A new exhibit at a Washington DC museum features a lookalike of Ivanka Trump with a vacuum cleaner, inviting the public to throw crumbs on the floor for her to clean up. The art piece, by Jennifer Rubell, is called Ivanka Vacuuming and was opened to the public on February 1 at the Flashpoint Gallery. The spectators are encouraged to ‘throw crumbs onto the carpet, watching as Ivanka elegantly vacuums up the mess, her smile never wavering’.
Reports state that a note hanging on the gallery wall describes Ms Trump as 'a figure whose public persona incorporates an almost comically wide range of feminine identities — daughter, wife, mother, sister, model, working woman, blonde'. It further calls the act of throwing crumbs on the floor for her to vacuum ‘surprisingly pleasurable’. However, Ivanka strongly criticized the exhibit. Donald Trump Junior also responded to the supposed artwork by retweeting Ivanka's post and stated that it’s an attempt of launching a sexist attack by ‘self-professed feminists’.
While speaking about the exhibit, Rubell, who is a New York-based conceptual artist, said in an interview, “Here is what’s complicated: We enjoy throwing the crumbs for Ivanka to vacuum. That is the icky truth at the centre of the work. It’s funny, it’s pleasurable, it makes us feel powerful, and we want to do it more.”
“Also, we know she’ll keep vacuuming whether we do it or not, so it’s not really our fault, right?” she added.
Darshana Devi February 06 2019, 8.36 pm
