Mattias Brundin for the thinking factory

Mattias Brundin is a creative director who's worked with trend-based communication in Stockholm, London, Milan and New York. Currently he is launching a video-communication project in the EU. Explains why people choose to be stupid. Why without the influences from Situationism there would be no Banksy, no “I Fucked Gisele Bundchen” t-shirts, no Ousler projections, no Sex Pistols, no Futura 2000, no Warhol, no Vivienne Westwood. And why you better choose Guy Debort over “Jersey Shore” tonight.

Just like a bullet through cardiovascular tissue

“True force. No copyright. No rights reserved. No motorcycle emptiness. No modern life is rubbish. No time. No history. The time of life is short, and if we live, we tread on kings”.

Richey James Edwards (Written as an obituary to Guy Debord)

November 30^th, 1994, a bullet tore Guy Debord’s heart apart and death was probably instant. That is the likely outcome of a suicide elevated to the sublime symbolism of firing a revolver straight into one’s heart. Death is never fair, but some deaths are sadder than others. Personally I find Guy Debord’s suicide on pair with the passing of Bambi’s mom as well as Peggy Entwistle’s suicide jump from the “H” in the “HOLLYWOOD” sign. It hurts every time it slips into my mind.

Debord – the visionary behind the Situationist International movement and the author of the groundbreaking “The Society of the Spectacle” – felt his vision had died. His dreams faded to oblivion white and the vacuum created by loss was too much to handle. But with hindsight the basic principles of the Situationist movement is more relevant than arguably any other theory to frame our zeitgeist. Just perform a liposuction of all 68-stylee letter-leftism from the linguistics and “The Society of the Spectacle” is predicting each and every faux pas we are slipping into while dancing stupidly in the tragedy known as modern times.

It has also been a manual for art and creative expressions. Because it offers a modus operandi aiming for tomorrow, always tomorrow. That is probably why so many brilliant musicians, artists, writers and creative contemporary minds have found inspiration in Guy Debord. Punk was virtually a Situationist Manual, but less known is that key elements in hip-hop once draw inspiration from Situationism. Obviously almost all street art and urban couture have been rooted in the movement. No Banksy, no “I Fucked Gisele Bundchen” t-shirts, no Oursler projections, no Sex Pistols, no Futura 2000, no Warhol, no Vivienne Westwood, and maybe – just maybe – no Internet and social media as we know it today. Without the influences from Situationism the patchwork of contemporary culture would have been a lot thinner and substantially less interesting.

The delicate contours of Situationism are as discreetly present in haute couture designs as in the house beats at the club. On a personal note I can confess a big part of my career to Guy Debord. Some of my best work – with internationally acknowledged advertising campaigns as well as creatively exciting art concepts for the communication of opinions – has been blatantly nicked from the Situationism. I have used the slogan “Advertising is dead. Do not consume its corpse.” And I have owned a company called Moral Little Shitkickers. Go figure…

Situationism also tells us why young minds have chosen to commodify shallow stupidity and cloned themselves in Paris Hilton caricatures. This silicone lips Pierrot mask – sadly incarnated in millions of young boys and girls striving to mimic the absolute idiots from reality shows and media’s menagerie of nonsense celebrity – is nothing but a desperate way of adjusting to the hyper-reality of force-fed images in a chaotic spectacle. Acceptance is no longer in love, in sex, in intelligence or in individuality. It can only be found mindless hedonism bereft of intellect and individuality. The images of stupidity are setting a norm – blessed with a Rothko-esque acceptance of mute iconography – and this norm is starring into the abyss with a cow’s lukewarm and detached eyes. People are choosing to be stupid – to look like a plastic surgery train-wreck and hide in the narcissistically mute’s anorectic semantics – because that is the normalized way to be seen in the abattoir known as Today. It is intensely sad and long-term the cult of stupidity will kill more than medicine patents, the gun industry and religious wars combined. Do not choose “Jersey Shore” tonight, just give Guy Debord an hour of your life. He will make you live again.

Mattias Brundin