ArT Toy Newsletter 143: Kidults vs ArTToys

Kidult is nostalgia. ArTToys is a diagnosis. If you need a label, fine: don’t use one that makes the present look harmless.

“Kidults” they say now. And I can understand it if we’re talking about collectors of collectible toys, because they’re trying to rescue meaningful moments from their childhood; it’s memory, it’s pop culture, it’s continuing a passion that was born decades ago.

But no, those of us who collect ArTToys are not kidults. I refuse to agree with that damn obsession with simplifying everything until it fits into a trending headline. No.

I often say that if you get close to the fine line that seems to separate the toy from the ArTToy, you’ll find yourself looking into a huge abyss. Because the ArTToy isn’t born from nostalgia. It uses it. It’s its Trojan horse: it uses that “friendly,” familiar visual language of the toy to hack the adult gaze.

It doesn’t idealize the past: it questions the present.

It doesn’t want you to remember who you were: it wants you to ask who you are now… and at what point you left behind that exploratory, free, creative way of thinking; or at what point you decided to let go of everything that accompanied you and, without realizing it, built you.

The ArTToy collector doesn’t consume memories…they collect disruptive realities, yes, the kind that break established patterns… and are hard to label, I know, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to mix apples and oranges.

Join First and Only @arttoynewsletter in the World to read MORE About this 😋 https://lnkd.in/dJfr5Gkz https://lnkd.in/eYBsHhxc This is Instagram by Cristina A. del Chicca co-founder of Art Toy Gama Collective, and person who has written this text

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