Disruptive Realism
November 18th, 2008Dave Hoffer at Frog Design recently coined the term “Disruptive Realism”. It describes expression presented in an everyday context that disrupts peoples perceptions about different things.
Banksy’s graffiti looks real enough that you might do a double take looking at it. It draws you into the content which is disruptive…like a little girl flying a refrigerator kite in New Orleans. Another example was Orson Welles’s ‘War of the Worlds’ radio broadcast, which was meant as entertainment and likely a commentary on how evolution had been twisted into Social Darwinism Regardless of its intention, the broadcast caused mass hysteria. An excellent example of Disruptive Realism.
I get annoyed at much of the nonsense agency speak that gets vomited into Powerpoint slides. In general I think insightful ideas and concepts do not always have to be complex, difficult or have a fancy new term. They just need to be articulated to the audience in a clever easy to understand way. Simplicity is typically key in my book. That being said, I think the term accomplished that.
So as much as I fight the industry jargon, Disruptive Realism is actually a good clever way to describe elements of street art, urban activism, ad-jamming and the like. I may even be guilty of using it at some point. For more information the term was originally introduced in the video and then elaborated upon here.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I agree jargon is so annoying but this idea is’nt all that bad.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
I”m not exactly going to think of what I do as, I’m going to go out and get my Disruptive Realism on tonight”. But I understand how the agency types have to bucket everything. So be it and let the agency nerds believe what they will.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I agree, the term makes sense.
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:46 am
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