OBEY service THE it RICK GIANT rovnorirs published it 2001 by ‘August Media Ltd 16-120 Golden Lane London Eor¥ ott, UK ‘Birkhauser Publishers for Architecture, 20. Box133 ‘cxt-4oro Base, Switzerland ‘Member ofthe ‘BertelsmannSpringet Publishing Group {© 2001 Rick Poynor ‘Themora rightofthesuthor hasbeenasserted Design © 2o0r August/Bickbuser ‘CiPeatalogue records fortis Dookare availabe from the British Libra London, and the Library (of Congress, Weshington D.C. Deutsche Bibliothek Cataloging- in-Bubliction Data Obey the Giant life inthe image ‘world Rick Poynot.~Basel; Boston Belin: Birkhuser, 2001 1580 3-7 43-6565-x “This workis subjectto copyright. Allrightsare reserved, whether the whole or partofthe material isconcemned, specifically the rights of ranslation, reprinting, re-use ofillustrations, recitation, broadcasting reproduction ‘on microflms orin other ways, and storagein databases, orany kind ofuse permission ofthe copyright owner must beobtained. -AnDitecon: Stephen Coates Design: Anne Odling-Smee Projecteitor: Alex Setter Seitorialassistant: Ruth Ward Publishing director: Nick Batley ‘icrure esearch: Heather Vickers (Copyeditor: ise Connellan Printed onacid-fteepaier produced ofchlorine-free pulp 10R= ‘Typography: Quadraat Light, Checkout Production co-ordinated by: ‘Uwe Kraus GmbH Printed in aly 188N 3-7643-6565-% 987654325 ‘np. vor augustmedi. co.uk tip: www bieauser.ch“LIFE MUST BE SEEN. BEFORE IT CAN BE KNOWN,’ _Semvel Johnson Introduction Any ambiguity in this book's title is completely intentional. Itcan be taken ironically ~ ‘obey’ the giant—oritcan be taken straight: You might be inclined to accept the imperativeas an accurate picture of reality: the ‘giant’ requires us to surrender to its every command and whim. Or you might scoffat the very idea. No oneis coercing us to doanything and weare manifestly free, as no people before us, to do whatever we like. American artist/designer Shepard Fairey’s long-running ‘Obey Giant’ poster campaign —from which the phrase is taken — captures the spectrum of possibilities. ‘Tosome viewers, comingacross the giant's leaden visage in the street, like an ordinary piece of fly-poster advertising, the message seems threatening. To others, this mysterious, ubiquitous, endlessly reiterated graphic instruction is a seductively absurd image-game. It's possible, too, to feel that other people are doing the ‘obeying'— withouteven realising it—while we go our own wey. ‘That thereis, however, a ‘giant’ out there few could seriously deny. Even the most determined and Panglossian free-market optimist mustbe assailedattimes by the suspicion thatmighty forces, meny of them corporate, are making decisions over which wwe, as individuals, seem to have ltl ifany control, Our tumphantage of plentyis riddled with darker feelings of doubt, cynicism, distrust, boredom anda strange kind of emptiness. As one newspaperheadline summarised it: We have reached utopia and itsucks’ ‘On British television, as an experiment, a wealthy family of fourtry to live for three weeks without theirhundreds of designer possessions, carted offby the programme-makers. Itdoesn’t go well. I juste! totally insignificantand worthless,’ confesses the de-branded husband, who is later found to be securing asurreptitious product high by wearing his golé Rolex to business meetings.* Any novelistwho made up this story to satitise consumecism gone haywire would be accused of exaggeration. ‘Meanwhile, the disaffection and sense of powerlessness apparently feltby many people isa source of mounting public concer, Demonstrations in Seattle, Prague, London, Gothenburgand Genoa confron: governments and media with worrying signs of distiarbancein the depths of the social body. If theres still tendency to stigmatise