Calarts lecture invitation

making use of the new website's tagging function, “fascism” and “colonialism” recur as themes. now and then, someone asks me about my seeming obsession with these miseries. the stock “look around us” reply started arguments for many years, whereas now it usually leads to acceptant conversation. from living through the most islamophobic time in american memory to its most antisemitic, we are still witness to the rise of unchecked ethnonationalist thinking and doing, worldwide. similarly, promises made in 2020 to correct systemic racism – without selfish motives – go on teetering between fickle, forgotten, and broken. it worries me that a.i. is already used to fabricate more vicarious cultural experiences, furthering our sense of collective detachment. years ago, i said that the work of designing fundamentally requires liking people. its more important that it remains vigilant of our worst tendences, as individuals and societies. we are the sum of our contradictions, and thats all i've ever been interested in laying bare. – feb 2024