Culture Jamming: Art, Social Commentary Or Graffiti?

Culture jamming is a practice that is commonly recognised and used as a form of activism. It involves using its original communication method to create a contrast between mass media images and the realities or negative sides of that image. Although it does not adopt an artistic approach, culture jamming is often perceived as a type of art. It also does not incorporate the notion of vandalism, whereby the primary goal is to deface or destruct. Adbusting, performance art, graffiti and hacktivism are the main forms of culture jamming.

Out of all the culture jamming forms, I believe graffiti and Adbusting are the most influential and effective. They are also the two that individuals or groups most commonly engage in, while consisting of the most interest and attraction to both dedicated activists and outsiders. Graffiti refers to the application of images or letters without permission to publicly viewable surfaces such as walls or bridges. It is often used as a form of advertising or to communicate social or political messages. Graffiti is becoming more of a modern art form and less of an expression of youth anger, as some have previously interpreted to be. Its application to public surfaces reflects on its reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority while also demonstrating a broad range of individual artistic ability. Graffiti has the capacity to attract attention, protest and encourage changes, which has become evident in the continual success of spray-painted images, messages or slogans in public domain areas such as train stations and bus stops.

Adbusting is the practice of making spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisements in order to make a statement. Its aim is to cut through the hype of our mediated reality and reveal the truth within it. Although a new image can be used to get a message across, the alteration or editing of an existing image or slogan can ultimately be more influential or effective; in that people are often more familiar and interested in how a popular or well-known image can be “twisted” in order to change its original meaning. The Adbusters magazine is recognised as the Culture Jamming Headquarters, and regularly features a range of ‘Spoof Ads”. These images, along with the following example, demonstrate how ordinary images can be taken and manipulated in order to extract their true meaning.

This image of a hanging rope aims to illustrate the effects of regular or excessive alcohol consumption. With particular reference being made to vodka, it uses the brand “Absolute” in conjunction with the word “Hangover” and alongside the image of a hanging rope to assist us in becoming familiar with the message that this image attempts to convey – that drinking vodka or any other strong alcoholic beverage generally makes us feel sick and unwell the next day. The notion of the rope displayed in the shape of the absolute vodka bottle leads us to believe that being severely hungover also makes us feel like we are close to "death" with the negative effects that can accompany alcohol clearly overshadowing the “buzz” or excitement we experience from consuming it at the time.

Judging by its nature, is culture jamming a form of art, social commentary or graffiti? I think it would be fair to assume that it can be percieved as an art form, whereby the social commentary it incorporates assists in conveying its true meaning. Unlike graffiti, which defaces or destructs the canvas's origninal surface or meaning, social commentary utilises various ways to express opinions or promote change without destructing the existing image or landmark. Social commentary, combined with art, ultimately extracts the many various embedded meanings within the artistic works of culture jamming, and illustrates the degree to which images can be appropriately altered.