In this talk, Rebekah Modrak will analyze the distortion of the terms “community,” “craft,” and “labor” by brands seeking to associate their products with these concepts and with creative entrepreneurship, and will describe strategies to undermine this hollow rhetoric in order to reclaim meaning.  The first study critiques Best Made Co., a brand that feigns homage to the virtues of craft and labor by harkening back to the American frontier and by selling their products using representations of manual laborers.  The second case study centers around Texas-based venture capitalist firm Bedrock Manufacturing’s creation of the company Shinola, a venture attached to Detroit after test studies showed that consumers would more for a product associated with the tenacity of a majority black and pre-bankrupt city.  Shinola drapes itself in black cultural signifiers and claims to be “of the city” even as their business policies and security ensure that black people are not significantly part of the design and retail work or shopping environments.  Modrak’s work uses analysis and critique as strategies, and she’ll describe how her creative intervention Re Made Co. and her article Bougie Crap challenge the uncritical misconception that “labor” and “community” are consumable experiences, and that “craft” is the domain of the leisure class.

Rebekah Modrak uses photography, the internet, and critical design to explore commerce, identity, and class.  She is founder of Re Made Company, cocurated eBayADay, and the the lead author of Reframing Photography,  she is an Associate Professor in the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan. 

Visit the Youth in Creative Cities Research Cluster website for more information:  https://youthincreativecities.wordpress.com/.

This talk is hosted by the Youth in the Creative Cities Research Cluster and is made possible by the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities.

Thanks to the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities for this information item.

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