The profound
changes that we are experiencing on an everyday level, from the destruction of
the environment to the age of pandemics, have already transformed human subjectivity.
The prevailing sensitivity that can be discerned today is a sort of
"post-apocalyptic melancholy," the sense of an ending that is unlike
any other ending before, an ending that is inevitable if we continue with our
current world system, an ending meaning the end of the biosphere and mass
extinction, whether it is rapid or slow, the feeling that everything changes
and that the only thing that's certain is extinction. This naturally creates
anxiety-and leads to the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of coping with
the irreversible loss.
The past is
as equally contested as the future. Time itself, it seems, has become the
medium of conflict; if you unearth history, if you free time from its seemingly
logical and linear path, you can see beyond the realm of the real-which is
always constructed by those with the power to rule over the stories that govern
our societies.
Religion is a
ritual invented to create meaning here and now and today and tomorrow-and God
is needed to find a structure, to achieve community. Faith, as different from
religion, is a practice that helps you to position yourself in time and in
space.
What is human
time? What is natural time? And what if the two collide? When the British in
the seventeenth century made their way to what would later be called North
America, many of the colonists were overwhelmed by the majestic ecosystem and
abundance of wildlife. But the colonial hunger for resources quickly resulted
in mass deforestation, mass extinction, and the genocide of indigenous populations.
Human life had existed long before on the continent, but rather than claiming
to be rulers over a plot of land, native tribes saw themselves as part of the
system that surrounded them; their role was more akin to that of a steward than
an owner.
Can we tell
the story of suppression by using the master's tools? What is the price of
education, of knowledge-or rather of knowing? Who decides which voices get to
be heard? And aren't these tools in the end just perpetuating systems of
hierarchy? "It's not just about what we know, but how we come to know
it,"
What is the
mirage of power that we are presented with? What is the way politics work? And
how does it distort what we perceive as reality? How does it disfigure the
people who represent politics-politicians, lobbyists, suitcase-bearers?
Outside, inside? And what are the consequences of this spectacle of politics
for democracy in the twenty-first century?
Or, in other
words, what is power? As Europe turns itself into a fortress, the values that
helped create Europe are undermined: What is the Enlightenment, if Europe
allows thousands and thousands and thousands to drown, turning the
Mediterranean into a mass grave?
Who owns
what? First, we thought the internet was for free; then we realized that we
were the product. Facebook was not free, Twitter was not free, we were not
free. The idealism of the early days of the digital yonder is long gone. What
remains is cold calculation and doses of disgust. But is this the right
attitude? In the age of Al, can we afford to turn away and let corporations
rule this emerging new world?And connected
to this question: What is the passing of beauty, what is futility, vanity,
decay, what is the passing of time in one's life and what is the connection to
the bigger space, call it culture, civilization, the universe?
Who owns
what? First, we thought the internet was for free; then we realized that we
were the product. Facebook was not free, Twitter was not free, we were not
free. The idealism of the early days of the digital yonder is long gone. What
remains is cold calculation and doses of disgust. But is this the right
attitude? In the age of Al, can we afford to turn away and let corporations
rule this emerging new world?
What do we
think of when we think of resistance? Is it a protest, an unruly mob, armed
backlash? Finding themselves at the centre of a culture war, many trans and
nonbinary persons, specifically kids, see their sheer existence questioned on a
daily basis.
Crime is a
stigma, but for whom? Is crime committed by a person or inflicted on a person?
What is the role of society, what is the relation between power, poverty, and
the rule of the law-which tends to support both power and poverty, the codified
dividing chu line for civilization.
One failure
of liberalism is on an anthropological level: the assumption that everything
starts with the individual. The societies that we build on this assumption are
limiting both our imagination and our realities. The lives we construct on this
premise are poorer, less intense and happy-community is what we are made for,
and community is what we need to build.
Is it an
event? Or is it a process? Is it fast or slow? Is it loud or quiet? Does it
announce itself? Is it something we can anticipate? Can we wait for it to
happen? What is the meaning of anticipating without knowing? Can we prepare for
what we don't know? Or do we know?
If a bullet
crosses a border, if death is sent from nation to nation, who is to judge?
What is
technology? Energy running through a system. What is knowledge? Information
embedded in a system. What is intelligence? The way to read and understand that
system. Then what is the difference between technological and human
intelligence?
Elsewhere it's been a busy week - Hofesh Shechter's From England with Love was truly awesome - from the mournful beginning through to the tragic ending, all was superbly lit. Celebrating 25 years of Home live art at Shoreditch town hall was 'liveart interesting' 6 performances on a loop. The latest Hayward shows are worth a look - Haegue Yang has her usual material repertoire of blinds and traditional techniques to create exciting work that is both aesthetically fun through the play of light as well as the political statement that the use of blinds supports. Huang Po-Chin has a great video work of a performance involving wearing copious shirts and cutting them off, alongside photographs of a version of Erwin Wurm incorrectly wearing items of clothing. Onto screens – Will & Harper – sad yet glorious road trip. The Outrun – trauma and more trauma. Deep into Fantasmas – what to say – almost indescribably odd, yet wonderous.
