Project Proposal

for 24th Nov

To make an unpublishing house I must deal with previously published content, then physically reverse the actions, maybe by removing word by word a text, or images pixel by pixel. Rather than deletion which is an immediate action, I would take the time and effort to remove. This is a reflective action. mention the unsaid, from A to B and back again.

There are 2 main opposing issues:

1. Human rights

An individual wanting to unpublish their own work has become a basic human right (the right to be forgotten implemented in the EU), because we create so much content constantly thoughtlessly we should have the right to regret it, but there is also content about ourselves that we are mostly unaware of that should never have been published in the first place. Self quantification. Self publishing. Overproduction. Mass consumption.

2. Censorship

When large coorporations and states 'unpublish' anything from an individual's content, to another cooporation or state, the matter becomes troublesome. If they publish something in the first place it is because there was a reason, going back on it is censorship.

I would like to begin researching this topic through visual traces of unpublished material, meaning things that have been published but then removed from the public sphere. An example would be traces of a torn down poster, or a website leaving a text saying “this post has been removed”. In parallel to making a collection of visual ‘proof’ I will research unpublishing in history, examples that only have written traces, or remain in the collective memory.

How do you plan to make it?

Begin with a Hackpact, so one small production a day. This will clarify my intentions and ideas. I will need to plan the structure of the business, from mission statement/manifesto to graphic identity, content and audience. business plan. money..

Publish the 'hackpact' with tor.. finding out how to publish anonymously

What is your timetable?

Why do you want to make it?

I would like to investigate the impact upon the act of unpublishing a certain content, having so many different perspectives on the matter will bring up lots of conclusions. I am interested to see the different reactions one disappearance could bring to life!

Who can help you and how?

I would like to talk to people or interview them, to get a better idea of what the "service" could provide, what would they like to unpublish?

Richard with his stalky story

Use Karin from Printroom

Relation to previous practice

This thematic comes from a reversal of my previous topics of interest, where I dealt with the revealing or highlighting unpublished or leaked documents. In one project I collected three different documents relating to drone attack, one being the instruction manual, the second a transcript from leaked audio files of pilots talking during an attack in Afghanistan, and the third was a list of the resulting number of deaths from each attack that was recorded. In another project I created a food wiki where I would collect processed factory packed foods and divide the information found on the packing (on the surface) to information about the corporation (under the surface) in order to make it easier for consumers to know what is in and where their products come from, at the same time revealing the industries secrets.

Relation to a larger context

An individual unpublishing his own material is considered to be his right, an organisation or a nation unpublishing someone else’s material can be seen as censoring. A group burning another’s material can lead to murder. (Heinrich Heine "Wherever books are burned, human beings are destined to be burned too.”)