Category: Publications

VOL4. THE CASE FOR SPACE: REVIVING COSMIC CONSCIENCE

The Case for Space residency in Washington, D.C., brought together researchers Heidi Neilson, Huong Ngo, Cassie Thornton, and Kate Chandler to explore the role of outer space in cognitive, social, and political life. They investigated how space technologies and programs influence human identity, relationships, and societal change. The residency coincided with significant space-related events and debates, including the Mars rover landing, space tourism advancements, and budget scrutiny for NASA. The researchers examined space through various lenses, such as the performance of astronauts, economic investments in space, and the use of drones. Their projects emphasized space as a metaphor and meme for future societal aspirations and challenges, blending art with the vast unknowns of the cosmos.

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VOL3. RIGHTS: OPEN ORDERS OF GLOBAL INFORMATION

Journal vol3. Copy Rights: Open Orders of Global Information

The Copy Rights Research Residency brought together four researchers in Washington, D.C., to explore individual and collective authorship in the digital age through creative and critical projects. They examined mass digital communication, media policy, intellectual property, and the implications of digital connectivity, privacy, and regulation. Occurring shortly after Aaron Swartz’s suicide and before Edward Snowden’s revelations, the residency highlighted the tension between the potential for democratic communication and the encroachment of commerce and bureaucracy. The researchers collaborated with various organizations and produced works addressing surveillance, gender, and data. Their projects fostered dialogue about the future of information sharing and democratic potential in the digital era.

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VOL2. REPUBLIC: REVIVING POPULAR POLITICS

During the final month of the 2012 US election cycle, Provisions Library assembled four artist-researchers in Washington, D.C., to explore themes of deliberative democracy, electoral politics, public transparency, and citizenship through creative projects. The election featured a suspenseful contest between Democratic incumbent Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, highlighted by intense debates and significant public discourse. The city of D.C. became a backdrop for protests and discussions about money’s influence in politics, as record funds poured into the election. The research fellows created various projects reflecting on these themes, including a Ladder of Participation, a DC SuperPac for voting rights, and an exploration of the District’s historical boundaries. Obama won reelection, but the season underscored the capital’s lack of representation and the increasing impact of money in politics.

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VOL1. PARKS & PASSAGES

PARKS & PASSAGES: RECENT RUINS IN CONNECTED CAPITALS

In June 2012, Provisions Library sent four DC-based creative researchers to Berlin to source ideas for the Dupont Underground, an abandoned streetcar station and tunnel beneath Dupont Circle in the heart of Washington DC.

Their creative process and research projects culminated in an exhibition at the Goethe-Institut DC. The exhibition considered the poetics, politics, and possibilities of public development in these uncannily connected capitals. This publication compiles their ideas, principles, challenges and concepts, offering examples for any efforts seeking to resurrect abandoned infrastructures in the name of cultural development.

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