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Well yeah, I'm totally game for saving this crisis.
Naturally. And I believe I'm not the only one.
But the thing is, we need to set a starting point,
identify the main communication noise
and find the best mediator to eliminate that noise.
I can't just blindly pick a few subjects and start working on them.
I would need a whole team of people, which means, we need
that multidisciplinary approach that we used to practice.
We have learned how to cooperate, how to establish relationships.
How to 'click'. So the next step is to connect our sector to other disciplines.
First we need to determine, what design actually is.
I believe design incorporates everything.
Just as every line of business claims it incorporates everything.
Like, for example, everything is connected with health,
sociology, community.
It's the same way we can say that everything has to do with design.
That is just our point of view, the standpoint we chose
and which we can defend, because it is present everywhere.
At first I believed the Academy was only offering me a chance to be an artist,
renowned posthumously,
or perhaps even unknown.
Or maybe a chance to be a newspaper cartoonist.
Then in my junior year I learned about design.
I signed up for a design class where I became very involved in it
and really got to know it.
So when I chose design as my major at the Academy
I realized, this is what I want to do. I've made the right choice.
And when that decision was made I took it seriously.
Luckily I didn't own a car so I spent my days at the Academy.
It was too far from my place.
That strengthened my love for design and built my commitment to it.
So basically I devoted all my time to it.
Somewhere along the way I started making some money too.
Then it hit me: What if I decided to make my living with design only?
Working conditions might not be perfect but that's what makes us tough.
Most of the people I know go through it, develop a thick skin,
gain competence, learn how to fight since not everything is given.
You have to find new solutions. That is the reason,
why designers are somewhat stronger than others.
But we still don't get recognized abroad.
If we ensured good conditions here, there would be no need for that.
If I was invited somewhere, it doesn't even matter where at the moment,
since I'm constantly involved in this multi-, interconnected thing,
I'd consider it, because I like challenges
and I am curious.
The best comment on ZEK that could be used as PR was the one
which claimed that ZEK is the best Slovenian product
after Slavoj Zizek and Laibach.
But we made no use of that!
We didn't call anyone or risk some money, pack everything in a van
and just go on a tour.
***, we just stalled.
We would just stay here and work. And time will tell.
Our visual culture and this whole creativity
and all the other terms that go in this bundle,
actually are on a level with all the other countries.
Yet we lack a common communication channel.
And that drags us behind.
For if we were able to collect all that material
and avoid the arguing within disciplines and misunderstandings
also outside disciplines,
we could come up with an outstanding export product.
We should start by understanding it first.
In order to understand it, we must realize
that China is the world's cheapest producer
and there is no use competing with them since we'll never win.
What we make for 5€, they make for 3 cents.
If we match that price, we engage into the same slavery they are in.
Besides, we lack their resources.
But we have a certain know-how, a certain tradition and history
that taught us, this may sound bizarre,
but if it says Warhol or BMW on the product,
people say: We know that a Chinese car is cheaper
and that Warhol can be reproduced in China.
Even if it's made in the exact same process and there is no way to tell them apart
yet as we talk about it, we agree that there is still a difference.
So the question was: How not to become a sell-out?
We all see people who want to stick out, who want to be noticed.
We all do that.
There's no need to feel bad about your ego,
as long as you contain it.
We're all individuals.
You start a sentence with "I am" and it's considered as ego trip.
Where the crap begins is really just a matter of context.
Or the person's values.
Every celebrity we know is famous, because they decided to do something
and society gave them credit for it,
even if they were modest at first. They had to struggle
with stage fright or something.
The more extroverted people know short cuts,
so their responsibility since they have the advantage of being extroverted,
is to develop a healthy relationship towards the content they produce.
Your constant presence loses its purpose, if you repeat yourself.
Unless you repeat yourself for some radical effect.
You don't have to worry
about that feeling of being secure
because you don't have to accept everything.
If you are clean according to the Maslow's theory
you are ready to start with self-actualization.
And you need to begin that process, you need to find yourself,
gain experience but if you're better than the experience,
don't sign your name to it.
The problem with selling out
is that in 5 years time you realize you're involved in a service
in which you don't even believe.
It's ok to experience it,
but in a long term, that communication of *** values may become successful
due to your talent, your communication abilities.
So you're partly responsible for making *** so mainstream.
That's when you realize you've helped too much
since you don't believe in it. And because you don't believe in it
your actions were wrong.
If you believed in it, it wouldn't matter who you worked for.
It's all about your personal choice.
You are often in a conflict, you carry around bad karma
because at the end of the day you don't even believe in the project.
There are tons of work opportunities that we create for ourselves.
So you shouldn't be scared. If you are sure about yourself
try eating less for a while. Don't just give up
and do something else.
It doesn't matter if you end up bankrupt, I did too, so what? I'm back now.
So you're broke for a while, it's no big deal.
Only the strongest survive. So if strength is in solidarity,
then solidarity survives.
It depends on what you define as strength.
I am pro evolution but the fact that revolution is repetitive, scares me.
We are living in the era of the Internet
an era of endless opportunities to connect.
With so many people too.
We have the possibility of a dialog and finding everything
on the Internet.
Even the poorest person, though poverty is classified differently today,
since even people with computers and Internet can be poor,
so even people, who live in godforsaken places,
can make use of the Internet and their dedication
and become, in 10 years time, the best at what they do.
They may become politicians, because they had access to that knowledge.
As for traditional education system, if it doesn't adapt and reform,
it will fall behind compared to the self-taught people
no matter if they come from India or China.
They may have more knowledge than those who are traditionally educated.
Their knowledge may even be compared to that of Harvard graduates
since lessons from Harvard are also available online
and are accessible to everyone.
So there has been a turning point.
I think this is the advantage of such evolution
where a change can come just overnight.
Internet, mobile technology, suddenly everyone has that.
10 years ago I watched some video, it all seemed so strange and interactive
so I bookmarked it. It was about a touch-screen desk
and I thought: "Wow how far we've come, the future is now!"
But today iPads or phones just seem natural.
We even complain that they're not perfect.
We demand everything to be top notch, we can't hardly wait for teleport.
So I believe that evolution is constantly present.
We don't have to take it to the streets and wreck everything demanding our rights.
That's already incorporated into the micro changes.
This sluggish flow of actions makes me think that our generation
is not about fighting for personal possessions.
We believe that everything can be shared.
There are no countries anymore, we're all online.
All we need now is a universal language
and that's the main reason why we don't have to fight.
We can just wait for that old generation to pass away.
That's ok, we can wait.
We are trying to bridge the gap between us and them
yet they keep refusing our efforts.
This crisis is going to hit them harder than it hit us.
We aren't as used to that leisure as they are.
There's a difference in growing with technology, compared to our elders,
who were born back when television was first introduced.
And today no one watches it anymore.
I'm pretty sure nobody in our generation watches television.
I don't even have a TV.
It's a one way communication. We don't need that.
But the old generation is used to their daily dose of information
although that information is only useful to chat over a coffee.
Earthquakes, casualties, screw that.
Or people killing each others with axes.
That's all we hear. News affects our society very much.
If you read news websites, there is no section on culture
and the most read article is about ***.
*** are fine. But not on a news site. I can find that elsewhere.
I guess I would be a bum. I don't know.
I'm so devoted to what I do that it would be hard for me to find something else.
I was good at basketball. Really good.
I used to play it every day in Fužine.
With my '***'.
I've only had that one dilemma.
I've never wondered if I could be an economist.
I would be a bad one. I couldn't sell something I don't believe in.
And then talk about how I *** someone over. How could I?
Lawyer? I can't memorize things.
That would be a problem.
I'm pretty chaotic.
I couldn't be that. Or maybe I could!
You always set your own limits according to your personality.
At least that's what I've learned.
I have no idea what I should have done differently to become something else.
That means I should have planned in advance what to become.
And I've always had too many things on my mind
to focus on one thing only.
Having so much stuff on your mind prevents you from focusing.
I remember primary school was a piece of cake for me.
I studied very little and I understood everything, it was that easy.
I don't see how someone can fail there.
Maybe if they skipped too much.
High school was a reality check, a whole new level.
I tried that same approach but I soon realized it will take some
more effort at Maths, for example, or Physics.
I went through all the classes and I thought:
"I'll stick with the one subject that I really master."
And then I realized I only really master Arts and Philosophy.
That's why Academy of fine arts was my second choice.
If I went there I'd probably read more
about things that were in the curriculum.
And I would look at life from a philosophical perspective.
Not through design.
I would still be discussing society here but I would lack my knowledge
about artistic expression and craftsmanship.
Like, I would sketch something and then hope you see it the way I do.
And then I would spend the next two hours explaining it to you.
Because I would lack the basics to articulate my work.
Those are the skills I do have now.
But the content is still Philosophy.
So thank you for helping me discover the essence of my personality? :)