We have a new monthly Dazed Digital column
Our dear friends in Dazed invited us to be a guest contributors to their blog. From November on, we’ll have a monthly post about digital folk. As our first, we present you Turkey’s anti-evolutionist showgirls. An Islamist fringes wraps its hard anti-Darwin message in skin-tight Versace, drag-queen make-up and po-mo posing.
For November, we briefly present a female creationist ensemble from Turkey. These girls have proven that Islam, sexual objectification, passion, belief, tabloidization, manipulation, anti-Darwin and Versace can come together. Five Turkish bombshells, they are often referred as the girls, angels or kitten of Adnan Oktar, a self-taught Islamic preacher who gained respect for his fervent Creationist teachings. He presents his beliefs as a reformed and urbanized versions of Islam, where he clearly states Muslims, Christians and Jews should unite against the corrupting influence of Darwinism. He is also the author of the books Atlas of Creation Quadriology, an anti-evolution, Islamic-saga bouillabaisse. It displays a stunning ignorance of basic biology, and 6 legged humans skeleton visualizations are among the arguments that are employed to contradict Darwin.
This fabulous five consists of Gülşah Güçyetmez, Ceylan Özbudak, Ebru Altan, Damla Pamir and Aylin Kocaman. They are the bewildering accessories of the TV Show Adnan Oktar Chat Time at the religious channel A9. Every night these blazing women come together with the Islamic Creation packmaster Mr. Oktar. They hold discussions about Islam, pseudo-insta-fossils discrediting evolution and their favorite topic: Mr. Oktar.
This surreal set-up might be hard to grasp for a non-Turkish person. (One half of Pinar&Viola is Turkish). These woman contradict the terrorized image of Muslims used in the global press, while going completely against all the hardwork feminist activists have been battling over the years. While the restrictive state of Turkish journalism grows into a national shame, scandal and sensation still makes up a huge part of the Turkish media. Five voluptuous ladies with a combination of Zentai-tight, now-in-style Versace garments and make-up capable of making drag queens jealous, rubbing shoulders with religious sisterhood, and many references to history’s matriarchs.
These five women state they behave following the ethics of Kur’an, where it’s written the ones Allah guides look alike, as a reaction to questions regarding their similar looks. All of these girls have their own individual social media stardoms where they make loud manifestations adding to their media attention.
It’s not the first time that sensationalism, lies and cheap entertainment have been used to boost the ratings of a TV program, especially not in Turkey. That’s why the educated, intellectual, secular part of the Turkish population became completely immune to this first-degree propaganda. Their solution is simple, and troublesome – make fun of it.
This entry was written by , posted on November 21, 2012 at 11:05 am, filed under Decadence, Dematerialization, Fashion, Folk, Friends, Ghetto gold, Glam Chaos, Other ecstatics, P&V for Dazed Digital, Persona, Pinar&Viola, Published, Various, Visual ecstasy. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Scientology
The Master, the highly expected movie ‘loosely-based’ on Scientology by Paul Thomas Anderson, will be screening soon. We took this opportunity to remind ourselves of the Scientology’s well-calculated totalitarian identity which gives us the creeps.
«By lowering the endurance of a person, a group, or nation, and by constant degradation and defamation, it is possible to induce, thus, a state of shock which will receive adequately any command given.» — L. Ron Hubbard, “Brainwashing Manual”, p. 34.
In 1951, Hubbard introduced the electropsychometer (E-meter for short), a kind of galvanometer, as an auditing aid. Based on a design by Hubbard, the device is held by Scientologists to be a useful tool in detecting changes in a person’s state of mind.
The controversies involving the Church and its critics, some of them ongoing, include:
-Scientology’s disconnection policy, in which members are encouraged to cut off all contact with friends or family members who are “antagonistic” to Scientology.
-The death of a Scientologist Lisa McPherson while in the care of the Church. (Robert Minton sponsored the multi-million dollar law suit against Scientology for the death of McPherson. In May 2004, McPherson’s estate and the Church of Scientology reached a confidential settlement.)
-Criminal activities committed on behalf of the Church or directed by Church officials (Operation Snow White, Operation Freakout).
-Conflicting statements about L. Ron Hubbard’s life, in particular accounts of Hubbard discussing his intent to start a religion for profit and of his service in the military.
-Scientology’s harassment and litigious actions against its critics encouraged by its Fair Game policy.
-Attempts to legally force search engines such as Google and Yahoo! to omit any webpages critical of Scientology from their search engines (and in Google’s case, AdSense), or at least the first few search pages.
-Allegations by former high-ranking Scientologists that David Miscavige beats and demoralizes staff and that physical violence by superiors towards staff working for them is a common occurrence in the church. Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis denied these claims and provided witnesses to rebut them.
-In October 2009, a French court found the Church of Scientology guilty of organized fraud. Four officers of the organization were fined and given suspended prison sentences of up to 2 years. The Church of Scientology said it would appeal the judgment. Prosecutors had hoped to achieve a ban of Scientology in France, but due to a temporary change in French law, which “made it impossible to dissolve a legal entity on the grounds of fraud”, no ban was pronounced. The sentence was confirmed by appeal court in February 2012.
-In November 2009, Australian Senator Nick Xenophon used a speech in Federal Parliament to allege that the Church of Scientology is a criminal organization. Based on letters from former followers of the religion, he said that there were “allegations of forced imprisonment, coerced abortions, and embezzlement of church funds, of physical violence and intimidation, blackmail and the widespread and deliberate abuse of information obtained by the organization”[254]
A controversial part of the Scientology justice system is the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF). When a Sea Org member is accused of a violation, such as lying, sexual misconduct, dereliction of duty, or failure to comply with Church policy, a Committee of Evidence examines the case. If the charge is substantiated, the individual may accept expulsion from the Sea Org or participate in the RPF to become eligible to rejoin the Sea Org. The RPF involves a daily regimen of five hours of auditing or studying, eight hours of work, often physical labor, such as building renovation, and at least seven hours of sleep. Douglas E. Cowan and David G. Bromley state that scholars and observers have come to radically different conclusions about the RPF and whether it is “voluntary or coercive, therapeutic or punitive”.
«Rehabilitation Project Force, the cult’s internal gulag where bad people are sent for punishment or “rehabilitation”; a brain washing and penal organization.» — The ARS Acronym/Terminology FAQ v3.5 by Martin Hunt.
This entry was written by , posted on November 16, 2012 at 10:36 am, filed under Dematerialization, Fashion, Glam Chaos, Information Wars, Other ecstatics, Political glam, Trending, Various, Visual ecstasy. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
TRANS
This entry was written by , posted on November 14, 2012 at 11:48 am, filed under Dematerialization, Digitalization, Gender, Internet, Persona, Queer, Various. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Bōsōzoku
Bōsōzoku (暴走族?, literally “violent running tribe”) is a Japanese youth subculture associated with customized cars, motorcycles or trucks. Bōsōzoku is popular since the 1990s.
Bōsōzoku are known to modify their car, motorcycles or truck in peculiar and often showy ways.
These cars are often modified with large exhaust pipes, bright paint, and large aero kits, he latter modelled on Group 5 “Special Production Cars” of the 1970s. Also popular are oil coolers or less commonly large turbo or supercharger intercoolers with highly polished tubing, usually mounted in a prominent position in the front bumper.
This entry was written by , posted on November 5, 2012 at 12:54 pm, filed under Craftsmanship, Dematerialization, Folk, Ghetto gold, Glam Chaos, Other ecstatics, Subculture, Uncategorized, Various. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Air NZ Safety instructions video
After making the LARP blog post, we ran into this news item!!!!!
Inspired by the upcoming movie, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” the video features a party of hobbits, elves, wizards, dwarfs and cameos from Gollum and native New Zealander, director Sir Peter Jackson.
It’s the latest in a series of creative ANZ safety videos that have included fitness guru Richard Simmons replete in a sequin tank top, and a Rugby World Cup themed video starring a cast of All Blacks players.
“Passengers appreciate the lighthearted and entertaining approach we take to delivering important safety information,” said Jodi Williams, ANZ’s head of international marketing.
“It’s noticeable that on an ANZ flight they sit up and take notice during the pre-flight briefing — expectations of this part of the airline journey have certainly been heightened.”
The text is taken by the CNN website.
This entry was written by , posted on November 1, 2012 at 5:20 pm, filed under Dematerialization, Efficiency, Various, Video. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Which one is Sandy?
This entry was written by , posted on October 30, 2012 at 5:37 pm, filed under Dematerialization, Various. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Halloween costume inspiration 2: Art Lover
This entry was written by , posted on at 3:11 pm, filed under Art, Craftsmanship, Dematerialization, Fashion, Folk. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Soft Power Ballad
The illustration we made for Bloomberg Businessweek.
The article covers Ruhan Jia, the Chinese popstar sponsored by the government to become a world-wide pop star. Very interesting article. You can read it at here.
This entry was written by , posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:17 pm, filed under Chinese sugar, Decadence, Dematerialization, Efficiency, Glam Chaos, Music, Pinar&Viola, Published, Trending, Utterly China. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Adididas
This entry was written by , posted on October 4, 2012 at 11:00 am, filed under Chinese sugar, Dematerialization, Fashion, Folk, Ghetto gold, Research, Various. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Launch of our new collection: Scandal Aqua
Next Thursday, September 6th, our new Ecstatic Surface Collection 2013, Scandal Aqua will be launched at Pilevneli Project in Istanbul. Hereby two images from the collection and our portrait taken by the photographer of the gallery, Isik Kaya, together with our personal video invitation and the text written by the curator of Cobra Museum, Hilde de Bruijn.
We hope to see you with us at 7pm at Pilevneli Project.
Scandal Aqua
Ecstatic Surface Collection 2013
Thrill Seekers Leaked
Collection 2013 is the third Ecstatic Surface Design Collection by Amsterdam-based graphic design duo Pinar&Viola. Their collections are non-commissioned, autonomous projects based on current events in politics, culture and economy, encapsulating the beauty and horror of the contemporary. As the recurring term ‘Ecstatic Surface Design’ indicates, the collections (like Pinar&Viola’s other work) are strongly focused on the aestheticized and commercialized designed surfaces that surround us, and with their design they seek to investigate the latent violence, the power structures, behind these surfaces. In their own words, the 2011 Collection for instance staged oversized credit cards as “toxic pieces of plastic, shown as an all-encompassing metaphor for shattered dreams, disappointment, the changing notion of value and the mutating concept of ‘credit’”.
The 2012 collection consisted of images that belong to “the secret collection of the fictitious persona Scarf_whiz80. Snapshots, carefully manipulated pictures and skilful photomontages, all portraying veiled divas built a critique on societal norms of gender, race, religion and sexuality, including destructions of stereotypes and ideologies.”
The bath towels of the 2013 Collection are lavishly decorated with an overload of symbols, icons, and gadgets taken from popular and vernacular culture. Let me list some of Pinar&Viola’s main ingredients for this project:
Think pop star posters. Think Justin Bieber towels gone wrong. Think Tumblr.
Think Twitter. Think teen girls experiments with blingees.
Think webcam chats. Think Wikileaks. Think sexting.
And now we’re at it anyway: think Berlusconi, and the man whose name was mentioned so often in the press that we now, with an oddly intimate ring to it, refer to him as DSK. Two men whose sexual scandals are too well-known to be repeated here. Think the image of Democratic Congresman David Wu, dressed in a tiger suit with his hands in the air to a female aide. (Wu resigned after being accused of having an ‘unwanted sexual encounter’ with the teenage daughter of a friend.) And last but not least think of Congresman Chris Lee, who photographed himself shirtless in a bathroom mirror and sent the pictures to a woman he supposedly contacted on Craigslist.
The towels directly speak to our senses. In fact, at first, their pink-purplish backgrounds might even have a slightly nauseating effect. On top of that, the abundant amount of kittens, icons from Blackberry’s love theme, blingbling items, and other kitschy elements seem to have little to do with the frame of reference of the average grownup. And personally, I even felt a bit revolted by the idea of pressing the image of that overly self-aware looking, slick middle-aged man with fake smile who is at the heart of each towel’s composition, to my freshly showered body.
Clearly, the intended users of these towels must be the wet-haired teenage Tumblr generation girls, who’s photographs, taken with their smart phones in the private space of their bath rooms, are part of the Collection too. But then what is the relationship between the girls, each wrapped in one of the towels, and this man? There is a photograph of him in his bathroom too, at odds with the carefully controlled image he is presenting with the towels. In the photograph, he is wearing his own personal towel with a distorted pin-stripe pattern, and hashtag sign followed by the word charisma – as if to stress his popularity. Are the girls, all wearing the same necklace with hashtag medallion, admirers or maybe courtesans of this man? Well, possibly, as in the 2013 Collection “dubious moral standards ornament teenage dreams,”
as Pinar&Viola state themselves.
Yet, the pink-purplish towels keep drawing my attention, pulling me off and keeping me hypnotised at the same time. They raise my curiosity, not despite, but because they seem to present an impossible constellation of things which I would like to discuss in more detail. Instead of Justin Bieber, these towels feature our before-mentioned photo-shopped character. It would be safe now to presume that he is a fictitious politician, who upon further inspection is of course also wearing a wedding ring. He finds himself in five different, carefully designed settings, one for each towel: Domestic Affairs, Global Affairs, Sustainable Affairs, International Affairs, and Urban Affairs. In this parody realm, symbols, icons, gadgets, and decorations which would normally together make no particular sense, attain a coherent, symbolic meaning and become embedded in the suggestion of a narrative, a scandal even. Let’s get into detail with one example only, the Domestic Affairs towel:
This particular towel was highly inspired by the Anthony Weiner’s sexting scandal. U.S. Congresman Weiner not only send x-rated self-portraits via Twitter but also a picture of kittens accompanied by a suggestive message along the lines of “me playing with kittens”. On the background of Weiner’s picture, a photograph of the presidential family was visible. So upon further investigation, the combination of pictures of cute kittens, empty photo frames (an indication of the empty rhetoric of a happy family life), a webcam and a ‘home’ button in the Domestic Affairs towel suddenly makes perfect twisted sense. We could also further speculate now about the threesome of a ‘home’ button, the password icon, lock and key, and the inclusion of a PC and webcam in this towel – they seem to send a warning message, and tell us that our homes, where we fulfil our need for privacy and recuperate, are not as impenetrable as we like to think. The PC and webcam do not only provide us a window to the world, it brings the world in as well. It is probably no coincidence that in the Domestic Affairs the curtains are open, and the weather outside looks grim.
The Domestic Affairs towel is exemplary for Pinar&Viola’s love for the vernacular, and what they call contemporary digital folk art, as well as for the entire 2013 Collection which is inspired by the political sex scandals that were all over the news last year – although most towels are generally inspired by these and do not illustrate specific examples. With their ‘junk’ ingredients, Pinar&Viola managed to cook-up a nourishing haute cuisine which speaks of politics, media, and strategies of manipulation and diversion, and makes us chew on the question what it actually is that the media are offering us. Are we being occupied with sex scandals instead of the information we really need in order to build well-informed opinions and make decisions as responsible, self-empowered individuals? And if so, is this type of distraction all we really want? Or, alternatively, if politicians and other powerful figures get caught in a sex scandal, shouldn’t we be treating this as serious item generating further research into the dynamics behind power structures, gender roles and class divisions? Or, when it comes to the media involved, shouldn’t we be speaking about the role of social media in the self-image of teenagers, or about the penetration of the public sphere into the private lives of people?
TO CONQUER A VACUUM
Just like Pinar&Viola’s previous two collections this collection pushes the boundaries of graphic design, though not only for its autonomous character, its rich iconography, or the quite overt political message about the mediatisation and spectacularisation of politics.
At the basis of the duo’s aesthetic language lies a philosophical approach that leads to a radical working method, and to designs that are so hyper-detailed and densely pixelated that they gain an almost tactile quality. Pinar&Viola’s ecstatic surface designs in fact testify of a great digital craftsmanship, traditionally relegated to the domestic and feminine sphere of labour, and involving a time-consuming work process that goes against the standardization and democratization of design and it’s software (in which there is no room for ‘hand-crafted’ originality).
What is interesting, is how Pinar&Viola’s strategy of creating incredibly dense surfaces is a balancing act between irony and love, between their critique of populist rhetoric with acknowledgement and acceptance of our irrational desires and needs. In their practice our need for ornamentation for instance, becomes a means through which they reveal the inherent, essential qualities of a subject. It becomes impossible to distinguish form and content, surface and depth, as Pinar&Viola are well aware of, when stating that “decoration is a means by which the inherent essential qualities of a subject are revealed. Decoration is a functional and autonomous facet in our practice, existing as stylistic elements and as a subject matter at the same time.”
Pinar&Viola’s surfaces are in fact so densely ornamented that the classic art historical term ‘horror vacui’ (Latin for ‘fear of empty space’) springs to mind, which means the filling of the entire surface of a space or an artwork with detail. The classic idea is that empty or unfilled spaces are unnatural, that they go against the laws of nature and physics and that hence we feel the need to fill these spaces. Pinar&Viola take the notion of horror vacui ad absurdum; in our visually saturated environment they manage to be even louder – something I would actually not have thought possible. This is horror vacui for the affluent and well-educated consumer, Pinar&Viola’s response to the overload of information that we are surrounded with. Maybe our desire to ‘decorate’ is not caused by fear of empty space but by “a desire to adapt a vacuum, to conquer it, to mark it with one’s presence, (…),” as this is exactly what cultivators and constructors Pinar&Viola seem to do. Moreover, their rich iconography and horror vacui strategy not only conquers white, ‘unfilled’ space on a surface but also conquers empty space in a metaphorical sense: empty (political) rhetoric, superficial journalism, and information that by its sheer abundance becomes meaningless.
Hilde de Bruijn
Amsterdam, August 2012
i All Pinar&viola citations come from email and skype conversations that we had between June 2012 and August 2012
ii See note ii
iii Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking website. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog, named a “tumblelog”. The service is most popular with the teen and college-aged user segments with half of Tumblr’s visitor base being under the age of 25.
iv Animated pictures created using the Blingee free online photo editor which provides its users with a hotchpotch of “favorite topics from celebrities to anime, emo, goth, fantasy, vintage, and more!”
v The act of sending sexually explicit messages or photographs, primarily between mobile phones
vi See note i
vii As suggested by Asger Jorn in Against Functionalism, 1. Talk at the International Congress of Industrial Design (10th Triennale of Industrial Art, Milan), 1954. The text can be found online, for instance here: http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/asger-jorn/functionalism.htm
This entry was written by , posted on August 30, 2012 at 7:38 am, filed under Art, Decadence, Dematerialization, Digitalization, Ecstatic Surface Design, Exhibition, Glam Chaos, Graphic design, Pinar&Viola, Political glam, Published, Vernissage, Video, Visual ecstasy. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
MY FAV PET
This entry was written by , posted on July 18, 2012 at 8:48 pm, filed under Dematerialization, Folk, Internet, Things 'n Flings, Various. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Yes! You can always be healthier
This entry was written by , posted on June 25, 2012 at 10:22 am, filed under Decadence, Dematerialization, Things 'n Flings. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
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