Friday, May 1, 2009, 8:00 pm, $6
Media ecologist Gerry Fialka’s interactive workshop probes the cultural and historical context of advertising as art and Marshall McLuhan’s axiom “Advertising is the cave art of the 20th century.” Both ads and art eschew rational argument. Fialka analyzes how symbols, magic and imagery play directly to our emotions. Much like art, ads have a profound influence, based on deep knowledge of personal and collective impulses. Join this media yoga session that interconnects Maxfield Parrish, James Thurber, Ansel Adams, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, Absolut Vodka and myriads more. Word artists Charles Dickens, Henry James, James Joyce (continuing with Kurt Von negut, David Mamet) were the first literary start-ups in the advertising industry. Explore our intuitive perceptions and find the similarity in dissimilars. This lively discussion reveals who we are and how we think. Does advertising have the same aesthetic purpose as art?”A democratic civilization will save itself only if it makes the language of the image into a stimulus for critical reflection – not an invitation for hypnosis.” – Umberto Eco.
ALL ADVERTISING ADVERTISES ADVERTISING – Farina & Fialka’s new 14 minute film uncovers the hidden effects of advertisers as psychoanalysts and prophets in the science of the imaginary. Rube Goldbergian filmmakers Farina & Fialka satirize the adman’s credo “create the disease and offer the cure.” They look through ads like portals (port holes) into a universe of media mindscapes and nuance. They question the simultaneity of great ads as myth. Fialka & Farina fuse an interpretive parable about the Wizard of Oz (Us)=20 and the percepts of Marshall McLuhan to transform the very subject they are examining. Journey into defamiliarizing the ordinary. How are we immune to ads? Why?
What are the critical connections between the rise of consumerism and our blind commitment to economic growth ? “You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements. ” -Norman Douglas.