As a barely educated designer/artist I love learning how many techniques are not just happenstance, but are techniques that have been studies and defined.
I have always found it mesmerizing when art, advertisements, and cinema reference works or events in pop culture, not to justify their work but to enhance it by adding extra levels of meaning. Little did I know that this is called detournement. Guy Debord encourages artist to take elements from anywhere to make new works. He is not encouraging plagiarism or mere remixing but to use the borrowed material in a new way to elevate your designs.
In the reading it seems as detournment was a popular tool for propaganda. In modern times I witness detournment in music cinema, television and printed materials. In a sense it could be viewed as propaganda as detournment is a way for the artist to propel their message further. Personally, as I learn the definitions of detournment, I see it as a subjective tool as well. For example, with deceptive detournment we are relying on the viewer to know the work we are referencing, and we are relying that their interpretation of the referenced work is the same as ours. That subjective ambiguity allows for viewer to ponder the meaning of the work at hand thus making it more interesting.
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