BARBIE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (BLO) - “OPERATION NEWSPEAK”
BLO | 1994 | USA | 30 min | VHS

In this new form of subversive media terrorism, BLO operatives purchased talking Barbie and G.I. Joe dolls, both of which are programmed to speak crude cultural clichés. The dolls were then taken to the BLO headquarters where “corrective surgery” was performed: switching the dolls’ voice boxes. The dolls were then placed back on the store shelves in a process of reverse shoplifting—“shopgiving.” In the format of a nightly news program, this witty and satiric video documents the activities of the Barbie Liberation Organization, including the “corrective surgery” procedure and the “shopgiving” actions.The tape functions as witness and instruction manual on “cultural jamming”—an interference strategy used by guerrilla art and media activists to expose and undermine the logic and domination of corporate-controlled media and capitalist culture.

Screens with Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Spin and ®™ark.

Bug house Omniplex - Saturday 5th July 9pm