Rituals for sale — UnQualified

FIELDWORK BLOG

Shane Sugrue

This blog records the ongoing fieldwork portion of my research into participatory art, performance and public celebration as modes of political action fostering civic engagement. Considering cultural activities such as festivals, street parades, and large-scale art installations as forms of ritualised spatial practice, or theatre, this project uses the methods of architectural design to examine the material and spatial dimensions of these activities in order to determine the social and political role they might play. This work is carried out as part of the MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design (MAUD) at the Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge.

Having been embedded within a community of artists, activists and community organisers in Brisbane over the last number of years, I have made the observation that participating in the production of grassroots cultural events is often a transformative experience for participants of diverse backgrounds, challenging their preconceptions of place, identity, and community, heightening their expectations of democratic participation and accountable governance, and empowering them to exercise creative agency. Drawing on my experience as both a participant and organiser of these events, my aim with this research is to develop a methodology for design practice that a) validates this observation, and b) can be repeated in new contexts. In order to do this, I have proposed to undertake a series of design experiments that seek to enact this type of transformative participation. A pilot study presented the first set of these tests – a series of paper design exercises through which I have developed a theoretical approach and a concept design proposal. The fieldwork period is taken as an opportunity to further develop these in a series of full-scale built and performed interventions in-situ. These will be undertaken in collaboration with arts practitioners and cultural organisations in Brisbane, and paired with detailed site and context analysis, in order to develop a schematic design proposal to be carried forward into the next phase of the project.

“Advertising is a means of contributing meaning and values that are necessary and useful to people in structuring their lives, their casual relationships, and their rituals”

- Frank, Thomas. 2000. One Market under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism, and the End of Economic Democracy. New York: Doubleday.

Quoting a pamphlet on account planning (ie. marketing strategy) Thomas Frank highlights the deployment of anthropological concepts - ritual, value, and meaning - in contemporary “marketing theory” as evidence that branding has become one of the primary means by which people in capitalist society construct our understandings of the universe. Brands are no longer simply markers of quality or familiarity - they are holistic, dynamic entities, defined as much by their target audience as by the commodities they represent.

The product and its consumer - the influencer and the influenced - have become inseparable. We are the brand.

Rituals - a Japanese cosmetics chain - suggests that its range of perfumes, soaps, and incenses will help us to discover deeper meaning in our everyday routines. Edgy street art outside their East Williamsburg store lends this claim an air of prophe… — *Rituals* - a Japanese cosmetics chain - suggests that its range of perfumes, soaps, and incenses will help us to discover deeper meaning in our everyday routines. Edgy street art outside their East Williamsburg store lends this claim an air of prophetic insight. What reads initially as a simple grammatical slip up “Rituals helps..” becomes, upon further inspection, a careful deployment of the brand name. A sub-functional bicycle reinforces the point, telling us of outlets in Paris, London and Amsterdam.