Cards Against Humanity wants you to decide what they should do with this Picasso print
Everyone’s favorite inappropriate party game is officially upping the stakes: Cards Against Humanity has purchased an original Picasso print, signed by Pablo himself — and they’re letting their subscribers decide its fate.
As part of their Eight Sensible Gifts for Hanukkah promotion (“a seasonal promotion that we’ve created to capture your attention and money“), Cards Against Humanity has decided that participants can vote whether to donate the print to the Art Institute of Chicago’s permanent collection or cut it into 150,000 tiny pieces. If the latter, all participants would receive a priceless, 1.5mm scrap of the print as their gift for the “seventh night” of Hanukkah.
Given who’s voting, it seems likely which way the pendulum will swing — and CAH’s website already features a looped video of a laser cutter hovering over the Picasso. According to The Verge, the company purchased the “Tête de Faune” with part of the $2.25 million that they made from the Hanukkah promotion, and is essentially letting participants choose their own gift. (For those who are curious, the gift for the first three nights of Hanukkah was socks; followed by an investment in the “Cards Against Humanity US Treasury Inflation Protected Securities Fund”; a year’s NPR subscription; and a week’s paid vacation for their overseas printer.)
Cards Against Humanity has always been very transparent about their trolling — so much so, that we hesitate to call it trolling in the first place. In the past, they’ve offered to send literal bull s–t to someone of your choosing; upped the price of the game for a Black Friday anti-sale; and hosted a separate Black Friday promotion which consisted of customers paying $5 in exchange for absolutely nothing.
But whereas before, their marketing antics have been relatively harmless, putting the fate of a priceless piece of art into the hands of 150,000 strangers somehow feels extra diabolical. Of course, some would argue that the destruction of art can be a form of art in itself — Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain” comes to mind, which multiple people have urinated in, and which performance artist Pierre Pinoncelli famously attacked with a hammer in 2006. And as Mic pointed out, “American avant-garde artist Robert Watts once created a piece that read, ‘The destruction of all art is art too. Please tear this up.’”
Yet given the game’s history, it’s unlikely Cards Against Humanity has decided to maybe, possibly, definitely destroy the Picasso print for the sake of its artistic value. After all, the game takes its name from the phrase “crimes against humanity,” so it’s safe to say they know exactly what they’re doing. But who knows? CAH has never failed to surprise us — and might just pull a fast one that none of us will see coming. After all, there’s still one more gift to go.
For those curious about what will happen to the print, voting opens on December 26 and closes December 31. Cards Against Humanity will announce the print’s fate on their website right here.
(Image via Cards Against Humanity.)
