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Nicole Padilla

Publics/Counter Publics

Analyze an existing artwork/project/piece of media (TV show, game, etc) and the systems within which it operates.

Project: MSCHF, Eat the Rich Popsicles

Who created it? For whom?

MSCHF is a collective whose creations appear online every two weeks as “drops.” Many of those drops are viral pranks. The Eat the Rich Popsicle project is a play on the radical saying initially attributed to philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in response to  the starvation in the French Revolution, from the larger quote; “When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.”

In present times, this slogan has been used in response to tech billionaires such as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg, who are criticized for how they wield power and money for personal greed rather than the public good.

With what materials and metaphors?

MSCHF applied the famous quote by creating ice cream bars with the likeness of these modern-day villians, so people could almost literally eat the rich. Eat the Rich Popsicles were available in NYC & LA via MSCHF ice cream trucks this past July.

With what intention?

This was a satirical metaphor in response to the recent tensions around these men based on multiple scandals and questionable practices, most notably at this time in the summer, the “space race” between companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin was at the forefront of controversy and conversation.

What impact? On whom? How? Did the artist identify a public or create a counterpublic?

This was a social commentary on the role of billionaires in our current society. The public in this situation would be supporters of their products, services, and practices, and the counter-public identified are those who disagree with their leadership and impacts on our present-day culture and society. Through highlighting these counterpublic ideas, I’m sure it raised awareness to those who may not be as familiar to the disparities and problematic nature of some of these companies and their CEOs.

Topic 2 : Final Reflection

Reflection for my project Memory vs. History

Final Project Documentation 

What did you learn?

I learned the process of historical revisionism and how it is impacted by societal systems such as economic, cultural, and political, and the criteria of what makes a historical narrative different than a memory/story/journal entry.

What feedback did you receive? Any reflections on the critique itself?

I received feedback to have led with the form and flip the order of my presentation to allow for more direct engagement with the project form, as well as provide more clarity in the intention of the work.

What might you do differently in terms of process or content?

I would have further fleshed out how the journal could be used as a larger institutional initiative and parameters around how outreach and timeline would be managed to ensure diverse populations and communities are included and that the timeline for how long they should journal/document their experiences.

Revisit the assignment prompts: how did your project relate to the original prompts in terms of critical lens, audience, tone, etc… 

I had followed the project prompts to set up my presentation on process and research to ensure my presentation was concise and incorporated the necessary project information. I believe if I flipped the order of presentation per the feedback, it would’ve given more opportunity to discuss the critical lens via walking through the work itself.

How did you balance research and experimentation? Which is easier for you? How can you focus more on the areas that you shy away from?

I believe I balanced both research and experimentation. I really dove into the Janky Prototype exercises, creating prototypes with cardboard. While I shied away from executing the prototypes and sketches created in those exercises, the ideation process led to the lower-tech guided journal, which informed the research not only on the topic but how similar guided/prompt-type forms were set up, and what was most effective.

What did you find inspiring?

Working through the publics/counter publics and IAE exercises felt like a cross between social justice design thinking. I enjoyed the process of identifying these groups and how they intertwine with each other. Additionally, when I decided to shift to a guided journal, I found that to be an empowering stance, giving authorship to the user both from their personal narratives but also the power to revise so it would be considered s historical account that would be legitimized and catalogued through a library or historical society.

Topic 2 Final Project: Memory vs. History

Topic Overview:

My topic investigated the process of what solidifies events, stories, and points of view as “history,” focusing on the below questions:

  • How does this process inform what is learned and shared through the generations, through institutions, curriculum, and truth?
  • How is information edited in a particular process or path before it is considered historical and worth spreading/teaching/learning?
  • What are the criteria of history vs. memory?
  • What is the power dynamic that allows this to happen?

My intended output/form for this project was to empower more stories, contexts, and perspectives to be shared to fully inform how certain events or movements impacted and shaped the experience for different communities as a societal whole rather than through a specific lens.

Research & Process: 

  • Systems Maps: I chose to start my Daily Practice series by creating a Systems Map. This exercise identified the importance of documentation, how information is documented, and the most “successful” forms of documentation that are the lynchpin to a historical narrative’s viability.
  • Daily Practice Day 2 & Daily Practice Days 3-6: Further brainstorming through the Daily Practice exercises led me to consider the different processes of creating a narrative, the revisions that take place, and how to frame a story in certain contexts.
  • IAE Map: Helped me further solidify the Public and Counter Public through-line, framing the intention and vice versa.
  • Janky Prototyping & Sketching: These creative ideation sessions gave me seedlings of outputs and interactions for interactive media outputs, but ultimately the idea of empowerment and being able to tell your own story was what I ultimately hinged the project form on, which is why I ultimately pivoted to the idea of a more accessible, low-res, guided journal experience, leading to the Make History Guided Journal.
  • Further builds: Rather than seeing this journal produced by a company or a branded product, I could see this more as an initiative or outreach programming with a national institution with local branches to attempt to get a broad swath of inputs. Or, the potential to manage this at the local level through a grant or endowment for historical societies in specific areas of underrepresented populations, almost working as a community initiative similar to an idea of a time capsule, where local stories/entries. My only concern is with making this a publicized activity, the participants may choose to add color to how stories are told or written, which would impact their accuracy. That is something I haven’t fully understood, how to crack that part of the human condition to stretch the truth or have biases towards themselves to ensure the truth is told. The scale of which this is activated also determines the direction of its growth and intention, as mentioned in feedback from Marina.

Bibliography:

  1. David W. Blight, April 2002, Historians and “Memory,” Common Place, <http://commonplace.online/article/historians-and-memory/#:~:text=owned%2C%20history%20interpreted.-,Memory%20is%20passed%20down%20through%20generations%3B%20history%20is%20revised.,contexts%20in%20all%20their%20complexity.>
  2. Sofía García-Bullé, August 21, 2021, What is Historical Revisionism?, Institute for the Future of Education, <https://observatory.tec.mx/edu-news/historical-revisionism/#:~:text=As%20the%20name%20implies%2C%20historical,both%20positive%20and%20negative%20aspects.>
  3. Victor Hugo Paltsits, 1911, Historical Societies: Their Work and Worth, Cornell University Press/JSTOR, <https://www.jstor.org/stable/42889984#metadata_info_tab_contents>
  4. C. Behan McCullagh, 1987, The Truth of Historical Narratives, JSOTR, <https://www.jstor.org/stable/2505043#metadata_info_tab_contents>
  5. Julia C. Wells, 2022, Performing Invisible Stories Through Creative History, The University of California Press/The Public Historian, <https://online.ucpress.edu/tph/article/44/1/7/119621/Performing-Invisible-Stories-through-Creative>
  6. Storyworth, <https://welcome.storyworth.com/questions?oid=37&affid=5source_id%3Dgoogle&sub1=Prospecting-Storyteller-11.20.20&sub1=Sitelink_OurQuestions&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Sitelink_OurQuestions&source_id=google&gclid=CjwKCAiAmuKbBhA2EiwAxQnt79pyFZP7aF4PCaBBVQ3cEayW7E3nahscuyepEJ5Ek0ZIPQKXFe1oGxoC8bcQAvD_BwE>
  7. Think CBT, Think CBT Therapists, Worksheets & Exercises, <https://thinkcbt.com/think-cbt-worksheets>

 

 

Topic 2 – IAE Map

Map an aspect of your topic to the Ideas/Arrangements/Effects framework:

IDEA:

The subject of history and what is taught in schools comes from a very specific lens, often discounting or altogether removing the stories, experiences, and accounts of other peoples and populations. History is often revised to benefit one side of the story, further bolster a motive, or support a particular point/initiative.

ARRANGEMENTS:

“Good vs. Bad” – when sharing a narrative, it is often always from the viewpoint of one/one collective body. History recounts events that led to the formation and norms of society, but all include inherently flawed people. Yet, we still project a “good guy” / “bad guy”  lens when recounting these stories. I’m sure if seen from the opposite side, the flipped view/roles would be true. We are all the main characters in our own stories, and how we process, experience, and are affected by events has ripples in how we show up in the world and further perpetuate these concepts in society.

EFFECTS:

Uneven power dynamics, Marginalized peoples/cultures, racism, xenophobia, homogenization, gender inequity, unequal rights

 

Can you identify a way you could change your identified arrangement and how that might reflect a different idea or have a different effect?

More equitable arrangements would produce more equitable results. Having a scale of power creates a sense of entitlement and dominance. There is always more than one side to every story, beyond a singular cause and effect.

Project 2 – Topic

My topic is investigating the process of what solidifies events, stories, and points of view as history to be learned and shared through the generations.

I thought it would be fun to put an actual process between memory and history and how and why this information is edited in a particular process or path before it is considered historical and worth spreading/teaching/learning.

 

My inspiration was to tie in the research and information found here with my Connections Lab project – History of Here.

Daily Practice – Days 3-6

Apologies for not posting these on a daily cadence – I was traveling over the past few days but brought my notebook with me, so I am uploading my notes here now. Building off the concept of a history-generating machine and the quote that history are memories revised, I thought this would be a fun idea to work through for how history is “made.”

Day 3 – “Memory Intake”

I started thinking about the intake process of memory before it goes through the process of becoming “history.”

This form will be reviewed or “red lined” through its process

 

Day 4 – Who works in the revision machine?

I researched where the first historical references were made and were brought back to Ancient Greece. I came across the story of Thucydides dismissing Herodotus when oral history was first debated, so the revisionist history process began. I think of the movie Inside Out and how different characters are associated with emotions. Similarly, I’d like to think there are little “workers” within the machine reviewing and redlining the memory intake form to make it “fit for history.”

 

 

Day 5 –  The Process 

I picture the form going down a conveyor belt, measured against different litmus tests. I imagine there will be examples in the current process that can be used to manage the metaphor further.

 

Day 6 – 

The final part of the process, a revised version of the intake form stamped as “approved” – edited to be fit for history and sent to historians, institutions, and historical societies to further cement into society’s shared story and continue to be debated

Daily Practice – Day 2

I’ve been doing some research on the differences between History and Memory and came across this article from an organization called Commonplace that chronicles the history of early American life.

One of the big quotes in this reading states, “Memory is passed down through generations, history is revised.” This led me to think about the mechanism or the system where memories are intaken and transformed into their way to history. I started to picture a Suessical type illustration or machine. Understanding this”machine” is something I might explore in the next few days.