The Awesomeness that is Nerd.

First when I was asked to bring in my thesis I misunderstood. I brought in my thesis idea for studio work, which was something to do with futuristic fashions drawing upon history to make an interesting statement on the circularity of fashion, and really just give me an excuse to make fun costumes. Then upon realizing this was not the “thesis” Janet had been asking for, I was given about thirty seconds to come up with a “proper” thesis statement to write ten pages about in art school, to accompany my current, or life’s rather, work. 


The answer seemed obvious. What is the most important thing to me in the world? What always peeks through when I’m attempting to be proper, or artsy, or normal? Nerd-dom. But as a rule, that’s not quite the proper thing to say, so I wrapped it up in a clever (imo), important sounding title: “The Influence of Popular Culture in My Work.” Sounded simple enough, but really I just wanted to geek about out about how all I can think about is connections to other people’s works, math and science puns, and rejections of all that is sane and popular. 


Your average person might say that this is not normal. But many of my friends are nerds, but in different, and sometimes secret, ways. Some are always quoting Arrested Development, Disney films, or YouTube videos. Some are always LARPing, dressing up to go to movie premieres, or secretly analyzing a situation in a scientific way. But not all of these people openly advertise or even admit to themselves that they are actually nerdy. That may be for lack of realization, companionship, or popularity of such views.

One might argue, like Felicia Day, for example, that nerds are really cool right now. We're on the rise. The "revenge of the nerd" is at hand. With all this amazing new technology in our hands most people can't help being at least a bit nerdy as they rave about their new "iBerry" or whatever. 

But there is no denying that we're definitely weird. Like John Green says:

...nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff… Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it. Hank, when people call people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you like stuff.’ Which is just not a good insult at all. Like, ‘you are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness’.

I totally have to agree. The weird thing is, that shouldn't be weird. I am super enthusiastic about so many things that my peers haven't even heard of here at art school. Cosplaying excites me. Stupid t-shirts excite me. Doctor Who, Sherlock, Beauty and the Beast and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure references on the bathroom stall walls excite me (except for the spoilers which are just infuriating and unnecessary). It reminds me that there is a secret cache of nerds at art school, I do have a community to turn to here, if I can only find it.

When I decided to have a "nerd" art show this semester, I got a disappointing number of entries when I put out a call. Afterwards people explained to me that there are so many interpretations of the term "nerd" that they were afraid they were not the right kind. I suppose they also did not want to be labeled a nerd, as it has a certain stigma to it, perhaps because at art school it often pops up associated with horrendous anime fan art. But really what I wanted to do with this show was to meet new people, and bring all of these secret nerds out of the art school closet. Sometimes it seems like there is only a certain type of hipster nerd that is cool here. But I'm happy to say that the show got a great response and at least one exhibitor hoping to repeat it next year! 

Ngan Vo's work from the show!

Any commentary on the awesomeness that is nerd-dom? Suggestions for more topics? Please leave a comment! Thanks! :)