Don't Take It Personal

Lovely stuff, stuff and more stuff!

Generally, convenience sounds like a really great thing. At least if you ignore the whole Daniel Gilbert idea of people pursuing other stuff than what they really want. So we keep demanding all these qualities from technology. We want accessibility, communication devices, efficiency in every way possible, endless means of self-expression, and so on. Just look at what personal technology we had in our pockets fifty years ago. It was like, a wallet, a set of keys, and maybe some smokes and a wrist watch. Today we probably have five times as many gadgets flopping about in our designer pockets and purses. All this stuff, stuff, stuff!

Now, if we asked for it and got it, what then is the problem? Well, having a shitload of things requires either very large pockets, or a way to make the lovely little trinkets smaller and fewer. Convergence and miniaturization, you immediately think. And yes, that is exactly where we are headed right now! With the camera, music player, calendar and Internet access already in the cell phone, life has become so much tidier. When we have the access, credit and bus cards in the keys, the keys in the cell phone, the cell phone in the finger tip, additional internal memory and data storage, online access to libraries and information, movies and a dashboard in contact lenses, physical maintenance by nano-tech and a nice little music player in the ear for a true soundtrack of our lives, we will have solved the problem. Finally, we shall enjoy the glorious technologies of mankind without being forced to accept bulging Zegna pockets, or tearing the calf leather of the Hermès purse.

It seems as though Ray Kurzweil was right about his smart dust, cell therapy and artificial intelligence, does it not? But what happens with the ever so haunting notion of privacy? If every component of everyday life becomes integrated in our bodies (or vice versa), and we remain constantly connected, we have a serious problem at our hands. Anything built by man is bound to have an Achilles heel, and thus, it can also be hacked, broken and even controlled. "Hooray!" shout the misunderstood teenagers and desperate terrorists all across the world. And concerning artificial intelligence, it might even be technology that controls us - not really the way we intended things to become. 

Where do we draw a line, not to be crossed? Now, of course it is most likely to be crossed anyway, simply because we can. But at least for legitimacy reasons, let us draw the line anyway. Personally, I will not join the debate to any greater extent because of the thrill and fascination of it all. I will just lean back with a nice martini, constantly chilled by a smart glass, and quietly observe when the shit hits the fan.

PS. This little ad is from the seventies, so I'm pretty certain that the copy did not realise the disturbing honomymous association humour induced by the little tagline in the bottom right corner. Sorry about this.

Intermission

Check out Wired for a Music Nerd Quick Fix! Sort of coherent with my previous post concerning shortcuts to defining ourselves.

Demystification of Sexuality

Well, it is slowly but surely getting colder here, up north. And what does one associate with Swedish winter, more than H&M ads and sexism debates? So, I began thinking about why the contents of this debate never change, and what's more; what causes it and where it is headed (if anywhere).


Today, we have a serious problem with the upheaval of sexual mystery. According to Swedish juvenile receptions and diagnostic centers, the vanishing of lust is a common problem among young people. If that is not a major tragedy, I do not know what is.

There are two sides of the problem: the idealists that argue that sex should be completely absent in all parts of society except perhaps in the bedroom, because it creates hierarchies between individuals, as well as between men and women. Personally, I see it as more of a mockery of human nature and the beauty of life and intellect to try to de-sexualise everything. Mystery is key!


The other side, is the overexposure of the naked body and sexuality in all parts of society. It is virtually impossible to go through an entire day without being exposed to magazines that give sex tips, ads for a bunch of stuff that enhance your attraction, etc. The Swedish (in many ways good) transparency mentality that has led to thorough compulsory sexual education at school, sex toys in pharmacies and a complete disarmament of sexual tension is as much part of the problem as the idealist view. Who would ever be curious of anything when everything has already been exposed and dissected?


 What the equillibristic/idealistic and the capitalistic/explorative approaches have in common, is the division of body and soul. The over-intellectualisation of the very things that make us human is really something that could well have come straight from dystopic science-fiction. Even Ayn Rand, who is often blamed for being overly clinical, understood and obeyed sexual tension and mystery in the process of creation and joy of life.


So, I guess the question is: Are we heading towards a lust-free society, or will nature prevail over quasi-intellect? Let's stash up on popcorn and beers and enjoy this year's debate!

Counting the Days of the Corporation?

Yesterday, the interesting topic of creating culture in different dimensions surfaced. A threat to the large corporations and companies, it was said, is that they most often view culture as a field, in which they can play, rather than as a place to belong to.

Would it really be impossible for the corporation to become an integrated part in culture and the creation of it? I imagine various obstacles, such as structural inertia, too long-term financial targets, etc. Are the days of the corporation counted? It really does strike me as a rather unlikely scenario. Surely, the corporation must live on as a phenomenon, since the instinct to expand and evolve, in most industries, requires a certain scale and amount of capital. It is normally so, that start-up ventures (no matter how niched or independent) that grow, after a short while will start making more long-term decisions and invest in fewer, more costly projects, due to the increase in funding possibilities. A typical sign of a mature, inert company on the path towards acquiring typical corporate structures.

Until the global, non-monetary society emerges, the incentive of accumulating money as a means of power, will always remain. Thus, also re-enforcing and reproducing the organisational style of the corporation. However, I cannot see this as a remnant of a dark Gordon Gekko past. Corporations definitely shape culture, but in a slower pace than smaller and less restricted actors, such as the "creative class" from the terminology of cultural geography. So, when contrasted against words like community, non-commercial, sharing, creative collaboration and other components of contemporary trends, the corporation provides a secure, stable background to which society can withdraw to catch its breath and scrutinise its latest creations.

Pity or Pretty?

Home re-makes, cookery shows, wine sampling, ecology fetishism; every little bit of our lives are supposed to have the exact right texture, colour, size, and be perfectly matched. Which brings me back to the old short-cut philosophy once again. Ambition, definitely does not match practise in our everyday lives. in fact, that almost never happens at all! I was wondering why - since we are all intelligent and hypothetically evolutionarily elaborate slabs of meat and neurons - we humans seem to be so incapable of pursuing our individual goals.

Take magazine and evening paper billboards for example. We just love to despise those poor people, who, by chance or deliberance, ventured into some trap of immorality and decay. Their "apalling, shocking, atrocious" acts of self-indulgence and random outbursts of misery streaks make us nauseated. But, for what is it really that we are blaming them? I mean, when brutally put in the spotlight with a bag of money, cocaine, fame and endless casual sex, who wouldn't be tempted to test the triggers of those traps, atleast for a while?

When looking back at all the major events of history, good or bad, it is striking to see how many of those that were foreseen. Not by conducting a lot of research, but by using simple common-sense. The same common-sense that for fifty years ago told us that, eventually, we would run out of oil and the climate might be fucked, also tells us that people need bad things. So, even though governments and lobbyists try to define these human traits as symptoms of a bad society, perhaps we should simply accept them as parts of our nature, thenceforth being able to add them to our efforts to understand the world and where we are headed.

I do not know if we do all our stupid things to test the limits, try new things, provoke nuissance, get attention, or just avoid self-combusting out of sheer boredom. Because, honestly, the chores and habits of daily life are seldom that exhilarating. I suspect that we are asking the wrong questions. Perhaps it is the goals of our ambition that are discrepant from our true natural urges. We may promise ourselves to work out more, eat more fruit, smoke less, blah blah blah every New Year, when in fact, we could feel better if we only took the time and freedom to act out our inner selves. Then, maybe there will not even be that many extreme Britney cases. Personally, I am fairly crappy when it comes to structure, planning ahead, big-great-correct-desicions-in-life, grown-up stuff. But I really have quite mixed feelings before the whole situation, when it comes to change. My whole existence tells me to leave some things as they are.

So, why do we bother with complaining and criticising our celebrity scapegoats? Because it serves the purpose of opening up shortcuts. We just love to whine and harass to make us seem like we are initiated and caring. The glorious, white-boy-culture authenticity issue has had two effects: the demand for transparency and the interest in the lives of others (especially celebrities) is growing, as does the distaste for the paparazzi, investigatory style of journalism.  Thereby, in a pitiful paradox, the genre of gossip journalism correlates with the growth of the concern for respect and transparency. All because of the very convenient shortcut to both info-tainment and association it provides. I reckon it is time to stop inflating the issue of morality to such grotesque proportions and start accepting the "darker" realms of ourselves. And I suspect, that change is already taking place. Never before has there been so many subtle layers and possible permutations of lifestyles in a single society. We seem to be broadening our horizon of what mankind is.

PS. I apologise for the quite inappropriate image in the beginning of the blog post. But, since I know you want more, I can tell you there is more where that came from. Click here to get a (fact or fiction?) collection of similar billboards in a tidy little paperback format.

Sweden - From Present to Past

This weekend, I was out early at dawn, taking photographs of various parts of downtown Stockholm. I was struck by the immense lack of innovation of the various building sites. There, I saw the same mexi-brick foundations that made up the spine of the suburbia projects fifty years ago. Has there really been no development since then? I mean, we surely do not dress the same as back then, do we? The Swedish modernism in all its glory belongs to the past. Back then, architecture was integrated in the rest of the art world and followed the currents, making a great paradigmatic leap from from old dusty designs towards the sharp, light structures in beautiful shades of white that we know today as modernism.

When seeing the "bold new face of Stockholm", I begin to wonder; do these new buildings really fulfil the needs of the modern world, or are they stuck in an old 60's philosophy? The need for another revolution becomes obvious. So, one might wonder, are the Swedish architects not confident in their own ideas? I mean, confidence is one of the most important components of creativity. When thinking back at childhood memories, it is striking how three simple factors decided the choices of hobbies. The ones where we had the confidence, encouragement and consent to follow through are the ones that survived. Take a look at Apple's iPod. It was created by giving the designers a whole lot of cred and completely free hands. Then, the design was given to the engineers, who had to make the damn thing function. Not the other way around. If only city planning could do the same, just imagine the amount of joyeous energy that would come out of it! Buildings, like paintings, are best conceived when they are products of one pure vision, without too much intervention from government authorities.

Earlier this spring, Centerpartiet presented a beautiful conceptual idea of a "green", self-sustaining skyscraper in downtown Stockholm. Personally, I would say that is f***ing brilliant, compared to the cowardly projects being undertaken today. It really reflects the architectural trends in the rest of the world. Whilst the brave Duth continue their bold exploration of new materials and gorgeous innovative styles, we linger on in our self-content idea of having the perfect society. Look at the Dutch firm OMA's Seattle Public library, Frank Gehry's now old but still fantastic Guggenheim wonder in Bilbao or the Chinese efficient megacity projects. These new frontiers may appear capricious and random at first, but they are not. They are contemporary, and as such, should be promoted as testimonials of our time.

Now that we are at it, I might just as well show you some pictures from the new concert hall in Uppsala. Yes, I know, it has received almost only positive critique. But, some of the homage rightfully compared it in magnitude to Sergels Torg in Stockholm. And I could not agree more! It is fairly nice, but very old and not very thought through, both when it comes to materials and spaces.

Commodification of Technology - the Future of the Past

During the early 1900's, the art of motion pictures emerged as a major art form. Previously, it had only been shown as intermissions on theaters and concerts. It was mainly the working class that drove the development towards displaying movies as the main attraction, since it could be done for a fraction of the cost of live theater. Soon, the Hollywood dominance began - Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin are among the names of the first movie superstars.

The outbreaks of the Great War and WWII, also contributed greatly to the importance of movies. Celebrities in service were used extensively to boost morale and create propaganda. "Gone With the Wind" is one of the many wartime box office successes that live on today as a classic. In Europe, however, the post-war trauma gave birth to the European art movie genre with darker themes, as in "Dr Caligari's Cabinet". The notion of a divided world and death's intrusion into everyday life gave more depth to the releases on our continent.

Another effect of the post-war era, was the economic boom that all of a sudden provided the youth and the growing midddle class with spare money in their pockets. What to do, but spend it all on soda and rock & roll? The survival of rock & roll was secured as a major genre in popular music. Definitely a symptom of hope in the reconstructed, new world.

Television, just like the movies, had its origins in vaudeville entertainment. With it, yet another form of celebrities appeared. Sport events, premieres, tv-series, news reads and such entered the homes of ordinary people.

Together, these three and other phenomena are examples of how the cultural participation spread over nation and class borders. Ever since, there has been huge demand for further technologies and services that satisfy the want for exotism and individual statements. Technology and spare time have become commodities driven by popular demand. Video tape recorders, Walkman, iPod, laptops, Internet file sharing... What comes next?

I won't let you down, Goldie...

Apparently, the trailers and some other market communication, for the upcoming movie “Wanted”, have to be withdrawn, since they glamorise the use of guns and violence. I started thinking that, maybe, the core of the comics romanticising, which has been really widespread for some time now, is not the violence, but something else. Of course, the easy, quick references to attractive 50's design, cool one-liners and lack of boundaries have something to do with it. But where does really it come from, this superhero trend?

Trends evolve when people experience strong (not necessarily violent) currents of needs. These needs do not have to be very tangible – trends actually benefit in strength the more implicit they are. The keyword is emotion. Just like everything else in nature, we sapient little apes function the best when we are in balance. To much chaos makes us wish for harmony; an overdose of isolation and we start longing for information and company. So, which collective emotion are we lacking today? Hope, trust and responsibility are emotions that have not been overly abundant lately. We see mass consumption as if there were no tomorrow, and constant wars and the stressing feeling of us humans growing out of our own nature. This must be counterbalanced with something!

The greater part of the “generation batch” of people that have grown up with, and enjoyed, the aesthetics and escapism of comics have become part of the labour force. They (and I) were young when the Soviet threat was very real, the movies were about titanic clashes between worlds and the music was about vast spaces. Now, they have sort of brought their childhood fears, dreams and impressions with them into adulthood. With that in the luggage, it is easy to draw parallels between world crises and Frank Miller’s dark dimensions. The hero symbolises our hope and deeply inherent belief in humanity’s ability to reap goodness out of an ocean of evil. The comic superhero, as well as the villain, is very convenient, because it is so easy to project what should be said and done on a fictive character, rather than getting ones own hands dirty.

The aesthetics of comics is also a satisfying channel, through which to let out the different personas that constitute ones individual. Most healthy people carry within them more or less distinct personalities that often collide: the artist and the accountant; the lazy and the ambitious, the lover and the supportive friend… many of them have to be quelled for us to function in society. To avoid harm from this form of self-denial, the arts offer a refuge and an outlet for the fire burning! Especially comics are very accessible, since every character is a unique person, where the extreme form of caricature makes the satisfaction much greater (though perhaps not as refined) than of other forms of literature that make claims of realism and reason. Reversely, it is not likely that Marv, Ironman or Modesty Blaise would make it in our stern world.

Maybe is it once again the propensity to take shortcuts that looms – the concept of confirming the constituents of ones person by relating to the works of others, rather than allowing ones own imagination flow freely. “Because it takes fucking long time”.

Eco-Local

So, the "eco" and "locally grown" movement continues its journey. The other day, Moderaterna presented a new radical proposal concerning a lower cap for the allowed consumption of car petrol.  Our new, green centralist-right wing has yet again provided evidence of there being a shift in opinion liaisons. The trend of combining and synergising profitable commerce with environmental actions is gradually reallocating the environment issue, from the "lumberjack-shirted left wing romantics", towards the modern, white, urban bourgeoisie. All of a sudden, we all have become locally sourcing, designer-clad ecology heroes.

Another sign of the academic middle-class retreating from its hyperopic focus on grand macro schemes and remote theories is Stockholms stad's new forum. Its purpose, is to revive forgotten and dying parts of the city. This additional tool for the densification of Stockholm is supposed to improve and add the possibilities of commerce and well-being in those "wasted spaces". I really like the idea of looking more at the factors that are close to us and have a direct impact on our everyday lives. The whole soundness of it makes for a realistic, bright future, I think.

The completely un-scientific profile is clear. White person between 20 and 40 years of age, urban lifestyle, trend and fad conscious, equal parts appearance and soul, implicit complex for not belonging to a cool minority ethnic group, definitely own a bicycle, listens to decently obscure music, likes locally grown veg., has decided upon a favourite charity cause, is an academic who communicates intensively with a whole lot of other similar people. These people, of which I am almost one, have quite an easy time making themselves heard, because they are viewn as credible. They also know how to manipulate most communication channels and have the time and incentives to bother. Generally, they have a potentially huge impact on decision makers. Because of these lobby activities within immediate environment and traffic (vehicles, not people or substances), the demands for transparency and continuous efforts within these fields have clearly increased dramatically over the last few years. All good!

Generation of Cheaters

Well, I just got back from a DJ gig. Bit later than I had first planned since it is now 07:52, but I guess I am pretty fine with that. Anywaysss... Now that we are already into the whole trends construct, I figured I might as well share my very recent observation with you.

The nature of humans is such that we always try to explore and exploit the shortcuts in life. They are at the same time both the makings of sloth, as well as great leaps in development. As always, when at a party playing music, there are a whole lot of bastards making various requests. Mostly, of the type that I would never consider playing, since they would not fit smoothly into the set. But what really fascinates me is that, quite often, those people are not even remotely familiar with the kind of music they request. There was one especially odd geezer in a 90's jeans shirt, who kept asking for the most obscure rock/pop artists, but when I inquired about what specific tracks he was interested in hearing, he could not say. It immediately came quite clear that he was not really trying to convince me to play certain songs - he was rather looking to make a statement about himself before his friends, and me being the DJ and, thus, the expert and definer of musical matters at the scene.

This is all in line with the whole iPod playlist era. It is becoming more and more common for people to let their extensive phonebooks, playlists, Facebook friends and other "guilty by association" factors define them, rather than what they actually are and do. By mentioning a certain type of music, people can benefit from the image of that certain lifestyle without actually having to invest anything to become part of it. It does make sense, when considering the ever increasing possibilities of interaction and speed in everyday life. Now, that there are so many things possible, we feel guilty of not making full use of our thousands of options, so we use the shortcuts instead to sort of give the impression of being very initiated and expert individuals. We construct our resumés, such that they appear to be packed with degrees in different majors, work experience from all industries all around the world, and skills that would flatter even Einstein. We furnish our homes so that items exhibiting our skills and diverse range of interests are fully exposed. We read key literature and we go to key galleries, boutiques, bars and restaurants to be able to claim familiarity with the entire categories. We also namedrop celebrities, sub-culture leaders, fashion labels and music as if they were cosmetics of our persona. Very seldom do others question the actual content of these claims.

I am not suggesting that the whole shortcut concept is wrong. It is, though, part of our nature. What I strive to highlight, is the conflict between the limited amount of work and investments in our own persons that humans are capable of, and the increasing spare time and range of options. One person can only do so much before he or she must rest from the whole lot. As symptoms of this, I expect to see quite a lot more fancy gadgets and "life simplifyers" on the market in the very near future. It started with the published Winamp playlist, continued with the very portable and displayable iPod and, most recently, the Pacemaker. All joining the ranks for the crusade to make dinstinct lifestyle statements in a convenient manner.

Somewhere deep down, I guess we all want to be true nerds, who know everything about something. Power to the nerd!

Check out the Pacemaker!

Chasing the Rush

The intrinsic conflict between the strive towards community recognition and self-distinguishing uniqueness continues. For that is whence most of our decisions derive. I do not refer to all desicions, however. It is the decisions and thoughts concerning the future - near and far - that this blog is dedicated to explore.

During the past few days, I have encountered quite a few symptoms of the Chasing of the Rush. The rush of sticking one's head out from the masses every once in a while. The rush of redefining one's own personal brand by expressing something that is out of the ordinary. And in every case, this rush is counterbalanced by the fear of having stuck the head out so far that there is a danger of becoming alone! I spent my Saturday night with friends at F12 - the night club was having a huge season closing party, where a friend of mine who ran the show got the less brilliant idea of painting live animals and having them around as art alongside pissed fashionistas and general routine party animals. Basically, a lot of things going on. Great fun at the moment for some perhaps. An idea, which did not come down so good in the minds of the readers of public press the next morning. A bit too much this time.

The point is, however, that whatever occurred on that scene and who specifically did what, it was implicitly agreed upon together! That is my layman macro trend of the day: The era of the lone hero who boldly stands up and represents his or her movement is being challenged by the re-invention of an old compromise. The collective has indeed re-ermerged as a valid substitute for the individual. The new generation finds its inspiration among the community-like artist movements, such as the French impressionists or the colorist/fauvist painters. Like them, it is now becoming more and more common to stick the heads out together, for both safety and greater impact.

Besides provocing scandals such as this every now and then, more positivt effects of the collective Chasing of the Rush are the many new music production collectives, increasingly dense art gallery clusters, micro fashion designer retailers, and many other factors that bring our environment to life. With the community wingmen watching your back, the lust and courage to break new ground becomes greater. Combined with today's virtually unlimited focus on expressing the individual creativity and uniqueness through the collective mind, the positive synergies of working and living closely together in clusters cannot be over-estimated. I am sure that more and more new ventures will be joint in the form of networks, partnerships, interest groups, industry clusters, joint marketing and such.

Natalia Goldin runs a great gallery in
the massive art gallery cluster at
Hudiksvallsgatan, Stockholm. Check
it out and be awed by the strength of
togetherness!


More in-depth on the topic of clusters, collective minds and the need for expression is bound to appear soon.