Exhibited at 21. Faith / London / 2017 -- Newspeak (Cardboard, Acrylic, Marker Pen)
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/61237827/21st-faith
(Pages 62 - 65)
Project description as published for 21. Faith -
In his project, “Newspeak,” Schreyer deals with the privatization of space as much as it is about Communication, Information and the power of language.
As an act of disobedience the artist took the displayed posters straight out of random tube trains in London. By doing this he consciously puts himself in danger of prosecution in order to question who is allowed to saturate our environments and which messages do they bare?
The artist describes the act of stealing the posters as very challenging, not because of bystanders interfering but his own constrain to public norm. Resulting from this act of performance, he describes feelings of discomfort and discovered a great deal of pressure which he inflicts on himself daily through the channel of the public eye. Therefore the meaning of the posters transcend outside their boundaries as he questions measures of (Self) control and meanings of freedom in public spaces, through an act of performance asking who is allowed and has the measures to shape our society’s thoughts and behavior?
He argues advertisements act as a mirror to society, as advertisers study the market, the people and their psychology as well as behavior in order to establish our desires, as well as creating our future in form of our desires.
Being aware of the power of language in order to reflect, portray and form thoughts and ideas, the artist chose posters which use important terms and concepts used to advertise often adverse causes.
As an Information Experience Designer/Artist, Language is a powerful tool defining the way someone can configure thoughts, but therefore also has the power to limit people of thinking of certain concepts of feelings if they cannot be expressed. By degrading these powerful words for the purpose of profits and creating corporate desires, they are stripped off their original meaning and influence. Similar to Orwell’s concept of “Newspeak,” an advertisement using the word “freedom” describing the concept of dependence to a loan, contrasts its original meaning, and limits its interpretation of future generations.