Steven Heller lecture from Fabrica on Vimeo.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Searching for the American Dream
How do we create a forum for the collective story gathering of the stimulus? A truly democratic, user run "Transparency and Accountability"? Searching for social forums to create this process, I stumble onto this video from Core77, yes, it's about design, and it is also a great introduction to the power of iconography, and hence, the power of the shovel.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
How will the Stimulus Shovel hit the streets?
How does an unknown artist bring out a simple idea to serve the rebuilding, replanting and reawakening of America?
I ask every single person I know, what they know. I've asked congress people. I've asked community arts council members. I've asked my next door neighbor. It may be silly, and perhaps I'm a fool, but I know that we need symbols to focus our energy. We need ceremony to guide our intention. We need to share something on a large scale to make large-scale changes. And while the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as in "The Stimulus Plan", is pretty confusing, and definitely hard to track, a shovel is something we can all get our hands on.
I don't know if you've checked out recovery.gov, but I feel like I should have taken statistics and majored in Economics to understand what's happening on that site. Not that they aren't trying. The pie charts are very pretty. But I need to see people's faces. I need to hear their stories. I need to know what's happening in my community, not with a spreadsheet, but with a picture of a place I recognize. Most of all, I just want to know what's going on, and if I know that ordinary Americans, me and you, some of us, are getting jobs, are being employed, are able to feed ourselves and our families, then I'm all for it. And if not-- then I'm straight pissed off.
I ask every single person I know, what they know. I've asked congress people. I've asked community arts council members. I've asked my next door neighbor. It may be silly, and perhaps I'm a fool, but I know that we need symbols to focus our energy. We need ceremony to guide our intention. We need to share something on a large scale to make large-scale changes. And while the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as in "The Stimulus Plan", is pretty confusing, and definitely hard to track, a shovel is something we can all get our hands on.
I don't know if you've checked out recovery.gov, but I feel like I should have taken statistics and majored in Economics to understand what's happening on that site. Not that they aren't trying. The pie charts are very pretty. But I need to see people's faces. I need to hear their stories. I need to know what's happening in my community, not with a spreadsheet, but with a picture of a place I recognize. Most of all, I just want to know what's going on, and if I know that ordinary Americans, me and you, some of us, are getting jobs, are being employed, are able to feed ourselves and our families, then I'm all for it. And if not-- then I'm straight pissed off.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)