Tactical media
Encyclopedia
Tactical media is a term coined in 1997, to de note a form of media activism
that privileges temporary, hit-and-run interventions in the media sphere over the creation of permanent and alternative media
outlets. Tactical media describes interventionist media art practices that engage and critique the dominant political and economic order. Rather than taking to the streets, the practitioners of tactical media engage in aesthetic politics of disruption, intervention, and education.
The term was first introduced in the mid-1990s in Europe and the United States by media theorists and practitioners such as David Garcia, Geert Lovink
, Joanne Richardson, and the Critical Art Ensemble
. Since then, it has been used to describe the practices of a vast array of art and activist groups such as RTMark
, The Yes Men
, Electronic Disturbance Theater
, Carbon Defense League, Institute for Applied Autonomy
, 0100101110101101.ORG, Bureau of Inverse Technology, Ubermorgen
, Irational, subRosa, and I/O/D, among others.
, that is, in the critical appropriation and transformation of a preexisting work—be it an artwork, a commercial billboard, or a political campaign. In the case of tactical media, it is the media themselves to be the subject of a detournement.
The dada
movement has also been credited as an influence on tactical media, the two often used within activist campaigns. Much like it, tactical media often aims to do the opposite of the media it penetrates: it shocks and reveals an antithesis
.
Tactical media also draws from surrealism
, borrowing the idea that a "truer" experience than the present one is present. Much like surrealism, tactical media also criticizes social, political and cultural elements of a given society through its domain's techniques.
As for media-related roots, tactical media partly stem from the alternative media
created by the counterculture of the 1960s
. However, due do their temporary nature, tactical media do not tend to construct alternative media outlets, but rather appropriate existing media channels and technology to transform their usage and/or the popular understanding of their messages. In this respect, tactical media are more akin to other temporary forms of cultural and political intervention, such as guerrilla communication
and culture jamming
.
, where a certain rebirth of social, political, economical and media activism occurred . This activist spirit soon reached both media specialists and artists, creating the groundwork of tactical media. In many ways, it was made possible by the availability of cheaper technology and by open forms of distribution, such as public-access television
and the Internet
. Through tactical media, participants are able to attract attention to an issue they feel strongly about and want society to be aware of or get involved in.
Most who have written about tactical media would agree that its current form and meaning come from French philosopher Michel de Certeau
, more specifically in his 1984 essay "The Practice of Everyday Life
". As part of this essay, De Certeau debated that consumers actually act as producers within our society, moving in a technocratically constructed space and using an already established vocabulary. The importance to De Certeau is that these practices "determines the elements used, but not the 'phrasing' produced by the bricolage (the artisan-like inventiveness) and the discursiveness that combine these elements, which are all in general circulation." This distinction between the elements used within a society and the system under which they are used is critical to the study of tactical media. In his essay, De Certeau appeared to suggest that one could easily use these social elements in a creative manner that would fall outside of the system under which they are to be used.
Once this distinction was made, De Certeau also pushed forward the idea of how the elements found within a society could be used. One of these was to use them as a "tactic", which he believed to "[insinuate] itself into the other's place, fragmentarily, without taking it over in its entirety, without being able to keep it at a distance. It has at its disposal no base where it can capitalize on its advantages, prepare its expansions, and secure independence with respect to circumstances". Due to its lack of space, he also characterized a tactic to be dependent on time, needing to be constantly on the watch for opportunities that must be quickly seized or needing to manipulate events in order to turn them into opportunities.
By mixing the nature of tactics with the use of media, a new type of activism was created. It used elements of a particular system in a creative manner that fell outside its practices, creating resistance through difference. De Certeau's concept of a tactic also explains why most tactical media campaigns are quick, effective and current.
However successful a particular campaign or a particular group may be, its ultimate goal is not to replace a certain media outlet, for tactical media discourages branding because of the probable outcome that a similar cycle as the one attacked would be created once again. It must therefore be understood that tactical media never reaches a state of perfection; it is constantly changing, because it constantly needs to question the system under which it operates.
Although it is possible for tactical media to be representative of the local views of a specific area, it is usually present on a global level. There are plenty of tactical media projects that operate on a physical space, but it most often uses networked space and the Internet, making its span stretch over the entire planet. The virtual nature of the space it occupies also allows it to create new channels towards the hierarchies of power it fights against. A certain tactic does not need to attack in person or on a physical level, but it can attack virtual and free space where the dominant have little control. This important element makes a tactical media project not the work of certain identifiable individuals but an entity in itself, which most likely helps convey the message it attempts to communicate.
purchased a domain and created a website titled GWbush.com. He invited the group RTMark
to build a copy of George W. Bush
's official website, as they had done for some corporate websites.
Later, Zack Exley
changed the website to be a more mainstream satire (drawing criticism from RTMark), posting a fake press release from the Bush campaign announcing a promise to "pardon all drug prisoners as long as they've learned from their past mistakes"—a reference to Bush's past use of cocaine
. In the midst of Bush's campaign for office, the website not only received millions of hits, but also received coverage from such organizations as ABC News
, USA Today
and Newsweek
. This phenomenon can be classified as tactical media because of its conformance to its corresponding criteria.
's Zapatista Army of National Liberation
social movement decided to launch a "tactical air force". The Zapatistas' air force consisted of hundreds of paper airplanes. After throwing the planes over the fence of a federal barrack, confused troops were quick to point their rifles at the paper intruders, creating an image that conveyed a very strong message of peace versus war—the target ultimately being the government.
, McDonald's
, World Trade Organization
, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), The New York Times
and Heritage.
All of The Yes Men's media operate in a similar fashion: they will impersonate a powerful entity, and publicize or make decisions based on their own personal viewpoint. One of the most controversial but widely known works that The Yes Men have produced is a humorous video spoof where they impersonated a World Trade Organization representative, asking corporations to buy votes directly from the general public. Some other ideas that they publicized in this video spoof include the present-day influence dating from the Civil War, encouraging the idea of reviving slavery.
These video spoofs are meant to evoke emotions of outrage and absurdity. They were once successful enough to fool the public to the extent where they were able to be interviewed by CNN—however, CNN was unaware of the true identity of The Yes Men.
An example of Yes Men:
, made threats to South Park
creators, Matt Stone
and Trey Parker
, after they were offended of the show depicting their prophet Mohammed. As a tactical media rebuttal, unknown agents created a site with a similar URL to Revolution Muslim
's website showing images of a controversial comic of Mohammed (The comic shows Mohammed with a bomb as his turban and sparked a huge controversy in 2006 .), as well as a highly regarded Islamic leader kissing an Islamic child on the mouth. This website was intended to draw visitors who incorrectly typed in the URL to the Islamic website. This tactic was aiming to mock Islamic radicals who use violent tactics to get their way and then get offended that they are stereotyped as violent.
and September 12. One example of a game design studio that works in tactical media is TAKE ACTION games(TAG). The video game website www.newsgaming.com greatly embodies the idea of tactical media in video games. Newsgaming coins this name as a new genre that brings awareness to current news-related issues based on true world events, as opposed to fantasy worlds that other video games are based upon. This team of game developers contributes to the emerging culture that is largely aimed at raising awareness on important matters in a new and brilliant approach.
Another examples of tactical media within video games is The McDonald's Game; the author of this game takes power away from the executive officers of McDonald's and gives it back to the public by informing then, through rhetoric
, on how McDonald's does its business and what means they use to accomplish it.
Chris Crawford's Balance of the Planet, made in 1990, is another example of tactical media, in which the game describes environmental issues.
Best known for his homeless vehicle project. Wodiczko designed a sleeping quarters for the homeless using a device that resembled a shopping cart and inside was a designed sleeping area. He dispersed the vehicles to homeless people around New York City, envisioning a goal that raised homelessness awareness. New York City officials confiscated the vehicles so the message would not further spread.
Best known for Couple in a Cage, performances where people pretending to be extinct natives are displayed in a caged area in public. This work of art is intended to challenge the idea of preconceptions that many hold regarding other cultures.
Bustamante performs art that challenges stereotypes and constructions of identity, bringing attention to issues about personal classification and character. She is a strong proponent of individualism and personal growth: the only entity capable of forging an identity being the person him or herself.
Kaprow's work attempts to integrate art and life. Through "Happenings", the separation between life, art, artist, and audience becomes vague and open to interpretation. The "Happening
" allows the artist to experiment with human senses, deploying the involvement of sight, sound, and smell. Key elements of happenings are planned, but occasionally, artists retain room for improvisation
.
Mandiberg produces websites and Firefox plug-ins that provide information about environmental aspects of our world, such as the cost of oil. His plug-ins reshape and modify the displayed information on other websites to display an alarming point.
De Certeau helped invent the idea and methodology that is tactical media and stressed the important roles of consumers vs. producers in society.
Geert Lovink is a very influential person and has played a large role in the evolution and presence of tactical media. Lovink in a sense believes the idea of tactical media has been greatly miscued and that what this idea and title once stood for has been misinterpreted and drawn off course by falsified groups and causes that claim the title of tactical media.
In 2009, Rita Raley, Associate Professor of English at UC Santa Barbara authored a book titled "Tactical Media" published by the University of Minnesota Press in its “Electronic Mediations” series. Raley provides a critical exploration of the new media art activism that has emerged out of, and in direct response to, postindustrialism and neoliberal globalization. Throughout the book Raley analyzes projects by tactical media groups such as the DoEAT group, the Critical Art Ensemble, Electronic Civil Disobedience to name a few . Raley argues that contemporary models of resistance and dissent in fact mimic the decentralized and virtual operations of global capital in our "post-9/11 security state" to exploit and undermine the system from within .
The Yes Men are an activist duo who perform "identity correction", in which they pose as representatives of large corporations and fake moral actions (in contrast to the actual ideology of such groups). Using mass media outlets, the duo draw attention to corporate crime and often create situations in which corporations must publicly acknowledge their lack of responsibility towards disastrous events.
Andujar turns free and ope- source software into a progressive tool to reprogram the use and understanding of computers as well as social culture at large.
, as both use many of the same techniques in an attempt to occupy the public space controlled by mass media. Where the two practices differ is in their way to obtain this public space; while culture jamming consists of a response to the dominant practices within it, tactical media uses the dominant practices in order to penetrate it and become part of it. "Don't hate the media, become the media" (as coined by Jello Biafra, spoken word artist and lead singer songwriter of the Dead Kennedys) is a slogan often adopted by tactical activists and reflects this important distinction. Tactical media has also been compared to alternative media
. It differs from the latter by its manner in dealing with mass media where alternative media does not seek to infiltrate the dominant by a quick tactic; it attempts to oppose it by proposing what its name suggests: an alternative to the dominant.
Tactical media's counterpart is strategic media
: a common analogy used to describe this phenomenon is an overseer controlling the masses. They are people who are the supplier of information: examples include producers, authors, and educators. They promote ideas that typically only benefit them, whereas tactical media tends to broadcast a message that criticizes a powerful entity, such as a corporation or strong organization.
There is some debate that tactical media resembles a strategy more than a tactic.
Much of the tactical media projects are fueled by information warfare and has also been accused to be closely linked to propaganda
. The high value of aesthetics placed within a project is said to be the element that enables the transfer of this information, parallel to how propaganda functions.
Media activism
Media activism is activism that uses media and communication technologies for social movement, and/or tries to change policies relating to media and communication ....
that privileges temporary, hit-and-run interventions in the media sphere over the creation of permanent and alternative media
Alternative media
Alternative media are media which provide alternative information to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned...
outlets. Tactical media describes interventionist media art practices that engage and critique the dominant political and economic order. Rather than taking to the streets, the practitioners of tactical media engage in aesthetic politics of disruption, intervention, and education.
The term was first introduced in the mid-1990s in Europe and the United States by media theorists and practitioners such as David Garcia, Geert Lovink
Geert Lovink
Geert Lovink is a Research Professor of Interactive Media at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam , a Professor of Media Theory at the European Graduate School, and an Associate Professor of New Media at the University of Amsterdam...
, Joanne Richardson, and the Critical Art Ensemble
Critical Art Ensemble
Critical Art Ensemble is an award-winning collective of five tactical media practitioners of various specializations including computer graphics and web design, film/video, photography, text art, book art, and performance. For CAE, tactical media is situational, ephemeral, and self-terminating...
. Since then, it has been used to describe the practices of a vast array of art and activist groups such as RTMark
RTMark
RTMark is an activist collective that subverts the "Corporate Shield" protecting US corporations. The name is derived from "Registered Trademark"....
, The Yes Men
The Yes Men
The Yes Men are a culture jamming activist duo and network of supporters created by Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos. Through actions of tactical media, The Yes Men primarily aim to raise awareness about what they consider problematic social issues. To date, the duo has produced two films: The Yes Men...
, Electronic Disturbance Theater
Electronic Disturbance Theater
Ricardo Dominguez, Brett Stalbaum, Stefan Wray, and Carmin Karasic are collectively known as The Electronic Disturbance Theater or EDT for short. Taking the idea of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the EDT members always used their real names. They never concealed their identities...
, Carbon Defense League, Institute for Applied Autonomy
Institute for Applied Autonomy
"The Institute for Applied Autonomy was founded in 1998 as a technological research and development organization dedicated to the cause of individual and collective self-determination...
, 0100101110101101.ORG, Bureau of Inverse Technology, Ubermorgen
Ubermorgen
UBERMORGEN.COM is a swiss-austrian-american artist duo founded in 1995 by lizvlx and Hans Bernhard. They live and work in Vienna, Basel and S-Chanf near St...
, Irational, subRosa, and I/O/D, among others.
Roots
Although tactical media borrows from a number of artistic and political movements, it has been suggested that much of its techniques are rooted in the Situationist idea of detournementDetournement
A détournement is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Letterist International, and consist in "turning expressions of the capitalist system against itself." Détournement was prominently used to set up subversive political pranks, an influential tactic called situationist prank that was...
, that is, in the critical appropriation and transformation of a preexisting work—be it an artwork, a commercial billboard, or a political campaign. In the case of tactical media, it is the media themselves to be the subject of a detournement.
The dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
movement has also been credited as an influence on tactical media, the two often used within activist campaigns. Much like it, tactical media often aims to do the opposite of the media it penetrates: it shocks and reveals an antithesis
Antithesis
Antithesis is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition...
.
Tactical media also draws from surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
, borrowing the idea that a "truer" experience than the present one is present. Much like surrealism, tactical media also criticizes social, political and cultural elements of a given society through its domain's techniques.
As for media-related roots, tactical media partly stem from the alternative media
Alternative media
Alternative media are media which provide alternative information to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned...
created by the counterculture of the 1960s
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
. However, due do their temporary nature, tactical media do not tend to construct alternative media outlets, but rather appropriate existing media channels and technology to transform their usage and/or the popular understanding of their messages. In this respect, tactical media are more akin to other temporary forms of cultural and political intervention, such as guerrilla communication
Guerrilla communication
Guerrilla communication and communication guerrilla refer to an attempt to provoke subversive effects through interventions in the process of communication....
and culture jamming
Culture jamming
Culture jamming, coined in 1984, denotes a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Guerrilla semiotics and night discourse are sometimes used synonymously with the term culture jamming.Culture...
.
Origins
Tactical media is said to have risen following the fall of the Berlin WallBerlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
, where a certain rebirth of social, political, economical and media activism occurred . This activist spirit soon reached both media specialists and artists, creating the groundwork of tactical media. In many ways, it was made possible by the availability of cheaper technology and by open forms of distribution, such as public-access television
Public-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Through tactical media, participants are able to attract attention to an issue they feel strongly about and want society to be aware of or get involved in.
Most who have written about tactical media would agree that its current form and meaning come from French philosopher Michel de Certeau
Michel de Certeau
Michel de Certeau was a French Jesuit and scholar whose work combined history, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and the social sciences.-Education:...
, more specifically in his 1984 essay "The Practice of Everyday Life
The Practice of Everyday Life
The Practice of Everyday Life is a book by Michel de Certeau which examines the ways in which people individualise mass culture, altering things, from utilitarian objects to street plans to rituals, laws and language, in order to make them their own. It was originally published in French as...
". As part of this essay, De Certeau debated that consumers actually act as producers within our society, moving in a technocratically constructed space and using an already established vocabulary. The importance to De Certeau is that these practices "determines the elements used, but not the 'phrasing' produced by the bricolage (the artisan-like inventiveness) and the discursiveness that combine these elements, which are all in general circulation." This distinction between the elements used within a society and the system under which they are used is critical to the study of tactical media. In his essay, De Certeau appeared to suggest that one could easily use these social elements in a creative manner that would fall outside of the system under which they are to be used.
Once this distinction was made, De Certeau also pushed forward the idea of how the elements found within a society could be used. One of these was to use them as a "tactic", which he believed to "[insinuate] itself into the other's place, fragmentarily, without taking it over in its entirety, without being able to keep it at a distance. It has at its disposal no base where it can capitalize on its advantages, prepare its expansions, and secure independence with respect to circumstances". Due to its lack of space, he also characterized a tactic to be dependent on time, needing to be constantly on the watch for opportunities that must be quickly seized or needing to manipulate events in order to turn them into opportunities.
By mixing the nature of tactics with the use of media, a new type of activism was created. It used elements of a particular system in a creative manner that fell outside its practices, creating resistance through difference. De Certeau's concept of a tactic also explains why most tactical media campaigns are quick, effective and current.
However successful a particular campaign or a particular group may be, its ultimate goal is not to replace a certain media outlet, for tactical media discourages branding because of the probable outcome that a similar cycle as the one attacked would be created once again. It must therefore be understood that tactical media never reaches a state of perfection; it is constantly changing, because it constantly needs to question the system under which it operates.
Although it is possible for tactical media to be representative of the local views of a specific area, it is usually present on a global level. There are plenty of tactical media projects that operate on a physical space, but it most often uses networked space and the Internet, making its span stretch over the entire planet. The virtual nature of the space it occupies also allows it to create new channels towards the hierarchies of power it fights against. A certain tactic does not need to attack in person or on a physical level, but it can attack virtual and free space where the dominant have little control. This important element makes a tactical media project not the work of certain identifiable individuals but an entity in itself, which most likely helps convey the message it attempts to communicate.
Examples
Tactical media projects are often a mix between art and activism, which explains why many of its roots can be traced to various art movements. It has been suggested by tactical media theorist Geert Lovink that "discourse plus art equals spectacle" , reflecting its striking and memorable nature. Although there are no strict mediums through which it operates, tactical media can often have very high aesthetic value, adding to its "spectacle" and reinforcing some of its artistic roots.GWbush.com
In 1998, computer programmer and political activist Zack ExleyZack Exley
Zack Exley is a political and technology consultant, currently employed as the Chief Community Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation and previously from ThoughtWorks, a global IT consultancy...
purchased a domain and created a website titled GWbush.com. He invited the group RTMark
RTMark
RTMark is an activist collective that subverts the "Corporate Shield" protecting US corporations. The name is derived from "Registered Trademark"....
to build a copy of George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's official website, as they had done for some corporate websites.
Later, Zack Exley
Zack Exley
Zack Exley is a political and technology consultant, currently employed as the Chief Community Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation and previously from ThoughtWorks, a global IT consultancy...
changed the website to be a more mainstream satire (drawing criticism from RTMark), posting a fake press release from the Bush campaign announcing a promise to "pardon all drug prisoners as long as they've learned from their past mistakes"—a reference to Bush's past use of cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
. In the midst of Bush's campaign for office, the website not only received millions of hits, but also received coverage from such organizations as ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
and Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
. This phenomenon can be classified as tactical media because of its conformance to its corresponding criteria.
Tactical air force
In 2000, MexicoMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
's Zapatista Army of National Liberation
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a revolutionary leftist group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico....
social movement decided to launch a "tactical air force". The Zapatistas' air force consisted of hundreds of paper airplanes. After throwing the planes over the fence of a federal barrack, confused troops were quick to point their rifles at the paper intruders, creating an image that conveyed a very strong message of peace versus war—the target ultimately being the government.
The Yes Men
The Yes Men are an organization who mimic their subject through certain mediums: examples include counterfeiting sites and creating fake videos. They will mimic their criticized subject, designed to fool the general public into believing their alternate identity. Examples of organizations and corporations that The Yes Men have successfully impersonated (and criticized) are Dow Chemicals, ExxonMobilExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
, McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
, World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and Heritage.
All of The Yes Men's media operate in a similar fashion: they will impersonate a powerful entity, and publicize or make decisions based on their own personal viewpoint. One of the most controversial but widely known works that The Yes Men have produced is a humorous video spoof where they impersonated a World Trade Organization representative, asking corporations to buy votes directly from the general public. Some other ideas that they publicized in this video spoof include the present-day influence dating from the Civil War, encouraging the idea of reviving slavery.
These video spoofs are meant to evoke emotions of outrage and absurdity. They were once successful enough to fool the public to the extent where they were able to be interviewed by CNN—however, CNN was unaware of the true identity of The Yes Men.
An example of Yes Men:
Revolution Islam
In April 2010, a radical Islamic group, Revolution MuslimRevolution Muslim
Revolution Muslim is a radical Islamist organization and hate group based in New York City that advocates the establishment of a traditionalist Islamic state, the removal of the current rulers in heavily Muslim populated nations, the destruction of Israel, and an end to what they consider "Western...
, made threats to South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
creators, Matt Stone
Matt Stone
Matthew Richard "Matt" Stone is an American screenwriter, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of South Park along with creative partner and best friend, Trey Parker....
and Trey Parker
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
, after they were offended of the show depicting their prophet Mohammed. As a tactical media rebuttal, unknown agents created a site with a similar URL to Revolution Muslim
Revolution Muslim
Revolution Muslim is a radical Islamist organization and hate group based in New York City that advocates the establishment of a traditionalist Islamic state, the removal of the current rulers in heavily Muslim populated nations, the destruction of Israel, and an end to what they consider "Western...
's website showing images of a controversial comic of Mohammed (The comic shows Mohammed with a bomb as his turban and sparked a huge controversy in 2006 .), as well as a highly regarded Islamic leader kissing an Islamic child on the mouth. This website was intended to draw visitors who incorrectly typed in the URL to the Islamic website. This tactic was aiming to mock Islamic radicals who use violent tactics to get their way and then get offended that they are stereotyped as violent.
RiP: A Remix Manifesto
Brett Gaylor, an avid Web activist, created a documentary entitled "RiP: A Remix Manifesto", which was dedicated to defending deejay Girl Talk, who had been accused by top record labels with copyright infringement. Although Girl Talk samples songs from other artists, Gaylor suggests that copyrights should be distributed according to the creator of the music as a whole, rather than who holds the ownership for specific songs. Moreover, he argues that Girl Talk should be the owner of his own mash-ups that he created, despite ownership conflicts. This represents tactical media well, because an ordinary person with a mindset can create a temporary power of reversal with Girl Talk's adversaries.Tactical media in video games
Video games have opened a whole new approach and canvas for tactical media artists. This form of media allows for a wide range of audiences to be informed on a specific issue or idea. Some examples of games that touch on Tactical Media are Darfur is DyingDarfur is Dying
Darfur is Dying is a flash-based browser game about the crisis in Darfur, western Sudan. The game won the Darfur Digital Activist Contest sponsored by mtvU. Released in April 2006, more than 800,000 people had played by September...
and September 12. One example of a game design studio that works in tactical media is TAKE ACTION games(TAG). The video game website www.newsgaming.com greatly embodies the idea of tactical media in video games. Newsgaming coins this name as a new genre that brings awareness to current news-related issues based on true world events, as opposed to fantasy worlds that other video games are based upon. This team of game developers contributes to the emerging culture that is largely aimed at raising awareness on important matters in a new and brilliant approach.
Another examples of tactical media within video games is The McDonald's Game; the author of this game takes power away from the executive officers of McDonald's and gives it back to the public by informing then, through rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
, on how McDonald's does its business and what means they use to accomplish it.
Chris Crawford's Balance of the Planet, made in 1990, is another example of tactical media, in which the game describes environmental issues.
Tactical media artists
- Krzysztof WodiczkoKrzysztof WodiczkoKrzysztof Wodiczko, born April 16th 1943, is an artist renowned for his large-scale slide and video projections on architectural facades and monuments...
Best known for his homeless vehicle project. Wodiczko designed a sleeping quarters for the homeless using a device that resembled a shopping cart and inside was a designed sleeping area. He dispersed the vehicles to homeless people around New York City, envisioning a goal that raised homelessness awareness. New York City officials confiscated the vehicles so the message would not further spread.
- Guillermo Gómez-PeñaGuillermo Gómez-PeñaGuillermo Gómez-Peña was born in Mexico City and moved to the US in 1978, where he established himself as a performance artist, writer, activist, and educator. He has pioneered multiple media, including performance art, experimental radio, video, performance photography and installation art...
and Coco FuscoCoco FuscoCoco Fusco is a Cuban-American interdisciplinary artist and writer who began her career in 1988. Fusco has performed and curated throughout America and internationally, and currently is full-time faculty in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design...
Best known for Couple in a Cage, performances where people pretending to be extinct natives are displayed in a caged area in public. This work of art is intended to challenge the idea of preconceptions that many hold regarding other cultures.
- Nao Bustamante
Bustamante performs art that challenges stereotypes and constructions of identity, bringing attention to issues about personal classification and character. She is a strong proponent of individualism and personal growth: the only entity capable of forging an identity being the person him or herself.
- Allan KaprowAllan KaprowAllan Kaprow was an American painter, assemblagist and a pioneer in establishing the concepts of performance art. He helped to develop the "Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as their theory. His Happenings - some 200 of them - evolved over the years...
Kaprow's work attempts to integrate art and life. Through "Happenings", the separation between life, art, artist, and audience becomes vague and open to interpretation. The "Happening
Happening
A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere , are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience...
" allows the artist to experiment with human senses, deploying the involvement of sight, sound, and smell. Key elements of happenings are planned, but occasionally, artists retain room for improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
.
- Michael MandibergMichael MandibergMichael Mandiberg is an artist, programmer, designer and educator. His work spans web applications about environmental impact, to conceptual performances about subjectivity, to laser cut lampshades for compact fluorescent lightbulbs....
Mandiberg produces websites and Firefox plug-ins that provide information about environmental aspects of our world, such as the cost of oil. His plug-ins reshape and modify the displayed information on other websites to display an alarming point.
- ["How Much it Costs Us" http://howmuchitcosts.us/]
- ["Oil Standards" http://turbulence.org/Works/oilstandard/]
- Michel de CerteauMichel de CerteauMichel de Certeau was a French Jesuit and scholar whose work combined history, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and the social sciences.-Education:...
De Certeau helped invent the idea and methodology that is tactical media and stressed the important roles of consumers vs. producers in society.
- David Garcia
- Geert LovinkGeert LovinkGeert Lovink is a Research Professor of Interactive Media at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam , a Professor of Media Theory at the European Graduate School, and an Associate Professor of New Media at the University of Amsterdam...
Geert Lovink is a very influential person and has played a large role in the evolution and presence of tactical media. Lovink in a sense believes the idea of tactical media has been greatly miscued and that what this idea and title once stood for has been misinterpreted and drawn off course by falsified groups and causes that claim the title of tactical media.
In 2009, Rita Raley, Associate Professor of English at UC Santa Barbara authored a book titled "Tactical Media" published by the University of Minnesota Press in its “Electronic Mediations” series. Raley provides a critical exploration of the new media art activism that has emerged out of, and in direct response to, postindustrialism and neoliberal globalization. Throughout the book Raley analyzes projects by tactical media groups such as the DoEAT group, the Critical Art Ensemble, Electronic Civil Disobedience to name a few . Raley argues that contemporary models of resistance and dissent in fact mimic the decentralized and virtual operations of global capital in our "post-9/11 security state" to exploit and undermine the system from within .
- The Yes MenThe Yes MenThe Yes Men are a culture jamming activist duo and network of supporters created by Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos. Through actions of tactical media, The Yes Men primarily aim to raise awareness about what they consider problematic social issues. To date, the duo has produced two films: The Yes Men...
The Yes Men are an activist duo who perform "identity correction", in which they pose as representatives of large corporations and fake moral actions (in contrast to the actual ideology of such groups). Using mass media outlets, the duo draw attention to corporate crime and often create situations in which corporations must publicly acknowledge their lack of responsibility towards disastrous events.
- Daniel García AndújarDaniel García AndújarDaniel García Andújar is a visual media artist, activist and art theorist from Spain. He lives and works in Barcelona. His work has been exhibited widely, including Manifesta 4 and the Venice Biennale...
/ Technologies To The People.
Andujar turns free and ope- source software into a progressive tool to reprogram the use and understanding of computers as well as social culture at large.
- X-Devian and the Reprogramming of Free Software Culture
- The Art of Hacking –or: Communication Guerrilla as Artistic Practice with New Media
Comparisons
It has often been compared to culture jammingCulture jamming
Culture jamming, coined in 1984, denotes a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Guerrilla semiotics and night discourse are sometimes used synonymously with the term culture jamming.Culture...
, as both use many of the same techniques in an attempt to occupy the public space controlled by mass media. Where the two practices differ is in their way to obtain this public space; while culture jamming consists of a response to the dominant practices within it, tactical media uses the dominant practices in order to penetrate it and become part of it. "Don't hate the media, become the media" (as coined by Jello Biafra, spoken word artist and lead singer songwriter of the Dead Kennedys) is a slogan often adopted by tactical activists and reflects this important distinction. Tactical media has also been compared to alternative media
Alternative media
Alternative media are media which provide alternative information to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned...
. It differs from the latter by its manner in dealing with mass media where alternative media does not seek to infiltrate the dominant by a quick tactic; it attempts to oppose it by proposing what its name suggests: an alternative to the dominant.
Tactical media versus strategic media
Tactical media is described as the rebellious user—examples of media tacticians include hackers, street rappers, or an innocent bystander filming an incident. An important factor in tactical media is the idea of "ground level" work, meaning that a power struggle exists: ordinary people who do not possess status or capital utilize technology to create a temporary reversal of power. Certain aspects that strengthen the magnitude of tactical media can include crisis, criticism, critique, or absurdity—in order to convey a social message.Tactical media's counterpart is strategic media
Strategic media
Strategic media runs opposed to tactical media in the sense that it is power coming from a "higher" entity to control those with less power. It is essentially the material that larger media companies screen to the masses...
: a common analogy used to describe this phenomenon is an overseer controlling the masses. They are people who are the supplier of information: examples include producers, authors, and educators. They promote ideas that typically only benefit them, whereas tactical media tends to broadcast a message that criticizes a powerful entity, such as a corporation or strong organization.
There is some debate that tactical media resembles a strategy more than a tactic.
Criticism
Although a crucial element of tactical media states that ordinary citizens of society are performing the criticism, some say that even everyday people may have skewed intentions or opinions that do not represent the societal ideals as a whole..Much of the tactical media projects are fueled by information warfare and has also been accused to be closely linked to propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
. The high value of aesthetics placed within a project is said to be the element that enables the transfer of this information, parallel to how propaganda functions.
Tactical media organizations
- Critical Art EnsembleCritical Art EnsembleCritical Art Ensemble is an award-winning collective of five tactical media practitioners of various specializations including computer graphics and web design, film/video, photography, text art, book art, and performance. For CAE, tactical media is situational, ephemeral, and self-terminating...
- Meme-Rider Media Team
- Next 5 Minutes
- RTMarkRTMarkRTMark is an activist collective that subverts the "Corporate Shield" protecting US corporations. The name is derived from "Registered Trademark"....
- The Yes MenThe Yes MenThe Yes Men are a culture jamming activist duo and network of supporters created by Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos. Through actions of tactical media, The Yes Men primarily aim to raise awareness about what they consider problematic social issues. To date, the duo has produced two films: The Yes Men...
- TelestreetTelestreetTelestreet is an Italian movement that set up pirate TV stations in several metropolian areas in Italy. The movement has started up in Bologna with a small transmitting station, OrfeoTv, which was founded by media theorist and activist Franco "Bifo" Berardi; since June 2002, this micro-tv has been...
- Preemptive Media
- Institute for Applied AutonomyInstitute for Applied Autonomy"The Institute for Applied Autonomy was founded in 1998 as a technological research and development organization dedicated to the cause of individual and collective self-determination...
- Memefest, international festival of radical communication
- DoEAT group
External links
- Tactical Media Files - This website creates a space for viewing and storing information past and present of examples and demonstrations of tactical media.
- Jane-Finch.com
- Critical Art Ensemble
- Institute for Applied Autonomy
- Hactivist
- Next 5 Minutes
- Memefest, international festival of radical communication
- Mídia Tática Brasil
- Shoot an Iraqi
- Tracking Transcience
- The ABC of Tactical Media
- Google Art, or How to Hack Google
- Tactical Media, NYU
- Media justice
- Electronic Civil Disobedience