Negativland

Most people even after watching this film will probably be still asking "what exactly is negativeland?" Well to be honest its hard to describe them, they wouldnt really be classified as a "band" perse, but more of a group of artists. This is confusing because most people can buy their Cd's in record stores these days so why are they not considered a band? The group portrays "bootleg" collage's in an audio and visual assault on the senses. They are activists in a sense as they portray a ton of anti corporate and anti governmental information thrown together into a so called "media blender." In reference to their website., "their art and media interventions have (often naively) posed questions about the nature of sound, media, control, ownership, propaganda and perception, with the results of these questions and explorations being what they release to the public." The group also would like to point out they are artists first, and activists second, never the other way around.

"Without ideological preaching, Negativland often becomes a subliminal culture sampling service concerned with making art about everything we aren't supposed to notice." This statement alone can sum up a lot of what Negativeland's goal is. They take media that is easily accessible, then use unusual ways to restructure such things and combine them with their own music and art, and mass media transmissions, to completely re construct their meanings. "Negativland re-arranges these bits and pieces to make them say and suggest things that they never intended to. In doing this kind of cultural opposition and "culture jamming." (quoted from negativeland's website)

Lastly I would like to post a example of a piece of their work entitled "Truth in advertising" which plays on the idea of censorship in advertisements and the media, and it uses a lot of audio/video samples from outside sources just like explained above.