When the Spirit is Dead
[Certa in art occupies an intercultural space... with] a double coding, which brings it always the threat of co-opt ion or mis-appropr iat ion, yet also the potential to quicken the process by which the repressed underground images of popular culture are restored to the present and disturb the peace... and de compose [the] politics of conf o r m i s m and redempt ion which aestheticizes difference and neutralizes m e m o r y . It opens up the possibility for a radical faith in the vitality of mytho logy as the text of popular culture and mag ic as its technique of empowe rme nt . Char les Merewether (Merewether, 1 9 9 1 )