New Culture Jamming Image

NoahC — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:24:27 +0000

Culture jamming – imho – is best seen by the works created by the minds that are the Billboard Liberation Front. By subtlety modifying advertisements in the public space, these “culture jammers” express an opinion about how they feel about the public space being inundated with advertisements (so-called “a-political” advertisements). Letting advertisers take up massive amounts of space creates an environment where it becomes increasingly more impossible (read too expensive) for artistic and political voices to have a place in the public sphere to express themselves – freedom of speech is effectively taken away by the fact that in order to adequately speak you have to have millions of dollars.

Another point to remember is that advertising is NOT a-political; rather it is a HIGHLY political medium (capitalism is about as political as you can get, right?!).

So, culture jammers see our common public sphere being acquired by private, political interests and this acquisition is at the expense of cultural interests that reside outside of capital. I totally agree and love the idea of re-interpreting advertisements and putting them back out into the public. I can’t say I’m as good as the folks at BLF but, personally, I don’t really think it’s about “being good”.

About the image. The public transportation train in the SF Bay ARea is called BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and their police force has committed some serious blunders in their time but most recently they went over the edge. One night on the train there was a ruckus and the police took some people aside for questioning and felt one (Oscar Grant) was being uncooperative. So one of the officers forced Oscar to the ground and while Oscar lay face down on the concrete, with his arm twisted behind him, the cop proceeded to shoot him in the back. Dead. This whole scene was caught on video from various sources and no where is it clear that Oscar was ever resisting nor was his behavior warranting the use of a taser (the weapon the cop says he was intending to go for). Anyway, it’s a really, really sad story of which BART has not really made any significant changes that people can see. I mean they haven’t shot anyone lately so I reckon that’s a good thing. But when I saw BART’s new “…and you’re there” advertisements the first thing that came to mind was the above image. Not a masterpiece but you get the point.

Here’s an older image of mine. One in which I received my very own cease-and-desist letter from those wonderfully wealthy corporate attorneys at BofA…

[original BART image; BART video; original BofA advert]

RIP: Leopold Trepper – Anti-fascist hero!

NoahC — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:59:19 +0000

If you enjoyed Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds” then you should like the true, non-fiction story of Leopold Trepper. In the book The Great Game, Trepper tells the story of how he came to create and lead one of the most effective spy networks fighting against Nazi Germany. It’s an intriguing story that I’m surprised has never made it to the silver screen. I highly recommend reading the book!

Rest in Peace, Leopold Trepper. You are not forgotten! February 23, 1904 – January 19, 1982

Click below for The Great Game.
The Great Game: Memoirs of the Spy Hitler Couldn’t Silence

Hella Solutions blog: "Document. Share. Inspire." » Activism

New Culture Jamming Image

RIP: Leopold Trepper – Anti-fascist hero!