Capitalism Sells!
Stone
The instant you place something behind a display window, it gains an attraction for us to consume it. In other words, it becomes a commodity (an object that arouses an “irrational” desire to acquire and consume without necessarily being useful or needed). But is it true that any commodity put on the market will find a buyer?
Recently the whole world witnessed the Greek protests which began after the police murdered a young boy. The protests soon spread wider and turned to a full-on 'anarchist' rebellion against the Greek government. Throughout this rebellion, as well as many actions around the world before it, stones have been used to destroy the windows of shops, stores and banks which are seen as the towers of capitalism.
Stones have something earthly, natural and innocent about them when compared to a tank for instance (although no less deadly if aimed right). Free and easily available, they seem like the perfect weapons of the weak, the poor and the dispossessed.
Capitalism is of course capitalism for having been able to package such free resources of the earth and sell it back to us. Even pieces of the Berlin Wall are on sale as “pieces of history” or “symbols of freedom” starting from $55 up to $12,000 (there is one suitable for each income range).
Going a step further I would like to use the stone as an anarchist symbol in my work, to criticize directly with the symbolic tools of destruction. The anarchist stone doesn't go down as easily as the Berlin Wall piece and seems less commodifiable.
What happens when the anarchist stone itself is imagined as a commodity considering it was intended for destroying shop windows where such commodities were displayed?
Can capitalism assimilate this subversive symbol and ultimately sell it too? Especially considering the fact that there is a commodity value of such assimilated concepts and ideals as “rebellion” and “freedom” appropriated far and wide by capitalist marketing.
Using this hot example and the shop window itself, I would like to ask again “Is there anything that capitalism cannot sell?”
Recently the whole world witnessed the Greek protests which began after the police murdered a young boy. The protests soon spread wider and turned to a full-on 'anarchist' rebellion against the Greek government. Throughout this rebellion, as well as many actions around the world before it, stones have been used to destroy the windows of shops, stores and banks which are seen as the towers of capitalism.
Stones have something earthly, natural and innocent about them when compared to a tank for instance (although no less deadly if aimed right). Free and easily available, they seem like the perfect weapons of the weak, the poor and the dispossessed.
Capitalism is of course capitalism for having been able to package such free resources of the earth and sell it back to us. Even pieces of the Berlin Wall are on sale as “pieces of history” or “symbols of freedom” starting from $55 up to $12,000 (there is one suitable for each income range).
Going a step further I would like to use the stone as an anarchist symbol in my work, to criticize directly with the symbolic tools of destruction. The anarchist stone doesn't go down as easily as the Berlin Wall piece and seems less commodifiable.
What happens when the anarchist stone itself is imagined as a commodity considering it was intended for destroying shop windows where such commodities were displayed?
Can capitalism assimilate this subversive symbol and ultimately sell it too? Especially considering the fact that there is a commodity value of such assimilated concepts and ideals as “rebellion” and “freedom” appropriated far and wide by capitalist marketing.
Using this hot example and the shop window itself, I would like to ask again “Is there anything that capitalism cannot sell?”
