Sunday, July 29, 2007

an old rant

but i just did some google/stalking work, looking into an old, uh...friend. i met this person when i was studying in amsterdam, and he was this really smart philosophy student type. i always felt he was someone who would actually get excited about the mass media/art theory things i liked to talk about, and for a while we actually kept up a truly nerdy correspondence about that stuff. we drifted apart over the years, but i always liked to think he was still that person.

not exactly so, it seems.

see, i just don't think it's possible to believe in "activism" when it's so strongly couched in hot design. for examples please see...

the zine he's worked on for the past few years. or the art space he lives (or lived) in. or the "art" festival he puts on.

really, i'm sorry, but how can you be drawn in by this shit? and actually believe you're doing something political, i mean (which he no doubt does). what i'd like to see are some horrible, purple 8.5 x 11 fliers in Times New Roman that are more about the content than the layout. then maybe, MAYBE i'll give a second thought to whatever it is they're screaming at me.

if you don't know what my snobby ass is talking about, i'll just have to leave it at that, but if you'd like a more in-depth explanation of the revulsion, here's an older rant on the same topic.

2 Comments:

Blogger MrM said...

God, for a second I thought it was me you were talking about (as self-centered as ever, I know). But then I realised it couldn´t be, seeing that the only activism I do is scream "Capitalism is the Evil" in every aisle of a Whole Foods, only to spend 200$ on American treats to ship back to Europe. By plane.
We are all but humans.
You know...

1:28 PM  
Blogger alex said...

bien sur, we can't expect to be perfect embodiments of all our principles. but offending my aesthetic sensibilities. that's just...offensive.

3:21 PM  

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