Little Deaths

Little Deaths continues the artists’ group Common Culture’s critical engagement with the processes of commodification within popular culture. The title adapts and pluralizes the French expression ‘la petite mort’, deploying its allusions to sexual pleasure and death in order to evoke the fleeting thrills and pleasures of commodities and celebrities.
Common Culture’s latest installation transforms Rampa by presenting competing units of entertainment and commodity display to explore the relationship between celebrity and the ‘attention economy’.
We are welcomed into the gallery space by a video montage of a hundred and ninety greetings by a young American internet celebrity. The vlogger came to Common Culture’s attention when he trademarked the name ‘Common Culture’ to brand, promote and sell a range of products. In response, Common Culture have produced their own merchandise and promotional gifs drawn from the gushing language of his online followers.
Common Culture have also composed and produced music, using generic music samples and lyrics appropriated from celebrity confessions. A disco unit with synchronised lighting will play these songs intermittently throughout the exhibition.
Finally, two videos, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On… skew the routines of British stand-up comedians by filming them performing without an audience. Their acts become increasingly painful and dark as they struggle to maintain their composure and go on.