{"id":834,"date":"2008-11-21T02:07:46","date_gmt":"2008-11-21T06:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/?p=834"},"modified":"2008-11-21T02:23:55","modified_gmt":"2008-11-21T06:23:55","slug":"counter-cultural-implementation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/2008\/11\/21\/counter-cultural-implementation\/","title":{"rendered":"Counter-Cultural “Implementation”"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Implementation<\/span><\/cite> is a novel about psychological warfare, American Imperialism, sex, terror, identity, and the idea of place,” says Nick Montfort and Scott Rettberg. As interesting and relevant as such themes are I think that \u201cImplementation\u201d is less about the short novel\u2019s themes, then it’s about how such themes are disseminated — which interestingly enough can be a theme in itself.<\/p>\n

If it was about the theme of psychological warfare — as some people say it\u2019s — then why did the authors decided to use a white backdrop instead of a red one? If I would see a piece of red paper on an airplane — one gentleman from Europe decided that KLM\u2019s interior was in for a redecoration — with a beginning phrase that says \u201cTerror is easier to sell then shoes,\u201d then I would say that \u201cImplementation\u2019s\u201d theme was more than adequately conveyed. However, \u201cImplementation\u201d as it is draws no attention to itself, let alone to its themes, since unless I was looking for a small white sheet of paper there is no way that I can find it in downtown New York or Tokyo.<\/p>\n

As I said before, I believe that the true message of the work comes from the way it\u2019s delivered — like a virus through the internet. If we look at the work from that context, then its theme is not about American Imperialism anymore, but instead about how a counter-cultural movement begins and works. Perhaps I interpreted \u201cImplementation\u201d that way, because I still remember how graffiti spread all over the world, and like a virus, evolved to fit every nation\u2019s need in protesting the direction their culture was heading. The same way, if we look at the individual images in \u201cImplementation\u201d from different countries, we can see that they evolve and are placed on different symbolic institutions.<\/p>\n

Seeing a white piece of paper with a short phrase from \u201cImplementation\u201d in front of the Louvre, where a wealth of traditional art is kept, reminded me of the counter-cultural movement in art. What is art? A piece of paper placed on a wall, or Leonardo Da Vinci\u2019s Mona Lisa? I guess it\u2019s up to us to decide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Implementation is a novel about psychological warfare, American Imperialism, sex, terror, identity, and the idea of place,” says Nick Montfort and Scott Rettberg. As interesting and relevant as such themes are I think that \u201cImplementation\u201d is less about the short novel\u2019s themes, then it’s about how such themes are disseminated — which interestingly enough can … Continue reading Counter-Cultural “Implementation”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[109,108,111,110],"class_list":["post-834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections","tag-counter-culture","tag-implementation","tag-art","tag-graffiti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834\/revisions\/840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/fall2008\/343\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}