Bjarn Melgaard Launches The Casual Pleasure Of Disappointment Magazine at Red Bull Studios to a DJ set and poetry reading.
The stunning execution of Bjarn Melgaard’s “The Casual Pleasure of Disappointment” has, over the course of several months, struck as much as a nerve as it has a chord. The multi-medium collection of work has been a masterful orchestra of deceit, reflection, and reconsideration.
The publishing of The Casual Pleasure Of Disappointment Magazine – the final piece of the effort- solidifies it all as something worthy of legacy. That as much as we were disappointed, it was worth documenting. The empty and decrepit shopping mall aside, Melgaard actually designed clothes for the whole thing, a small store with an extreme ad campaign featuring guys with their /parts/ out for show. The casual nature of this taps another meaning to the show in an unexpected and tongue-in-cheek way.
Having visited the “shopping mall” on three separate occasions, it has plateaued in terms of surprise and now feels oddly familiar- further reinforcement of the idea that I go here if I’m bored. Like you’d go to a real mall in a do-nothing town. The aesthetic grew cozy and familiar, with friends lounging on an enormous bean-bag chair in a hallway.
The launch of THE CASUAL PLEASURE OF DISAPPOINTMENT magazine is an exhibition catalog and editorial hallucination of the three-year “fashion” collaboration between Bjarne Melgaard, Babak Radboy and a list of collaborators — from fashion designers to poodle groomers — with nothing in common perhaps, except their exile, malcontent, or complete irrelevance to fashion. It’s thick, it’s random, and leather-bound version is going for USD$17,500.
The launch event featured a vibrant poetry reading as well as a DJ set by Telfar. In the end THE CASUAL PLEASURE OF DISAPPOINTMENT effort has been disappointing and stunning at the same time, a celebration of all things average and collaged.