The Urgent need for the Sandwich Theory

The World is in a state of existential crisis, a crisis of meaning. Gone are the old, 19th Century certainties of nation, class, race, gender, beer, God, sport, a good roast on a Sunday afternoon and a bit of lawn bowls. With the rise of China and India a 20th Century cultural landscape dominated by American Cold Wars, Good vs. Evil, Cowboys, Hollywood, Consumerism and the related American Self is rapidly falling apart; dominance, and supremacy, have long been nostalgic memories for the Englishman, but now our capacity to parasitically leach such a sense off our American cousins is also in rapid retreat; Shopping, and other forms of consumption, has never been so boring, so last Century.

Into this shifting vacuum have stepped all manner of past, present and future contenders on the mantelpiece of meaning- on the one hand a myriad of fragments, the ultimate fragment being the solipsist inward looking individual slumped woefully on the therapist's couch or pondering where it all went wrong on the loo; on the other hand a bland, generic, global homogeneity, a sort of globalised bourgeois dream which sees us united under the banner of house prices and holidays; Either state, or both, leaving the individual feeling somewhat empty, or all at sea- stuck between a new found obsessive interest in the local knitting club or herbal remedies, which they relate to four people through, or a fascination with the latest bland Hollywood release which everyone and no-one is watching and everyone can talk about a bit but no one really gives a toss about until the next one comes out.

In a reaction to this void some have turned towards 'Reality', in the shape of reality television, or other forms of apparent realism. Unfortunately this only reflects the existing crisis back into people's faces.

Sandwich Theories proposes a new lens, a new central point, a new God, through which to view and relate to the world: The Sandwich. The Sandwich is as ubiquitous as it is particular as it is universal. It crosses all epochs and classes, it comes with no particular historical baggage- it has never been used to oppress women, children, blacks, whites, men. The Sandwich has never been a symbol of dominance and supremacy, nor of submission and bovine conventionality.

Human beings have never been able to relate directly with one another- they require intermediaries between each other, to keep reality mediated. In the past they needed sport, gender, class, religion, politics, God, science, art, kite surfing, consumerism and supremacy. In the 21st Century we propose a new intermediary- The Sandwich.