Fish taped to ATM: An analysis

"hey COMMONWEATH bank, how about you SERVICE your FUCKING atms in BUNBURY so punters like ME will not hav to TAPE FISH to them so youll have NO CHOICE but to come and FIX THEM. i have more fish and tape and will,, power than youre intire organistation. FIX THEM NOW."

A year or two ago this image of a fish taped to an ATM went into the circulation of funny forum pictures and today I invite you to take a closer look at it. What seems like an ordinary citizen expressing his discontent, to put it lightly, towards his banking company of choice may not be as simple when you inspect it a second time. In fact, I will argue that it is not just a regular picture posted to gather upvotes and likes from amused scrollers - what is really behind this image is a carefully orchestrated plot to hide some sharp commentary on the modern consumerist and capitalist mindset in plain sight.

Consider the tones used here - deep blues, nostalgia inducing purples and a dash of good old streetlight-orange tones. And all of this in a bleak and dark evening. Why was this shot taken in the evening? Well, most people would associate darkness and nights with less than pleasurable emotions. The dark atmosphere invokes feelings way different from what the same picture in daylight would have. The ATM is a symbol in this case, as is the night. The author clearly has quite the negative view on materialism and that is why night was used - he associates negative emotions with modern materialist philosophy. This interplay between the clashing and, at the same time, complimenting colours together with the dirty ATM and the bright, almost clinical lamp invokes this feeling of unsettling discomfort. You could almost mistake the reality of standing behind this ATM with an eerie feeling, as if you're about to pass out on a dirty blackmarket operating table while some masked figures prepare to take your organs. "Maybe it's not all that bad? Maybe the author just loves evenings?" you say. Very reasonable! I myself love rain and evenings more than sunshine so the idea crossed my mind. However, when we get more into this image, that conclusion will lose its leg to stand on. Besides it's rare that the symbols used in art are of personal origin - in art, symbols are usually used with their common meaning. Symbols are used just like words in a language. Each being has their own symbols, but when communicating, the symbols are translated and switched for their universally known counterparts. It's no use trying to argue that "cat" means something else than the small domesticated carnivorous bastard with soft fur, a short snout, and retractable claws, so in a similar way it's not practical to argue that the night symbol means something else than what is universally understood.

But make no mistake, as pretty as the colours are, this image is doctored - this is evident from the white values of the bright rectangular lamp. When did you last see a blue lamp on an ATM? Thought so, it's always either neutral white or with a hint of yellow. The reason for this alteration serves an important purpose besides giving it a unique and almost professional look to attract more attention among the low quality pictures. It's a homage to Vaporwave, also an artstyle that is deeply sceptical of consumerism. By adjusting the colours a little, the author has given the image a whole new layer. Just imagine, if you just took away the context of an angry citizen rambling about broken ATMs and that fish, wouldn't it fit in outrun and vaporwave galleries quite nicely? In Vaporwave, purple and blue colours are a defining part of its style, as are the clunky old computer interfaces - like our ATM has in the image. It's all about those orange sunsets and purple neons and in combination with the clunky 80s and 90s machinery it gives this weird yearning for a time that never was in almost a mocking way.

Another characteristic of Vaporwave are blatant abrupt copy-pasted elements in its art - be it samples from old songs and excerpts from commercials in its songs or badly cut out images of Fiji water bottles and roman sculptures in its images. Speaking of blatant abrupt pasted elements in art, that brings me to the elephant in the room, or rather the fish taped onto the ATM. The fish is, I can say with confidence, a Blueback herring - a sensational choice! You can verify that it is in fact a Blueback herring by going out and catching one yourself to compare it to the image. But moving on, you have probably heard about the red herring - something obvious or catching that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question, usually used as a logical fallacy or a literary device. What would the opposite of a red herring be? A blue herring - just like the one used here. So turning red herrings meaning on its head, the blue herring would be something obvious or catching that leads or guides us to a relevant or important question. This works on a superficial level as well as in a deeper one. The fish was taped there to bring attention to the broken ATM. Or, the blue herring is pointing to the consumerism and capitalism saying: "This system is fishy and broken. It is flawed and it is not working for humans, rather it's holding humans back." Simply brilliant!

Lastly, consider the tape that was used - it's without a doubt the Magtape Matt 25mm x 50m. You can easily figure this out by looking at the way the tape bends, by its texture and the lighter underside and then comparing these qualities at your local hardware store. And you can see it's 25mm by knowing that the average ATM has buttons sized around 20-25mm. But to appreciate this choice you have to get into the mindset of the author. The previous secrets I have revealed to you about the image have been essentially hidden behind symbols and metaphors and this piece of tape is a symbol for all that. Symbol inside the symbols! The tape symbolises masking and hiding the truth. That's why the tape is black on the surface and light on the underside. Most of the times things aren't as they seem on the surface and that's especially the case with capitalism which is what the picture is trying to warn against. What might seem like an ordinary piece of tape that will aid your daily tasks at first will turn out to chain you to the devil that is money. Sounds familiar? Well, that's probably because it's similar to the way the fish is chained to the ATM.

There you go, no need to thank me. I have explored and explained some, but not all, of the secrets this geinus work of art is housing. Now it's your turn to fill the gaps I left.