title: Trash aesthetics and the sublime: Strategies for visualising the unrepresentable within a landscape of refuse

authors: Snake-Beings, Emit

abstract: Living in a technology-dependent society, it seems inevitable that our vision of the world is mediated and extended through our interactions with technology. We often realize the extent of technological mediation when our machines cease to function correctly. When a machine fails, we leave the predictably functioning world and enter into another realm. Think of the primitive magic of lighting candles during a power cut, where there is the potential of experiencing something sublime—something beyond the order and structure that technology imposes on us. On the other hand, when technology breaks it is also an opportunity to experience a myriad of emotions such as frustration, rage, loss, or boredom. In the face of technological failure, our ingrained response is to obtain a replacement, an upgrade, that promises greater freedom and a new way of visualizing the world. The old piece of technology turns to trash and falls silently and invisibly from our consciousness, as new technological vistas take command of our attention. The failure of machines can also be an intentional consequence of industry, such as the kind of in-built redundancy that drives the production and sale of new products, as discussed in Vance Packard’s book The Waste Makers or Slavoj Žižek’s commentary in Astra Taylor’s 2008 documentary Examined Life. While, in this sense, trash is intentional, there is also something about trash which has moved beyond function and human purpose: this is the link between trash and the realm of the sublime that I wish to explore in this essay.

text: Trash aesthetics and the sublime: Strategies for visualising the unrepresentable within a landscape of refuse Living in a technology-dependent society, it seems inevitable that our vision of the world is mediated and extended through our interactions with technology. We often realize the extent of technological mediation when our machines cease to function correctly. When a machine fails, we leave the predictably functioning world and enter into another realm. Think of the primitive magic of lighting candles during a power cut, where there is the potential of experiencing something sublime—something beyond the order and structure that technology imposes on us. On the other hand, when technology breaks it is also an opportunity to experience a myriad of emotions such as frustration, rage, loss, or boredom. In the face of technological failure, our ingrained response is to obtain a replacement, an upgrade, that promises greater freedom and a new way of visualizing the world. The old piece of technology turns to trash and falls silently and invisibly from our consciousness, as new technological vistas take command of our attention. The failure of machines can also be an intentional consequence of industry, such as the kind of in-built redundancy that drives the production and sale of new products, as discussed in Vance Packard’s book The Waste Makers or Slavoj Žižek’s commentary in Astra Taylor’s 2008 documentary Examined Life. While, in this sense, trash is intentional, there is also something about trash which has moved beyond function and human purpose: this is the link between trash and the realm of the sublime that I wish to explore in this essay.

year: 2015

title: Soliciting clients

authors: Winslade, John

subjects: counsellor

abstract: What kinds of marketing methods can counsellors use to solicit clients in private practice contexts? In this setting counsellors are clearly operating a business and sound business practices apply. But the business of counselling is also bound by the ethics that govern the delivery of a professional service, which makes higher demands in terms of standards than the trading of goods might require. Professions have a long history of altruism which sanctions baselines for behaviour more stringent than those of fair exchange in the marketplace. For example, the principle of caveat emptor let the buyer beware would not suffice as an ethical baseline for professional practice.

text: Soliciting clients What kinds of marketing methods can counsellors use to solicit clients in private practice contexts? In this setting counsellors are clearly operating a business and sound business practices apply. But the business of counselling is also bound by the ethics that govern the delivery of a professional service, which makes higher demands in terms of standards than the trading of goods might require. Professions have a long history of altruism which sanctions baselines for behaviour more stringent than those of fair exchange in the marketplace. For example, the principle of caveat emptor let the buyer beware would not suffice as an ethical baseline for professional practice.

year: 2011

title: Haere mai rā

authors: Maxwell, Te Kahautu

abstract: Whakaeke (entrance). Lyrics composed by Te Kahautu Maxwell, Musical score composed by Te Whānau Mitai. Performed by Ōpōtiki Mai Tawhiti (Kapa Haka group) (3mins)

Waiata Tira: Aroha
Whakaeke: Haere mai rā
Mōteatea: Te Pātere a Te Turuki
Poi: Iarararararī
Waiata ā ringa: Taku Mana Māori Motuhake
Haka: Waiwharangi
Whakawātea: Āio

text: Haere mai rā Whakaeke (entrance). Lyrics composed by Te Kahautu Maxwell, Musical score composed by Te Whānau Mitai. Performed by Ōpōtiki Mai Tawhiti (Kapa Haka group) (3mins)

Waiata Tira: Aroha
Whakaeke: Haere mai rā
Mōteatea: Te Pātere a Te Turuki
Poi: Iarararararī
Waiata ā ringa: Taku Mana Māori Motuhake
Haka: Waiwharangi
Whakawātea: Āio

year: 2020