Watch Nike really fly
by rebecca ~ May 17th, 2005. Filed under: New Media Musings, Poems & art.From my classmate, Bonnie: “Brian Jungen’s Prototype for a New Understanding
takes Air Jordans and turns them into masks and
sculptures depicting North-West Coastal characters. View the collection here.
My comments:
Bonnie,
Thanks so much for the link. I loved the way this artist
turns a popular culture artifact on its head. He, like
many outsider artists I admire, take pieces of consumer
culture and re-vision it as an expressive form.
I think his way of thinking and building is the key to
freeing our minds from bowing to the dominance of
technological determinism in society.
We need people to realize we do have a role in the
interpretation, shaping and use of the technologies
available. We can ‘deconstruct’ a technologies intended
control over us, but it takes courage, depth of thought,
and creative play. I am definitely in the constructionist
camp that sees any culture as malleable and in-process,
but I also realize that technological determinism is an
accepted reality for people who haven’t the
energy/will/wish to challenge the great economic and
political powers.
Soap box, now tipped and filled with clothes.