Barbara Kruger | media-criticism

Believing in Doubt.

by Rawan Elbaba, '15

Major: Media Production & Criticism

Perceptions of democracy, power, and belief are often skewed, especially in arguably one

of the most powerful places in the world, Washington DC. In artist Barbara Kruger’s latest

installment “Belief + Doubt” at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum, these contradictory

perceptions and more are addressed. “Belief + Doubt” seeks to address the relations between one another in a society that is fragmented based on a wealth-determining class system. In an era where most value absolute certainty in their ideologies, Kruger strives to “introduce doubt” in this exhibit as a way to create variance among individuals.

lobby of the Hirshhorn Museum in the American capital of Washington DC. The san-serif text-

printed black, white, and red vinyl wraps around the walls, the floors, and even the museum’s

crisscrossing escalators. The larger than life words seek to question museum goers about faith, money, desire, and consumption. The phrases splashed on the museum walls, floors, and escalators include: “YOU WANT IT. YOU BUY IT. YOU FORGET IT.”; “MONEY MAKES

MONEY”; “BELIEF + DOUBT = SANITY”; “WHOSE BODY?”

Located by the National Mall, the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum focuses on displaying art from the last 50 years. Its emphasis on modern and contemporary art makes it the perfect location for Kruger’s “Belief + Doubt” which questions the role of morality in a modern era.

Context of the Exhibit

In the context of this installation, Kruger has been noted to be a “mass media artist,”

taking ideals in the mass media and making thought provoking art out of them. Her love for architecture made this installation even more special as she utilized the space of the Hirshhorn

lobby as her canvass. The obvious location of Washington DC as the setting for the installation

connotes Kruger’s message that wealth, desire, and control fuel this city. The location also

engages the issues surrounding this project. As a previous editor with Condé Nast Publications,

which publishes several fashion magazines including Vogue, Kruger “examined consumerism.”

Her extensive work with various fashion magazines, that prosper on the idea of business, wealth, and merchandising have obviously inspired her previous art works. She is well known for her photo montages and billboards where she lays controversial or bold text over images in pop culture. I may also argue that her widespread work with consumerist magazines inspired this exhibit as its message argues against giving in to consumer culture.

Exhibit Discussion and Focus

What’s most striking about the exhibit is its ability to incase the individual. Visiting the installation involves a whole body experience as you walk around, tilt your head and read the various wall, floor, and escalator-covered text. The text’s colossal size makes the message loud and clear. It allows museum goers to react and question their own life’s values without having the intention to evaluate their lives upon visiting the museum.

There’s a sort of guilt in reading the text because it makes the individual feel as though they too are giving in to the ideals of consumerism and the concept of “wealth = power.” Along with guilt comes the overwhelming feeling of discomfort at being surrounded by or “talked at” by enormous messages that seek to question your morality (“FORGET EVERYTHING”). The exhibit had me thinking “Am I too being controlled by ‘the man?’” The unsettling exhibit is “literally unavoidable” as you have to pass through the lobby to get to other parts of the museum. Because the text wraps around, above, and beneath the space, museum goers are coerced into being “in” Kruger’s message. Kruger’s work is arguably aggressive in getting the message across.

“Belief + Doubt” can also be examined in terms of the agenda-setting theory which “says

that the media don’t tell the public what to think but rather what to think about—thus the terms

of public discourse are set by what is covered in the media.” This theory states that the issues

covered in the media as important become important to the public. In terms of this installation,

Kruger decided that doubt was an important concept, therefore the museum goers that experience

the exhibit will also begin to refer to doubt as an important concept. So, because the ideals in

Kruger’s exhibit are a form of mass media messages, they automatically become deemed as important.

Conclusion

I might argue that Kruger’s “Belief + Doubt” influences us all to evaluate our moral

values and to become familiar with the concept of doubt. Are we just products of a society that

betrays its people into thinking they are living freely, and without doubt? We might be. Although

introducing doubt may lead to a cynical view of reality, it could also allow us to think more

freely and openly. Barbara Kruger’s “Belief + Doubt” successfully provokes controversial ideas

on wealth, power, and democracy in a city that encourages consumerism and status.

Kruger’s main focus is to familiarize her audience with doubt and uncertainty because she argues that without doubt in belief, there is no sanity. In order to remain sane individuals, we must always question our societal structure in terms of wealth, class, and race. I agree with Kruger in that I feel doubt comes along with being rational because there simply cannot be rationality if we wholeheartedly believed in our ideologies. Although this exhibit mainly seeks to

introduce the concept of doubt in a moment where certainty is so valued, Kruger’s work is

essentially a “call to action” as well. Whether it was intended as a call to action or not, the

installation demands answers and a change in our societal structure. On the other hand, the text is very literal at times. Going down the escalator, the words “DON’T LOOK DOWN ON

ANYONE” are written above. So, by looking up to read you are avoiding the literal act of

“looking down” on anyone. By taking part in Kruger’s message, you are, intentionally or not,

contributing to social change.

Content Messages Through Theory

Media logic, or “an approach to studying the mass media that says the forms the media

use to present the world become the forms we use to perceive the world and to create media

messages,” can be applied to Kruger’s “Belief + Doubt.” Several types of media, like art museums, follow standardized formats of what we should expect in terms of content. We are

socialized to know that art exhibits are meant as a means to display thought provoking and

sometimes controversial ideals. Because of the mere fact the “Belief + Doubt” is an art exhibit at

a well-known contemporary art museum, we can expect to formulate cues on the installation’s

message. Kruger’s installation boldly only uses three colors: black, white, and red. These colors,

or forms, the media used presents a grave and brazen media message because we are conditioned to associate those colors with more serious circumstances. The exhibit also strategically uses Washington DC as the backdrop to receive media attention. There is controversy in an installation that questions and even doubts power and equality in a city that sits on the ideas of pure democracy and freedom. The mere fact that the installation is located in a contemporary art museum changes the cognitive, attitudinal, behavioral and psychological effects of Kruger’s message.

There are various concerns over mass media message effects. Media messages may have

either strong effects that eventually lead to large movements or weaker effects that may lead to

simply learning new, but un-useful information. Cognitive effects, according to research, occur

strongly if the person is motivated about the media content.

For example, if someone were to go to the Hirshhorm on a vacation to the Capitol, they may not learn as much as say someone who intentionally visited the exhibit to get a sense of Kruger’s message. Attitudinal effects can also take place if person likes what they see. For example, one may change their ideals on

consumerism in agreement with Kruger’s message based on the aesthetics of the installation.

As one of the most difficult to attain, behavioral effects, may include not giving into the consumerist culture in the United States or not voting for specific political figures. Psychological effects might be the most common when visiting an art exhibit. In terms of “Belief + Doubt,” the visitor might feel emotional release, excitement or anger because of the sizing of the text phrases, the use of color, the enclosed space of the lobby, or the images and text used. We may already have these feelings of dissatisfaction with the state of democracy, believe, and doubt in this country and going to this installation will allow for our masked feelings to appear more openly.