Statement Douglas Rushkoff

11-05-2002


door Douglas Rushkoff

We have all, at one time or another, reflected on how the world of marketing borrows from the world of art. Whether it's our favorite pop song serving as the soundtrack for a car commercial, or the graphics of rave flyer inspiring the logo for new a soft drink, it feels as if every treasured aesthetic is co-opted by the market as soon as it is created.



Meanwhile, since at least the ironic recontextualizations of Andy Warhol, we have also seen many artists use the icons and logos of our branded universe as the raw material for their works. Although the function of art may be to wake people up from the spell of their cultural programming, how does art serve to detach us from imagery which is already presented to us in cleverly self-conscious abstraction?

As human beings, we can't help but identify ourselves through the cultural artifacts with which we interact. Whether we go so far as to brand ourselves with these icons or merely hold onto them as mental filters through which we view the world, our forms of self-expression and our perspectives on reality are shaped by the logos with which we choose to identify. They serve as the building blocks for self, and rise to the level of personal archetypes for as long as we go on resonating with them. Our logos become our mythos.