Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Why is Globalization only helping this side of the world?

We typically perceive it as a driving force of change, the harbinger of good, the bright future and the unity of mankind. However, If you Google globalization, a central theme of keywords will begin to crop up: 'Challenges', 'Impact', 'Discontents' to name a few.

What are you talking about?
Globalization is an inevitable process, it is where societies grow and evolve to the point of overlapping and consequently connecting. This can be a wonderful thing when not led by powerful self-serving feudalists and imperialists. As technology brings us closer to unity, so too are we united in our struggle under the capitalist doctrine. Countries where people could be free and live off the land are now condemned to a lifetime of work just to stay afloat amidst a sea of debts.



What are some directly affected areas?
E-waste, pollution, poverty, biological weaponry, nihilism, commodity fetishism; these are all ideas that flow more and more freely as we continue to bring countries closer and erase unique cultural resonances under a new ultimate world order.

We are blinded to these global happenings just as we are blinded to what really goes on in our society.



Why would this make a good project?
The strength of this direction as a project for the Harborfront centre is both in its contrast to the other installations and in the innate human curiosity. The sheer magnitude of this path means that we can make all sorts of awesome projects to illustrate it - we are essentially communicating an emotion through art and design. backed up by huge heapings of evidence at our disposal.

What do you plan to do about it?
While i personally enjoy the idea of a doorway as a portal into the blindness, (since the door serves as a portal while also being a metaphor for shutting out undesirable information) I'd love to discuss some ideas with anyone interested.

eWaste, for example, is one of the many directions and it can be tackled in a cool installation by taking old cell phones and building something beautiful out of them, ie. a chandelier. We could use crowdsourcing and invite people to submit their solutions to various world problems, or simply express their reactions in a way more people can see them. Inspired by the tweet mobile:

Experience Mobile Mobile from James Théophane Jnr on Vimeo.



So what now?
I'd really, really like to tackle this idea. I feel like the pure emotion it invokes will show visitors humanity's true oneness and global consciousness. This is local thinking extrapolated globally - it fits in perfectly with the theme of the exhibition and with so much emotional ammunition I feel it has the ability to rise above all the other installations - but I can't do it by myself! I need more creative minds to help me out.

So If you want to be a part of something really big and potentially jaw-dropping, just leave me a note or send me an e-mail at kareemhalfawi@gmail.com

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