Wuthering Jans

[imomus]

Jan Family are a group of ex-Royal College of Art students whose design work shares the same conceptual and social accents as Åbäke. Since Åbäke are currently teaching at the RCA, it's quite possible that they're even ex-pupils of the group.

The idea of Jan family is that design is a series of proposals for new social possibilities, that each new design allows a new form of social interaction, a suggested etiquette. "How To Reach Out", a show in London last September by Ingrid Jan Hora (every transient member of the Jan family takes "Jan" as a middle name while they're working with the group; the founder members are Nina Jan Beier and Marie Jan Lund) lured visitors in with an inflatable clear plastic sausage that extended the gallery space all the way to the door of the adjacent video shop, rather like Vito Acconci's famous conference table. The work inside showed groups of people all sharing the same jackets and ties, or clusters of chairs linked together. Nice metaphors for "family", for putting the collective above the individual.

Today I'd also like to point you in the direction of the archives of the Institut National de L'audiovisuel: 100,000 TV and radio broadcasts from France, including lots of Gainsbourg and Brassens, if you're into that kind of thing. Personally, I'm more intrigued by this spooky video (complete with VHS artefacts) of Kate Bush singing "Wuthering Heights" at Efteling Gardens in 1978. It's a lovely example of how something spooky (Kate's talent, youth, choreography are spooky, along with the fact that she's playing a ghost who climbs out of a tomb and is accompanied by black-faced KKK members) is made more so by the electronic spookiness of glitches. Bush really is Sadako from Ringu here (but dancing better).

Comments

adbusters - designing revolution?

[larameau.livejournal.com]

i wonder what you and whimsy think of the adbusters (http://www.adbusters.org/home/) design project. BTW kalle lasn has just published his new glossy, boldly illustrated book "design anarchy"... their aim is to create a new, environmentally-conscious society and to "subvert corporate power" by using the same advertising techniques and design-packaging strategies as the corporations. they also have a manifesto where they plead for an ethical use of design.

visually, the results are wonderful. apparently, they have terribly good artists. but again i wonder - can their products - direct actions, ads, artworks, magazines, website, posters, postcards etc. - really bring about true change or does the ad-effect/design-effect stop at the surface? when reading or looking at stuff from adbusters i sometimes feel i am content with the product itself and don't feel the urge to do further action.

Re: adbusters - designing revolution?

[stanleylieber.livejournal.com]

I think Adbusters has become much less accessible over time and now mainly attracts those who are already converted to their way of thinking. Whereas in the past their visual presentation was more immediately influenced by current advertising and had the possibility of grabbing the attention of 'civilians' who might then proceed to be swayed by the actual content of the magazine.

Advertisers are also quite savvy, and have adopted the 'cynical approach to advertising' stance in their own material. Many ads and commercials nowadays carry a message of rejecting advertising in favor of [x product]'s self-evident quality. Advertising's continuing ascendence into acceptance as a legitimate fine art also clouds things.

(Sorry, not who you asked for, but hello and nice to meet you!)

[(Anonymous)]

nice to meet you, stanley! your comments are always interesting

[larameau.livejournal.com]

sorry, that was me. forgot to log in!

cool hunting...

[larameau.livejournal.com]

what you say also links to the 'cool hunting' phenomenon. the advertisement industry wises up very quickly when it comes to intercepting and co-opting radical trends in society, especially youth movements. it is likely that adbusters has -involuntarily, or at least i hope so- helped provide "radical chic" cool hunters and the mainstream entertainment industry with many good ideas...

Re: cool hunting...

[stanleylieber.livejournal.com]

Given their the fact that these cool hunters exist, it seems inevitable.