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Archive | September 5, 2010
panoptICONS – An Introduction
panoptICONS Utrecht 2010 from Helden on Vimeo.
“panoptICONS addresses the fact that we are constantly being watched by surveillance cameras in city centres. The surveillance camera seems to have become a real pest that feeds on our privacy. To represent this, camera birds – city birds with cameras instead of heads – were placed throughout the city centre of Utrecht where they feed on the presence of people. In addition, a camera bird in captivity was displayed to show the feeding process and to make the everyday breach of our privacy more personal and tangible.”
Shit We’re Diggin: Risto-Jussi Isopahkala’s Logo Tourist Paris
Artist Statement:
Logo Touris mixes iconic landmarks and commercial logos. It features logos from the hundred most valuable brands.
The spectacle of advertising and popular culture creates secondary realities which we can share with others. Common literacy creates common identity. Rules of communication are determined by commercial media.
Iconic landmarks are symbols of local identity. How does this conflict with commercial brands appearing cloned around the globe? Post-Fordistic theory of all things starting to remind one another unpersonally and unhistorically, doesn’t strictly speaking apply to monumental architecture, which symbolizes values that are not generally considered as merchandise. For tourists these are nevertheless consumable commodities, available to outsiders as well. Stereotypes of cities, such as Paris, can be transferred and consumed everywhere. Identity is comprised of consuming. Resembling worm hole theory, consumption spectacle creates portals between collateral realities.
