Culture Jamming Media Activism

Culture Jamming Media Activism

Culture Jamming

Culture jamming, or "media hacking", is the deliberate subversion of media messages (usually advertising). This category is particularly for groups or organizations whose express purpose is to disrupt the institutions of modern, usually Western culture: the corporation, the media, science, religion. In short, their targets are "the Establishment" and most authority. The tactics used are varied, but generally fall in the category of subversive/humorous media stunts. That can range from straight-forward parodies to deliberate hoaxes. At the extremes includes anarchistic acts of "poetic terrorism," like billboard defacement, or "art sabotage", willful acts of destruction in a performance art style.

Top: Society: Activism: Media: Culture Jamming

Editor's Picks:

- Mark Dery popularized the term "culture jamming", and wrote a pamphlet titled "Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs".

- Well-written introduction to culture jamming in its many forms, with pictures and many links.

- A genderless, loose-knit association of some 300 impostors worldwide who agree their way into the fortified compounds of commerce, ask questions, and then smuggle out the stories of the behind-the-scenes world of business.
- Movement to bring basic comforts to mannequins, who work in horrible conditions and have no power to change it.
- Artists who commit public acts of political art designed for free distribution. The Brigade credo is "Steal This Art!"
- Bypass compulsory web registration.
- "Already notorious for his guerrilla tactics in dealing with the mass media, San Francisco based filmmaker Craig Baldwin has explored the potential of culture jamming in his new film Sonic Outlaws." By Jesse Lerner. [English w/German summary]
- Book project by artist Sal Randolph. Free Words is a free and uncopyrighted book being given away in bookstores, libraries, galleries and other venues. Look for a free copy in New York bookstores, or download a pdf version from this site.
- For 10 years, Abrupt has been culture-jamming with manifestos, ad parodies, and radical pamphleteering.
- Internet art group with corporate front, promoting "artainment." [Requires frames]
- Guerilla street art. Featuring work by the "Midget Posse" and anonymous graffiti artists.
- Article about the "sweatshop" Nike ID and Mike "Pepsi Boy" Cameron. By Joab Jackson.
- Opinions, issues, and links.
- A randomly gathered network of individuals united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society through subversion, pranks, art, fringe explorations and meaningless madness.
- Specializes in 'consumable simulacra'. "Why buy the product, when you can buy the idea? Buy the hype."
- A global grassroots movement dedicated to reclaiming the media from the corporate cheesemongers.
- "A new generation of Bay Area 'culture jammers' manipulates media manipulation" - by Sam Williams
- Vancouver based anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters. Famous for their spoof ads.
- Internet art site comprised of strategically-modified internet content.
- Software to "funhouse-mirror" any website, copying the "look and feel" but changing any words or images you choose.
- Internet-based artists platform dedicated to the art of social critique.
- Marker pens and paint are taken to various product names with humorous results.
- Against unethical corporations, censorship and excessive advertising. Photographs and movies of recent protests, news and discussions.
- Santas creating mayhem on the streets in December. Links, police reports, pictures and articles.
- An opening onto the fraudulent reality; material ranges from global art-movement coverage to experimental fiction to corporate subversion.
- Archive of subverts, political art, spoof banner ads and parody web sites.
- Articles, event schedule, photographs, message boards and downloadable media.
- Negativland co-conspirators out of Silicon Valley who produce voicemail art as well as all manner of audio collage.
- A funny, provocative movie about the filmmakers' obsession -- framed perversely as a series of TV commercials -- with a shining emblem of modern culture, The Sign.
- "Investing in the war on terror could be a winning proposition -- even if we lose." By Christopher Ketcham. [Salon]
- Art that inspires, provokes, and subverts the dominant corporate paradigm. Information on their music, stickers, and project.
- Ads linking SUVs to national security, an Arianna Huffington project by Americans for Fuel Efficient Cars.
- A community and exchange for nonsense, competing with the cheery, industrious capitalism of the world's other great commerce and community websites.
- Political posters, guerilla postering guide and QuickTime movies.
- Undertakes public art and Internet projects to raise questions about early 21st Century capitalism.

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