CONTRIBUTORS: Eric Jiang, Ouyang Yu, Alana Lentin, Luke McCarthy, Robin M. Eames, Samantha Floreani, Revan Oluklu, Jon Bellebono, Baxter Mitchell-Knight, Mel Bakewell, Autumn Royal, Anna Zhijun Xu, Emele Ugavule, James Tylor, Sanja Grozdanić & et al, Hannah McCann, P. Eldridge, Cry Ktt, René Hà, Tahlia Palmer, Edie Mitsuda and Can Yalçinkaya.
“What are we to do when problems are often so entangled, their solutions too easily become problems themselves? Every response to crisis — and let’s be frank, inconvenience — triggers its own complex chain of side effects. It can feel impossible to fix anything without inadvertently displacing the damage.
It’s an affliction that registers everywhere capital operates. In a time of ‘polycrisis’ (a wicked euphemism), we’re each craving some kind of panacea, from the structural to the spiritual. If there was no help, then there’d be no hope; we may be ripe for hoodwinking. What about the harm that can eventuate in the name of being helpful?
Help! We may have learned to recognise these tendencies; some of us have even declined to exacerbate them. In the wake of the urge to know (Debris no.3), and the agency it enables (Debris no.6), how do we ever decide in the affirmative?
What will help us — or whom? You could find solace in the rich private knowledges and idiosyncratic expertise of your neighbours. You might turn to g*d or a cult or social media or a therapist or a large language model. You might turn inward; you might turn yourself inside-out. In order to help us answer the question, we decided to follow in the footsteps of giant assholes… and simply outsource it.
We kid. But we’re thrilled with the echo that has returned our call to GET HELP. “
— Jon Tjhia and Cher Tan, editors.
DESIGNER: Malou Messien
COPY-EDITOR: Emily Westmoreland
PUBLISHER: Julia Flaster
CONTRIBUTORS: Eric Jiang, Ouyang Yu, Alana Lentin, Luke McCarthy, Robin M. Eames, Samantha Floreani, Revan Oluklu, Jon Bellebono, Baxter Mitchell-Knight, Mel Bakewell, Autumn Royal, Anna Zhijun Xu, Emele Ugavule, James Tylor, Sanja Grozdanić & et al, Hannah McCann, P. Eldridge, Cry Ktt, René Hà, Tahlia Palmer, Edie Mitsuda and Can Yalçinkaya.
“What are we to do when problems are often so entangled, their solutions too easily become problems themselves? Every response to crisis — and let’s be frank, inconvenience — triggers its own complex chain of side effects. It can feel impossible to fix anything without inadvertently displacing the damage.
It’s an affliction that registers everywhere capital operates. In a time of ‘polycrisis’ (a wicked euphemism), we’re each craving some kind of panacea, from the structural to the spiritual. If there was no help, then there’d be no hope; we may be ripe for hoodwinking. What about the harm that can eventuate in the name of being helpful?
Help! We may have learned to recognise these tendencies; some of us have even declined to exacerbate them. In the wake of the urge to know (Debris no.3), and the agency it enables (Debris no.6), how do we ever decide in the affirmative?
What will help us — or whom? You could find solace in the rich private knowledges and idiosyncratic expertise of your neighbours. You might turn to g*d or a cult or social media or a therapist or a large language model. You might turn inward; you might turn yourself inside-out. In order to help us answer the question, we decided to follow in the footsteps of giant assholes… and simply outsource it.
We kid. But we’re thrilled with the echo that has returned our call to GET HELP. “
— Jon Tjhia and Cher Tan, editors.
DESIGNER: Malou Messien
COPY-EDITOR: Emily Westmoreland
PUBLISHER: Julia Flaster
