Inspired by nation-state branding campaigns, ‘A Wonderful World Under Construction’ imagines a reality in which a government body provides branding as an essential public service.
A state’s investment in public diplomacy and expansive nation branding campaigns are often disseminated as seemingly benign efforts to promote tourism, trade and foreign direct investment. These outward facing tactics emerge our of opaque deadlines with strategic communications experts, public relations and consulting companies that often obscure a government’s negative qualities to secure influence on the international stage. Through these soft power strategies a nation can pursue ambitious international and domestic policy objectives, while at the same time their internal PR strategies capture the public imagination on a national scale.
This exhibition serves as the launch for a fictional smartphone app that offers branding as an essential public service by government. The detritus of this press conference, including posters and promo videos, remain in the gallery. By existing in the interstitial space between idea and implementation, we invite audiences to consider the pervasive role of government in the day to day management of our hyper-mediated lives.
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