Steven Heller “Underground Mainstream” in Design Observer 2008.S

In my opinion there is a difference between underground and mainstream today.  I believe this because with mainstream everything is controlled by the companies and the masses. But when it comes to underground its raw talent that’s undefined and unstructured. According to Heller “​​Despite its anti-establishment symbolism, Cubistic, Futuristic and Expressionistic veneers, he argued, would capture consumers’ attention better than a hundred slogans.” The rawness of the avant-garde’s talent connects to the public better than a structured sortout slogan. It speaks the language of the public, which makes it desirable to both the consumers and mainstream viewers. 

In Heller’s article he mentions various underground movements such as Punk, Grunge, Fringe art,  and Pornographic suggestion and Pornograhy. Another example of underground that I can think of would be battle rapping. A Lot of artists are discovered during these underground rap battles along with new rap styles and fashion. 

This is an example of culture jamming. Culture jam is a type of art artists use to bring awareness toward social injustice that invokes change. It’s art that stands out and disrupts the peace.  The image is a combination of a barcode and hands. This brings awareness to the injustice of the people being enslaved to the cost of life.l, hence the imagery hands behind bars.  We are so driven by the necessity to have, that we will pay any cost to have it.  The social injustice in this is we buy and consume more than what is need, for survival. So much that the situation puts us in debt. Once we realize this we can break through these bars and free ourselves from consumerism.