SUPER DEMOCRACY - The Senate of Things

Three cultural institutions enter into a dialogue with the Belgian Senate during the exhibition SUPERDEMOCRACY, which is on display throughout October. BPS22 in Charleroi, BOZAR in Brussels and M HKA in Antwerp provide a cultural dimension to the Senate’s current issues.

1.10.2017 - 31.10.2017

ECONOMIE / ECONOMY / WIRTSCHAFT

(c)image: BPS22, Charleroi
Corporate Armies, 2008
Video

Corporate Armies is a film that PSJM created in 2008, in collaboration with the graphic designer Naone for the 3D realisation, the screenwriter Emiliano Gonzales and the sound artist Esteban Riuz for the soundtrack. This project was developed following the adoption of the ‘Self-Defense Law in Russia in 2007. This law allows the big companies of the country, Gazprom and Transneft, to have their own army. Corporate Armies imagines, in the form of fiction, the consequences of such a political decision that could lead to a Third World War, opposing not nations, but private companies. The video features the Wal-Mart / Visa coalition army attacking Nike companies.

PSJM apply a series of strategies used in the world of marketing to create their video: very short sequences of 3D images; an emphasised voice recalling that of catastrophic documentaries; limited format similar to those of musical clips or advertising teasers; imagery inspired by Marvel, Manga and other video games; music in syncopated rhythm accompanied by powerful sound effects, etc. Like science fiction, the objective of social science fiction is no longer to entertain the public but rather to make it aware of the tangible risks incurred by very real political decisions.