This project started from a piece done in 1978 [view] about the function of advertising within a Capitalist mode of production, and how, in advertising, models are used to represent some idyllic reality. Take for instance a travel ad where a couple, bodies glistening from the sun, leisurely relax beneath palm trees on a beach of white sand and clear blue water. Of course that couple didn’t just happen to be there, they are models, carefully cast for their toned bodies and good looks. This ad, as all advertising does, capitalizes on the viewer’s need to escape from their alienated social relations into the warm, comforting arms of consumption. The “Models of Idealized Existence” database piece further explores this ‘use’ of models. It was originally done in 1987 but I have recently updated it to run on OS X, with a new interface and more up-to-date data. See the statement for more about databases in general and this piece in particular.