#adam elkus

[arcticdementor]

The last few weeks have been a profoundly radicalizing experience.

Before the COVID-19 crisis entered into its current phase, it was reasonable to argue that the post-2016 counter-disinformation effort was based on good intentions but had serious flaws and was entering a state of diminishing returns. The Internet and social media, in destabilizing traditional gatekeepers and spreading lies and half-truths, had created a dangerous vacuum that was being filled by malicious actors. You could disagree with the details of the diagnosis and prognosis, and disagree even more with the proposed treatments, but the underlying assumptions themselves at least could be said to have validity. But what a difference a few weeks makes.

The COVID-19 fiasco is revealing, in a very short period of time, that much of these assumptions are totally wrong. And continuing to act on them is not just misguided but harmful. Doing so compounds the costs of the failures that we have witnessed and hampers efforts that – however imperfect – provide alternatives to them. Why?

…

It is difficult to express how badly almost all legacy “expert systems” simultaneously underperformed during the initial phases of the crisis. Here is a tiny sample of this failure, a failure whose human consequences grow by the day as a cold, inhuman, and utterly ruthless killer relentlessly searches for new targets.

…

It is an exaggeration to say that fringe weirdos on social media often were more well-informed than people that exclusively evaluated mainstream sources, but not that much of an exaggeration as most would think. And that is not accidental. As Ben Thompson noted, the global COVID-19 response depended on an enormous amount of information developed and shared often in defiance of traditional media (which underrated and even mocked concern about the crisis) and even the Center for Disease Control (which attempted to suppress the critical Seattle Flu Study). The response still depends primarily on transnational networks and often must operate around rather than through official channels.

Taken together, all of this is astounding in both its scope and simultaneity. And it makes a mockery out of the cottage industry developed over the last few years to preserve our collective epistemic health.

…

But as we have seen, these institutions are perfectly capable of unraveling themselves without much help from Russian bots and trolls and Macedonian teenagers. And if the fish rots from the head, then the counter-disinformation effort becomes actively harmful. It seeks to gentrify information networks that could offer layers of redundancy in the face of failures from legacy institutions. It is reliant on blunt and context-indifferent collections of bureaucratic and mechanical tools to do so. It leaves us with a situation in which complicated computer programs on enormous systems and overworked and overburdened human moderators censor information if it runs afoul of generalized filters but malicious politicians and malfunctioning institutions can circulate misleading or outright false information unimpeded. And as large content platforms are being instrumentalized by these same political and institutional entities to combat “fraud and misinformation,” this basic contradiction will continue to be heightened.

The cardinal sin motivating all of this is worrying about whether we trust institutions without asking if these institutions normatively deserve trust, whether it is possible for trust to emerge in the absence of agreement about underlying causes of social problems, and most importantly how subjective trust in authorities can be achieved without objective action.

…

Don’t think carefully. Trust expertise. Sit down and go back to watching television. You’ll only make things worse if you do anything. Many of these op-eds – which now have aged horribly in very short periods of time – emphasized public cognitive deficits in evaluating risk. But a novel virus – in a climate of partial and often distorted information – is not so much a problem of risk as much as it is an issue of uncertainty. Uncertainty nonetheless requires bold action, even if action must occur in conditions where even post-hoc information may not fully reveal all of the relevant decision parameters. And more importantly, responsibility is not equal. The nature of the modern ‘risk society’ is such that the impact of individual actions are swamped by those of large institutions and risk is often systematically passed off to society’s losers.

…

Western society fetishizes the appearance of leadership even as actual leaders recede into a malfunctioning technocratic machine that prunes individual agency and leaves behind only a phantom limb sensation of what once was, Hobson and Bristow explain

…

But is there an alternative to this? What can we do? This post will not give a pat answer, but it will once again reference Thompson’s observation about how the Internet fulfilled much of its original promise and other more traditional information management systems underperformed.

…

What it means is that in the next crisis, reliance on legacy institutions alone to save us is a collective suicide pact. Tradeoffs are inevitable in any complex endeavor, and as Thompson has argued we need to tilt the balance further towards opening up control of information transmission and communication in spite of what we have painfully learned about the false promise that technology will save us from ourselves. This is not about salvation, it is about survival. Reframing the question offers much clarification about possible answers and takes us away from debates that have become stale and uninformative.

We need only look back, as Thompson does, to the origins of the Internet to see that beneath the hyperbole about digital life washing away everything else is a basic concern for survival and resilience under severe strain. And this is the best place to start before we do anything else. In the long run, we must repair or rebuild the legacy systems that failed. Starting over from scratch is simply not an option. “Year Zero” approaches are tremendously destructive and attempts at creating planned societies ex nihilo do not work. But in the short and near term we must create alternatives. These alternatives can over time help us make older systems better. And, quite frankly, building robust alternatives may provide legacy institutions with the incentive to either rise to their obligations or be rendered irrelevant.

Waiting for them to get better on their own or hoping they will change without being prodded is like waiting for the authorities to tell you the right time to stock up on quarantine supplies. Don’t bet your life on it.

[lettersfromanut]

The Omni-Crisis

I read a really prescient, fascinating, terrifying post this week. It pointed out that we normally work in a world were there is a limited range of possible outcomes, and that we thrive in such limitation because it frees us from having to consider a lot of options so we can focus on making the best with what is really in front of us. But the post-pandemic situation (which he calls the…

[feelingbluepolitics]

*** Highest recommendation. ***

Essential reading.

"The US economy right now is like a jumbo jet that’s in a steady glide after both its engines flamed out. In about six weeks, it will likely crash into the side of a mountain.

"What’s kept us in the air so far is an extraordinary government relief effort. In most states, evictions have been temporarily banned, preventing a mass homelessness crisis. Most federal student loan payments have been put on hold, removing one of the largest recurring monthly expenses that millions of people face. Banks were ordered to give their customers a six-month break on mortgage payments if requested.

"The massive interventions that made all this possible will soon come to an end — but the unemployment won’t.

"Few seriously expect the US economy to recover as fast as those bills come due; the federal government’s own projections expect unemployment will remain frighteningly high well into next year, even as people return to work as the lockdowns are lifted. Many companies will only rehire workers as quickly as consumer demand returns, and in labor-heavy industries, such as restaurants, entertainment, and travel, nobody expects things to go back to normal anytime soon.

"And across the economy, big employers will use this moment as a kind of workforce reset button — a chance to rethink how many workers they really want, outsource some jobs, offshore others, and eliminate some entirely. By some estimates, more than 40% of all the job losses of the last few months could be permanent, not temporary.

..."You might have noticed a few major things — like, well, the coronavirus pandemic — missing from this equation. If we’re really lucky, we won’t experience a nasty second wave of infections in the fall and early winter, spurring new rounds of attempted lockdowns shortly after the economic plane crashes into the mountain — lockdowns that will once again disproportionately affect Black people and people with low incomes who can't safely work from home. Fingers crossed on that one.

"And I didn’t mention the nationwide protest movement that shows no sign of slowing down, or the US election that will be overheating in the fall, involving a phenomenally unpopular and wildly divisive *resident whose passionate supporters tend to distrust the government.

"These are all ingredients in what Adam Elkus memorably described recently as the 'omni-crisis' that we’re currently stumbling our way through. 'The omni-crisis has significantly enlarged the space of possible outcomes beyond that normally considered day-to-day by most Americans.'"

[neon-persimmon]

[di--es---can-ic-ul-ar--es]

Adam Elkus’ twitter GIVES ME LIFE 

@activatedsilence

[wordxperimental]

Reza: Have only recently discovered this blog, some gems in there. @Aelkus

This and Pete’s deontologistics blog are the bestest of rabbit holes.

[tastydregs]

Terrifying Argument Says Economy Will Collapse For Real in August

Pending Catastrophe

There’s a chance that the worst of the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t happened yet. According to a troubling BuzzFeed News op-ed, the real economic and societal collapse could arrive in August.

Part of the problem, according to BuzzFeed’s argument, is that many of the measures put in place by the U.S. government to mitigate the coronavirus’s impact will expire in August — while the actual pandemic will likely continue to rage. The result is that unemployed Americans could once more be vulnerable to evictions, right when federal employment payments helping keep them afloat stop coming.

Coasting

Back in April, when the limited federal aid offered by the U.S. government started to arrive, American households began to save, on average, 33 percent of their income out of fears of an impending economic crash, according to the op-ed.

That gave many households a grace period that BuzzFeed compared to “a jumbo jet that’s in a steady glide after both its engines flamed out.”

“In about six weeks,” the op-ed continued, “it will likely crash into the side of a mountain.”

Omni-crisis

The end of the eviction freeze, coupled with the end of the special federal unemployment support, all while COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the U.S., indicates that we’re heading toward what computational social scientist Adam Elkus called the ���omni-crisis,” according to BuzzFeed.

“The omni-crisis has significantly enlarged the space of possible outcomes beyond that normally considered day-to-day by most Americans,” Elkus wrote on his GitHub. “And it is not clear how many people in positions of influence and authority recognize this.”

READ MORE: The Real Economic Catastrophe Hasn’t Hit Yet. Just Wait For August. [BuzzFeed News]

More on the pandemic: City Passes Measure To Cancel Rent During Pandemic

The post Terrifying Argument Says Economy Will Collapse For Real in August appeared first on Futurism.

[leanpick]

Opinion | Why the Coronavirus Is Winning “The only thing it wants is targets,” a George Mason University Ph.D. candidate in computer science, Adam Elkus, …

[dpfagency]

Opinion | Why the Coronavirus Is Winning “The only thing it wants is targets,” a George Mason University Ph.D. candidate in computer science, Adam Elkus, …

[arcticdementor]

Managing public health and disease was one of the core tasks that helped build the legitimacy of industrial era government in the 19th and 20th centuries. When civil servants are too burdened by bureaucratic red tape and the need to perform political face-work to properly pursue this endeavor, it is a sign that Western society has traded the substance of political competence for its appearance. And more generally, a society that cares more about declining trust in institutions than what institutions have substantively done to deserve trust – and which devotes far more effort towards managing the behavioral psychology of risk than actually reducing risk – is engaged in narrative-making as a singular pursuit above all else. Which is where our virus comes in. It is a very simple creature, unburdened by all of this discursive weight. To the extent it can be said to have desires and needs, they are very humble. It only wants targets. We lack a working vaccine and estimates vary about how fast we can get one, but it was born with a natural immunity to our capacity to distract ourselves with our silly little language-games. As this seems to be the most powerful weapon our society had up to this point, we will have to go to Plan B: actually doing something to alter the situation instead of hoping that things will change if we come up with nicer-sounding words to describe it.

Adam Elkus

[charlesccastill]

Boston Society of Architects announces the winners of the 2018 BSA Design Awards Gala

BOSTON—The Boston Society of Architects/AIA (BSA/AIA) announced the winners of the 2018 BSA Design Awards in various categories, including: Campus and Urban Planning; Healthcare Facilities Design; Hospitality Design (hosted for the first time in 2018); Interior Architecture and Design; Sustainable Design, Unbuilt Architecture and Design; Honor Awards for Design Excellence, juried by AIA Minnesota; the Harleston Parker Medal; and the People’s Choice Award, selected from the Harleston Parker Medal finalists.

The sole criterion was design excellence, BSA said in a statement. Other award types, given to individuals by their peers, included BSA Award of Honor Medal, the BSA Earl R. Flansburgh Young Architects Award, the BSA Commonwealth Award, and BSA Honorary Membership.

The winners were announced at the 8th BSA Design Awards Gala on January 17, hosted at BSA Space. The Gala was sponsored by:

Cocktail Reception Sponsor: Copley Wolff Design Group; Gold Sponsor: Autodesk; Bronze Sponsors: Acentech; Andersen Windows and Doors; Crownpoint Cabinetry; DiCicco, Gulman & Company; Dimeo Construction; Microsol Resources; and Simpson Gumpertz & Heger. Supporters: BVH Integrated Services; McPhail Associates; NCGIT; STIMSON; JB Ventures and TCR Development; and The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company.

Winners are listed below:

Campus and Urban Planning

Three Awards:

Robert A.M. Stern Architects for UConn Downtown Hartford Campus, Hartford, Connecticut (for both Campus Planning and Urban Design

Sasaki for the Urban Design project,  Las Salinas: An Ecological and Urban Regeneration in Viña del Mar, Chile; and for the Campus Planning project, West Java New University, Subang, Indonesia

Two Citations:

Arrowstreet for MIT Green Roof Study, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Utile for domestiCITY [for an affordable atlanta]: Everyone Wants a Home of Their Own, Atlanta

Healthcare Facilities Design

Two Honor Awards:

HDR with Perkins+Will for Hartford Hospital Bone and Joint Institute, Hartford, Connecticut

Amenta Emma Architects for The Burnham Family Memory Care Residence at Avery Heights, Hartford, Connecticut

Two citations:

Höweler + Yoon Architecture for MINT, Boston

Shepley Bulfinch with Barber McMurry Architects for Scripps Networks Tower, Knoxville, Tennessee

Hospitality Design (Hosted for the first time in 2018)

Two Honor Awards:

Perkins+Will for Hotel Grinnell, Grinnell, Iowa

Touloukian Touloukian for Lumen at Beacon Park, Detroit, Michigan

Two Awards:

Hacin + Associates for Glass House, Cambridge, Massachusetts

GLD Architecture for Taste Wine Bar and Kitchen, Boston                                             

Four Citations:

Group One Partners with Stantec for Envoy Hotel, Boston

Finegold Alexander Architects with The Gettys Group, Bergmeyer, and Niemitz Design Group for The Godfrey Hotel, Boston

ASK Design/Build for Lamplighter Brewery and Taproom, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Elkus Manfredi Architects for The Verb, Boston

Interior Architecture Design Three Awards:

Amenta Emma Architects for Brand Strategy Group, Hamden, Connecticut

Leers Weinzapfel Associates for the John W. Olver Design Building, Amherst, Massachusetts

BOS|UA with rukamathu.smith for Sushi Kappo, Boston

Three Citations:

Kennedy and Violich Architecture for Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Vanserg Hall, Cambridge, Massachusetts

William Rawn Associates, Architects for East Boston Branch Library, Boston Public Library, Boston

Utile for Jamaica Plain Branch Library, Renovation and Addition, Boston Public Library, Boston

Sustainable Design

Two Honor Awards:

designLAB for Hitchcock Center for the Environment, Amherst, Massachusetts

Leers Weinzapfel Associates for the John. W. Olver Design Building, Amherst, Massachusetts

Three Awards:

Piatt Associates for 719 Washington Residences, Boston

Payette for the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex, Boston

ZeroEnergy Design for Lincoln Net Positive Farmhouse, Lincoln, Massachusetts

One Citation:

SMMA for Winchester High School, Winchester, Massachusetts

Unbuilt Architecture and Design

Two Honor Awards:

HKS for both Structured Symbiosis and Wastescraper

One Award:

NADAAA for Seoul Cinematheque

Two Citations:

Abramson Teiger Architects for LALA Gateway Bridge

Höweler + Yoon Architecture for Plus Bridge

Honor Awards for Design Excellence

One Honor Award:

Anmahian Winton Architects for Ankara Office Tower, Ankara, Turkey

Seven Awards:

CBT for 10 Farnsworth, Boston

NADAAA for Daniels Building, Toronto, Canada

William Rawn Associates, Architects for Rubenstein Arts Center, Durham, North Carolina

Touloukian Touloukian for Lumen at Beacon Park, Detroit, Michigan

Bruner/Cott for MASS MoCA Building 6, North Adams, Massachusetts

Sasaki for Tecnológico de Monterrey New Main Library, Monterrey, Mexico

O’Neill Rose Architects for Undermountain House, Sheffield, Massachusetts           

One Citation:

Payette for Science and Engineering Complex, Medford, Massachusetts

Harleston Parker Medal

This year’s recipient of the 2018 Harleston Parker Medal is the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex designed by Payette for Northeastern University, Boston.

People’s Choice Award

This year’s winner is As If It Were Already Here designed by Janet Echelman for The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy and the Smith Family Foundation.

2018 BSA Award of Honor

Ann M. Beha FAIA

Ann Beha is Principal of Ann Beha Architects, a Boston-based firm known for its exploration of heritage in dialogue with contemporary design. She founded ABA 40 years ago to address the overlooked potential of preservation and adaptive reuse to revitalize cities and communities, and expanded the firm’s practice to award-winning new design, nationally and internationally.

2018 Earl R. Flansburgh Young Architects Award

Co-sponsored by the Flansburgh family, the 2018 winner is Vince Pan AIA, principal and founder of Analogue Studio.

As an emerging professional working with a diverse range of performing arts, research, academic, healthcare, residential, and commercial clients, Vince identified the need for a more ecosystem-based approach to design. This observation became the foundation of Analogue Studio, and has led to a practice where graphics, branding, interior design, and architecture hold equal potential in the designer’s toolkit.

2018 BSA’s Commonwealth Award

This year’s recipient is the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy for the significant transformation and increasingly dynamic programming it has brought to Downtown Boston.

The Greenway is the contemporary public park in the heart of Boston. The Greenway welcomes millions of visitors annually to gather, play, unwind, and explore. The Greenway Conservancy is the non-profit responsible for the management and care of The Greenway. The majority of the public park’s annual budget is generously provided by private sources.

2018 BSA Honorary Membership

This year’s recipients are Lisa Brothers PE and Judy Nitsch PE from Nitsch Engineering in recognition of their commitment to collaboration and the advancement of the AEC industry.

Lisa has more than 30 years of experience in the design, construction, and management of roadway, site development, sustainable design, and infrastructure-related projects. As chairman and CEO of Nitsch Engineering, Lisa is responsible for the vision, growth strategy, strategic direction, and overall performance of the firm.

Established in 1867, the BSA/AIA today consists of nearly 4,500 members and produces content for an array of programs and publications, including ArchitectureBoston Expo (ABX) and ArchitectureBoston magazine. A chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the BSA/AIA is a nonprofit, professional-service organization.

Each year the BSA, often in collaboration with other organizations, sponsors award programs to honor design excellence in Massachusetts, throughout New England, and elsewhere. All winners are announced at the annual BSA Design Awards Gala. The call for entries to the 2019 programs will be released in February.

from boston condos ford realtor http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BostonRealEstateCondos/~3/YP68Bd5Whi8/

[obastard]

A tweet

There's a part of Taleb that is basically what Captain Haddock would be with a Twitter account https://t.co/Rj6oAyARZS

— '((Adam (Elkus))) (@Aelkus) August 16, 2018

via http://twitter.com/twinforces

[longform]

One possible (if depressing) conclusion to take from this is that strategy is just an illusory abstraction that we have invented to give meaning to that which has none. We use it as a retrospective framing device to explain a complex series of events (of our own making but mostly of external provenance) that we do not understand. So maybe strategic theory is really just an gussied up form of conspiracy theory. We need to impose order on the world and believe that someone, somewhere, knows that the hell is going on.

Adam Elkus | Ribbonfarm | Feb 2017

[thesepeopleproject]

Hackers: we pwned ur metro, fear us DC residents: fake news, that's just the metro working normally Hackers: *sweatdrop* here's the code and a writeup of the attack DC residents: still don't believe u Hackers: *desperate* WTF IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE

— '((Adam (Elkus))) (@Aelkus) May 19, 2018

[yung-megs]

Stājoties Pretim Lielākajam no Ļaunumiem

Dante Alegjeri savā darbā “Dievišķ�� komēdija” atsaucas: “Elles tumšākie nostūri ir atvēlēti tiem, kuri saglabā neitralitāti morālas krīzes laikā.”

Bruņojies ar apņēmību stāties pretim lielākajam no ļaunumiem, Documenta 14 mākslinieciskais vadītājs Adam Szymczyk, vienam no vērienīgākajiem šī gada mākslas pasaules notikumiem, piešķīris īpašu tēmu- mācoties no Atēnām. Ambiciozo nosaukumu papildina vēl iespaidīgāks izpildījums- pirmo reizi izstādes 62 gadu pastāvēšanas vēsturē prožektoru gaismas nav pievērstas Kasselei vien, tām tiekot dalītām starp izstādes vēsturisko atrašanās vietu un Atēnām.

Kā galvenais ierocis cīņai pret pasivitāti documenta 14 retorikā ir politisks aktīvisms- Szymczyk min: “Pastāv milzīgs neizmantots potenciāls situācijai, kad apmeklētāji sanāk kopā vērot izstādi- politisks potenciāls.” Neuzbāzīga (ar retiem izņēmumiem) skatītāja emociju kutināšana par instrumentiem izmantojot indivīda stāstus un pieredzi ļauj saskatīt aprises šim kuratora minētajam potenciālam. Atsakoties no klajas vardarbības attēlošanas kā provocējošā faktora, izstādes kuratori to ir padarījuši cilvēcīgu un viegli baudāmu, procesā nenometot nevienu no daudzslāņainās tēmas aspektiem.

Izstādes centrā pozicionējot tēzi “mācoties no Atēnām” kuratoru komanda akcentē Documenta misionāro lomu laikmetīgās mākslas pasaulē. Rezonējot mākslinieciskā vadītāja vārdos, iespējams, ir nepieciešams atkāpties no lomu sadalījuma, kas Rietumeiropas un Austrumeiropas vispārinājumus, proti, Kasseli un Atēnas, nostādījis aizdevēja un lūdzēja lomās, tā vietā atskatoties pagātnē un mācoties no Atēnām kā no demokrātijas un, sekojoši, indivīda spēka idejas karognesēja Rietumeiropā.

Šis motīvs caurvij virkni no Documeta 14 izstādītajiem darbiem, kas kopīgi risina politiskā aktīvisma un pilsoniskās sabiedrības līdzdalības tēmu, piedāvājot skatītājam iespēju pašrocīgi veikt ceļu no problēmas apzināšanās līdz piedāvāto risinājumu izvērtējumam un sevis kā sabiedrības locekļa apzināšanās.

Spāņu mākslinieks Roger Bernat, darbā “The Place of the Thing” (2017), pievēršas arheoloģisku priekšmetu spējai iemesot virkni daudznozīmīgu kulturālu, politisku vai pat reliģisku simbolu cilvēku prātos.

Dante Alegjeri savā darbā “Dievišķā komēdija” atsaucas: “Elles tumšākie nostūri ir atvēlēti tiem, kuri saglabā neitralitāti morālas krīzes laikā.”

Bruņojies ar apņēmību stāties pretim lielākajam no ļaunumiem, Documenta 14 mākslinieciskais vadītājs Adam Szymczyk, vienam no vērienīgākajiem šī gada mākslas pasaules notikumiem, piešķīris īpašu tēmu- mācoties no Atēnām. Ambiciozo nosaukumu papildina vēl iespaidīgāks izpildījums- pirmo reizi izstādes 62 gadu pastāvēšanas vēsturē prožektoru gaismas nav pievērstas Kasselei vien, tām tiekot dalītām starp izstādes vēsturisko atrašanās vietu un Atēnām.

Kā galvenais ierocis cīņai pret pasivitāti documenta 14 retorikā ir politisks aktīvisms- Szymczyk min: “Pastāv milzīgs neizmantots potenciāls situācijai, kad apmeklētāji sanāk kopā vērot izstādi- politisks potenciāls.” Neuzbāzīga (ar retiem izņēmumiem) skatītāja emociju kutināšana par instrumentiem izmantojot indivīda stāstus un pieredzi ļauj saskatīt aprises šim kuratora minētajam potenciālam. Atsakoties no klajas vardarbības attēlošanas kā provocējošā faktora, izstādes kuratori to ir padarījuši cilvēcīgu un viegli baudāmu, procesā nenometot nevienu no daudzslāņainās tēmas aspektiem.

Izstādes centrā pozicionējot tēzi “mācoties no Atēnām” kuratoru komanda akcentē Documenta misionāro lomu laikmetīgās mākslas pasaulē. Rezonējot mākslinieciskā vadītāja vārdos, iespējams, ir nepieciešams atkāpties no lomu sadalījuma, kas Rietumeiropas un Austrumeiropas vispārinājumus, proti, Kasseli un Atēnas, nostādījis aizdevēja un lūdzēja lomās, tā vietā atskatoties pagātnē un mācoties no Atēnām kā no demokrātijas un, sekojoši, indivīda spēka idejas karognesēja Rietumeiropā.

Šis motīvs caurvij virkni no Documeta 14 izstādītajiem darbiem, kas kopīgi risina politiskā aktīvisma un pilsoniskās sabiedrības līdzdalības tēmu, piedāvājot skatītājam iespēju pašrocīgi veikt ceļu no problēmas apzināšanās līdz piedāvāto risinājumu izvērtējumam un sevis kā sabiedrības locekļa apzināšanās.

Spāņu mākslinieks Roger Bernat, darbā “The Place of the Thing” (2017), pievēršas arheoloģisku priekšmetu spējai iemesot virkni daudznozīmīgu kulturālu, politisku vai pat reliģisku simbolu cilvēku prātos.

Dokumentējot Thingspiel ceļu no Atēnām uz Kasseli, simboliskais akmens tiek novietots dažādos vides uzstādījumos, tiekot pakļauts attiecīgā konteksta uzpiestajai interpretācijai. Thingspiel ceļa dokumentācija tiek izstādīta Kasseles Neue Neue Galerie (Neue Hauptpost), kam blakus novietota kaste, kurā, kā minēts aprakstā, atrodams arī Thingspiel. Skatītājā neapzināti rodas bijības sajūta pret telpas vidū esošo priekšmetu un tajā, iespējams, mītošo vēsturisko liecību, kas, rezonējot ar Damien Hirst Venēcijā apspriesto tēmu, liek apšaubīt elku ietekmes izcelsmi un reizē kalpo kā dzirkstele Szymczyk uzsvērtajam “unlearning” procesam. Caur viegli ironisku prizmu, darbs ļauj skatītājam atkāpties no aklas objektu pielūgsmes, ļaujoties diskusijai par institūcijām, kuras līdzīgi kā Thingspiel pakļautas nepamatotai un vēsturiski, iespējams, falsificētai apbrīnai.   

Sekojot šaubām, skatītājs ir aicināts aizpildīt radušos informācijas vakuumu ar jauniem naratīviem, starp kuriem izceļas Ben Russell piedāvātā video instalācija “Good Luck” (2017). Prasmīgam kuratora darbam mijoties ar unikālu stāstu skatītājs tiek vests neaizmirstamā sajūtu ceļojumā, attopoties Fridericanum izstāžu zāles pagrabos. Starp vēsajām mūra sienām sastopami Serbijā un Surinames raktuvēs strādājošo stāsti, kas caur varoņu sadzīviskajiem sarunām apraksta strādnieku smago ikdienu. Darbs pievēršas cilvēka lomas izpētei ekonomiskās izaugsmes un kapitālisma kontekstā. Mākslinieks ar dažādu izteiksmes līdzekļu palīdzību rosina skatītājos empātiju un aicina saskatīt ražošanas ķēdes cilvēcisko aspektu. 

Šis darbs līdzīgi kā Mounira Al Solh “Nassib's Bakery” (2017), Michel Auder “The Course of the Empire” (2017) un citi, visspilgtāk iekrāso izstādes politizēto dabu, kas, kuratoru izpildījumā, ber sāli sabiedrības brūcēs, aicinot atklāti runāt par mūsdienu politiskās un ekonomiskās vides strukturālajiem trūkumiem. 

Izstādes sāls un politiskā aktīvisma motīva noslēdzošais posms slēpjas risinājumu piedāvāšanā. Sekojot skatītāja ticību sistēmas apšaubīšanai un problēmu kontūru apzināšanai, skatītājam tiek piedāvāts ieskats sistemizētā aktīvisma konstruēšanas mehānikā. Darbā “Seductive Exacting Realism” (2015-2017) tumšā telpā tiek atskaņota serbu mākslinieces Irena Haiduk saruna ar serbu politisko aktīvistu, Srđa Popović,  bijušo serbu studentu kustības Otpor! vadītāju, kas spēlēja nozīmīgu lomu serbu diktatora Slobodan Milošević gāšanā 2000. gadā. Popović ir veicis unikālu ceļu, sistematizējot un teoretizējot Otpor! sasniegto, padarot to par replicējamu nevardarbīgu akciju mehānismu.  Srđa konsultē dažādus pro-demokrātisku grupējumus, kļūstot par netiešu simbolu politisku pārmaiņu provocēšanā. Pārvaldot revolūcijas mehāniku serbu aktīvists dalās savās zināšanās par komponentēm, kas nepieciešamas veiksmīgas politiskas kustības izveidē, ar darba klausītājiem, noslēdzot politiskā aktīvisma ievadkursu ar visiem pieejamu instrumentu kopumu.  

Iespējams, ne visas Documenta 14 mākslinieciskās komandas ieceres skatītājam ir skaidri izprotamas un viegli nolasāmas, daļai pazūdot ceļā no Atēnam uz Kaseli, taču, par spīti izstādes epizodiskajai aritmijai, skatītāja acu priekšā prasmīgi tiek attīstīta politiskā aktīvisma tēma. Tā vietā, lai bezmērķīgi provocētu, izstādes veidotāji ir vēlējušies skatītāju izglītot, precīzāk, ļaut tam mācīties un definēt savu lomu sabiedrībā, esot bruņojušamies ar kuratoru piedāvāto informāciju. Neraugoties uz apmeklētāju vēlmi atsaukties mākslinieciskā vadītāja aicinājumam atmest neitralitāti, Documenta 14 atstāj neaizmirstamu pēcgaršu, liekot noslaucīt putekļus no pazīstamā Atēnu koncepta “demokrātija”. 

[ecologiadigital]

Technical ease with which things can be copied has cultural effects. https://t.co/7OoAuTxrj1

— '((Adam (Elkus))) (@Aelkus) July 17, 2017