The Trap is a kaleidoscopic BBC documentary by Adam Curtis that examines the perilously flawed evolution of social theory underpinning Western foreign policy since the 1950’s. Curtis’ amazing use of archival footage– reminiscent of Robert Rauschenberg’s combine paintings– blend with carefully organized narrative and interviews with key players to make highly instructive viewing. The 3-hour journey moves through game theory, nuclear deterrence, market incentivization, R.D. Laing’s theories of family repression and on to genetic determinism, meritocracy, Prozac and finally neo-conservative interpretations of positive and negative liberty.

The program makes a compelling case that these flawed theories have been consistently embraced by both liberal and conservative ideologies and stand in the way of moving beyond our current state of peril.

The Trap - Part 1 Fuck You Buddy Part 2 The Lonely Robot Part 3 We Will Force You To Be Free

Jeff Crouse and Stephanie Rothenberg’s new project explores the growing intersection between labor, emerging virtual economies, and real life commodities through the creation of a designer jeans sweatshop in the online, 3-dimensional virtual world of Second Life. From Reality Sandwich:

The process begins in the real world. Real life customers at the Double Happiness Jeans store place their custom designed jean orders with a live factory overseer who manages the virtual factory workers from a terminal in the physical space. As the jean order enters the virtual factory, Second Life “workers” who are actually humans controlling onscreen avatars stationed at specialized machines begin the “telematic” production process.

Ten virtual machines, each correlating to a specification of the custom jean order, are operated by a SL worker in an assembly line manner. For example, machine number 2 which simulates a laser cutter creates the pattern whereas machine number 3, a dye vat, creates the “rinse” effect. Customers in the store can watch their jeans being created via a projection of the factory into the physical space.

At the end of the production cycle, the finished jeans are sent to a large format printer in the physical space, where they are printed on Tyvek material, quickly assembled, and worn out by the buyer. The entire process takes about 20 minutes. Styles include boot cut, skinny leg and flare. Profits from customer jean purchases are used to maintain the virtual factory and consumables (material, inks) and pay workers’ wages.

The creators of the project hope to shed light on the current politics of outsourced labor as well as the role of “play” and digital games in cultural production. Just as in a real life factory, workers are monitored by a department supervisor and held accountable for their speed and efficiency and any production errors. The erratic flow of supply and demand and extenuating circumstances such as equipment failures and irrational dispositions may result in docked pay, layoffs and overtime.

The project debuts at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2008. A Double Happiness Jeans store will be located inside the New Frontier Theater on Main St.. If you would like to experience telematic production in Second Life, the factory is currently hiring workers. Double Happiness Manufacturing offers a competitive salary, virtual land bonuses and a safe and friendly work environment.

Here for the website.

On today’s snowy cold winter morning, I came across this lovely post via we-make-money-not-art and hyperexperience:

netGranny is a revolutionary service where consumers directly commission grandmothers in Switzerland to custom-knit socks for them. It has the spirit of transparency of programs like dole’s organic labels, with the mass customization you would expect from local experts, all the while supporting elderly people to make an independent income. this is something i’d like to see expanded to other crafts and countries where it could make an even bigger difference.

Here for the original article.

Here for netGranny.

In her highly entertaining book Unmarketable or Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing and the Erosion of Integrity, Anne Elizabeth Moore depicts the absurdity of “our advertising-saturated, late-capitalist wonderland”. Rooted in the DIY philosophy of the punk underground, Moore describes how it became a part of the logic of mass production and corporate culture it originally opposed. The book offers a critical look at advertising agencies who use DIY techniques to reach a youth market, and at members of the underground who have helped forward corporate agendas through their own artistic, and occasionally activist, projects.

I especially enjoyed Moore’s systematic demystification of concepts we usually take for granted. Early on in the book, there is an interesting section about the use of the word “organic”:

“The definition of organic most of us are accustomed to describes living beings; refers to something that develops gradually and without force; and implies the use of agricultural practices reliant on naturally occurring pesticides, fertilizers, and other growing aids but without the use of synthetic chemicals. We think of “organic” as a synonym for natural, untrammeled, sustainable.
Yet the definition of organic used on food packaging is a technical and tautological one, describing a lack of synthetic fertilizers, toxic pesticides, or herbicides, and an adherence to a set of standards put in place by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to regulate the commercial use of the word “organic”. While the definition has been pared down from its original, the word has also become popular in packaging, advertising, and the media; it’s a promotional tool. (…)
So the schism between what we believe organic means (naturally occurring, created without using damaging substances or force, and eminently reproducible) and what it means in the commercial sphere (grown by aid only of other products also labeled “organic”) is vast. Marketers have done more than take full advantage of this schism. They have created it.”

‘Unmarketable’, Anne Elizabeth Moore, The New Press, New York, 2007

Update: Interview with Anne from Bookslut

From Rhizome:

The special issue of Leonardo Electronic Almanac on “Locative Media” (Vol. 14, Issue 3) has been released. It’s a very well-documented compilation of articles about location-based technologies with contribution of none other than Anne Galloway and Matt Ward, Julian Bleecker and Jeff Knowlton, Lalya Gaye and Lars Erik Holmquist, Malcolm McCullough, Michele Chang and Elizabeth Goodman and so forth. What is also good is the bibliography they put together with good resources on the topic. More about that here when I get enough time to parse the papers.

Here to read the issue of Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

Well, June has come, yet again. And you know what that means, don’t you? That’s right: it’s time for another G8 summit!

This year’s summit will be hosted by Germany, in the Baltic Sea resort town of Heiligendamm (literally “holy dam”). The leaders of the eight most powerful (democratic) nations of the world will meet there to take some revitalizing mineral baths and decide the fate of the world. Guess the rest of us will just have to cross our fingers and hope they have our best interests in mind!

But our friends at Dropping Knowledge are taking a slightly more proactive approach. For this year’s summit, they have organized “Dropping Knowledge Summercamp,” an exercise in alternative journalism, with DK operatives on site in Germany, posting photos and videos to the website while “on the trail of stories, questions and a multiplicity of views, capturing the culture and the counterculture of this year’s G8 summit.”

If you are new to Dropping Knowledge, watch an 8-minute retrospective of their work thus far: This Is Dropping Knowledge. more videos HERE. Dropping Knowledge is a rich, inspiring project and there’s a lot of material on the website. So dive in and spend some time exploring … you won’t regret it!

After the festival premiere yesterday, the 7th Annual Media That Matters Film Festival is now streaming online! From the same page, you can also see the last 6 years worth of Film Festivals, as well as last year’s FOCUS: Good Food, another collection of shorts, which took food and sustainability as its unifying theme.

Each year, the folks at MediaRights and Arts Engine choose 16 short films (all under 8 minutes) that engage social issues in one way or another and make them available to the public. The idea is for these films to be seen by as many people as possible, so, in addition to streaming the films online for free, the festival’s organizers make it very easy to host your own free screening.

As usual, I’m about a week behind, but I thought this was worth a mention. Last week, North Carolina State University put out a press release announcing that as of May 23 of last week, the world’s population is more urban than rural:

Working with United Nations estimates that predict the world will be 51.3 percent urban by 2010, the researchers projected the May 23, 2007, transition day based on the average daily rural and urban population increases from 2005 to 2010. On that day, a predicted global urban population of 3,303,992,253 will exceed that of 3,303,866,404 rural people.

For those who are curious, the US population became predominantly urban back in 1910.

Mostly symbolic, obviously, but their point is that cities depend on rural areas for resources like clean air, water, food, fiber and minerals.

Cities cannot stand alone; rural natural resources can. Cities must depend on rural resources.

Through September 23, 2007 the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum presents Design for the Other 90%,an exhibition of design projects intended for the roughly 5.8 billion people whose design needs- affordable shelter, access to clean drinking water and sustainable energy- are too often ignored. A number of the projects, including the Katrina Furniture Project and the Seventh Ward Shade Pavillion, were born out of the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, though most focus on the developing world. The projects range from the simple (Q drum, provides an efficient way to transport water) to the more complex (the Kinkajou projector uses LED and microfilm technology to assist in evening adult literacy classes).
The exhibition website profiles the included projects and includes more resources on sustainable, socially conscious design. Watch the online video for interviews with some of the designers and footage of the products in use.

The Beehive Design Collective aims to connect cultural activism and popular education through its graphics campaigns. The ‘hive’ will be in D.C. on Friday at American University to present their newest graphic lecture:

With three giant illustrated portable murals, a six foot tall fabric storybook “slideshow”, and an engaging narrative (available in Spanish or English), the Bees take audiences on an interactive VISUAL tour of the connections between COLONIZATION, MILITARIZATION, and RESOURCE EXTRACTION in the Americas. We will be exposing the agendas of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, Plan Colombia, and celebrating resistance to the “Plan Puebla Panama” in Mesoamerica. Join in as we deconstruct the complex and overwhelming issues that are shaping our world, using bioregionally accurate depictions of animals and insects as metaphors to link cultural and ecological diversity.

Also check out the Collective’s ‘Graphics for the Commons’ CD-ROM containing anti-copywrite clip art and illustrations. It’s available from their website, along with posters of their work, for a donation.