Hope Is Precious...

...it must be rationed. This is what the folks behind the soon-to-be realized UK-based publication Salvage are insisting. It's a slogan that captures the desperation of our current moment pretty well while also refusing to concede that which we can't. One is reminded of Ernst Fischer's aphorism on relevant art: "In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it." Optimism of the will, pessimism of the intellect, so on and so forth.

This is why Salvage has to be supported in its zygotic stage (in other words, we want you to donate to the project!) so that it might become what it wants and needs to be. Far too much of the left press is dominated by convenient answers and aesthetic as afterthought. It seems the team who have conceptualized this publication have no intention of falling into those traps. Which isn't particularly surprising given who comprises that team: Richard Seymour, China Mieville, Magpie Corvid, Evan Calder Williams, Benjamin Kunkel and a good many other original thinkers are involved in one way or another with the project. Trish Kahle, whose work has appeared in Red Wedge, has also got an article about her experiences in Ferguson appearing in the first issue. How could we not want something like this to succeed?

If the promo video is to be taken as any indication then the basic aesthetic viewpoint of the magazine is going to be a very interesting one indeed. It's quite reminiscent of the film Deep State that Mieville did a couple years back with the Mirza & Butler filmmaking team (not surprising, considering that Karen Mirza and Season Butler are also involved in Salvage). Again, this kind of feel -- that of attempting to reconstruct something coherent and dynamic from the worn fragments of postmodernism -- is quite prescient for our time and place. It will be interesting to see where this publication goes, but of course we will only get a chance to see if they get the funding they need. You should support them in any way you can dear readers.

"Feuilleton" is the Red Wedge editors' blog, focused on announcements and events relevant to the radical arts community.