THE SPAM PROJECT

One whisper and seven widely-used gestures with immediately recognizable meanings, some linked to popular phrases transcribed as acronyms, highlight how everyday use can transform powerful messages into clichés. The project invites reflection on how prolonged and deeply ingrained use on a large scale banalizes the original message while embedding it into common language. The use of wilted rose petals, employed to graphically construct the gestures, symbolizes the transience of desire, the gradual fading of pursued causes, and the notion of “now or never” in consumer culture. This same consumer culture that chews up meanings, stripping them of their original message and attributing them to trendy or obsolete fashions.