Psychotherapy day today. For the last couple of weeks we’ve actually been talking about this blog. Despite it being a big part of my life for 26 years I still sort of think of my online emissions as being somehow not-real, or at least a sideline to my actual existence. Which is pretty fucked up given how much they’ve informed my life. Maybe that lessened when it was validated by people paying me money, but that didn’t last for long. Internalised blog-phobia is real, my friends!
It started when I sent my therapist a link to something I’d written, thinking it might be a good subject to talk about, but she was more interested in the fact that I’d published it on a public website and I found myself wanting to talk about that. Afterwards I felt I’d been too positive and maybe a little defensive, so this week I wanted to dig into some of the more conflicted feelings I have about my public writing and try to talk about them honestly for maybe the first time.
There’s the really simple stuff, like how I can edit my presentation to the world in a way that’s not possible in the street or pub. And then there’s getting into the theory weeds about living through media and what that can mean. I keep coming back to this utterly unsubstantiated theory I have that online communication tools were designed by lonely nerds to reach each other across time and space so someone in Slough could talk Star Trek with someone in Idaho. This needed tools that were laser focussed, eliminating all nuance and context for the strongest signal. And now those tools are being used by everyone regardless of their situation, which cannot be a good thing.
I introduced her to the concept of the map is not the territory, which I have a sense could have applications to therapy. Something about how the world we construct is not the world we live in, and that can fuck us up. It sure feels like that to me sometimes.
Anyway, it was good to actually talk about stuff rather than just triage a week of chronic fatigue. I feel like I understand what I’m doing a little bit more, so I guess we’re making progress.
This ‘digital camouflage’ shirt confuses AI-powered surveillance cameras
Digital camouflage seems to be the gift to artists that keeps giving. Variations of this crop up every year or so with Adam Harvey possibly being the first? Or at least the first I noticed.
The thing with this stuff is it doesn’t work, or at least it doesn’t work in a consistent way as to make any difference. You are unlikely to be ‘protected’ by wearing this shirt because it’s unlikely that the systems recording you are running the same algorithm it was designed for. I played around with YOLO back in the day. While I’m sure it’s been improved it was never cutting edge. It decided one of my rabbits was a cow.
That’s not to say these artworks aren’t interesting and occasionally important. If they start a conversation about surveillance and data capture in the public domain then that’s a good thing and way more than the general media are doing. But they are not producing a practical solution (because they’re artworks, and art should never be a practical solution).
American Scoundrel book sheds fresh light on ruthless Roy Cohn
It’s very dangerous to place individuals at the centre of history but there are figures who, regardless of their actual influence, make very good focal points for understanding the threads that got us where we are today. Roy Cohn is definitely one of those people.
I first came across him when he was played by Al Pacino in the HBO adaptation of Angels in America, dying of AIDS in the 80s and haunted by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg. This portrayal stuck with me and I’ve been mildly fascinated by him ever since.
You can read more at the link (and that book does look very good) but in essence he’s the thread from the McCarthy witch hunts in the 1950s, through the mob, to shaping the mind of Donald Trump who he mentored as a young man. There’s been a handful books and documentaries about him but I think the best summary of his ideology was in the Trump biopic The Apprentice where, played by Jeremy Strong, he outlines how to win.
- Attack attack attack.
- Admit nothing, deny everything.
- Always claim victory and never admit defeat.
Is Epstein is a symptom, Cohn is patient zero. A nasty man who, at least in part, drafted the blueprints for the American 21st century.
- What happened to Antonio? — My good friend and erstwhile artistic colleague Antonio Roberts has also had a tough last few years, but much worse that I’d realised even though we met up recently. One of the bastard things about having a chronic condition, the worst thing probably, is you lose the capacity to be fully aware of how everyone else is. Anyway, I’m glad he’s doing better and is back on the art wagon.
- The teen listening to all 400 of Merzbow’s albums — The original headline for this was so judgemental I had to rewrite. It’s not an endurance exercise. Some people do get real pleasure from listening to extreme music. Anyway, this is a cool project that it’s great to see a young-un undertaking. I wish him well.
- See also, Alexis Petridis listens to Throbbing Gristle for 24 hours — “It’s difficult to know exactly what would be the ideal activity to engage in while Throbbing Gristle provide the soundtrack. But I can reveal that shopping in central London is not among them."
- A lovely interview with Mary Austin, best friend of Freddie Mercury — For a book launch interview about a celebrity this was a surprisingly endearing and emotional read. As joint heir to his estate she locked all Mercury’s stuff away for decades after his death as it was too painful to deal with, only opening the boxes recently with her sons. The juxtaposition of her quiet life and the cultural enormity she was charged with protecting, and is now finally able to share, is quite a lot. (And the bit with her son at the end is… wow.)
- Adam Greenfield has a new website — It’s nice to see people putting a bit of care into their homepages when the trend seems to be abandoning them in favour of corporate socials.
- Know your branches of philosophy — A very simple guide.