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A sucker for conspicuous consumption

A UK-based activists main target is the consumer society.

Illustration: Istockphoto.com/ Zuki

You’ll find “the Vacuum Cleaner”—not as well-known as James, a UK-based activist and artist who asked us to withhold his last name because many of his actions are illegal—in the mall, but not among the domestic appliances. On entering what he calls “the Church of the Immaculate Consumption,” he kneels before clothing and makeup displays, hands thrust skyward, loudly praising the designer brands for “the opportunity to buy a beautiful lifestyle.” Or you might find him in ASDA (a British subsidiary of Wal-Mart) at the head of empty-cart “non-shopping” parades. The Vacuum Cleaner describes himself as “a cultural-resistance collective of one.” And that’s about all he wants to divulge; he’d rather remain anonymous.

James, whose main target is the consumer society, recently went to Aberdeen, Scotland—“the oil capital of Europe”—where he joined other activists to construct an ark of cardboard. They were pointing out to the oil industry “that the solutions they propose for global warming are as useless as a cardboard ark,” he says.

Ultimately, though, the Vacuum Cleaner’s work is about making people laugh as much as about making a point. Just because the issues are serious, it doesn’t mean the activism has to be, believes James. “If you can make someone smile,” he says, “then the battle’s half done.”