Introduction
The Kommune Norrtalje Dignity Scholarship offers a psychological safe haven for personal creative practice. We provide radically spirited Doers a unique framework in which to create, direct and reflect upon their activities free from external commercial, personal, political and social pressures whatever they may be. Our function is to provide an institutional 'cubbyhole' where time is given for shelter, recuperation, repair, and rebuilding so as to let Doers develop some new ways to navigate the rough sea of the post truth era.
We ask participants to weave their Doing into the theme of anti capitalist critique in the post truth era. We ask only that the chosen artist shows us what they are Doing and tells us something about it, whilst bearing in mind the five themes of the Dignity Scholarship:
1. Instituting and valorizing the term "Doing" to describe open ended, non specific activities which are emancipatory in spirit.
2. Creating consciousness of the 'scales of experience' which press upon us in everyday life. How do the local, national, global, virtual, media and social ...media scales impinge upon your life and your Doing?
3. Develop the idea of 'productive sheltering' as a slow and methodical approach to critical art. What new ways can this work be made public?
4. How has the imagined art public/audience changed in the post truth era?
5. To what extent are antagonistic critical artistic strategies are productive in the post truth era?
Dignity Scholarships are seasonal and once selected, practitioners can continue the scholarship for a maximum of four seasons after which Kommune Norrtalje will review progress. Participants will be assisted in any way we can during the course of the scholarship but at present no funding is available. For the 2019/2020 season the Bergby based artist John Maclean returns to continue his work from season 1.
John was asked to submit a verse to introduce the work and set out the plan for the 2019 - 2020 season:
Johnny B Goode
A golden spike to the head and heart
A neglected imaginary blown apart
Its drums of data not oil now
Algorhythms milked from a Russian cow
Heil Don Donald and little Vladz
What a whale of a time they must have had
Now the Eton Trump has the key in the door
Brace yourself please for the never before
With 2020 vision we have all scene the set
For those rivers of blood in the street and yet
Too many reasons but only one why
So one percent white can take off for the sky
Acceleration past moon off on to mars
And balls to this fine world of ours
But red planet Life can be such a bore
Watch whitey return to earth once more
What will they find when they get back
Industrial green? Or industrial black?
What will they find when they get back
Johnny B. Goode under the railroad track
We must build bridges between the scales
We must change tack from the Borg and ourselves
We must live the model but that’s an ominous task
I still think it works best with a wink and a laugh