In preperation for my essay on Advertising and Art I read Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher and Promotional Cultures by Aeron Davis. Reading these books one immediately after the other definitely changed my induvidual perceptions of them. I found so many linking theories between the two texts, which made me truly appreciate just how closely connected capitalism and consumerism are, both to each other, and to so many aspects of modern life. Reading these after starting 'This Changes Everything' by Naomi Klein, another book on climate change I am yet to finish, provided a profound reminder for the size of the sheer task at hand when engaging with the public over their addictive, wasteful lifestyles of overconsumption.
Capitalist Realism provided some incredibly interesting information on some of the lesser known impacts of capitalism, including on mental health, concepts of rebellion and identity. It also mentioned many knock on effects which I had witnessed in society myself. As it was written in 2009 the symptoms it highlights have only manifested in more extreme forms in the eight years since the text was published; the Britain of today in the midst of crises in mental health, national identity and youth revolt, showing the continuation of the downward trend. These issues were of particular importance to Fisher, the author, who suffered from depression, however it has to be asked whether his personal battle was won or lost, as although the book, among many of his writings, was very successful and went on to influence many writers, he unfortunately took how own life in January of this year, aged 48.
I also found this first book gave me the most contextual information which I could feed into my practice. I feel that I can only tackle the complex issues threatening our planet if I understand their effects and weaknesses as a whole, so reading these two books in succession really helped broaden my knowledge across all areas. Fisher's own knowlege was quite expansive, spanning all areas of culture. This can be attributed largely to k-punk, a magazine he started in 2003 which later went on to be called "one of the most successful weblogs on cultural theory." The ideas of interpassivity and 'end of history' cynicism were particularly of interest, as understanding these detrimental circumstances allowed me to better understand ways to subvert them. This enforced apathy which is generated by oversaturation can be broken away, and the very tools used to subdue us can in fact be used to resensitize; with the prevelence of social culture and proposed online connectivity the tools and audience are already in place, all that is left to do is reclaim them.
Although I found Fisher's book enlightening in terms of cultural context, it was Promotional Cultures by Aeron Davis which held the most useful information for my essay, with statistics for how the pricing of art has greatly inflated over the rise of the consumerist/promotional era and context for where art sits in the wider promotional sphere. Just as 'commodity selves' are encouraged in all members of society, for artists the pressure is increased as they are increasingly 'likely to invest in promotion of their own public persona as a means of disseminating their work.' pg 192 The change in saleable values is also noted, with art selling for the 'investment potential' of the subject or it's creating artist, instead of it's aesthetic or proposed artistic value.
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