Erotic Nightmares from the Ministry of Love
- Erotic Nightmares fromthe Ministry of Love
Exhibition entry for the AKTO 2009 festival in Bitola, Macedonia. - The series have been concieved as a somewhat pscychological experiment dealing with the erosion of the superego via manipulation of the archetypes manifactured by the propaganda machine. It also poses the question, "Does the identity feel threatened if the symbols on which it is based upon are further transformed and manipulated with." My inspiration stems from the ongoing montlhy discussions concerning history, propaganda, identity, heritage, etc. As such, I see this ongoing collection as anti-identity.
- The very first picture of the series is Mad Mickey in the Canine Empire. In case you can't recognize it, the other photograph is a still from the famous Mad Max. The idea was, when two archetypes from polary different ideologies are combined in a single identity, do we get something entierly new and somewhat abominable or do we further crystalize the original meaning and significance of said archetype. In the case of Mickey, the latter was true. The propaganda machine forces upon us an artificially created archetype that in a very intrusive and militant manner penetrates our psyche and settles itself in our collective conscience. It's an intresting statistic that, most children in the US, are more prone to recognizing the face of Mickey Mouse or Ronald McDonald, than George Washington or Albert Einstein.
- What happens when the symbol is continuously changed and it's implemented in a greater variety of enviorments? Does the repetativty debases it, and lowers it's significance, or through it's transformation it becomes so ingrained, it becomes a key that mechanically evokes emotions and ideas at it's recipents? I have seen Che's face used everywhere and in everything. From conservative marches, to MTV videos and Hollywood blockbusters, pop art and LGBT parades. It seems to me that Che has become a consumer product, where as Marilyn Monroe's image is slowly being galvanized as an underground art icon. A very intresting turn of events, which brings into question the Eristic Illusion. It's a concept elaborated in the Principia Discordia by Greg Hill & Kerry Thornley. To simplify it, eristic illusion is the illusion of apparent disorder, (freedom, creativity, liberty etc.) i.e. An illusion with an entierly opposite agenda, and that is continious pavlovian conditioning by the powers that be.
- In the case of the Ministry of Love in our story, the artists and desingers where so enthralled by this process, that the bending and re-shaping of symbols and the identity crisis that comes afterwards, this violent penetration in their psyche was venerated to fetishim.
- Last but not least is the communist uber-stereotype, that combines all previously mentioned ideas and views, and by doing so, it transcends to the Superstar state, the final stadium of the Ministry's plan. An entity that entrhalls the recepient with it's contradiction, it destroys it's pre-concieved perceptions and prepares it for new indoctrination. The superstars of today do just that, with their manufactured image, they force new identites upon the masses, conditioning them to the visions of the artists from the Ministry of Love.And remember Hassan-I Sabbah's final words,„Nothing is True, Everything is Permissable“
Discuss This Project: ( Comments)