The Politics of Ignorance is an exhibition and symposium that examines the strange relationship between the crisis of knowledge and the crisis of politics. And it does so from the novel perspective of knowledge’s dark sibling, ignorance. ‘..we are often unaware of the scope and structure of our ignorance. Ignorance… read more →
Extracts from talk at Haus der Elektronischen Künste (HeK) Basel “Commodifying Ignorance” “Doubt is our product, since it is the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the mind of the general public.” (Internal memo of the Brown & Williamson tobacco company. 1969) Confected doubt… read more →
Sarah Schulman’s book ‘Let the Record Show’ A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1983, is a stunning history of the New York branch of the legendary campaigning ‘AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power” (ACT UP). Sometimes described as the ‘mother ship’ of global AIDS activism. ACT UP pioneered uniquely… read more →
“by the end of the twentieth century, the era of party democracy had effectively passed: although parties themselves remain they have become so disconnected from wider society and pursue a form of competition that is so lacking in meaning that they no longer seem capable of sustaining democracy in… read more →
The Idea of an Eco-state The wretchedness of Covid has gifted one important good. It is easier to *think the unthinkable* as the unthinkable has already happened. The revelation I’m referring to is not the pandemic (that was extensively pre-mediated) but rather to the extraordinary degree of latent human agency… read more →
The Art of Assembly “ The crisis of democracy and the truth are one and the same” William… read more →
Dr. Anthony Fauci has become something of a hero in the US. And with good reason as he may be all that stands between Trump and catastrophe in the US. But to see him standing next to Trump on the podium is to be reminded that in a former life… read more →
At a time when right wing populist demagogues routinely denounce experts and expertise a movement of interdisciplinary artists and researchers has emerged whose work unapologetically forgegrounds factual analysis and evidence. The movement spans the generations from young artists to some who have been active for decades but the current climate has seen them crystalize into something like a movement… read more →
The War on Knowledge – Beyond the Evidence- Join me at this year’s Brighton Digital Festival for a workshop aiming at a better understanding of how trust in traditional frameworks of knowledge have been undermined and how we might approach the challenge of building an inclusive “knowledge democracy”. “The internet… read more →
Below is the abstract for my talk at Brighton Digital Festival conference “The Messy Edge”on 28th of September in the fabulous Attenborough Centre for Contemporary Arts. – The Vanishing- Even for the privileged there is no ‘off grid’, no ‘outside’ of the ‘digital condition’. “Our every action is recordable and… read more →