Mind Maps 1 to 4: Visions of Possible Futures were made for the exhibition Small Change
with Claire Weetman, Lauren O’Grady, Noor Nuyten, Buddleia, Network Nomadic Architecture, Plus-tôt Te laat, public works, Quartier Midi, Spectacle, New Start.
AirSpace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
8 November-7 December 2013
http://www.corridor8.co.uk/online/review-small-change-airspace-gallery-stoke-on-trent/
http://interartive.org/2014/12/curating-urban-change/
http://www.publicworksgroup.net/2014/05/02/small_change_epilogue.pdf
Mind Map 1: Study for a Possible Future No. 1 (watercolour, pencil and ink on Hahnemuhle watercolour paper; 108 x 78 cm)
MM1 shows how society might be organised, from the bottom up, to promote social and financial equality and to reduce carbon emissions. The three main elements of social organisation are shown as Home, Occupation and Culture; these are fed by energy, food, transport, communications, education, natural resources and care.
At the heart is the balance between autonomy and structure; a society organised in this way needs a high degree of structure, but there still must be room for autonomy: the central statement is “Structure creates the conditions for emergence to take place; emergence provides innovation, creativity and flexibility.
Mind Map 2: Decision-making (watercolour, pencil and ink on Hahnemuhle watercolour paper; 78 x 54 cm)
MM2 shows a decentralised decision-making structure, drawing on systems used for example in the UK Climate Camp and the Occupy movement. The word meeting is avoided, due to its unattractive connotations, and substituted by the word doughnut.
MM3: Money and Wealth (watercolour, pencil and ink on Hahnemuhle watercolour paper; 78 x 54 cm)
MM3 shows two kinds of currency – money, and how it might be arranged to avoid the hoarding and concentration endemic to capitalism; and wealth, in the form of qualities conducive to human flourishing such as health, trust and sufficiency
MM4: Possibility (watercolour, pencil and ink on Hahnemuhle watercolour paper; 78 x 54 cm)
MM4 shows a small number of different forms of social organisation that already exist, presented as acupuncture points rather than blueprints.
Mind Maps 1 to 4 were shown alongside How We Got To Where We Are, which was originally completed in June 2012. Here it is exhibited as a working document alongside a selection of newspaper cuttings from June 2012 to November 2013 covering, for example, the IMF report that demonstrated that austerity measures have only ever led to deeper recessions; the Greek government’s refusal to crack down on tax evasion; the fall in UK wages; the increase in billionaires; record UK house prices; and Ecuador’s debt default.