Science of the Time, formally known as Signs of the Time

What it Is:

When looking at this World Cup Top 11 several strands struck me as immediately recognizable: compassion, narratives and community. These are major mentality movements that are cyclical in nature and thus never truly fade away. They just keep appearing in different forms and always co-constitutive of other movements. The findings in this top 11 present us with intersections of different desires and needs that simultaneously transcend cultural borders but are instantly recognizable as particular to Africa and to the World Cup being in Africa. Let’s not forget that that is why we are looking at Africa in the first place now. It’s not because of civil wars or famine or AIDS as is usually the case when speaking of Africa. On this list there is only specific reference to that troubled and troubling image of Africa but more on that below. These three major mentality movements paint a picture of the creation of a future, the remembrance of legacies and the creation of future legacies.

Why it's cool:

The creation of a future can be seen in the major mentality movement compassion. Some of these findings seem to be asking whether a future that is not based on compassion is imaginable. This compassion is towards the next and future generations who will inherit the earth after we are long gone. This compassion is also towards the parts of the world that have had to survive history and the heritage of Enlightenment.  Number 10 Komodo ‘Fair Play’ T-Shirts is based on the notion of compassion. Producing clothing from the perspective that it shouldn’t just be cheap for the working class in the countries that buy the products, but that the production itself should be beneficial for the producing peoples is highly intriguing. It’s a step in the direction towards a global world order that is not based on exploitation of others, animals or the earth. Number 4 Toys and Soldiers is also about securing a mutually beneficial future. But it’s not its altruistic message that makes it cool, but the way the message is delivered. It’s not through emotional trickery of seeing little kids with guns, but by placing questions on toys about war. Is it a constructive idea for kids to be playing war? This type of compassion is thought provoking and pushes the boundary of creativity to ask critical questions of social and cultural traditions. It’s not about waiving a finger and saying what’s bad, but starting up a dialogue. As Compassion without the Pity shows compassion based on paternalism is out.

The remembrance of legacies is seen through the major mentality movement narratives. It is through narratives that we try to order the world. With the post-modern and post-structuralist revolutions narratives have been unmasked. Solitary narratives are no longer perceived as innocent. Where have the other voices gone? At number 11 A Louis Vuitton World Cup speaks of exactly those other voices in the luxury sector. Here they present a bond with a subject matter which they haven’t embraced before. Football is recognized as an endeavor that is geared towards the working class but at the same time can yield new narratives about living well. Number 9 World Cup Voodoo Dolls also portrays a narrative. This narrative is like the Louis Vuitton narrative on football about something that has been neglected or seen as abhorrent. The dolls can be seen as mocking Vodu, but more importantly it is also about the representation of that religion not based on repression of it. Now that the former-West has realized that it is post-secular, and probably never was secular to begin with, worldwide political imagination allows being openly spiritual (if you’re not historically of the wrong religion that is). Number 6 Africanized Movie Posters also presents us with voices and visions that had been relegated to the margins by the canon of art. It’s not about being discovered by the former-West but about being regarded with respect and allowed to partake in the conversation of what art is in an African framework. In ethnographic museums the world over taken without permission, everyday objects have been exoticized and elevated to represent the full scope of the African visual imaginary. These posters show a manner of looking that is theirs and represents their own artistic voice and now an artistic, social and cultural legacy that should not be forgotten.

When looking at the creation of future legacies we see the formations of new communities or the narrative recounting of bonds and conversations that can rejuvenate and invigorate existing communities. Next to compassion for another the idea of working towards a future together is really compelling. Number 8 Celebrate Like A Player is a playful response to this. An event like the World Cup is a moment that revitalizes national bonds. That the concept of the state is currently being reexamined and mostly regarded as antiquated does not diminish the feeling of wanting to belong. Whether that is with the community that you currently find yourself in or the community that you left behind. Number 5 Creative Africa Network is just one of those ways in which political community formations are being envisioned outside of state politics. In other words political dialogue is being fostered through the arts and through the connections that can be made through the arts. The community that Puma funded is part of an altruistic endeavor to genuinely change the world for the better for everybody. This community then does not lend itself to the same pitfalls of nationalism such as xenophobia or the necessity for a (false) sense of oneness. Accountable difference and connected plurality is what this community thrives on and warrants its existence. Number 1 ESPN Murals and Truck regards the city confines as a community of people who sometimes live next to each other instead of with each other. With the commissioned murals providing present day South African graphic illustrators an excuse to reconnect with the legacy of African art, the truck reconnects city dwellers who just happen to be there watching together or sought the truck via their twitter accounts. The community bonds are once again tightened and people are brought together.

Community bonds can also be explored through the creation of new narratives or the understanding of narratives in the creation of the narratives that one now finds oneself. Realizing the role of the past in your current present and your future also rings through this list. Number 7 No Mo Ibrahim Prize is the prime example of this. By regarding the role of politicians for Africa current state as the most rich continent of the world in regards to natural resources and yet simultaneously the most economically devastated. The award is at once a figurative swipe at the colonial past, where European politicians were awarded and canonized for their role in the destruction of the African continent for the enrichment of the now former-West, and a look ahead by creating lasting importance for worthwhile and important figures in African politics. Number 3 Art, Design and the World Cup presents us with works that talk about bigger picture around the World Cup and about South Africa. The three finds, each in their own, narrate a past, a present and possible futures through which historical networks are lain bare. They tug at the manner in which history has laid down narratives of community and networks and forges new ways of looking at those narratives. These works are about dialogue and keeping the dialogue open.  Number 2 Zakee Kuduro and Baloji is all about the dialogue. In media studies given at universities orality’s importance is categorized lower than current forms of media technology. But these categorizations fail to recognize the importance of orality for the world. In the African framework orality is a vital aspect of African culture on the continent and among its various historically situated diasporic communities over the world. The two musicians here are inextricably linked to this tradition not just because of belonging to the African diaspora, but also because of the manner in which they have been engaged in a cultural dialogue from their positions as diaspora artists. They are not just including African instruments or African artists in their work but are including African stories and African understandings of music, dialogue and community. These inclusions are entwined with the knowledges and experiences that they gained in their diasporic state of being. They have settled alright in their places, but are illustrating the manners in which place itself is never whole but always a bundling of pathways and journeys. These journeys enrich communities and the sounds of these artists have enriched more than two communities just as this World Cup Top 11 has shown the richness of encounters and collisions.