What Is Camp? The Met Gala 2019 Theme, Explained (Published 2019)

Carmen Merport Quiñones - camp’s most characteristic qualities—theatricality, extravagance, and a “seriousness that fails - Since the Met has us all talking about camp, we might recall Susan Sontag’s admonition, in her famous essay on the subject, that “To talk about Camp is…to betray it.” - due to Sontag’s initial ‘betrayal,’ camp has long been a ... See more

- Camp may be easier to identify than to define. Sontag's definition begins, "Camp is a certain mode of aestheticism. It is one way of seeing the world as an aesthetic phenomenon." - “the essence of camp”: an embrace of all things exaggerated, artificial, and over-the-top. - Merriam-Webster’s definition is “something so outrageously artificial, aff... See more

- Since it entered the English language in the late 19th Century, the term has been subject to various interpretations, and there still doesn’t seem be a consensus. - Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay Notes on Camp is the inspiration for the 2019 Metropolitan Museum of Art gala and accompanying exhibition. In it, the late writer and filmmaker wrote: “To sn... See more