SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE
My undergraduate degree project at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, this project explores a modern interpretation of Guy Debord's, The Society of the Spectacle. Through a poster, book series, and multi-screen video installation which only played during the opening night of our senior gallery show, I used what I knew about visual communication to communicate Debord's ideas to my contemporaries.
Below is the series of books I created to communicate my own process of understanding The Society of the Spectacle. At a glance, the covers of the books represent the process arc. The first book serves to over-saturate the user with images, not taking much time to stop explain the ideas that drive Debord's theory.
The second book, with its black and white cover, serves break down the ideas communicated in the book, allowing users to begin making decisions about how those ideas may have positive or negative impacts on their own life.
The third book, with its black cover, represents my own movement to remove myself from the Society of the Spectacle, or at least make conscious decisions above navigating throughout it.
Below you will find the video performance, condensed into a single screen experience. It was played every forty-five minutes at the gallery. Gallery attendees were notified of the screening by an analog dark-room timer. Like moths to a flame, they flocked towards my installation's flashing visuals and sonic pulse.