The Rebel Sells

Che Guevara is at the V&A. ‘Revolutionary and icon’- is it?

Brought from Mexico by curator Trisha Ziff, the exhibited Che collection is a chronological inventory of representations derived from the original “Guerrillero Heroico” photographed by Alberto Díaz Korda in 1960. A corridor of images and artefacts (posters, films, fine art and fashion that have been inspired by the image) enclosed between one lightening wall of quotes and six panels of Che logos designed by Argentinian artist Dr. Alderete – Che thinking, Che Jesus Christ, Doctor Che, Che I’m loving it, Che Just do it, and so on. In a word: the documentary basis of an expected analysis on the power of the image and the icon as commodity. An analysis which, however, never appears.

Indeed what is the purpose of this Che exhibition? One more inventory, or a reflexion on the power of the image? Is it an art work needing self introspection or an educative museum exhibition? One could wonder if the curator’s will was to focus exclusively on the image, just to deal with it as it is, as it has been derailed, and letting it speak for itself. The power of representation tied to its extreme does not need the word. I agree.

However, this is not the idea suggested by the curator’s introduction and will to “trace Che’s transformation from heroic guerilla, through Pop celebrity to symbol of radical chic” or better said everlasting sense of rebellion (is it?). This is too much speech or not enough. The visitors wants to know what is that transformation all about.What is the meaning and interpretation of the iconic ‘authority’ through times? Maybe its better signification could be found in the fact that, despite curator’s will, Jerry Hall and not Gerry Adams, was invited at the Che’s V&A preview party. No politics in a museum. Pretty hard to avoid though when dealing with revolution- unless the purpose of the exhibion were, again, the idea of the image speaking for itself.

“No medium has its meaning or existence alone, but only in constant interplay with other media”, wrote Marshall McLuhan in 1964. Objects and events always signify more than themselves. They are always caught up in systems of representation which add meaning to them. French intellectual Roland Barthes was particularly interested not so much in what things mean, but in how things mean. In Mythologies (1957) he had this comment on the French flag. A bit long but worth reading:
I am at the barber’s and a copy of Paris-Match is offered to me. On the cover, a young Negro in a French uniform is saluting, with his eyes uplifted, probably fixed on a fold of the tricolour. All this is the meaning of the picture. But whether naively or not, I see very well what it signifies to me: the France is a great empire, that all her sons, without any colour discrimination, faithfully serve under her flag, and there is no better answer to the detractors of an alleged colonialism than the zeal shown by this negro inserving his so-called oppressors. I am therefore again faced with a greater semiological system: there is a signifier, itself already formed with a previous system (a black soldier is giving the French salute); there is a signified (it is here a purposeful mixture of Frenchness and militariness); finally there is a presence of the signified through the signifier[1]
In the words of Barthes, the question would be not what, but how does the Korda Che mean through history and today? Today meaning: what if this Che image stands in a world where brands and logos are even more worshipped; in the air of a world where worship itself and the relationship to authority has changed? Che face or the Nike swoosh printed on my shirt? Both? Pretty much the same I guess. Not a question of commitment, but a question of taste and self definition through consumption.

This leads us to maybe the best part of the Che inventory: the museum shop, which, following the words of the V&A website, is supposed to “echoe the diverse nature of the exhibition with all items devoted to the symbolism of this single image and the essence of the man himself. Viva la Revolution!”. Update your collection, Che! When the rebel sells…

[1] Barthes (1972), p.116

T-Shirt designed by Dr. Alderete