Ep. 156: #SWAG Dadaism

6 mai 2026 · 1 h 2 min

Notes de l’épisode

In this episode, we coin a new term for one of the most interesting creative impulses of our generation: #SWAG Dadaism. Like the original Dadaists responding to the whiplash of industrialization and WWI, a certain subset of young creatives are responding to the vertigo of global instability and breathless technological futurism through fashion assemblage, IP maximalism, and a fearless embrace of all things chopped and random. We conduct a historical survey from Clement Greenberg’s theory of kitsch and the avant-garde to the early days of meme culture to explore page fashion parodists of the past decade. We also get into Justin Bieber and Timothée Chalamet’s parallel #SWAG rebrands, the collapse of the secondhand market and its unexpected creative upside, and how #SWAG exists as the antithesis of refinement culture.

Links:

Image board

Dada Manifesto by Tristan Tzara (1918)

“Avant-Garde and Kitsch” by Clement Greenberg from The Partisan Review (1939)

“The First Meme of 2026 Is About Not Explaining Yourself. And Buttons.” by Madison Malone Kircher for The New York Times

Chase Rutherford on Instagram (referenced posts one, two, three)

Chase Rutherford interview for Perfectly Imperfect

@okniceok on Instagram

@kalebphobic on TikTok re: digicore sampling

Canal Street Research Association and Shanzhai Lyric on Instagram

“Bags, Bootlegs and Art: A Quirky Communion on Canal Street” by Siddhartha Mitter in The New York Times

Ava Nirui / @avanope interview in Office magazine (2017)