🤞✨The Nexialist #0043
2030 or 2050? | Lo-Tek: A New Mythology of Technology | Spiritual Disco | Gods Of The Disco | HOMUNCULUS | Unstuck in Time | Mugler | Neo-Surf and more...
Welcome to another week of internet curatorship, The Nexialist
Hello, World! Did you miss me? I missed you. I decided to take a break last week after The Best Social Conference went live (and well, thank you, everyone involved and whoever used THENEXIALIST discount code, you’re the best). It was the first time I took a break since The Nexialist started and I thought something bad was going to happen (I know… wtf). It turns out I just needed to take a little break to let my mind rest for a bit. Well, now I’m back with more energy and brain (and hopefully soul) sparks for you.
🇧🇷It’s not 2030 or 2050, it’s now
Until the 12th of November, the UK is hosting the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow. In the opening ceremony, Txai Suruí, an indigenous activist from the Brazilian state of Rondônia, sent a clear and powerful message that we have to listen. I’ll leave it here transcribed in case you want to reference it.
My name is Txai Suruí, I’m only 24 but my people have been living in the amazonian forest for at least 6 thousand years. My father, the great chief Almir Suruí taught me that we must listen to the stars, the moon, the wind, the animals and the trees. Today, the climate is warming, the animals are disappearing, the rivers are dying and our plants don’t flower like they did before. The earth is speaking, she tells us that we have no more time.
A friend asked me: will we continue to think that today;s injuries can be resolved with ointments and painkillers, even though we know that tomorrow our wounds will only run deeper?
We need a different path with bold and global changes. It’s not 2030 or 2050, it’s now! While you are closing your eyes to reality, the land defender Ari Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, my friend since I was a kid, was murdered for protecting the forest. Indigenous peoples are in the frontline of the climate emergency and we must be at the center of the decisions happening here. We have ideas to postpone the end of the world.
Let us stop empty lies and fake promises. Let us end the pollution of hollow words. Let us fight for a livable future and present. It’s always necessary to believe the dream is possible. May our utopia be a future on Earth. Thank you.
Read: The make-or-break climate summit: here’s what’s at stake at Cop26 - The Guardian
🌴Lo-Tek: A New Mythology of Technology
When I see these things, I get chills. This interview with Julia Watson, the author of Lo-TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism, is so insightful. Her book showcases indigenous architectural solutions from all over the world, which can become such an important tool for architects and city planners to learn from. I recommend reading the interview since it’s quick and full of insights.
Lo-TEK is a gathering of sustainable, adaptable and resilient technologies, each born out of necessity. It’s name is drawn from ‘lo-tech’ (uncomplicated primitive technology), yet the TEK in Lo-TEK stands for local technology composed of Traditional Ecological Knowledge. It’s engineered to sustain—rather than exploit—resources, with the ultimate goal to champion symbiosis between species.
Read: A new mythology of technology - Interview with Julia Watson | NextNature.Net
🙏🏻Spiritual Disco
You know, I love those albums that come with a whole universe attached to them, so carefully crafted to tell a story. Agnes’ new album, Magic Still Exists, does exactly that with this kind of new wave spiritual disco. I already was in love with Fingers Crossed, but then the names of the songs already made me curious, such as Spiritual Awakening, The Soul Has No Gender and Free Your Mind and Free Your Body, and when I pressed play I was ecstatic. The clear references to Abba (Agnes is also from Sweden), Giorgio Moroder, and other disco/pop/electro hitmakers are on point. I recommend playing the whole thing in one go. Also, the lyrics are filled with repetitive modern mantras and life maxims. I might have found a new religion (or a favorite 2021 album) 😜
❤️🔥Gods Of The Disco
It’s the first time I see something from Keiynan Lonsdale, from Australia, and I already subscribed to his channel. The casting, the dancing, the outfits, the glitter… and the final NSFW scene.
👁Call me Cleo
Since I’m sharing some songs that have been playing on repeat, I cannot skip Shygirl’s Cleo. I screamed the first time I listened.
🤖HOMUNCULUS
SEVDALIZA has outdone herself with this disturbing sci-fi music video. She had a video for this song before, but now we get a beautifully shot story with some quite unsettling images and a delicious remix.
Also, here’s the introduction to the term Homunculus from Wikipedia:
A homunculus (UK: /hɒˈmʌŋkjʊləs/ hom-UNK-yuul-əs, US: /hoʊˈ-/ hohm-, Latin: [hɔˈmʊŋkʊlʊs]; "little person") is a representation of a small human being. Popularized in sixteenth-century alchemy and nineteenth-century fiction, it has historically referred to the creation of a miniature, fully formed human. The concept has roots in preformationism as well as earlier folklore and alchemic traditions. The term is also used for an image of a person with the size of the body parts distorted to represent how much area of the cerebral cortex of the brain is devoted to it. For example, the legs are small but the mouth and hands are large.
⏳Unstuck in Time
I just really want to see Kurt Vonnegut’s documentary and for some many reasons. I remember reading one of his short stories in school, a story that stays with me until today: Harrison Bergeron.
🤖Mugler
If there is something I have been finding myself more and more drawn to, are these next-level-fashion-catwalk-collection-launching films. Mugler’s video is just so hypnotizing with these looks and an amazing cast (hello Dominique Jackson!). Somehow it felt like a videogame.
🏄Neo-Surf
This is such a mesmerizing sci-fi music video. So nice to see Romain Gavras’ name. He made one of my favorite videos, Jamie xx - Gosh. Enjoy!
GENER8ION is a multidisciplinary collaborative project led by producer and composer Surkin and director Romain Gavras. It takes place in the near future (2034), in a disillusioned and damaged world, with puzzling poetry embodied by idle youth and underlying violence. After a first EP released in 2016, GENER8ION was reborn in 2021 with this track performed by 070 Shake, close collaborator of Kanye West and artist on his label G.O.O.D Music. Neo Surf comes along with a spectacular music video directed by Romain Gavras, shot in Athens.
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