A Christmas Commodity (Fall 2008)
Guy Debord’s book, Society of the Spectacle, explains how people care more for their belongings than for each other. This project depicts a reversal of commodification by arranging real people, like mannequins, at Christmas in the Park in downtown San Jose, Ca. This annual holiday tradition aims to gather people in downtown, thus bringing more consumers to the area during the season. By arranging the “mannequins” in this piece essentially uses the capitalistic stage set by society to illustrate the ultimate commodification – that of people. This in turn shifts the focus of the spectacle from the over consumption of material goods back to the individual people in society.