Friday, 7 June 2013

Defining Culture Jamming


(image: https://www.adbusters.org)

What is Culture Jamming? Why and how is it carried out? What are it's main influences? And is it an effective form of media activism? These are some of the questions I want to be able to answer through my researching the topic of Culture Jamming as a starting point for my dissertation research. Through studying Graphic Design I have become much more aware of the imagery and advertising a round me - selling a product, demanding our attention and persuading us to consume . This lead me to be interested in the way that some people choose to reject and rebel against this constant flow of information, and if they could really make a difference.

  • Culture Jamming is a form of commercial, social and political communication and is used as media activism. 
  • It can be linked to movements such as the Punks, Dadaists, Surrealistics and the Situationalists. 
  • Culture jammers use Subvertising and Detournement to hijack, de-myth and un-cool corporations and advertisements. 
  • It is used tactically to expose underlying truths and raise awareness. 

'At their core, all culture jamming actions have a central intention: to challenge or disrupt dominant discourse with a dose of subversion and creativity. These actions use hacking and the spreading of disinformation as tactics – and they often use the same tools as mass media and marketing to create their disruptions.'


'Culture jamming is a tactic that embodies these and more: scathing critiques, clever reversals, hijacked official versions, subverted language, re-appropriated visuals. To jam is to interrupt the flow of information controlled by governments, corporations, the advertising industry, media corporations, fundamental religious leaders and other powerful people in society. In doing so, the lies, deceptions and sheer absurdities in their messages are laid bare.'


(https://informationactivism.org)



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