Copresented by Rhizome and the New Museum, “DIS: A Good Crisis” is an online exhibition of artist-made PSAs that consider the legacy of the 2008 financial crisis and the possibilities of universal basic income.
DIS, A Good Crisis, 2018. Digital image. Courtesy the artists
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Winston Churchill (perhaps apocryphally) remarked, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” The latest body of work by the DIS collective considers this provocation in relation to more recent crises, asking: What possibilities for social or economic change did the 2008 financial crisis create, and in what ways were these changes realized? Was it a “good crisis,” and if so, good for whom? Additionally, what new possibilities for political and social change, such as the increasingly popular idea of a guaranteed income for all, have emerged in the present moment of unprecedented inequality? Is there hope that this current crisis might not also “go to waste”?
The members of DIS—Lauren Boyle, Solomon Chase, Marco Roso, and David Toro—have produced three new video works exploring these questions, scripted in collaboration with economist Moritz Schularick and writer and editor Drew Zeiba. With glossy production quality and a wryly nihilistic tone, the works will circulate as advertisements on online media platforms such as YouTube, the same channels as propagandistic messages from both the political establishment and fringe alike. Funds for the distribution of the videos have been awarded as part of Rhizome’s 2018–2019 commissions program.
