"In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all life presents as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation."
Guy Debord
It is beyond doubt that contemporary society is the most visible and visual of all times. Vilém Flusser refers to both the visible and the visual; the “visible" in reference to that even a fruit seller in New Delhi can see what is currently happening on a live screen of a gay parade in Paris. And “visual" in the sense that the gay parade's communication strategy is potentially reaching everyone in the world with the use of branding, broadcasting, event promotion, PR, etc.
Is this unprecedented visuality and visibility of our modern world the result of a struggle for power? A "Society of the Spectacle" as stated by Guy Debord?
‘STAGE 21’ is a Graphic Design year 2 student exhibition answering these questions with collaborative projects encompassing and dealing with different perspectives of what a spectacle in the 21st century could be.
This event refers directly to the Society of the Spectacle, where economic and societal interactions are depicted to be a ‘staged’ spectacle that hides (or harms) real life and human values. Hence, we live on a stage where we are constantly being faced with a 'back-staged' truth.