Inversions
An event on Monday, September 12th in NYC is announced in this email.
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If you live New York City, you may have seen this poster in the subway:
A curious game of reversal is afoot in this image and in the film at large (watch the trailer). First: the stunning graphic, in which the enormous volume of crude oil that seeped under and into the Gulf of Mexico becomes, in a literal inversion, smoke billowing upwards toward the sky. Though the effects of the Deepwater Horizon spill on the Gulf of Mexico's ecosystem are still immediate and dire, it is visually suggested that they have simply blown away in the wind. Then there is the tagline, in which the perpetrators complicit in these events become "real life heroes." Finally, in the trailer, we hear that mankind, the subjector and exploiter of nature, becomes its victim. The oil is portrayed as a threat angrily rushing to the surface, a monster which must be "tamed" by daddy.
Designed objects like this poster make up and reflect our culture, and in them, we can detect something of the epistemology of our times. I would like to put forth that the inversion of the Deepwater Horizon narrative we find here is not an exception, but a rule that can be observed in many of the other myths presented to us in the global West. For one example, the popular notion of "craftsmanship," as represented most strongly in the cultures of Portland and Brooklyn, forefronts and heroizes the individual artisan, a role that barely still exists in America, while backgrounding the exploitative labor practices of multinational corporations by which most goods are produced.
Interest in the term "craftsmanship" has doubled since 2008, and is strongest in the US (Google Trends). Could it be that our society's response, when faced with the realities of corporate hegemony, has been to hurl itself into further self-delusion?
Most of all, I am interested in the narratives around success, satisfaction, and the self. I work in an industry where the most respected companies are those which have economized rest and play-time with nap rooms and arcade machines. Tech industry leaders practice and evangelize meditation, often explicitly for the sake of increased productivity. Outside that world, we are promised 4 Ways to Calm our Minds from Stress. Stock photos of white women doing yoga at the beach. Green juice. Stay-cations.
These panaceas too reveal an inversion: the externalization of the self. It comes in two forms: self-care for the benefit of the corporation and capitalist society; and self-care by means of consumption. With the duplicitous story that utopian contentedness is within one's own personal control, these methods turn one's attention away from the inner life, and prevent us from sharing our experience with others.
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This Monday the 10th of August, at the offices of Subpixel Space at 44 Henry Street, join me for Mondays, a rooftop salon and gathering of creative minds. We will discuss self-care from both a personal perspective and a critical one. If you'd like, read this article in advance, Bring a caring and open-minded self, and snacks if you want. For more information, check out the past Mondays events, and find me (Toby Shorin) on Facebook and add me as a friend.
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Until next time.
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If you live New York City, you may have seen this poster in the subway:
A curious game of reversal is afoot in this image and in the film at large (watch the trailer). First: the stunning graphic, in which the enormous volume of crude oil that seeped under and into the Gulf of Mexico becomes, in a literal inversion, smoke billowing upwards toward the sky. Though the effects of the Deepwater Horizon spill on the Gulf of Mexico's ecosystem are still immediate and dire, it is visually suggested that they have simply blown away in the wind. Then there is the tagline, in which the perpetrators complicit in these events become "real life heroes." Finally, in the trailer, we hear that mankind, the subjector and exploiter of nature, becomes its victim. The oil is portrayed as a threat angrily rushing to the surface, a monster which must be "tamed" by daddy.
Designed objects like this poster make up and reflect our culture, and in them, we can detect something of the epistemology of our times. I would like to put forth that the inversion of the Deepwater Horizon narrative we find here is not an exception, but a rule that can be observed in many of the other myths presented to us in the global West. For one example, the popular notion of "craftsmanship," as represented most strongly in the cultures of Portland and Brooklyn, forefronts and heroizes the individual artisan, a role that barely still exists in America, while backgrounding the exploitative labor practices of multinational corporations by which most goods are produced.
Interest in the term "craftsmanship" has doubled since 2008, and is strongest in the US (Google Trends). Could it be that our society's response, when faced with the realities of corporate hegemony, has been to hurl itself into further self-delusion?
Most of all, I am interested in the narratives around success, satisfaction, and the self. I work in an industry where the most respected companies are those which have economized rest and play-time with nap rooms and arcade machines. Tech industry leaders practice and evangelize meditation, often explicitly for the sake of increased productivity. Outside that world, we are promised 4 Ways to Calm our Minds from Stress. Stock photos of white women doing yoga at the beach. Green juice. Stay-cations.
These panaceas too reveal an inversion: the externalization of the self. It comes in two forms: self-care for the benefit of the corporation and capitalist society; and self-care by means of consumption. With the duplicitous story that utopian contentedness is within one's own personal control, these methods turn one's attention away from the inner life, and prevent us from sharing our experience with others.
..
This Monday the 10th of August, at the offices of Subpixel Space at 44 Henry Street, join me for Mondays, a rooftop salon and gathering of creative minds. We will discuss self-care from both a personal perspective and a critical one. If you'd like, read this article in advance, Bring a caring and open-minded self, and snacks if you want. For more information, check out the past Mondays events, and find me (Toby Shorin) on Facebook and add me as a friend.
..
Until next time.
..
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