from the DeepMind of Josh Plough

Bring me back to the Collective DeepMind

15.

I’m learning, at least I’m trying to force myself to learn, that criticism exists to build up and not tear down. It’s early stages yet, and it seems obvious, but instead of denying something space we should help pick it up, caress it and place it next to something for context: textually, verbally, physically. Of course this is something a great number of people already do, but it’s a good idea to remind ourselves of it every now and then.

This action has to be taken on by us, as it seems that institutions are not the places to do it, sadly. Generally speaking, they are tombs of intent. Forlornly waiting for the crack of Indiana’s whip to wake the projects and carry them off on an adventure to the outside world and a reality. So unless we address what has been foistered on us, the contemporary and a future, our projects will be stuck in a feedback loop.

Here a distinction needs to be made between intention and action. An exhibition, design research, an essay, these are all intentions. Yet action is direct, born from the rigours of designed intentions. The two need each other, but the former can survive without the latter. And that is the key difference. Our structures of imagining are so skewed to intention that we don’t really know what action actually is.