[going underground]
..."No hope, no dreams, no love, my only escape is underground."..
- Underground Resistance
»I must Create a System, or be enslav'd by another Mans«
-william blake
[Ekosystem]
[Space Invaders]
...ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE!!!
[Subvertise!]
[Detritus]
[Stencil Revolution]
[Wu Ming Foundation]
[The K.L.F.- Kopyright Liberation Front]
[Adbusters]
[Discordianism]
[Infoshop]
[Sticker Nation]
[Get Crafty]
[Culture Jammers'Encyclopedia]
[Deviant Art]
---MAKE ART,NOT WAR!!!!
[-LOOK!-LISTEN!-THINK!-CREATE!:)]
-----------------lots of love,--[[ the X ]]--
posted by the X at 7:02 am
4 Comments:
not being oppositional here...honest...i read Adbusters quite often, too, just cuz it's a good read...and i uded to do all kinds of culture jamming...but i saw an interview on TV the other night with a man named James Heath, who has a book called The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Cant Be Jammed, and he has a lot of interesting things to say that i thnk you may find of relevance...ultimately i reject his argument that we shld give up Jamming and embrace electoral politics, but he does have a lot of pertinent critiques of culture jamming
so, honestly, X, im not being rancorous or trying to start an argument...im just trying to share info with you and others that may be relevant to the topic
bummer is that i cant afford the book, and it's out at the public library...maybe in a month or two when i get my paws on it, i can engage with it and review it on my blog
-Not at all Robert, it would be fun to get more of a discussion about it. (-What do you mean then, what's your opinions or approach, or aren't you sure what you mean about it yet? get back to it later if you want, any discussion is always good..:)
-Sure, i too have a lot of criticism when it comes to this young "alternative" culture and culture jamming, not to mention "the new leftism", in general...
Desctrctive elements are sometimes trying to use their association with different "groups" to legitimise their own vandalism,for example. A big problem in more punk-style youth movements. Then they ruin everything for all the others who do behave lawfully. But enough.
Back to what i first mentioned:
((first of all, because i'm not young enough to be a natural part of it (i'm generation Y - they're generation Z), and second because yes, it will always,almost inevitably, be some sort of sell-out involved when aiming to reach "the masses", and also because-(and this has irritated me so much, being one of the few young schoolkids back in the day who dared to be different,but got beatings and ridicule for it,) now "alternative" is just the new mainstream, just another style sold and packaged, but this will always be the case with rebellion or subcultures(punk,anyone?) in a capitalist, corporate-ridden society such as ours, where talentscouts spy on young creative people to "pick up" their styles and inventions, to banalise it and re-package it to the consumers of the day...
(of course it is saddening, disapointing and sick...)) -Individualism and modern society have brainwashed us to believe in our own "uniqueness", that we are special...individualism as mass phenomenon, that's quite interesting...everyone desperately wants to stand out, but in trying to do so, we're just further proof of the mere illusion it is.
(But that doesn't mean we should fall into endless regression and passsitivity,on the contrary,it is quite healthy to try our best,even though we might not come up with much...
-"It is better to fail in orginality, than to succeed in imitation",to quote Herman Melville...;)
-But if you're not positive regarding C.J., that at least is a phenomenon trying to create something positive, what is then the "alternative"? -I can't see it. Yeah, we're always, necessarily, participants in this society, ruled by capitalism. Well. That we can't escape from, but we can try and operate inside its existing frameworks, spreading awareness and a feeling that it is necessary to "wake up" from passitivity and the oppressiveness of media manioulation and commercial overexposure...?
-Trying to find that, which Hakim Bey talks about, in our creative cooperation/co-existence with others, what he called the T.A.Z.- the Temporary Autonomous Zone, a mutual space, where creative spirit is shared, where new forms emerge and fertilise each other...That can be a mural-painting on a wall, a sticker on the busstop bench, a poster where someone have scribbled humorous messages, a poetry workshop, an underground concert, an artist collective, street theatre,there are so many other ways to mention...
-Yeah, even though it(culture jamming/new alternative) might not have any huge/direct significance outside a small clique of self-referencing insiders, its original intention is to influence, or at least on a subconscious level, those people "outside" the "initiates"-to make them think, maybe stop and ponder, reflect or maybe inspire different thoughts outside the grey A4-life...and everyone has the potential to evolve and to be more independent and creative and conscious...sometimes small things can inspire and spark the imagination...
-Because this, i feel, is the key:...Consciousness.
our current "culture" doesn't encourage it. so we need an awakening somehow. (it is already happening.
i can feel it, maybe you can too. it is starting on grassroot level. this new consciousness, that we're all together, all one thing, no borders, the importance of human communication. new networks, increasing our participation...)
-Our culture as symptom, culture jamming as symptomatic for the frustation with the increasingly bland, spoon-feeding, homogenising mass culture, the dumbed-down-ness and soullessness of commercialism...it might not offer any real new "alternatives", but as a small-scale protest and healthy outlet of a more "sound" approach to human creativity and communication and thoughts, it definately is one of the few ways forward that i can see have anything positive to offer...
Of course, with all this enthusiasm and new bubbling energy, it will not stay unified forever, fractions and different sympathies will manifest itself and everything will move on in different directions...People will undoubtedly try and push their own agendas or philosophies, maybe more static structures will emerge. But a handful will continue more or less what they're doing now, continuing the autonomous approach. Right now we will never know what the future will bring, but it is better to meet the unknown with open eyes and minds, than to just stay passive consuments, in a culture and society we can't escape from. We should aim for the arrival of a new consciousness, one that won't be suppressed or "targeted" by commercial interests. The future belongs to us, the everywoman and everyman and their children.
-In the shadow of evil authorities who doesn't care about us or others,we will have to create small spaces of beauty and hope,if nothing else so for being able to survive without losing our sanity in facing the atrocoties of this world. //- X
(- Ah, but as i've gathered now, what you were really talking about commenting on, was the phenomenon of
"opposition, just for opposition's sake", which i agree isn't very constructive or fruitful...
But in my view, that is *not* what culture jamming is about!
(-Also, we do not know what hidden agenda/political sympathies that author who you mention migh have...
It's always good to keep the critical approach when something is presented as "neutral" or "objective"...But i guess we can discuss further when you've read the book!;) Ah,well. //-X
actually, no, i wasnt talking about opposition for opposition's sake...yeah, we'll go more in-depth once i get the book..maybe take it over to Dissensus
by the way, i still culture jam..i just see the limitations in it and dont kid myself
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