Kyoka and Ai are wearing the standard 2010 cotton shopping bags of the Martin Margiela shop reworked into the form of 1998-99 MMM grocery bag shirts

Mykonos. 2007. photos: a h

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… EMPLOYERS, INSTEAD OF VALUING THE SCHLEPS WITH THEIR MANILA FOLDERS, WERE RECOGNISING THE GENIUS OF OUR TYPE. THESE EMPLOYERS WOULD FIGHT FOR US, FIGHT TO DO ALL THEY COULD TO MAKE US COMFORTABLE BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT WE WERE ESSENTIAL TO THEIR SUCCESS, THAT OUR IDEAS WERE GOLD, THAT OUR CREATIVITY WAS A DELICATE THING INDEED, AND THAT WE WOULD NEED NEW COMMUNITIES TO KEEP US INTERESTED, THAT WE NEEDED DAILY FLUX AND MELTING POTS AND VIETNAMESE FOOD AND THAT THIS AND THIS ALONE COULD SUSTAIN US.

THESE EMPLOYERS WERE FINDING US UNALIENATED FROM OUR LABOUR JUST AS ADORNO WAS, AND UNDERSTANDING THAT WE HAVE NO NEED OF WHAT THE MASSES CALL FREE TIME. WE HAVE NO NEED FOR HOLIDAYS AND LUXURY CARS AND TIME OFF IN LIEU.

THAT IS ALL WEAKNESS, LET US STAND UP AND BE GREAT MEN WHO LABOUR FOR ALL GREAT MEN.

WE ARE GREAT MEN WHO DO NOT FEAR CHANGE, WE EMBRACE IT, BECAUSE AS FLORIDA PREDICTED, WE DO INDEED MOVE FROM WORK STATION TO WORK STATION, MOVING HORIZONTALLY RATHER THAN VERTICALLY. AS HE PUTS IT: CLIMBING THE CORPORATE LADDER IS NO LONGER SO POPULAR, PERHAPS PARTLY BECAUSE THERE ISN’T AS MUCH OF A LADDER IN MANY OF TODAY’S LEANER FLATTER FIRMS – AND IT IS LIABLE TO SHIFT OR VANISH BEFORE YOU’RE HALFWAY UP. INSTEAD, MORE OF US SWIMMING FROM TREE TO TREE IN SEARCH OF VARIOUS FRUIT”. (P113). IN FACT, VERTICAL DEVELOPMENT AS SUCH IS SOMETHING WE ARE FULLY OVER. VERTICAL DEVELOPMENT IS SOMETHING NONE OF US HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED THOUGH WE HAVE SEEN OUR ELDERS-BUT-HARDLY-BETTERS RISE IN VERTICAL FASHION. THAT IS ENOUGH TO PUT US OFF.

WE BELIEVE IN REGULAR RETOOLING AND WE THINK THIS SAVES US FROM DEPRESSION. WE BASICALLY FIGURE THAT IF AS THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING THE DEPRESSIVE CONDITION CAN BE TOO MUCH FOCUSED ON THE SELF, THEN THE ENGAGED AND VIGOROUS ENGAGEMENT WITH THE WORLD AS A PLASTIC METONYMIC APPARATUS NOT A MOPEY METAPHORICAL ONE, WILL KEEP US SAFE AND SANE.

THESE ATTITUDES HAVE KEPT US BANKABLE PROPERTIES AND SHAPE OUR RELATION TO THE HIGHLY RENUMERATED CULTURE MAKING WE ENGAGE IN TODAY.

… WE ARE VICTIMS GODDAMN IT, THOSE OF US ESPECIALLY WHO GREW UP IN THE 1990′S, WHO WORKED IN NOT JUST A CRITICAL VACUUM THAT HAD NO TIME FOR ANYTHING BUT THE FUCKING LOCAL, BUT A WASTELAND OF OPPORTUNITY TOO THAT MADE US TOO SCARED TO TAKE RISKS AND…

… WELL, I GUESS WE DID BELIEVE THAT CREATIVES – AND NOT AD CREATIVES WITH THEIR SHORT PANTS AND SKATE SHOES – WOULD RUN THE COUNTRY. AND YES WE WENT OUT AND BOUGHT BIKES AND WENT RUNNING TOO …

… BUT, ANYWAYS, WE MADE OURSELVES, LIKE WE WERE TRYING TO SAY ABOVE, A SOCIETY OF PEERS AND STUFF AND TALK TO EACH OTHER AND IT’S WORKING OUT PRETTY WELL ALL THINGS CONSIDERING …

…. WE BELIEVE THAT ALL DISCUSSION IS OVERKILL, THAT THEORY AND WRITING ARE SUPERFLUOUS, THAT THERE IS NO DEBATE THAT WE SIT WITHIN ANYMORE. WE ARE COMMITTED TO THE IDEA THAT THERE IS JUST YOU AND YOUR NAKED BODY BY THE WINDOW …

… AND WE … ARE JUST HAPPY TO CHART SOME CONNECTIONS ON THE INTERNET. THEY ARE THUS: ON JOHN PORCELLINO’S WEBSITE IS A LINK TO JEFFERY BROWN AND ON HIS SITE IS A LINK TO THE GALLERY LA MANO THAT TURNS OUT TO BE RUN BY ZAK SALLY THE BASS PLAYER FROM LOW AND ON THAT SITE IS A LINK TO PAPER CUT OUT ARTIST IDA PEARLE, A ONE TIME BAND MEMBER OF IDA, AND A LINK TO THE SECRET STARS A BAND WHO DISTRIBUTED TAPES ONLY AND ARE COVERED BY IDA AND YET ANOTHER FAVOURITE BAND OF OURS, DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE. ALL THIS LOVE ON THE INTERNET IS WHAT OUR CULTURE IS ABOUT. THESE ARE OUR PEOPLE, OUR SOFT PLACES, WHERE WE DO NOT FIGHT ANYMORE, BUT EMBRACE THE FRAGILITY OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL, FREE AT LAST, FROM YOUR EXAMINATIONS AND JUDGING EYES.

WE ARE AGAINST STUDENTS AND THE STUDENT BODY AND BIC REFILLS AND KIDS TAKING TEN YEARS TO COMPLETE THEIR STUDIES AND ADULTS WHO GET PHDS AND WHO GO TO CONFERENCES AND SPEAK AS IF PEOPLE CARE ABOUT CONTENT AND NOT FORM AND WE ARE AGAINST ANYONE WHO HAS EVER RUNG UP SOMEONE AND SAID …

… WE HAPPILY GAVE UP OUR JOBS IN THE ART WORLD. I MEAN WHO TALKS ABOUT ART THESE DAYS? IT’S EMBARRASSING, LIKE TALKING ABOUT SPIRITUALITY, THERE ARE SOME THINGS WE DON’T DO, THAT SHOULD BE LEFT BEHIND IN THE 1960s, LEFT IN REPRINTS OF HERBERT READ, IN THE HANDS OF SCIENTISTS WHO WAX LYRICAL ABOUT THE ARTISTIC ELEMENT IN CHAOS, IN OFFICE WORKERS WANTING SOMETHING MORE, IN PEOPLE GOING BACK TO ART SCHOOL AFTER YEARS IN THE LAWN MOWING BUSINESS, LEFT WITH PEOPLE IT MIGHT MEAN SOMETHING TO AS PART OF A DEEP PERSONAL COMMITMENT THING, OF HOW THEY POSITION A GREAT BEYOND TO THE EXIGENCIES OF DAILY PAIN AND PERSONAL TRAGEDY AND MISERY. WE WANT NO PART OF THAT.

WE BOUNCE TO IPODS FULL OF CAGEAN SOUNDTRACKS IN REALISATION THAT AVANT-GARDE ART DIDN’T CO-OPT THE WORLD, THE WORLD SIMPLY TOOK BACK WHAT ART WAS HOARDING – THOUGH IT ALWAYS SEEMED THE OPPOSITE. THE SCARE QUOTES IT WAS IN THE HABIT OF PUTTING AROUND EVERY DAMNED THING – NO MORE.

WE KNOW THAT NOW ART – KEPT LIKE A PET – IS SIMPLY A REMINDER ABOUT THAT TIME, WHEN THERE WAS THAT GAP, THE FRAIL LINE OF SEPARATION, ENOUGH TO SET DESIRE IN MOTION SURE, BUT STOPPING IT MUTATE …

… WE WEAR BACKPACKS AND DO NOT FEAR YOUR GUNS.
WE THINK AIR FRESHENER IS AN OKAY INVENTION. …
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