The Institute for Infinitely Small Things
The Institute for Infinitely Small Things is something I’ve known about for some time, but I’m just getting around to writing about.
Their website describes them as “a research organization whose mission is to invent and distribute new practices of political engagement in everyday life. While the macropolitical realm of issues, parties and policy is important, it begins with asking social and political questions about tiny things, such as, “What can you do for free in Harvard Square?” and, “What happens when you do what an advertisement tells you?” The Institute’s methodology is to complexify small things rather than simplifying large ones.”
They might call themselves a research organization, but they are a diverse bunch – “artists, anthropologists, software engineers, filmmakers, historians and architects” – with diverse interests: “performing corporate language in public space, creating definitions of “cartography,” destabilizing consumer architectures, hacking maps and lying to people about art.”
I don’t believe I’ve seen something this badass since my first issue of Adbusters. I very much want to be a part of the Institute.
Related posts:
- Institute for Aesthetic Research
- Yael Bartana’s “Wild Seeds” at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art
- IssueLab’s Research Remix Contest: CFW
More on Activism, Art, Friends & Allies, Research, Resistance
