There is something about remembering specific facts, letting them stick as individual entities in your brain. That type of keeping facts filed away in your memory keeps them separate from all other facts. Like items in an encyclopedia that sit next to each other but never interact. Like stories in a newspaper that sit next to each other but never become contaminated by one another. They are bubbles that are unaffected by other bubbles around them. But facts aren’t just something to remember. They have affect. The fact can be forgotten but the feeling remains. What happens when we let the facts interact? We forget the specifics and are left with a strong cocktail of emotions and premonitions. You read an article, don’t remember anything. Together all these facts paint a picture of a system that can’t be seen. It’s image is elusive, it’s factual limbs flailing about striking you in the gut. It’s that feeling you can’t forget. It leaves you feeling a fool. In arguments facts are the used as ammunition, like some conspiracy lunatic you are left with nothing but a; “trust me man”. —

bubble trouble:
– states
– borders
– universities, knowledge, (jstor, aaron shwartz) – newspapers (topics)

– news (one story to the next) – wealth
– facts ^^
– images

– images of war and death, visualizations —————————————————–

Jet lag:

I arrived in Stockholm. I flew from Shanghai. The time difference between Shanghai and Stock- holm is nine hours. I felt a little tired after the long flight but needed to stay up to adjust to the time difference.

The biggest difference is the difference in time. The difference in our idea of what our future time will hold.

Collectors, carl. Have an idea of time moving forward. An idea of progress, of events.

young artist>collect>have shows>make connections>bigger studio>more production>meet “important” people>curators>included in shows with
big name artists>value increases over
time>solo show>have museum shows>value increases>become part of the canon= culture has been nurtured and created. Collectors believe they are nurturing culture. They may even think that it wouldn’t exist without them. It is a money making scheme that feels better. Make you feel important, intellectual, cultural. It is all done with the idea that the time we all have ahead of us all is stable. Reliable. and maybe it is reliable for people like him and other people that have that kind of money. the “1%”. There are projec- tions that 100 million ppl will die by 2030 if we fail to act on climate change. it is projected that 90 percent of those deaths will be in develop- ing countries. there is no question. that we are failing. at least currently. that projection is most likely pretty conservative.

I dont see our time ahead like carl.

archival.
global warming.
culture for who. museums for who? in a 4c de- gree world. who will be there to look at the art. our future is being wiped away.

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You are lost.
You come across a town.
A man is tied to a wooden post.

You see two men arguing in front of the tied up man. They are excited to see you because they need someone to settle their argument.

You tell them that you can help. They tell you that the man that they have tied up is a thief. He has stolen a loaf of bread from a store and now they are going to kill him for his crime. They are arguing the best way to kill the man. One man argues that the best way to kill the man is to hang him in front of the towns people. That way it will deter others from committing similar crimes. The other man argues he simply needs to suffer the consequences for his crime. Making an example of him is barbaric and unnecessary. He argues that the best way to kill the man is to shoot him. It is quick and there would be no struggle.

They turn to you.
They ask. Who do you agree with? What is the best way to kill this man?

You agree with the man who wants to shoot him. You agree that it would be best to shoot the man because it would be quick and it would put him out of his misery. You argue that hanging him would put him in extreme pain and he would suffer for several minutes. You agree that it is un- necessary to make an example out of the man. What you really believe is that the man should not be killed at all. You think that it is barbaric to kill a man simply for stealing a loaf of bread. Perhaps he was hungry and could not afford the loaf. Perhaps he was rich and simply felt like taking the bread. Either way, you believe that capital punishment is not appropriate. But you have picked one of the sides that have been pre- sented to you. You picked the best option out of the two. You pick the option that has more logic and facts to back it up. You pick the option that you believe will win the argument in the end. You want to win the game. At the same time you have forgone the opportunity to state what you truly want: for the man not to be killed at all. By picking the best option that has been presented to you, you have agreed to kill a man for stealing a loaf of bread.

Cooperation with destructive institutions by engaging in the political process grants them legitimacy through complicity. We accept a limited realm of debate and become co-opted and incorporated into industrial culture. We create the illusion that the system works, both to the public and to ourselves, which only masks the real problems.

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we are dying for a new art movement because we are scared of death. we cling to the idea that our contemporary moment is unique. we need to know that what is ‘now’ is a progression from what was ‘then’. We need to see that we are present, thinking, being, absorbing our world. as if to say. we are here. we are alive. this moment is different and here is why.

scrabble racks. with same letters. different combinations.
hybrid car. vanity licence plate. same letters as scrabble letters.

both drawings on music stands.
sandwiches wrapped in white paper with napkins on brown paper bag. slideshow on screen outside with these objects around.

You cannot delete the ‘Stocks’ application from the iPhone.

I tend to be attracted to hippy shit and politics. but why are the aesthetics always so bad. Even in art. So many ‘politically minded’ artists have either the worst aesthetics or they are just not interested in anything formal. I want both. I want to make a drawing one day and then burn something down the next. I guess paul chan comes close…but still.

The funniest thing you can do is walk around with your left shoe on your right foot and your right shoe on your left foot. Its the funniest joke i can think of.

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new years resolution:

In 2015 I want to create and share more. This past year I spent more time overthinking things than I would have liked. I spent too much time behind the computer feeling annoyed or bitter or critique-y. I spent time too much time sitting around wishing that certain worlds existed instead of being proactive and taking steps to realize those wishes. I realize now that what I want to do in this world will not begin from a conversation away from the art object or image. I realize that I will never be satisfied with the world
as it is, with art as it is. In order for me to bring about a world that I want to live in I need to start creating things that depart from the current reality and make things that exist within an entirely new world, artworks that follow their own set of laws.

I can only ever be mediocre theorist, critic or writer. I am best as an artist. The best thing I can do is embrace the freedom that comes with being an artist. I have realized that conviction is hard to distinguish among artists. I want to make more of an effort to find artists that have the same conviction as me.

I want to work on forming new bonds and a network of solidarity. The market thrives on a total depletion of solidarity between artists. Artists are so eager to jump head first into the market (not always for bad reasons, even if they are bad reasons it doesn’t make them a villain or a bad person). The astronomical amounts of student debt that accumulates after just four years of pursuing a degree has put my generation at the bottom of a deep hole that we are required to climb out of before we can even embark on our adult lives. By the time we climb out, our ambitions and hunger for a better world dries up. This is the way the system was designed. This puts artists in a position that makes it nearly impossible to say no. Artists today are hungry for any opportunity to get their work out there and rise through the ranks of the art world. There is little opportunity for artists to develop demands from the institutions that hold the keys to their potential success. Opportunities to seize the leverage points necessary for change have been lost and forgotten. You cannot demand change if you already put your name on the waiting list.

I want to remember that I can issue demands.
I want to work with other artists who share this desire. We are soon to forget that today’s art institutions are beholden to artists. Art institutions have been successful in avoiding this truth by using the market to create a rat race amongst artists. This atomizes artists working today and prevents solidarity from building and communities from forming. Art institutions wield a substantial amount of power within contemporary society.

I want to work towards forming demands that would require said institutions to step in line with artists who spend time envisioning new systems. I want to demand that these institutions take steps towards realizing those visions. I want to talk to other artists that share these desires, I want to work with other artists on fleshing out what the best plan of action is. My focus on art institutions is not to reform them. I do not wish to spend all my time working towards changing these institutions just so I can feel better about subscribing to them. Honestly I would rather see existing institutions dissolve completely. I no longer see them as an essential or healthy compo- nent of a more egalitarian art world. My interest is mostly in the power these institutions yield in today’s society. I want to utilize that power. Artists are no longer reliant on these institutions.