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Resistance is Futile:
Debord’s Society of the Spectacle and
Complicity in Art
by David Theobald
Driving a Ford Galaxy…
…on the New Jersey Turnpike
Why do we care?
Paris, May 1968
The Spectacle is …
... the language of separation
... social relations mediated by images
... a visual reflection of the ruling economic order
... a total colonization of social life by commodities
... capital accumulated to the point it becomes
images
... alienated production and alienated consumption
The Spectacle is …
… everywhere
… an estrangement from the acting subject
… the flipside of money
… is money one can only look at
… the acme of ideology
… is the sun that never sets over the empire of
modern passivity!
The Spectacle is the language of separation
The manufacture of alienation
Fabrication of ‘pseudo-needs’ drives economy
• Automation drives
growth of service
industries
– Distribute and glorify
the latest commodities
– Provides employment
for consumers
More resource needed to sell increasingly unnecessary items
Fetishism: Commodity replaces religion
The attribution of mystical qualities to inanimate objects
Statements of definitive perfection pervade
Spectacular Time
The image of time as a commodity
Stars become the agents of capitalism
• Offer an Illusion of
freedom
• Inaccessible results
of social labour
• Spectacular
abundance
The best a man can get
The Art World as Spectacle
Scissor Sisters, German Pavilion Opening Party, Venice Biennale, 2009
In Spectacle, the image…
New York Waterfalls (Artist’s Impression), Olafur Eliasson, 2009
…outstrips the reality
New York City Waterfalls, Olafur Eliasson, 2009
Complicity in Art
Is this just a recognition of the reality?
Detournement
CNN Concatenated, Omar Fast, 2002
Architectural Detournement
Splitting, Gordon Matta-Clark, 1974
Recuperation by the Spectacle..
Documentation of the Spectacle
Fish Story, Alan Sekula, 1989-1995
Documentation as Spectacle
Manufacturing #18, Cankun Factory, Edward Burtynsky, 2008
(edition of 30)
The ‘Inside job’?
Beautiful Inside My head Forever, Damien Hirst, 2008
Flooding Maccy ds …
Flooding McDonalds, Superflex, 2009
The Destruction of the Spectacle as Spectacle
Deep Impact, Mimi Leder, 1998
Twin Towers, September 11, 2001
Conclusion
OR
Resistance is futile?