Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society is an ongoing series of works made out of old computer keys and cardboard, where from afar the work spells one word but up close, another word comes into view. The series is named after the 1976 publication by Raymond Williams Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, which mapped the often complex and contested histories, evolution and meaning of over 100 words in the English language. It revealed language to be a site of social struggle marked by class, gender/sexuality, ethnicity, race, geography, and generation (youth vs. old). As Williams made clear, language is not static but continues to evolve, a tendency turbocharged by social media.

In the first work from the series, titled Doom Loop, the keys spell LOOP but up close, the word DOOM comes into view.  Doom Loop refers to a self-reinforcing downward spiral. Originally an economic term that gained traction during the 2008 financial crisis, doom loop is now broadly used in other fields including climate studies, politics, and urban planning. As an ongoing series, additional words (works) are in development that will range from poetic to political, abstract to concrete. As an ongoing series, additional words (works) are in development that will range from the poetic to the political, from abstract to concrete, from serious to humorous.

Like post-war concrete poetry, which emerged in part as a political and poetic response to the degradation of language under fascism, this series comes during a similar moment when language is under attack once again, the aim being to render language meaningless, incapable of clarifying, explaining or illuminating, untethering language to any shared sense of reality or human agency.

 

Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (2024-ongoing)
Cardboard on alu-dibond, keyboard keycaps, dimensions variable
image: Doom Loop (from the series Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society), 66 x 40 cm, studio photo