Old School Social Media

"Peace" (Artist: Shepard Fairey)

I first saw the image, MUJER FATAL (above), last night. It is the mock-up cover image for a friend of mine’s new book, The House of a Thousand Eyes (Katrin Schumann) The image is haunting, sensual, thought provoking, and hypnotic all at the same time. Throughout the day, today, I have found myself coming back again and again to stare at it. What is this image trying to say? What is the purpose of this image?

The image was created by the artist, Shepard Fairey, who was behind the now famous Obama Hope sticker. What’s fascinating about the Obama Hope sticker is that it represents the best known example of a little known channel of communication. Namely, subversive stickers. Huh? My thought exactly until I read the following explanation on the Obey Giant website.

This channel of communication is called “Phenomenology.” Here’s what the Obey Giant website and Shepard Fairey have to say:

The OBEY sticker campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomenology. Heidegger describes Phenomenology as “the process of letting things manifest themselves.” Phenomenology attempts to enable people to see clearly something that is right before their eyes but obscured; things that are so taken for granted that they are muted by abstract observation.

The FIRST AIM OF PHENOMENOLOGY is to reawaken a sense of wonder about one’s environment. The OBEY sticker attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the sticker and their relationship with their surroundings. Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the product or motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters with the sticker provoke thought and possible frustration, nevertheless revitalizing the viewer’s perception and attention to detail. The sticker has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker. Because OBEY has no actual meaning, the various reactions and interpretations of those who view it reflect their personality and the nature of their sensibilities.

Many people who are familiar with the sticker find the image itself amusing, recognizing it as nonsensical, and are able to derive straightforward visual pleasure without burdening themselves with an explanation. The PARANOID OR CONSERVATIVE VIEWER however may be confused by the sticker’s persistent presence and condemn it as an underground cult with subversive intentions. Many stickers have been peeled down by people who were annoyed by them, considering them an eye sore and an act of petty vandalism, which is ironic considering the number of commercial graphic images everyone in American society is assaulted with daily.

Another phenomenon the sticker has brought to light is the trendy and CONSPICUOUSLY CONSUMPTIVE nature of many members of society. For those who have been surrounded by the sticker, its familiarity and cultural resonance is comforting and owning a sticker provides a souvenir or keepsake, a memento. People have often demanded the sticker merely because they have seen it everywhere and possessing a sticker provides a sense of belonging. The Giant sticker seems mostly to be embraced by those who are (or at least want to seem to be) rebellious. Even though these people may not know the meaning of the sticker, they enjoy its slightly disruptive underground quality and wish to contribute to the furthering of its humorous and absurd presence which seems to somehow be antiestablishment/societal convention. Giant stickers are both embraced and rejected, the reason behind which, upon examination reflects the psyche of the viewer. Whether the reaction be positive or negative, the stickers existence is worthy as long as it causes people to consider the details and meanings of their surroundings. In the name of fun and observation.

Shepard Fairey, 1990

At first my reaction to the paragraph was like, ya whatever!! But then I began to think about it a bit more deeply and realized that such a subtle form of communication could also be remarkably powerful, as well. In fact, just yesterday I was in the men’s room (yup) at KubSU University and I saw the following sticker on the wall:

When I saw the sticker my first reaction, as always, was, “Huh, what’s that say?” Being a new student of the Russian language I am constantly trying to translate all the visual clutter of my surroundings. I was able to translate this “bathroom sticker” to something like, “No war in Chechnya.” I thought to myself that this was quite strange and curious since the war in Chechnya is not really still active and the location a bit incongruous, seeing as I was at a fairly idyllic university.

Anyhow, the sticker made enough of a mental dent in my brain that I took a photo of it with my iPhone. During the second half of my class the sticker stuck in my brain. At the time, I was an unwitting recipient of a fairly sophisticated and nuanced form of communication, which I now know is called “phenomenology.” Apparently, I am not the only person on whom this sticker made an impact, because when I returned after class (just a hour a half later), the sticker had been pealed off and only a few remnants remained on the wall.

What I now wonder, and perhaps one of you know the answer, is whether the Obama Hope poster (as we now call it) actually first started off as a phenomenology sticker throughout the United States? Talk about the “viral spread” of a message. How ironic that while the Obama campaign is now, and rightly so, credited with being the first social media campaign in the United States, that, perhaps, one of the original catalysts for shaping the collective American consciousness may have been a “lowly” paper sticker. Actually that would be kind of cool )))

I would love to encourage the Sochi 2014 Olympic Committee to commission Shepard Fairey to do a series of images for the Winter Olympics. This would be exactly the kind of edgy, progressive, and modern move that will distinguish the Sochi Olympics as something truly special. There is no reason why the rebels of the world (see Chechnya image above) need hold a monopoly of this channel of communication and art form. The irony is that Shepard Fairley uses many images and icons from the Soviet Union in his artwork. How better to move past the demons of the past then to confront them head-on. This is exactly the bold type of move that Russians can and should take as it prepares to showcase the new Russia to the world in 4 years. China used architecture as its art form to communicate its message. Such a series of images may be Russia’s Olympic art form and thus, have a similar positive impact psychologically.

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