some interesting culture jams!

So, I found these images mainly on, http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5Hgdnpyk6LA/Sg6sUCi_JVI/AAAAAAAAArw/KmYBXaiA_5o/s400/stupidity.gif&imgrefurl=http://rethink-your-life.blogspot.com/&usg=__Tsxnk02SJY6oHQwMKk0DskzCpqU=&h=400&w=334&sz=235&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=DUBkj9MSg6A4fM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsexist%2Bculture%2Bjams%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1

Thats a pretty huge link, i know. So the first image as you can see is a Tommy Hilfiger ad, that hes been culture jammed into an abnormally skinny model that blames the industry and advertising for making her like that. But as we dicussed in class, what is normal? There is a healthy however, and that woman is not the best example of healthy or happy.

The culture jam is about about many hours people actually watch television. Again we discussed in class technological devices are a way for advertising to get into our household and trap our minds into buying things we dont need. My computer has recently not been working, and I realized how much I really dont need to use it. Only assignments, I could do without facebook and other things. I do want to start living my life and not let technology or anything control how I want to live it.

The 3rd culture jam is pretty clear why it is up there. North America (canada and not just the US) are consuming alot more food then we actually need to survive. There is enough food being produced on this planet, why isnt everyone getting some of that share? Are we really that selfish?

The last is also pretty obvious of why it is up here as well! think about it!

-Durden32

Kristina Wong and China!

Okay sooo following a tip from Princess Conseula Banana Hammock (prettttty sure that was how the nickname went??), I did some research on Kristina Wong. She is a third generation Chinese American, so although she was not born into another culture, she does take up issues in her culture jams that are from different cultural contexts (sort of?).

I felt compelled to blog about her just because I found this form of culture jam to be extremely interesting and different then any others I've seen featured in the blogs! One of her many projects includes taking on characters or personas that resist dominant hegemonic ideals. For example, she takes on the persona of 'Fannie Wong, Former Miss Chinatown 2nd Runner Up'. I've included a picture above from her website just so you can get an idea of how awesome this is..... Click here to visit her website.

What do you guys think of her persona?? Her personality is described on the project page of her site as 'too crude to be anything like the deliciously sexy icon of Miss Chinatown'. What does this say of the icon of Miss Chinatown?? And are persona's and characters like this effective versions of culture jams??

I think so! Seeing images of Fannie Wong alongside real Miss Chinatown contestants reveals some interesting discrepancies. Fannie embodies all that these women aren't allowed to be - 'pimple-faced, cigar-smoking, whiskey-drinking' women.

Aubrey B.

I had to share

So I was listening to CBC radio this morning, AND got really excited because I heard some interesting information on Banksy. Turns out, he was in a documentary (his identity was kept secret because no one really knows who he is) and this documentary was featured at the Sundance Film Festival. After this film was shown, 4 stencils that look like Banksy's work were painted on the walls of downtown Utah. I thought this was very exciting because there is such controversy surrounding his work, is it considered thought provoking art? Or just Graffiti? Here's a link to the new images he created http://www.banksy-prints.com/2010/01/banksy-does-sundance-utah/, and here's the preview of this documentary entitled "Exit through the gift shop" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj7uOIshv8g.
I actually really want to watch this movie, mainly because I really enjoy Banksy's work...
-Keekers

Ok, so just by looking at all the culture jams we have found, the majority of them are from North America (I think that is a very key point in doing all these blog posts and is something we should be addressing in our presentation).

Here's a culture jam that I found on the Wooster Collection website that I found pretty interesting. It comes from Slovenia, and the billboard itself is written in Slovenian. I just love the message of this billboard (by the way, translated it says "he who reads this is an idiot"). To me, this billboard makes the viewers think about the way that we read and look at advertising. Are we idiots for doing it? Well, maybe not... But what I think they are trying to convey to the passerby is that you look at an advertisement and can't think critically about what you're looking at, or you buy into whatever the ad is trying to sell- then you are an idiot, and a consumer.I thought it was kind of interesting and would be neat to see what people on the streets of Slovenia thought about this image.

- Keekers

HEY UPDATE

HELLO FELLOW BLOGERS

everyone seems to be moving along quite nicely... I think we should come up with a final product soon or start figureing out how were going to put it all toghether and what some of our final conclusions are...

we have some great culture jams coming together here we jsut need to put them all toghether now.. any ideas or anyone who wants to lead ... two weeks today and we need a final product

talk type soon

- kate bauer

Some Disney...

Here are some images that relate to what we talked about today in class. I'm pretty sure the sayings on the pictures came from Mickey Mouse Monopoly.

Hope You enjoy!

Keekers

More Banksy

Hey everyone!

Here’s some more Banksy I found. This work was done in Palestine along the Israel-Palestine dividing barrier known as the Gaza wall. This wall, is 425 miles long, made of concrete and electric fence. Israel erected this wall in order to protect themselves from suicide bombers from Palestine.

This wall (which was deemed the “apartheid wall”) does nothing but restricts people and their freedom, and possibly creates more tension between the quarrelling countries.

Banksy illustrates these ideas perfectly in his artwork done on the wall. He creates images that are designed to draw attention to the wall as a barrier, one that is a form of restriction. He does this by painting images on the wall that shows an escape. He wants people to understand that this wall is almost like a prison wall: there is no leaving unless you can devise a crafty escape like this girl is doing by using balloons.

He also uses images to show a virtual reality of what the world looks like beyond the wall like in the picture depicts two children playing with buckets in the rubble while on the other side of the wall there is a beautiful beach. This image again plays with feelings of restriction, confinement and lack of freedom.

These culture jams are extremely culturally and politically relevant, used as a form of resistance against government policies that control their lives.

Here's a youtube video of Banksy painting these images on the wall. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZK7D6WqzR0&feature=related What he did was actually really dangerous and radical, and on a few occasions had a run in with soldiers who pointed guns in his face.

Thanks for reading-- Keekers

Snow White and her perfect dream!

I remember talking about disney characters in class and thinking that someday everyone wants their prince charming and to live happily ever after! Everyone wants to drive off into the sunset and live their merry little lives.

She does not look like she had the dream she always wanted! Her big hunky man is sitting his cute lazy butt on the couch watching tv while she gets surrounded by her multiple children and dog! It does not look like she got to live happliy ever after.

Obviously disney movies and about this ideal utopia of no crime and hate, just a happy house in the forest where animals come and clean your house and your man takes you on pony rides!..what a life! Sign me up!

This also reminds me of this dominant discourse we keep always coming back to in class. This is what we are used to disney movies that give us hope that there is always that man out there for us waiting to swoop us off our feet and take us into the forest to our cozy little house! We expect these stereotypes in disney movies right? We just do not notice them, because it is what we are used to!

-Durden32

High Culture vs. Low Culture

As I was searching through the Wooster Collective I came across some work from the artist Boxi in Berlin, Germany. One of his works in particular which Wooster Collective blogged about on March 7, 2007 struck me as particularly interesting because it relates to some of the discussions we had in class regarding popular culture and debates about high and low culture. As Andi Zeisler discussed, popular culture is often associated with low culture because it is something that is produced for the masses. The binary divide between high culture and low culture results in popular culture often being undervalued.

Click here to view one of Boxi's culture jams that was featured in Berlin, Germany at his Deathless Gallery on March 23rd, 2007. You will have to scroll down a bit to the March 7th, 2007 post to view the Wooster Collective post on the event, as I couldn't figure out how to directly link to just that post. The Collective describes the event by saying that "the show 'addresses the encroaching and often unpremeditated art of graffiti eradication in Berlin, highlighting the difficulties of exhibiting the internal outside and the external inside. Boxi’s installation forges a link between the poles of high art and the grey area of post graffiti, playfully commenting upon the state of exclusion of one from the other.'"

Interesting, right? What are everyone's thoughts on issues of high culture and low culture orgraffiti art as a means of culture jamming?

Aubrey B.

Did you know there's a Microsoft Orchestra?

Hey Everyone,, Here's a really neat image I found. Pretty much summarizes the global issue we had been talking about on the other blog, as to why we don't see much from other countries .. because the Americans own a large portion of these major business that are internationally and globally run .

courtesy of Opera Chic

- Kate Bauer

hey everyone!
I just happened to google "Culture Jamming" and found this ad that I thought was very shocking yet SO true..

Children, from the moment they're born, they are bombarded with culture and branding. Despite it being the purist time of their lives, they can't help but be corrupted by society's exploitations.. just something to think about and it definitely got me thinking!

here's the link!
http://mothership6x1.blogspot.com/2008/10/week-8-artistic-appropriation-or.html

Regina George

The effects and image can make

"Nike the Ripper" - click here for blog and image

The thing about this culture jam and the blog that had me intrigued to write about it was how this one image developed into many different things. As the experiences from person to person vary, we see the controversy based on cultural and experiential differences. This blog in reply to the image seems to be based on life experiences and beliefs. It cannot be assumed that people will see the portrayed image the same way we will or the way the artist had initially intended.

Here we see how the artists interpretation of the beautiful young woman dancing with a Nike swoosh around her throat as a thrash at Nike while the next person took this idea as violence against women.

This all brings us back to the ideas of signifier and significant and the difference where as children we relate images to real life that help us throughout the rest of our lives and as we experience things this images become triggers for different things in our minds. Similar to this in my personal experience with the English and French languages is the use of translation. You must know the culture as well as the context of the word or phrase in order to come up with the same idea in the opposite language. Two or more ideas can come from the same word or image.

For example: when I took my first look at the image I thought "Wow! that is a neat way of showing how women can be tied down into looking a certain way and being a certain way, specifically, in this case, because of Nike's advertising.

This is an important political piece towards Nike as it shows the already fit woman being withheld by the Nike swoosh. If Nike is to portray "for women" an ideal, why not have the obese lady in Nike gear exercising not to get thin but to be healthy? Laziness and junk food are okay in portions. Why does it have to be one way, why can't we be plump, beautiful and healthy?

~ Kate Bauer

Source

The Beginning Stages...

Hey guys! How are everyones searches coming along??

As 'The Doctor' pointed out we might want to focus on certain geographic areas. I was thinking I wanted to focus on India or other South Asian countries as I took a South Asian Lit course last semester and I found it very interesting... but as of yet though my searches haven't brought up anything significant in terms of these regions. I know it's out there so I'm going to keep looking!!! Any tips for search words that you guys have found affective??

I did find one site that I thought was really interesting. Most of the recent examples of culture jamming that they have included seem to be coming from England. Click here to visit the Wooster Collective - a celebration of street art on streets around the world. "Fresh Stuff From Laura Keeble: 'Without Consent' posted on October 30th, 2009 I found particularly interesting... What do you guys think?? When I have a bit more time I'm going to search through their archives and see if there are any examples from other countries!

Good luck with your searches!

Aubrey B.

Nike Jam and other Links

Hey yea I can list the links below, - - hyperlinked them all

Theres an interesting blog that i found in regards to a Nike Culture Jam called "Nike the Ripper" that I would like to talk about. About half way down the blog there are a list of about 5 or six more websites.

Im gonna keep looking too :)

Definition Basics of Culture Jamming

Consumer Culture Jams (blog by other students)

From the streets of London...

Hey fellow Bloggers!

So I started searching for some culture jams and came across some really cool ones. More specifically, I found a man from London named Banksy (aka Robin Gunningham) who creates culture jams in the form of graffiti.

The picture I chose to talk about depicts a maid sweeping something underneath the wall. Of course the maid is a woman (due to the history of what is considered typically women’s work) and in the picture she is lifting up a curtain and “cleaning up” the streets.

To me, this picture signifies that the women are responsible for all the literal cleaning, as well as cleaning up or hiding the messes that have been created. I think of it as if it were a political piece: that she is hiding the problems and injustices, or “dirt” that is present in society. Look at her eyes, she has a seemingly sinister look on her face... trying her best to be secretive about what she is doing. She’s trying to ignore all the wrongs in the world and just, “sweep them under the carpet.”

What does this say about women, and more specifically, British women? Are British women more deceiving or care less about solving injustices? Does this image imply that women are sneaky; they keep secrets or go behind people’s backs?? Does this mean that women don’t care about fixing social injustices, and merely push them from their mind? Does this imply that women don’t solve problems, and rather, ignore them?? How would this image be different if there was a man instead of a woman?? These are some of the questions I am trying to understand.

Also, check out Banksy's webpage,http://www.banksy.co.uk/ there are some more cool things there.

-Keekers

Getting started...

Good to see folks online over here at Pop & Counter! Kate, what are the links? Do you have any in particular you want to follow up on? How's the group doing generally in terms of dividing up geographical areas? I know 2.5 weeks seems like along time...but it isn't...

The Doctor

culture jammin

Hey guys, I found a bunch of culture jamming just looking in google and other pages... I just thought this was a good example of 4 different ones put all together! They are pretty obvious, which I think the point is. I shall keep looking for more!

Durden32

hey guys just doing some general seaches I found tons of links from other students and artists who have tons to say about culture jamming and the artwork behind it ...

from disney to walmart to nike and just general advertising :) hope your searches are going well

- kate bauer

World-wide phenomenon

Culture jamming is a world-wide phenomenon; find examples of culture jams from around the globe.

Explain why they are important political pieces within their cultural contexts.


- Hey everyone, This is so that we have the question online, just incase we dont have our sheets with us when doing research and people can know the goal of our research.

Testing

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