"Global Direct introduces the idea of direct participation in worldwide governance within the tradition of utopian artistic visions.
The artwork is presented as a visionary political program that structures global direct democracy through the opportunities offered by distributed network technology for participatory decision-making, transparent accountability and civil awareness.
For illustrating the conceptual work the artist composed a series of flowcharts of new alternative protocols, procedures and policies for actualizing a global direct democracy. These flowcharts are informed by research on contemporary forms of democracy, which the artist assembled and presents as documentary component of the project. Further, the artist promotes Global Direct as visionary political program through producing appealing slogans, visuals and videos with statements by prominent advocates of participatory politics.
The drawing with the flowchart paradigm mimes actual systems that illustrate legislative, judicial and executive decision-making flows, as well as other specific sectors of governance. The diagrams also visually recall algorithm design and network architectures, suggesting governance as a decentralized and efficient system, which improves thorough collaborative efforts within an open and transparent process.
Today, global networked connectivity has enabled new forms of autonomous participatory societal organization. However, there is still a lack of prototypes for models that can efficiently work towards a new type of global immediate democracy. The project would inspire a vision of a concrete utopian global civilization, through creatively structuring participatory governance. The research into modern state’s systems provided the material to redesign the actual flowcharts of parliaments, courts, and other governmental organs and functions for making them participatory, decentralized and globalized.
The power of independent nation-states and imperialist countries are declining and fragmenting in new non-state actors that influence policies and markets. Issues as such as economic volatility and inequality, energy supply and dependency, environmental protection and climate change, as well as surveillance and subjugation impact people globally. Meanwhile, transnational flow of individuals, goods and finances inevitably accelerate. Within this context, the need for democratic global governance is critical, as everybody should have a say in proportion to the degree global issues affect them. In this project globalization becomes an opportunity for autonomy and setting people’s agenda that go beyond the limits imposed by local authorities and politics, while decentralization allows independent self-management in local communities. The new center of the proposed system is ethical and cultural and becomes the ultimate universal reference for everyone’s common interest.
The diagrams of Global Direct illustrate potential alternatives ranging from social identification in the nation-state to delicate areas of governance, within a network of relationships and influences from the local community to global level. These flowcharts show how networks of ordinary people can administer self-governance via consensus-building and deliberative protocols within a framework of democratic checks and balances. For instance the diagrams indicate forms of participatory legislative and judicial systems in which laws can be created, revoked and enforced democratically by the voice and will of everyone without governmental or corporate interference. These models would indicate an alternative to the current representative political structures, which oftentimes posses corrupted, authoritarian and repressive traits.
The lobbying of multinational firms and undemocratic politics coupled with the misuse of technology and mass media, leads to individuals, municipalities, small businesses losing control over their power and democratic rights. This situation creates increasing discontent and the demand for new forms of political culture development that transcend the ideologies of the past century. A political shift that is also driven by technology and connectivity that potentially empower society to administrate and fund itself autonomously. In fact, through Internet society now possesses more expansive tools and knowledge, enabling productive collaboration, transparent social accountability and democratic free speech to apply to radical democracy.
The decentralization of power through the paradigm of the network would envision social architectures that autonomously manage local needs and would enable collaboration on global issues through independent digital social network platforms. Instead of the current centralized power of governments and companies, we will see several types of autonomous networks working together for the whole organism's health. Networks of active cells collaborating as independent social structures can be the archetype of equilibrium and self-governance for every community and the entire planet.
Global Direct deploys alternatives to the current political and socioeconomic landscape and encourage creative thought about alternative models based on individuals collaborating through global networks. Ultimately, the artwork may be considered a political manifesto to inspire future political trends and organizations through creative and visionary unconventional reorganization of society.
Global Direct is a 2014 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., for its Turbulence.org website. It is made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation." - Paolo Cirio