Definition Series: Secrets

Tuesday, October 18th, 2016

7 – 9 pm

97 Kenmare St, New York, NY

 

#storefrontseries     #definitionseries     #Secrets     @storefrontnyc

 

With Jesse Connuck, Kaarina Gould, Daniel Perlin, Aamu Song & Johan Olin, and Troy Conrad Therrien

 

Today subjectivity has become a technical construction; the contemporary subject is defined as an owner of a set of passwords that only he or she knows. The contemporary subject is primarily a keeper of a secret.

Boris Groys, Cosmic Anxiety

 

As access to information becomes increasingly ubiquitous across spaces of culture and industry, certain questions remain: what is, or should be, a secret? What are the tools for finding, revealing, or making that special information accessible? To the beholder: when should a secret be revealed, or why should it not? To the investigator: what should one do with a secret once it is discovered?

 

Definition Series: Secrets invites participants to define the implications and processes of disclosure within contemporary forms of secrecy and restriction. From embodied knowledge of specific skills inherited through teacher-apprentice structures, to open source technologies and litigation of intellectual property, secrets are held, cloaked, revealed, divulged, leaked, and sometimes freely shared.

 

Definition Series: Secrets takes as its point of departure a long-term project called “Salakauppa” (interpreted from Finnish as “secret shop”). The project has been developed by COMPANY, a Finnish-Korean artist/designer duo. Traveling to outmoded manufacturing sites around the world to learn crafting processes unique to particular industries, the duo collaborates with a variety of communities to rethink its own processes and knowledge, and to produce new designs.

 

As the world’s resources continue to be threatened, depleted, and destroyed, new sustainable solutions and imaginative approaches are needed. As part of IDEAS CITY 2013, Definition Series: On Capital encouraged intensive examination of surplus resources that may be under-recognized or underutilized, rather than focusing on deficits. Definitions Series: Secrets pushes this investigation forward by exploring latent, hidden, and/or veiled information that may help lead to a more productive society.

About the Book:

The Book of Secrets by COMPANY (Aamu Song & Johan Olin), 2016.

 

Support

Storefront’s programming is made possible through general support from Arup; DS+R; F.J. Sciame Construction Co., Inc.; Gaggenau; KPF; MADWORKSHOP; ODA; Roger Ferris + Partners; the Foundation for Contemporary Arts; The Greenwich Collection Ltd.; the Lily Auchincloss Foundation; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; The Peter T. Joseph Foundation; and by Storefront’s Board of Directors, members, and individual donors.

 

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