Celia Lury, “‘Contemplating a Self-portait as a Pharmacist’: A Trade Mark Style of Doing Art and Science.”

In her discussion of Damien Hirst, Celia Lury discusses the way in which a brand name is now the “mark of the organisation of a set of relations between products in time” (Lury, p94) rather than being the “mark of an originary relationship between producer and products.” (Lury, p94) This is part of a broader discussion regarding the nature of the author function.
With this in mind, Lury highlights the nature of Hirst’s spot paintings as elements in a series, indexed by the logo that is Hirst’s name. Here Lury cites Raymond Williams and his ideas about ‘flow’. The example given concerns television programming and the way in which the interval between programs has changed over time. Earlier in television’s history, the end of one program was distinct from the beginning of the next one. The result was a “published sequence of discreet programs.” (Lury, p97) Now, the interval blurs this clear division via the use of advertising and broadcasting company ‘idents’. Consequently, the sequence is turned into a flow, a “shifting series of units, of products, images and events.” (Lury, p97)
This idea connects to other issues that I am currently researching which have also been covered by earlier Critical Studies readings. One way of summarising these issues is to point to our increasing inability to distinguish between individual elements within a system. This issue was addressed by Lane Relyea in ‘All-Over and at Once’ and also comes up in Hal Foster’s book Design and Crime, via a critique of our overly designed lives. The example of television intervals is also addressed specifically in a program on BBC4. Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe takes a caustic and cynically humourous look at various aspects of television content, such as presenters, advertising and reality TV. In Episode 2, Series 4, Screenwipe has a false ending at the beginning of the show that leads into a mimicking of the indiscreet interval. Charlie Brooker’s dialogue attacks the way in which a program’s credits are squeezed to make room for promotional content, protesting against the informational noise this generates. The moment of contemplation that might have otherwise existed is disabled, thereby reducing the viewer’s ability to digest the experience of the previous program.

References

Celia, Lury, “‘Contemplating a Self-portait as a Pharmacist’: A Trade Mark Style of Doing Art and Science,” in Theory, Culture, Society, Vol.22 / 1, London, pp93-110.

Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe, BBC4 (Series 4 originally screened in the UK between September 25, 2007 and 19 December 19, 2007)

Episode 2, Series 4 can be watched here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYxhMj3DsB4

Foster, Hal, Design and Crime, London, 2002.

Relyea, Lane, ‘Allover and at Once’, in X-tra Contemporary Art Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2003, pp3-23.

James Clifford, ‘The Predicament of Culture’

If the extract from James Clifford’s book is read within a broader context, it can be taken as an example of the tendency to assume that we (an individual, a culture, a people, a nation, a world) are constantly progressing, through the invention, critique and re-evaluation of beliefs, customs and behaviours that have existed before now, or that continue to exist right now. This is to say, we believe we are always moving towards a better way of living together. In isolated cases of socio-political conflict or dispute resolution, a ‘positive’ outcome may confirm this assumption. Scientific or technological advances also add to the feeling that existence is improving all the time. Naturally, there is always an opposing view to any kind of potentially positive news; a whole system of critique, encompassing almost every way of being in the world, provides a whole range of opinions on any topic event, issue or whatever. In ‘The Predicament of Culture’, Clifford references Margaret Mead and her writing seems to hit a solid 10 on the out-dated scale. Then again, Clifford himself now seems relatively uncontroversial, whilst the tone of the article indicates a certain urgency within his claims.
My disappointment is with the inevitability of this constant to-ing and fro-ing between all manner of social organizations, individuals, political lobby groups, governments, businesses, cultural agencies, academics and so on; contest and resolution, then contest and resolution, tension and release. The giant wheel of human existence continues to roll around, appearing to go up the hill, only to fall down the other side. Sisyphus would be impressed with our persistence.
My fear is that a nihilistic philosophy is always lurking in the background, ready to turn everything into a meaningless and random collection of garbage. Any supposed new thought or method would be seen simply as a temporary variation that would eventually be replaced by another temporary variation. Believing in anything would instantly require so much more than faith and the process of contest and resolution would grind to a halt.

References

James Clifford, The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, Massachusetts, 1988, pp215-251.