Is That All There Is?
Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball
If that’s all there is – Jerry Lieber & Mike Stoller
Originally entitled Dissillusionment and released in 1969
against the historical backdrop of social unrest, the collapse of the student movement and the failure of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, Peggy Lee’s Grammy Award winning rendition of Lieber and Stoller’s Is That All There Is, can be interpreted as an anthem to the nascent malaise and apathy that has come to define the post-modern condition.
Seizing upon the obvious historical parallels to our contemporary situation vis a vis the War in Iraq, the triumph of consumerism over community, and the impotence of the anti-globalization movement, we have revived and re-purposed the songs lyrical content as a means of whimsically engaging the collective mood of disappointment and disillusionment North Americans are currently experiencing.
Conceived of as a critique of the visual culture of urban space and public art in the era of globalisation, a discussion of the post-modern condition and how globalisation and commodity fetishism operate within the art world, specifically within the culture of a “Biennial” exhibition. Is That All There Is is comprised ofa number of manufactured promotional items, interactive displays and a 25’ inflatable gorilla — speaks to us about the endless potential of consumer goods to reflect multiple ideological positions and, to borrow from Arjun Appadurai, engage in a “social life” of their own, developing new meanings, purposes and values through out their “life cycle.”
It is within this framework that we were able to conceive of Is That All There Is? as not only a work of art in and of itself but also as a means of engaging in research about how commodities, specifically “art” commodities circulate within and without the art world.
Is That All There Is was presented as part of the Windsor Biennial, and was supported by an exhibition assistance grant from the Ontario Arts Council
