from the DeepMind of Josh Plough

Bring me back to the Collective DeepMind

22.

The point is, is that this research is valuable. Not only because it pushes for progressive and social ideals, but because it represents thousands and maybe millions of hours of creative energy and labour. This thing of research, this hyperobject of design research, needs to be rooted. Otherwise it’ll float off with the next grant application, only relevant until the next deadline…

The funding process, while supportive and being incredibly generous, underpins the precarious nature of our work: normalising it by institutionalising it. We’re so glad and thankful to get the money that we don’t question what an alternative could look like.

We’re asked to submit links to our social media channels when apply for funding, we’re asked what our reach is online. It’s a strange situation that our scarcity of time, our precarity, could be reliant on showing how many people could possibly like a picture we post. I wonder, if we post a picture and no one sees it, would it affect our chances of getting some cash for a project? In such situations Project is a synonym for paying the rent.