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Avant-garde Archaics // 2008
Avant-garde Archaics, is a quasi-company specializing in salutary substances and practices from indigenous, traditional, and prehistoric cultures.
The Avant-garde Archaics pseudo-products problemetizes the way that culture is commodified -- taken out of context, aestheticized and fetishized, and sold. One extreme example is pharmacuetical companies which take Amazonian plants, patend, market, and sell them without ever giving credit or income to the appropriate parties. This series also suggests that something which is unknown or may initially seem unappealing (e.g. snorting tobacco juice) can be made palpable, acceptable, and even disirable if it is made familiar thorough marketing -- highlighting the high level of human sensitivity to suggestion.