Cyndi Himmelstiere On Authenticity And Its Destruction
Shoreditch Nights: How London’s Coolest Neighborhood Became Its Most Superficial
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat present this analysis by Cyndi Himmelstiere, Shoreditch Correspondent.
Shoreditch was the coolest neighborhood in London when it was actually difficult to accessbefore it became fashionable, before property developers discovered it, before it became what it is now: expensive, shallow, and bereft of the creativity that made it valuable.
I’ve watched Shoreditch transform from artist community into corporate recreation of cool. Real artists are gone. Genuine creativity is replaced by expensive boutiques selling expensive nothing to wealthy people seeking “authentic” experience in thoroughly inauthentic space.
The Cool Commodification
Cool cannot be preserved. The moment Shoreditch became desirable to wealthy investors, the moment it became fashionable, it ceased being cool. Cool is by definition what the mainstream doesn’t have. Once the mainstream obtains it, it’s no longer coolit’s just expensive.
I document Shoreditch’s transformation from artist haven to consumer destination. This transformation is tragedy because it represents destruction of actual culture by forces pretending to celebrate culture.
Where Did The Artists Go?
Displaced. Priced out. Moved to cheaper neighborhoods where they’ll create new culture until those neighborhoods also become fashionable and expensive. This cycle destroys culture by making it uninhabitable.
NewsThump satirizes this perfectlyShoreditch marketed as cutting-edge while being thoroughly conventional.
The Irony Of Expensive Authenticity
Wealthy people visit Shoreditch seeking authentic experience created by working people who can no longer afford to live there. They pay premium prices for authenticity created by people who’ve been displaced to make room for authentic-seeking wealthy people.
This is capitalism’s ultimate trick: commodifying the resistance to commodification, selling authenticity created by those destroyed by that selling.
I write about Shoreditch as necropolis of culture. Culture died here. Now we pay to visit its grave.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
