I recently used a Lady Gaga music video to make a piece of work after having the song stuck in my head due subconscious and involuntary over listening. After recent lectures on Guy Deboard's society of the spectacle, discussions arose as to how one may be able to escape the cycle of art as a commodity. One possible way, I believe, is to use current media in a parody or pastiche format thus create genuinely original material. I tried to stick to an idea of minimalist action, regarding manipulation of the Gaga video and slowed the video down gradually, beginning at 100% speed and ending at 0%. With this simple abstraction a whole world of Gaga degradation was revealed, parts that are normally censored by the speed they flash past became visible and the 3 minute video was lengthened to 17 minutes becoming almost unbearable to watch after the first 10.
It seems that at this level of stardom, there is a possibility to reach and influence so many people all over the world. I find this an interesting fact and I would like to see how opinions change of such celebrities could be changed with very simple manipulations to the 'work' they produce.
