Bani Brusadin / The Influencers** Communication Guerrilla Revisited
Lecture/Presentation
Aksioma | Project Space
Komenskega 18, Ljubljana
23 August 2012 at 7pm
Photo: Max Intrisano
Provoking ambiguity and confusion in collective imagination, communication guerrilla promotes a radical use of fiction which strains the mechanism of ideology and social control.
But what happens to subversion of mass culture when it hits a networked society? Do impostors, heroes and trolls have anything at all to do with social change? How is pranksterism evolving in the era of cynicism, information overload and digital disorder?
Inspired by the 10-years experience of the Barcelona-based The Influencers festival, Communication Guerrilla Revisited is an open conversation through images and real stories (believe it or not) presented by Bani Brusadin, researcher, activist and founder of The Influencers.
"What should I do if Reverend Billy is in my store?" That is the subject of an internal document of a well-known US corporation (Starbucks), explaining franchise store owners how to deal with such an unexpected situation. But - wait a minute - who the hell is Reverend Billy? And what was he supposed to be doing in a store, if not buying?
Well, if you're attending the workshop, watched What Would Jesus Buy? or you're a fan of Rev. Billy's Freakstorm videocast, you'll likely know the answer already. Guerrilla Communication Revisited expands right from here: a Reverend? In a store? And most important of all: what should I do if Reverend Billy wants ME to get in that store with him?
Let's make one step aside: communication guerrilla is just one of many military metaphors that can be used to describe non conventional ways of mixing art and communication that promote social change. Warfare metaphors are no coincidence: communication means conflict, images and words that can clash with other images and words, producing cracks in our imagination and teaching us how to dream, and even pushing us to further action. You can call it art mischief. But also art in the wild, in the dangerous woods where some unfinished, always in-progress forms of fiction meet the realism of social issues and quite often the debris of propaganda and mass distraction.
Now, back on track: what should I do then, if Reverend Billy wants me to get in the store with him? Well, we'll probably need our own "What-should-I-do" briefing! In Guerrilla Communication Revisited Bani Brusadin will share his on-going research and his experience as accomplice of several actions and projects of this sort. He's got a few "What-should-I-do" questions for you, but feel free to bring yours! Production:Aksioma - Institute for Contemporary Art and zavod Bunker, Ljubljana, 2012
Coproduction: Gledališče Glej
Executive Producer: Marcela Okretič, Samo Selimović
The programme of Aksioma Institute is supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of
Slovenia and the Municipality of Ljubljana
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