This article by Nato Thompson discusses tactical interventions throughout history, and what it means to be a political artist.
I believe that some of the tactical interventions discussed in Trespassing Towards Relevance are effective forms of resistance to culture industry. The tactical theory that seemed most useful was the term detour. This term is the re-arranging of popular sign-systems in order to produce new meanings. This reminds me of the artist collective, Poster Boy. Poster Boy is a street artist group that creates collage-like works using preexisting ads, and turns them political. Creating works that have identifiable consumer iconography is beneficial to the artist, because it directly refers to these corporate institutions and twists their message to say something meaningful.
Many of the tactics used by tactical artists create awareness in that their message is presented to the public, whether the public likes it or not. This is the one advantage to tactical media. However, the disadvantage to many tactics is the lack of proof that you are making a difference. Even though you are sending a message to the public, does not mean you will create change. For example, Reverend Billy's spontaneous acts of protest against Starbucks seems to have not affected the cooperation. His performances might have given awareness to the public, but his message wasn't strong enough to rally change.
I was most impressed with the interventions created by Yes Men, considering their fake image gave them access to spread messages publicly and globally. Yes Men is a group that went undercover by taking control of www.gatt.org and www.gwbush.org. Using these domains as public terrain, the collective produced their version of the positions of these various political entities. Through these platforms, they were invited to speak in Salzburg, Austria on behalf of the WTO at a conference of international trade lawyers. They also spoke in Tempere, Finland. Their messages were preposterous and their image was bold. I am somewhat disappointed that this group didn't take advantage of these opportunities to speak through progressive ideals, to put pressure on current politicians.
Many of the tactics used by tactical artists create awareness in that their message is presented to the public, whether the public likes it or not. This is the one advantage to tactical media. However, the disadvantage to many tactics is the lack of proof that you are making a difference. Even though you are sending a message to the public, does not mean you will create change. For example, Reverend Billy's spontaneous acts of protest against Starbucks seems to have not affected the cooperation. His performances might have given awareness to the public, but his message wasn't strong enough to rally change.
I was most impressed with the interventions created by Yes Men, considering their fake image gave them access to spread messages publicly and globally. Yes Men is a group that went undercover by taking control of www.gatt.org and www.gwbush.org. Using these domains as public terrain, the collective produced their version of the positions of these various political entities. Through these platforms, they were invited to speak in Salzburg, Austria on behalf of the WTO at a conference of international trade lawyers. They also spoke in Tempere, Finland. Their messages were preposterous and their image was bold. I am somewhat disappointed that this group didn't take advantage of these opportunities to speak through progressive ideals, to put pressure on current politicians.
In The Wealth of Networks, by Yochai Benkler, Benkler expresses the importance of commons-based peer production. "This suggests that the networked environment makes possible a new modality of organizing production; radically decentralized, collaborative, and nonproprietary; based on sharing resources and outputs among widely distributed, loosely connected individuals who cooperate with each other without relying on either market signals or managerial commands." Specifically, these are online collaboratively created platforms that meet a need for the common good. Based on this definition, I agree that there should be an implementation of horizontal hierarchy within a group, however, there needs to be a clearly defined leader or leadership group who represents the desires of the group as a whole for things to happen fairly and effectively. The examples in this article point to organizations that are successful in this completely even collaborative effort, however, it seems that someone has to call the shots! In person organized events use horizontal hierarchy, but still have representatives.
Currently, peer production, knowledge and culture is fostered through Google Drive documents (does this count?), Urban Dictionary, and Rate My Professor. Platforms that allow users to create collaborative boards are Pinterest, Padlet or even blogs. These are so cool! The article examples are very impressive to me. I can relate most to Wikipedia because I use it all the time for quick knowledge references. I assume it is more reliable than it used to be, and this is such a great example to share with young folks.
Currently, peer production, knowledge and culture is fostered through Google Drive documents (does this count?), Urban Dictionary, and Rate My Professor. Platforms that allow users to create collaborative boards are Pinterest, Padlet or even blogs. These are so cool! The article examples are very impressive to me. I can relate most to Wikipedia because I use it all the time for quick knowledge references. I assume it is more reliable than it used to be, and this is such a great example to share with young folks.