Posts Tagged ‘utopia’

Corporate visions of the future

What to tell the visitor? Should I present him or her with my analysis of the videos or with descriptions from the artists? How much should I justify the curation of the exhibition? How much should he be free to discover his own interpretation of the videos and how much guidance does he need?

Philosophical debate on Utopia and Progress

Usually, philosophical debates are organised around a specific question and maybe some philosophical texts. In this case, I wanted to organise a philosophical debate around some of the videos of the exhibition. I knew that the theme of Utopia and Progress was too vast to be completely discussed, so I considered the debate to be an introduction to the subject. The purpose of the debate was to introduce the main aspects around Utopia and Progress, show some great videos related to the theme, to inspire the audience and to get them thinking more about the subject.

Everyone listening at the story of the second group.

The main challenge for the storyboarding workshop of the Children’s Art Day was to organise an activity children enjoy but to still convey what the exhibition is about. The Design for Dreaming video worked very well because it was made originally for a family audience and a lot of what is happening is accessible for kids. It remains that the video is an utopian vision on consumerism from the 60s that children don’t have much the occasion to see.

I decided for the online version of the exhibition to follow the same structure than on the physical exhibition and to make one page per screen, showing all the videos that were displayed on the screen and showing exactly the same legends. Showing one video per page would have probably deconstructed too much the exhibition and undermined the dialogue I wanted to generate between videos. Putting all videos on one page would have been too long to digest on a single web page.

The curatorial practice is not only about setting up the theoretical framework of an exhibition, writing and selecting artefacts. It is also about federating people around a project they understand is beneficial for them. Dreams of Progress was my first exhibition, it gave me the opportunity to gain experience on every front:

The video ‘To New Horizons’ from General Motors (1940) depicts a high-tech world where novelty, efficiency and order are the main measures of success. It doesn’t show any people but only mega-structures and highways. The video is especially interesting because General Motors has been bankrupted just few months ago, after 79 years of activity. Could this be because its vision for the future was wrong or because GM failed to deliver it? After viewing the video, both of these statements could be true. GM already attempted to address environmental concerns, promising cities where people could breath fresh air. Something they didn’t deliver. GM planned to group buildings within a city according to their functions (offices, homes, factories). Constructing cities in this way has led to social disruptions which have been difficult to heal. I would compare the video to ‘Utopia’ by Thomas More, because both utopias are highly planned and focussed on efficiency. They both respond to the need to distribute a limited amount of resource (agriculture, jobs, energy) to everyone. In a sense, they are closer to socialism than contemporary utopias, where third world and poverty are often omitted in the high-tech aspirations for the future. One contradiction to notice in the video is the praise of both novelty and efficiency. By nature, reaching efficiency is a stable equilibrium that doesn’t like novelty, as novelty requires adaptations. A perfectly efficient world doesn’t need novelty.

The “Productivity Vision of 2019” by Microsoft (2009) showcases some telecom technologies as well, 49 years after the vision of At&T.  The format of the video is less patronising; the voice over was omitted and the characters are more subtle. But, has the message really changed? The video doesn’t pretend to be a vision for everyone. It focuses instead on the lives of wealthy upper class people. The productivity of low income workers in 2019 is never addressed. The video  doesn’t try to build new ideals; the 2019 world depicted by Microsoft is grey, globalized and driven by international corporations. My point is that a less directive vision of the future bears both pros and cons. Unlike its predecessors, this video does not attempt to impose ideals; but by not addressing wider issues, they become all the more prominent. The last scene of the video is on the top of a building filled with a garden. The woman is happy enjoying the simple pleasures of nature. But, not everyone can have a garden on the roof of a building in a highly populated city centre. No answer is given as a solution to the problem. Even more worrying, the managers showed on the video don’t seem to enjoy themselves that much. The woman looks at the life of her daughter with nostalgia. Her life seems to be very challenging and submerged by information. However, the Microsoft video encapsulate many contemporary ideals: the world seems to be in peace, as a consequence of economical globalisation probably; it is liberal, cosmopolitan, green and based on information.

Discovery of Magnetic North by Richard Jerousek and Brian Phillips [2007] raises many questions. People and situations filmed are distant from the viewer; they fade away by the television effects, the music and the distant time from when they were shot. Characters have their own stories and emotions, but futuristic buildings and medical imaging are interfering. I have the feeling looking at the video that individuality is dissolved in technology and media. Or maybe is it the time passing by that dissolves the scenes from the 70s; and our attempt to remember them is altered  by the media and dreams of technology from back then. In both cases, the video plays with individuality, memory and technology.

Mardi Gras by Keith Loutit [2009] is part of a series of videos that the artist made using a specific photographic technique. Everything seems small, like in a model city. People are merely figurines. However, Keith Loutit chose light hearted and positive scenes and soundtracks. Mardi Gras in Sydney can only inspire happiness, freedom and liveliness. But seeing it as if it was a model city shows that the event is actually fairly predictable. The public participated by their own choice and they probably enjoyed themselves. It does not make the event appear to be less orchestrated, as though it was part of a big figurine play. Is this an ideal, a planned, conditioned happiness? How much is happiness a sufficient condition for an utopist society? Brave New World* by Aldous Huxley surely proved it isn’t sufficient.