"Last week I was asked when presenting vorstellen.network " what do I get as an artist out of it?"
#moneymoneymoney
This week I got asked when presenting my work "where is Elisa among all of these pieces?"
#me #myself and #I
mh, will we ever get over postmodernism?
I send you a big hug and a big loud laugh!"
I recently had a discussion with my friend about what Vorstellen.network and its initiators Elisa (whose fragment I have reproduced here), Axelle and Philipp were promoting: the collective.
I read aloud Elisa's message to him.
« I send you a big hug and a big loud laugh! ».
My friend replied, « Does anyone remember laughter ». Fragment from the song Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin, November 8, 1971).
I had several exchanges with my sister about this. Expressions of frustration too: we could gain so much in terms of propositional strength by joining forces, by pooling our skills. By networking. But people are programmed on their individuality (what do I get out of it, where am I among all of these pieces, as Elisa says).
I won't hide from being a source of her frustrations too.
The university is a perfect place to shape egocentric individuals.
In my work, however, I ask the question of the collective. Of collective action. Of the revival of the agency by groups of actors organized in collectives. It is the peasants who interest me. And the agency that can be drawn from the data.
In a last joint work with a colleague, we ask the question of the conditions necessary for a collective of actors to develop and maintain an agency based on data over the long term. We identify four of them.
In key words here, the need for: a serious problem, such as an existential threat to the group of actors involved; a solution that relies on the enrolment and active participation of its members; a solution that must also have direct value for its individual users (because collective action always comes at a cost at the individual level); and a governance structure that is designed and embedded in the solution.
These are just conditions - assumptions that we draw from comparing our case study with what has historically happened with farmers and their data (when it was not yet digital).
Is there anything here to collectively ponder?