The INSTITUTE FOR
AESTHETIC ADVOCACY

Why is Everyone Afraid to Talk to Each Other?

Respect for free speech is in decline throughout American politics, with filter bubbles and fear discouraging us from even trying to talk to each other.  Inconsistent and partisan standards for who should or should not be “platformed” are turning Americans against each other and making everyone cynical.

How Are Institutions Addressing This Problem?

Actually, they’re making it worse.  Academic institutions, which are traditionally tasked with dealing with this problem, have proven to be part of it: dogmatic sensibilities are all-too normalized by those who should know better. State governors responding by enacting censorship of their own only makes this mess worse.  Big tech taking the reins and deciding — arbitrarily and mysteriously — who gets to say what in the new public square has also proven to be destructive and detrimental to our free speech rights.

What’s The IAA Doing About It?

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The IAA curates artistic projects in order to include as many different kinds of voices as possible on difficult (and often cancellable) topics.  For example, our first book, The Wet Marketplace of Ideas, is a candid real-life text thread that follows the narrative of several people (from across the political spectrum) as they navigate the news (and their lives) through the height of the pandemic, George Floyd, the January 6th Insurrection, and more. Standing as both a record of real-time responses to pressing cultural events as well as a tongue-in-check commentary on our modern world and polarized society, The Wet Marketplace of Ideas emulates how the IAA plans to stand against the deterioration of our collective free speech and our ability to talk to each other.

The IAA is proud to have displayed our work on EMF science at the following galleries and museums: