The Art of Remix in Political Consumerism on the Web – Images of ‘Critique Artistique' and ‘Critique Sociale'

In political consumerist and anti-capitalist movements re-mix artefacts have been produced by amateur activists as well as professional artists on the Web. With their semiotic practices of ‘cultural hacking’ or ‘cultural jamming’ both types of actors try to semiotically subvert the imagery of dominant brands. Brands are decoded and “verfremdet” in order to expose internal contradictions and power relations of capitalistic consumer culture. The paper theoretically interprets these practices as semiotic expressions of a politics of affects from perspectives of new critical concepts of culture (post-hegemony) and democracy (post-democracy). Drawing on the distinction between four sources of critique and outrage by L. Boltanski and E. Chiapello selected examples of culture jamming from social movement actors as well as professional artists are presented and interpreted. The paper argues that the distinction between culture jamming practices of collective protest actors and individualist artists corresponds with the general distinction between “critique artiste” and “critique sociale” developed by Boltanski and Chiapello. We find marked differences regarding the dominant sources of outrage in the imageries: While images of professional artists mostly deconstruct branding as source of loss of authenticity and repression of individual freedom, cultural jamming practices of social movement actors mainly criticize commercial branding for its impact on ecological destruction, social inequality or political repression. Apart from that, both types of visual critique differ in their expression of the relation between production and consumption. Finally, the paper analyzes web-based practices of remix and culture jamming by individualized, non-organized actors that transcend the modern differentiation between experts and amateurs.