Mark Twain once suggested that we receive all of our ideas—all of them—from outside sources, that we re-shape existing material to create something new. A couple of posts from lbiq.net—online home to LBi global's quarterly publication and agency blogspace—show how a few active artists are re-shaping the elements of their culture to alter perceptions of place.
There's something really appealing about the mash-up of broadcast and outdoor media for artistic/social commentary purposes—it often brings out some painful truths. From old-school audio-pirates like Douglas Kahn (who I was lucky enough to have as a lecturer at uni for a semester) and Negativeland to current street art, I love the way it plays with the true value of advertising and the media. And they're always hidden—are these artists who create something beautiful/funny/poignant/political, using what our industry creates as raw materials, operating in secret because of the threat of big business and the brands ‘we' represent? Surely if we're helping brands become more real, believable, genuinely useful and honest then this kind of expression is quite beautiful, and not at all scary? (Or maybe that's just my art-school roots talking, but Iove the idea of someone mashing up our work).
I haven't seen anything from my beloved Shoreditch Decapitator for a while now, but Posterboy is just brilliant—and with maybe a slightly broader repertoire.
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I love it when people take direct inspiration from other people's creativity and give it new life. It's great to see people use sub-plots, objects or characters as the starting points in their own expressions. Borrowing from established cultural artifacts seems to make the idea all the more real and resonant. For example the idea behind the musical Wicked touches everyone who had seen The Wizard of Oz as a child and triggers an immediate inquisitive response, to what the story might reveal.
A recent example of this spring-boarding is a book by Jack Torrence, the main character of the Stephen King film, The Shining. It uses the story of Jack writing his book and his inability to write anything other than 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'. The book uses this idea and using an increasingly varied approach to the layout reproduces that statement over 80 pages. It’s unlikely to be a best seller, but it's a lovely example of taking a small idea and expanding it out. More details from the Guardian. With digital work gaining in maturity (and much influenced by previous non-digital pieces) I'm wondering how long it will be before someone creates a popular new experience or narrative directly inspired by famous digital piece. Clearly there are some IP issues to resolve, but when one borrows from an established source you’ve got to come clean on your inspiration. PS. For those with a passing interest in '2001: A Space Odyssey', you might have been aware of HAL 9000s birthday a few weeks ago—12th January to be precise. I wonder if this date could become a notable day in our global culture for neural computing and artificial intelligence.
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