Before A Manifesto

[Metahaven]

We, the undersigned.

This sounds like a manifesto.

We take the manifesto to be a Utopian form.

Fredric Jameson distinguishes between Utopia as a genre (as, for example, a written text, or a building, or a Utopian programme of revolutionary change) and a Utopian impulse in daily life.

The etymology of the word ‘manifest’ dates back to 1374, meaning ‘clearly revealed’, coming from manifestus – ‘caught in the act, plainly apprehensible, clear, evident’ – and manifestare – ‘to show plainly’. It refers to manifesto, 1644 Italian, as a ‘public declaration explaining past actions and announcing the motive for forthcoming ones’ – ‘originally “proof”, from the Latin manifestus.’

Manifestos are publicly stated decisions. They are written by those who have made up their minds and shall now do as they have openly declared. To write a manifesto is to put all of one’s cards on the table. To write a manifesto is to draw up and sign a covenant with a self-declared truth.

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A tale of (at least) two cities

Modernism is built on a foundation of the double, the facsimile and similitude – the repetitions of the machine age. Model T-Fords, Motel chains and Fast Food restaurants are the most obvious – most digestible? – remnants of the modernist production line.  At the beginning of the 20th Century, Walter Benjamin in his Arcades Project captures some of the cultural artefacts of reproduction. Neatly noted, transcribed and stored on index cards, this was published posthumously.

The Motel room is a potent reminder of early modernist production. Capturing mobility – place, home and en-suite shower in one – repeatable, Formica utopia.  Each room identical, prefabricated buildings like map pins tracing the expanding US road network: checking-in; placing the key on the desk and even the reflections are the same.

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