Bezos founded a private spaceflight start-up; Katy Perry released a debut album of unremarkable Christian music.

Peter Thiel was spinning Roth IRA straw into gold.

Donald Trump soft-launched his political career.

Vladimir Putin became president of Russia, then cautiously projected to be on a path of democracy.

Despite winning the popular vote on an environmental platform, Al Gore conceded the presidency to George W. Bush, who expanded foreign oil investment—widely seen as a sign of U.S. democratic stability instead of an oligarchic power grab.

Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake graduated from high school, and publicly announced they were bf/gf.

See more from ‘somehow I don’t feel comfortable’ in zing #15 here.