![]() ![]() When COVID and 2016 hit, we were the only show of any sort on earth that had any form of broad accurate diagnosis. ![]() We staged ‘The Extreme Self’ in Toronto in the summer before COVID and many Canadian critics tried to posture and dismiss the show as flat-footed avant garde alarmism. I do think that with The Age of Earthquakes we identified a huge number of tendencies within the broader culture which, in their moment, seemed almost unworthy of comment, like, ‘Yeah, but so what?’ It was only when hyperpolarisation, BLM, and COVID ignited the fires that suddenly most of it made almost shocking sense. Here and in the now, we speak with Coupland, Basar, and Obrist about the launch of The Extreme Self, neologising our reactions to new world events, and hopes for a radical shared future with human connection amid the advancing digital landscape.Ĭould you ever have predicted the seismic cultural and social changes from the prequel in 2015 to now?ĭouglas Coupland: Prediction is a charged word and I reject it. That has always been the nature of our projects together: to try and give names and words to a set of shared feelings that we all have, but haven't been able to articulate yet.” “We don’t necessarily have the language or the words to describe what these things are and what they’re doing to us. “We now inhabit a new space of knowledge – although I still think it's mostly ignorance – and we’re beginning to feel the effects of these transformations in every part of our lives,” said Basar in an interview with Pin-Up Magazine in 2020. Inhale it in one compelling, uncanny sitting, and you’ll have a mind-expanding understanding of our current crises. Now, however, the novel seems to represent the past year-and-a-half’s worth of loss, worry, and growth amid extreme changes in society. ![]() Prior to the pandemic, the authors staged an exhibition of The Extreme Self in Toronto, crediting the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s election in 2016 as the main sources of inspiration for the book. Think an astute rumination on an everyday person’s management of their social interactions online, to humans “skullfucking” a robot in place of human relationships. It is teeth-achingly self-aware, with biting humour and somehow both crazed and insightful predictions for the now and near-future. It consists of 14 chapters – each built with elevated meme-style graphics and paired with philosophical dissections of fame, post-work and new crowds, identity crisis, eternity, and more. Their latest book features imagery curated from artists, photographers, technologists, and musicians across the world paired with kinetic design by Wayne Daly and Claire Lyon. The Extreme Self acts as a timely sequel to 2015’s The Age of Earthquakes: A Guide to the Extreme Present, which was a riotous, razor-sharp reflection on the madness of our media, a glossary of the then-emerging language of a new internet age, and a self-help book for a world in motion. ![]() In The Extreme Self: Age of You, novelist Douglas Coupland, editor Shumon Basar, and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist are challenging the seismic pressures of the 21st century through investigations of technology, politics, fame, and intimacy – guiding us to reconsider the world around us. Between the continuous global pandemic, growing political polarisation, and an all-consuming digital world, ‘nightmarish dystopia’ is a bit of an understatement. ![]()
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