In 1967 Debord wrote a harsh criticism of societal practices in France. It was revolutionary and has since sparked a dedicated following of critics and theorists. In his critique he launched an attack on the commodity and fetishist driven culture in 20th century France. Through the medium of film, Debord published his theory visually, to reinforce his commentary he published alongside the film, a written text that was littered with quotes from Marx, Machiavelli and Clausewitz. Through the feature length film he deconstructed the mass marketing that was a rising feature of French culture and demonstrated the role it played in the growing divide between the desires of the individual verses the desire of the group in France at the time.
Throughout the collage style film, the quotes that appear in subtitles and in the commentary are deliberately wrong. Debord intended the audience to be active and to raise a question in regards to whether what they are being told was the truth. In 1960s France this raised queries regarding the recent explosion of advertising in the public sphere, but in regards to our site, these questions could be applied to the truths being claimed around the Usher and Collection. The Usher Gallery was officially opened on the 25th May 1927 by HRH The Prince of Wales and has since been a permanent feature of education and public display. In a gallery or museum it is a fact, taken for granted, that the coordinators and curators of the displays will have thoroughly researched their piece, have the correct history. So what would happen if this information turned out to be incorrect? The assumption we all make when we walk into a museum could prove a fatalistic fact that, by the way it displays the information, an institution could manipulate the patrons.
In relation to our specific performance, we are acting on behalf of the female artists. Our caveat to this claim of shared heritage, as women, is to not misrepresent the male artists also featured in the gallery. Just because there is the majority of male artists presented to the visitors does not mean the gallery organization is itself gender biased. We must look beyond that and to the time frames each of the art works. Up until the late 20th century men were perceived as the breadwinners and the dominant figure in the household. So the professions of the era, including artists, will reflect this in its proportional representation. To be fair and honest in our representation of women, we must be fair and make statements that do not defame or belittle the work of the men who have created the work featured.
So, which approach do we take, claiming that women are under-represented and therefore in need of artists that may be of a lesser caliber than the male artists they will replace being shown. Or do we take the stance of a commentary, purely being there to draw attention to the imbalance? This is the next step we must to defining our final performance. Therefore we still progress.
Title Banner. (The Film Archive NZ) http://www.filmarchive.org.nz/now-showing/the-society-of-the-spectacle-3/view/2013-05-06 (accessed 24.3.14)