Subversive imagination
Some thoughts on our relationship to power
The incredible writer/artist/friend Fidel Guttierez Zapien recently invited me and a small team of artists to contribute to an immersive art experience he titled Legacy on the Line. Fidel is the rare remarkable person with whom open and curious intellectual conversation, deep emotional engagement, and fun are all happening simultaneously. This evening was no exception. While there were audio and performance elements, the show turned on Fidel’s acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in literature, constructed entirely from the words of past Nobel recipient’s speeches. Fidel’s speech was the centerfold of a newspaper attendees carried and read throughout the evening. The rest of the newspaper was filled out with contributions from other artists and writers related to themes of the work: artistic recognition, legacy and perception, the relationship between artist and institution, etc. I was asked, in 600 words or less, to share some thoughts on power. It was an honor to be asked and a great exercise on a topic that always pops up in my work. I thought I would share that small essay here with you.
Brief thoughts on power
Institutions of any size are born and die by collective imagination: emerging in what might be, collapsing from what can be no longer. In these liminal moments possibility propels shared imagination of new realities. But what happens once, pardon the technical language, the thing becomes a thing? Establishment transforms the relationship to imagination: possibility is exchanged for power, propulsion becomes compulsion. Institutions, once institutionalized, can imagine only themselves.
This reality may not be at all evident at a surface level. The language of possibility often remains at the forefront of how institutions present themselves and many, if not all, of the individuals involved still hold to those possibilities as the animating force of their own imaginations. Educational institutions speak eloquently of learning, museums of championing the arts, businesses tout innovation, governments talk about community impact. These things may very well be outcomes in such institutions’ work, but all of these ends are simply a means. If truly pursuing those ends comes at an existential cost—or even a perceived threat—to the institution itself, they will abandon them for self-preservation.
Even as the focus shifts from first principles to power preservation, these institutions remain as dependent on collective imagination as ever. Maintaining mass place-of-mind becomes a primary challenge, often actively fighting off new ideas that might further the very possibilities that first animated the institution. How do institutions do this work of compulsory imagination? There are at least three primary levers of power: coercion, complication, and co-option. Let’s take them one at a time.
Coercion can best be understood as the application of direct force. In the extreme, coercion has long been a favorite methodology. History is rife with examples of imprisonment, banishment, execution, and the persecution of minority groups. In the near term coercion can appear effective in securing compliance. The long term results, however, reveal a less successful picture. The extended application of force is a weak way to engender the fealty of imagination to maintain power long-term.
Rather than simply crush imagination, institutions may instead lean on complication to slow down defection. Complication has the distinct advantage of being nearly invisible: effectively buried in back rooms, tabled conversations, and red tape. Rather than the forced abandonment of coercion, many will self-abdicate in the face of sufficient complication. This death by difficulty has become a crucial model of power preservation for contemporary, image-conscious institutions, corporations and individuals, allowing the suppression of imagination to largely pass under the cultural radar.
Neither coercion or complication engage the imagination directly. Instead they create consequences for freedom of imagination. This approach leaves power constantly vulnerable to resurgence of the imagination in new directions. Co-option, by contrast, seeks to appropriate the imagination in order to perpetuate power. In making it subservient to its own interests, power undermines possibilities, neutralizing it as a potential threat. Once entangled with power, imaginations become incredibly difficult to parse and engage separately from the powers that subsume them.
The question arises, what might be the response to this negative cycle of institutional power? It is worth remembering that throughout, collective imagination remains the driving force by which institutions exist. The power to productively subvert self-interested institutions lies with the people the whole time. Imagining a better future together is no passive paeon but a deeply revolutionary act. It is the means of both dismantling what is and building what might be. It is the re-embrace of the possibility of imagination. As has so often been understood by power, truly creative work is the most direct and dynamic challenge to that power. •
Now and later
Things happening currently and coming up
Chicago Collage Magazine Release Exhibition. I’m honored to be part of the innaugural issue of this magazine coming to print in November. The corresponding show opens November 15, 7-10p at Fulton Street Collective, 1821 W. Hubbard St, Chicago IL.
Recently wrapped
A couple things I’ve done since my last newsletter
Participating in a great group show at Vox Populi Gallery in Philadelphia, along with a super fun artist panel.
Being part of the Just Transition show at Paul Henry’s Art Gallery in Hammond, IN
Roll credits
There is never enough time and space to thank everyone that makes work possible, so I’m going to at least give it some space in each of these email updates. From childhood through today, there’s no shortage of people I’m grateful to for giving me the opportunity to make things. Here’s a few.
Trista Miller | for being a creative co-conspiritor since before I could walk
Jaimie Jones | graciously making room to play with material, style space, but also to just chat
Jesse Pinho | brilliantly talented creative while being brave, gentle and sharing.
Ray Wu | a beautiful friend, dedicated to his craft, who left us altogether too soon.