INTRODUCTION #ArtofChange #NewSocialOrder

Hello Steemit!

My name is Louisa Alexa – I’m a studied fine artist and concept developer.

In the past, I have worked for clients like Mercedes Benz and Netflix, as well as for Unicef, Deutsche Sparkasse, the biggest German bank, DHL and the German postal office. Today, I work as a freelancer and consult with brands, corporations, and people on better communication solutions and further want to focus my work on decentral organizations and businesses.

With Steemit I want to share what moves me around the idea of decentralization and create a personal archive of thoughts on art as a tool to initiate social change. But, first, here is a little more about me.

I studied fine art with a major in sculpting and art history after the concept of Joseph Beuys in Hamburg, Germany, who‘s ideas root deeply in humanism, social philosophy, and anthroposophy. His lifework is the creation of the social sculpture or “Gesamtkunstwerk”, that sees every person as an artist in his ability to shape the future of society. Coming from a College Preparatory School on Long Island, NY, from where most of my classmates moved on to Ivy League institutions, educating myself in an alternative structure as such was my kind of revolution.

Artwork by Merlin Carpenter, seen at "The Opening", Simon Lee Gallery, London, 2009

Unfortunately, the thing I learned fastest was that there was no room for alternative structures in the real world. I could practice my beliefs everywhere, it seemed, except where it really mattered. My education, that has had a great impact on my development as a human being, would not help me escape plutocracy. In fact, it left me in an even weaker place to take control over my life today.

In conclusion, I turned to work in the advertising industry after my degree, with the rational agenda of “just doing this to get the bills paid”. But, going on to work 80 hour weeks, “getting the bills paid” soon took up every day of my life, and I found myself lured in the comfort zone of a fictional stability constructed by a system I at heart wanted to change. It didn‘t feel very good, but also like there was nothing else I could do.

Quote by Slavoj Žižek at the Occupy Wall Street Movement, 2011

Ending my ogling with long-term employment was a risk that I felt worth taking, as I feel as though we are at the breach of changing as a people. The question of being valued in existing systems is continuously losing relevance, as advances in open source Distributed Ledger Technologies offer us the tools to create our own. Value can now be created through what is valued by the people, giving us the ability to build a better future – one that felt unimaginable just a few years ago – and allowing us to shape a new society together, today.

I hope you‘ve enjoyed this read, and I really look forward to hearing your thoughts (even if they are critical). In the next few posts I will be writing about the hashtags #ArtofChange, founded by Barbican center, the #NewSocialOrder initiative I have founded with the Tel Aviv based blog Everyones Secret, about how the Internet of Things is ruining everything for art (It’s true), and why we cannot create utopia if we aren‘t able to imagine it (14 thoughts on imagination and change).

Until then! Xxxx