Have you seen 'Czech Dream'? It's a documentary made by some film students commenting on the rise of commercialism in Czech. The film makers successfully promoted a non-existent Hypermart. (4000 people turned up to the opening of the 'Hypermart').
The film may primarily be satire about the dramatic political/social/economic change in Czech, but it made me re-think promotion. Promotion that isn't about many people turn up to a 'non-existent Hypermart'. But more subtly starting something which has a slow-burn effect rather than an immediate bombastic one. Something that may take time (and does not adhere to the PPD university due dates), is well considered, has a body of work to support it and ultimately has longevity and creative integrity. Like this blog?
1 comment:
I haven't seen it, but I agree with what you're saying about promotion.
To me it's analogous to what happens with music sometimes; you buy an album because you immediately loved one song that you heard on there, and there's another song that gets your attention somehow but you don't immediately like it. So you cane the first song and play it a few times every day for a couple of weeks and then somehow it loses it's meaning and you never listen to it again. But the other song won't go away, and you keep coming back to it and eventually it becomes a 'grower' - something you have learnt to love and you'll keep listening to it for years to come.
I guess the investment that you put into understanding it creates a stronger bond than you might have with something that immediately pleases you aesthetically.
I'd prefer this blog to become something that grows slowly, and rhizomically - somethin that becomes genuinely useful and enlightening for contributors and visitors. And hopefully something that challenges the traditional heirarchical model of the 'promoter' and 'promoted' that is so integral to the way that art is shown and criticised right now.
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