The Subject of an Object
Flyer: Goethe-Institut / a certain object Subject | Object Formation a certain object is a multifaceted collaboration between Alfons Knogl, Holger Otten, and occasionally Daniel Ansorge, each having a strong artistic presence in various mediums Otten and Ansorge came together in 2015 for Perspektive 02, the second in a series of exhibitions curated by Otten … Continue reading
The Future of the Festival?
Something feels extremely afoul with Further Future (FF002), a self-proclaimed Music and Lifestyle Festival taking place about 40 miles from the Las Vegas strip the last weekend of April. Perhaps anticipating the potential confusion a phrase like ‘lifestyle festival’ might create in a potential goer, FF002’s website offers clarification. “Close your eyes. Imagine yourself surrounded … Continue reading
The not-so-discrete choice of being a pedestrian in Bangalore
When the program director explained that discrete choice economics was part of the PhD program my first thought was no big deal. See, I assumed he meant ‘discreet’, as in we’d learn economics in an unobtrusive kind of way, and then I had this train of thought where my mind replaced ‘choice’ with ‘charm’ and … Continue reading
Wheels and Tracks
Same destination but different mode. Why one would chose train over bus travel in India–anywhere for that matter*–hardly warrants explanation. But let me try. I finished Paul Theroux’s The Grand Railway Bazaar while traveling from Delhi to Bombay, down the coast of Maharashtra and yes, eventually to Goa. It was a mixed modes approach of … Continue reading
Ce n’est pas une neoliberal agenga
Semiotics. No doubt that stuff is complicated. So is international policy. Sometimes I think they’re more or less the same thing, but try telling that to a macro economist. “Stop with the semantics,” I hear professors working with large data sets telling confused PhD students. “Just tell me plain and simple, what is it you … Continue reading
1/2 Chapter
Like a written note to a friend, I feel the need to open with I-have-not-written-for-a-long-time. Although my posts serve a different function than a letter, the excuses are nearly the same. It’s not that I haven’t thought about writing or wanted to write. Somehow, the stamina and ability to follow through has not been. Every … Continue reading
Intertextual styleee
Intertextuality is a word used to describe the experience of finding one text within another; it is the rejection of closure and the championing of an open, iterative process of dialogue and meaning. I’ve long convinced myself that intertextuality did not come from Julia Kristeva nor Mikhail Bakhtin, but rather King Tubby. I’d argue that … Continue reading
Institutionalizing ‘radical’
I heard a lot of academic stuff this past week; by which I mean guest lectures and presentations. Some of it was good, most of it was eh but what really got me thinking was not the substance of these talks but rather the title of one in particular: ‘How to be a Radical Geographer.’ … Continue reading
Heritage?
The word heritage use to make me yawn. I associated it with visiting my grandparent’s house as a child where the perfectly preserved 1950s interior was equally dull as it was formal. Almost all socializing took place in the dimly lit front living room; I’d stare out the window, to the street, and wonder how … Continue reading
Subjective Scale
Scale has different meanings according to disciplines, trades, and livelihoods. Thanks to words such as capitalism and globalization, scale is increasingly prevalent in everyday discourse. ‘Scaling up’, ‘scaling down’, and ‘scales of influence,’ are all phrases that help us better imagine and produce dichotomies such as global and local. Scale is a crucial word in … Continue reading
Utopiography 