FINAL ASSESSMENT 2 + CONCEPT STATEMENT
Contemporary art and design often looks at the idea of constructed binaries, such as man/woman, soft/hard, straight/gay, dirty/clean, organic/synthetic. Considering the history of these ‘pairs’, how can art and design interrogate these binaries and offers new insights?
In the age of endless copies of copies, or the “simulacrum,” there is no difference between the real and the representation. Whereby “everything becomes undecidable”, making the difference between binary oppositions undistinguishable.
Commercial hyperreality discusses the oversaturation of consumer and capitalist culture. Hence, advertising paints this ideal that makes us as consumers believe it is ultimately our reality. We are confronted with an overwhelming influx of images which shape our thoughts or behaviours whether it be spending behaviour or cultural values.
Inspired by Nam June Paul’s ‘Buddha TV’, I decided to do an experimental performance piece as I wanted to explore with new channels of communicating these key concepts by including an interactive element. Through this way, my classmates can actively participate and physically unfold an example of a contemporary simulation and I plan to film their reactions to my work.
For my previous poster, I researched into Jean Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality and its impact on modern day capitalism and consumerism through the way it affects our interactions with others. One of Baudrillard’s predecessors Marcel Mauss, researches the value of representation and the idea over the material and the physical in today’s cultural landscape through the concept of a ‘gift’.
I have made 3 presents for each group to open. The gifts represented the three flavours that in my opinion are the most popular amongst the junk food market: orange, lemon and grape. Each gift may have a different present however they all have 3 layers of wrapping paper to demonstrate Baudrillard's theory of hyperreality through his concept of four historical phases of the order of simulation. The first stage is the faithful copy/ real image. The second is a perversion of that reality which is slightly distorted but elements of the real is still evident. The third is the absence of reality as it pretends to be the ‘authentic’. The fourth is a pure simulation, it bears no resemblance to the original and has no relationship to reality whatsoever. As I used POSCA markers for these illustrations, I was able to present that saturated and graphic aesthetic prevalent in many advertisements as a method for enticing and seducing consumers to purchase their products.
Through presenting it with accessories such as the ribbon, I wanted people to experience the work as they would open a gift and the excitement and anticipation that comes with it. The commercial industry thrives off of the desire and satisfaction of over consumption and I hope to demonstrate this through my classmates interaction with my final works.
For example, the orange present demonstrates the production of a hyperreal simulation. The final orange candy product tastes more ‘orange’ than an organic, fresh, physical, real orange. This reiterates that the real can no longer be produced, only endless copies of the hyperreal. However, companies attempt to blur these boundaries further from making the real indistinguishable from the ‘ not real’ by attempting to not destroy it but replace it.
Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy - Baudrillard: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/baudrillard/
Marcel Mauss, ‘The Gift’, (book),1925
Nam June Paik, Buddha TV (performance/installation), 1976
Keiichi Matsuda, Hyperreality (film), 2016