To counter is not to oppose and take down, but rather to deflect and correct. It is not a frontal hit but rather a displacement of force, as in jiu-jitsu; not the forceful closure of a path but rather the offer of a more attractive alternative; not the display of blunt antagonism but rather a clever redirection of attention and support.
Defeat of the opponent is of course the goal, but seemingly not the only one––and the means are creative, often memorably so. The punk movement and Thatcherism; the hippies and the Vietnam war; Jesus Christ; the Tropicália movement and the military dictatorship in Brazil; Gandhi; the Flying University in Poland…
We have entered the age in which being right no longer carries oppositional force, and in which it is hard to even pinpoint what to stand up to. Conservative forces in society have shown us what a deliberate, strategic “counter” approach wielding the most updated technological arsenal can do to achieve radical-change goals.
Here are some more of the questions that we will ask: What now? What are the roles of countercultures in fighting totalitarian regimes? What can we learn from past examples that can help us design an effective counter? What strategies of countering can we learn from the opposing side? How can we use the method of the counter to rethink new oppositional strategies? Are effective counternarratives enough to fight the current misinformation? What does a countercultural movement look like today? What can artists do? Do social media echo chambers disable the subversive effects of countercultural movements?
Sophie Cavoulacos is Associate Curator in the Department of Film at the Museum of Modern Art, where she organizes moving image programming and exhibitions. She has organized countless exhibitions such as Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver’s Cinematic Illumination, Nour Mobarak: Dafne Phono, and Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978–1983.
Keller Easterling is an architect, writer and the Enid Storm Dwyer Professor of Architecture at Yale. She is currently working on a book about land activism in the US after the Civil Rights Movement.
Noam M. Elcott is Associate Professor of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University. He specializes in the history and theory of modern art and media, with an emphasis on photography, film, and recent developments in artificial intelligence as well as intellectual property law.
New Red Order is a public secret society dedicated to expanding Indigenous agency and achieving decolonization, which brings about the repatriation of all Indigenous land—and life. They work with self-described “informants” and focus on dismantling the ongoing impacts of colonialism, particularly on Indigenous communities.
Joshua Tucker is Julius Silver Professor, Director of the Jordan Center for Advanced Study of Russia, Co-Director of the Center for Social Media and Politics, Professor of Politics, affiliated Professor of Data Science, and affiliated Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University. Professor Tucker has been at the forefront of efforts to explore the intersection of social and digital media and politics.
The presentations will be accompanied by the screening of a series of short videos cut specifically for Salon 54.
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