How to Reconcile the Careerist Mentality with Our Impending Doom (extract)
Channel: Ellie Harrison
Date: 2011-02-11

Ellie Harrison - 27 January 2011

Film documenting the lecture based on my 2010 thesis 'How to Reconcile the Careerist Mentality with Our Impending Doom' I gave at Edinburgh College of Art to coincide with the launch of 'Trajectories' - my new web-based project designed to enable you to compare your life to other people's and test how you match up against their achievements.

Using "Trajectories" as a satirical backdrop, the lecture aimed to take a critical look at the culture of 'professional practice' within the art school which, having evolved over the course of New Labour's 'creative decade' ('97 -- '07), has actively encouraged careerism and the rise of the 'cultural entrepreneur'. Now, as we enter a new era of uncertainty, both in financial and environmental terms, this lecture aimed to examine whether these working models are indeed still viable and/or ethical, and to explore whether it is possible to reconfigure the new skills we have learned for greater social benefit.

To watch the full length film (1:30:01) please visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE7CtJM3hrA

For more information about Trajectories please visit:

http://www.ellieharrison.com/trajectories

To read the thesis please visit:

http://www.ellieharrison.com/essays/trajectories/