*updatemag

Who LET
My fish
Loose?
MAY 2017
issue #1
JapaNese House P.22
Exhibition about life and Archtecture in Japan
and why it those are ideas are still relevant today
Use of theory by art and
use of art by theory P.14
Professor Boris Groys compares advertisment
principles to critical theory.
OOHo Warter and how to
make your own P.18
Work in progress solution to reduction of plastic
bottle waste

Who Let My Fish Loose?
about
It is important to stay aware
With this magazine I wanted
to make a fun way to be engaged
with critical thought
and critical theory. It is not a
call for actions, but a hopefully
entertaining way to
read something that does
not point fingers.
In this edition, I have looked
at great minds such as Slavoj
Zizek and Boris Groys, to
share their thoughts and
ideas.
There is also a section on
current events, such as the
Japanese House exhibition,
that is up at the Barbican
center, and the Ooho bottle
recipe.
This magazine will try not
to be political, but there is
a section on psychology of
a narcissist, with now president
Trump in mind, as well
as a section addressing the
refugee crisis.
I hope you enjoy.
Dea
Khalvashi

in this issue
Who are liberal
communists
T r u m p a n d
Narcissism
Refugees &the
power of image
p. 4
p. 04
p. 8
USE OF THEORY BY
ART
P l a s t i c
waste
Japanese House:
life after 1945
p. 12
p.16
p. 20

Issue 1
May 2017
LIBERAL
COMMUNIST
AS EXPLAINED BY SLAVOJ ZIZEK
AN EXCERT FROM HIS BOOK "VIOLENCE".
The exemplary figures of evil today are not ordinary
consumers who pollute the environment and live in
a eating organic food, taking holidays in wildlife
4
10 commandments of the
Liberal Communists
Accoring to: Olivier Malnuit
1. Give everything away for free
(free access, no copyright …); just
charge for the additional services,
which will make you even richer.
2. Change the world, don't just sell
things: global revolution, a change
of society will make things better.
3. Be caring, sharing, and
aware of social responsibility.
4. Be creative: focus on design,
new technologies, and sciences.
5. Tell it all: there should be no secrets.
Endorse and practise the
cult of transparency, the free
flow of information, all humanity
should collaborate and interact.
6. Don't work and take on a
fixed nine-to-five job. Just engage
in improvised smart, dynamic,
flexible communications.
7. Go back to school and engage
in permanent education.
8. Act as an enzyme: work not only
for the market, but trigger new
forms of social collaborations.
9. Die poor: return your wealth to
those who need it, since you have
more than you can ever spend.
10. Stand in for the state:
practise the partnership of
companies with the state

Issue #1
Who let my fish loose?
which breed fundamentalist terror.
So their goal is not to earn money,
but to change the world, though if
this makes them more money as
a by-product, who's to complain!
The exemplary figures of evil today
are not ordinary consumers who pollute
the environment and live in a
violent world of disintegrating social
links, but those who, while fully
engaged in creating conditions for
such universal devastation and pollution,
buy their way out of their own
activity, living in gated communities,
eating organic food, taking holidays
in wildlife preserves, and so on.
Liberal communists are pragmatic. They hate
a doctrinaire approach. For them there is no
single exploited working class today. There are
only concrete problems to be solved: starvation
in Africa, the plight of Muslim women, religious
fundamentalist violence. When there
is a humanitarian crisis in Africa - and liberal
communists really love humanitarian crises,
which bring out the best in them!-there is no
point in engaging in old-style anti-imperialist
rhetoric. Instead, all of us should just concentrate
on what really does the work of solving
the problem: engage people, governments, and
business in a common enterprise; start moving
things, instead of relying on centralised state
help; approach the crisis in a creative and unconventional
way, without fretting over labels.
5
Above all, liberal communists are true citizens
of the world. They are good people who worry.
They worry about populist fundamentalists
and irresponsible, greedy capitalist corporations.
They see the "deeper causes" of today's
problems: it is mass poverty and hopelessness

Issue 1
May 2017
Rise in Narcissism and
Trump
Text by Michail Theodosiadis Illustration by Dea Khalvashi
publicity. Donald Trump
is one of the saddest reflections
of this corrosive
culture.
6
Christopher Lasch and
Narcissism
Almost three decades ago,
in his book The Culture
of Narcissism, the iconoclastic
American thinker
Christopher Lasch wrote
that in postwar America
emerged a certain type
of being, which in clinical
terms falls under the
category of “narcissistic
personality disorder”, a
pathology characterised
by carelessness and an
excessive need for admiration
and attention.
Lasch identified manifestations
of this disorder in
various aspects of social
life, and especially in the
world of celebrity. Now
celebrities have invaded
the political sphere, the
entire political world is
becoming dominated by
people who lack “common
decency”, who resort to
a faux populism in order
to serve their thirst for
From the day he joined
the race for the Republican
nomination, Trump
used the same modus
operandi: attracting
public attention. Just as
Lasch wrote, the narcissistic
logic Trump applies
to politics is embedded
in the same “enterprise
culture” with which he is
so closely identified. As a
successful entrepreneur,
Trump not only acquired
the skill of promoting his
brand but turned himself
into a commodity, using
all available techniques
to put himself at the

Issue #1
Who let my fish loose?
centre of as many endless discussions
as possible.
Ignorance is a bliss
The sight of people amassing at
airports to protest the executive
order, many waving placards
bearing Trump’s name, is paradoxically
exactly what a narcissist
craves. Worse still, the dissent
emanating from leading Democrats
and celebrities robs these
protests of some of their grassroots
edge, turning them into
what Lasch presciently called the
“revolt of the elites”.
It all flatters Trump’s message
that the protesters care not a
bit for the hardships of ordinary
Americans. It also makes him a
model for thousands of his fans;
as he himself chases the spotlight,
they compete with each
other for public attention. His extreme
egocentricity poisons the
public sphere; norms of common
decency and sense are replaced
by a mob mentality of mutual
recriminations and insults. This
atmosphere not only safeguards
Trump’s power, but more importantly,
may contribute to the
emergence of a similarly toxic
demagogue in the future.
So the narcissist’s trap is set, and
those campaigning against Trump
need to get out of it. So long as
they make their ultimate goal the
downfall of Trump’s presidency,
they will never break his hold
on the public imagination. What the US and the
rest of the world need is an open public dialogue
aimed at solving any number of critical problems,
such as migration, unemployment, and mass
“uprootedness” – the sense of disconnection that
writer Simone Weil identified as an incubator of
authoritarianism and demagoguery.
Without facing these problems head on for what
they are, critics will end up trapped in a close orbit
around Trump himself – mired in toxic discussions
that feed political phobias and cultural antipathies.
The narcissist’s trap is set, and those
campaigning against Trump need to
get out of it. So long as they make their
ultimate goal the downfall of Trump’s
presidency, they will never break his hold
on the public imagination.
dr. Michail Theodosiadis
7

Issue 1
May 2017
8
REFUGEES and the power of
image
with the help of JuliaN Stallabrass
There has been a lot of
critisism emerging from
the public regarding the
photographers that take
horrifying photographs
of what is happening in
the ISIS run terrirories.
The argument ususally
boils down to the fact
that the photographers
could have been out
there helping the injured
child rather than taking
a photograph of them,
but there is something
that public is not taking
into consideration. The
powe of image in the
contamporaty world is
significantly higher, and
has the power to have a much
larger impact on the problem,
thus, a photograph of an injured
child has a pontential to
save more children. In order
to understand this concept,
it is important to look at the
Vietnam War.
The Images of Vietnam
War
"Not in our name" is an article
written by professor
Julian Stallabrass. It discusses
the role that photographs
that emerged from the Vietnam
War played in rallys
against the war in Iraq, and
argues, that these anti-war
rallys would not have happaned
if the photographs
did not exist. In Julian Stallabrass'
opinion, people
would not have marched
against the war in Iraq if the
chilling images of Vietnam
War were not spread. Seeing
something like a photograph
seems to really speak one
thousand word.
Temporary refugee camp set up in the center of Munich, Germany

Issue #1
Who let my fish loose?
""Today's liberal tolerance
towards others,
the respect of otherness
and openness towards
it, is counterpointed by
an obsessive fear of
harassment. In short,
the other is just fine,
but in so far his precedes
is not intrusive,
insofar the other is not
really other... "
Slavoj Zizek
Ifecrisum vit? Ficata deo,
consulin tus inum pratimu
suleste ricit, contidem am,
Cupio egilis o conerfeci
interbi etil vis pro, nique ia
rei perbem nos et L.
United Nations
hires photographers
dedicated to depicting
the refugee crisis
The news that thousands
of refugees and economic
migrants are arriving
on the continent can be
unsettling for a European
public that is still dealing
with the after-effects of
a devastating economic
crisis. “There’s a lot of talk
and fear about refugees
and so it’s critical that
people can see for themselves
what’s happening,”
says Susan Hopper, UN-
HCR's photo editor. “We
choose photographers
who can show that this
refugee is a regular person
who has run out of options
Refugees arriving in Munich central train station
and is being forced to do
something desperate to
protect his or her family.
And when you see photos
of these people’s faces
when they arrive on the
beach in Greece, it clicks.
Seeing how traumatized
and scared these people
are generates empathy
and understanding and
changes attitudes and behaviors.
That’s the connection
we want to make.”
So, going back to the original
ideas by Julian Stallabrass,
what exactly is the
role of an image, and can
these UN-hired photographers
be considered to be
"embaded" journalists of
some sort.
9

Issue 1
May 2017
10

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Who let my fish loose?
11

Issue 1
May 2017
Boris Groys
USe of theory
by art
12
Use of art
by
theory
A transcribed except from the talk by an
art critic and a theoretician Boris Groys
as a part of the Age of Global Transition
conference at the Rietveld Academie in
Amsterdam.

Issue #1
Who let my fish loose?
“Call Now”
In the recent years, this notion of
“life” has become more and more
prominent. The whole philosophy
and theory of discourse in the last
century was about life, not about
thinking like it was before, its quite
a change, and I will be talking
about this change. Why Philosophy
for so long, from Plato up to the
end of 19th century had actually
thinking, logos and reason, for
its main topic, and then suddenly
the theme changed to life as the
main notion. We are always speaking
about reality TV, and all these
things, we speak about life and
we speak about the possibility of
changing lives and exchanging
lives, about imitating life. And all
of this has presuppositions and I
will try to discuss them.
In our time, we are attacked
form all sides by different calls
to change our life. To change our
body, by diet and fitness, to change
our mental abilities by education
and meditation. You know,
now I’m living in New York, as it
was already said, and I always get
accustomed to a certain way that
American TV presents this call. You
know, when you see an advertisement
for new medicine, new practise
or new fitness program, at the
end they always say, with a very
insistent voice
“Call Now!”
“Please call now!”
“Do not wait!”
“Call now!”
"Change your life! Now!"
The society that is only based on
differences is no longer a society, it is a
market economy.
This is what I want to talk about.
What does this feeling of urgency
mean? That we cannot delay it,
that we have to do it now, we have
to respond now. Every such a call
proposes a sort of model that is a
call to imitate socially recognised
beauties, etc. And every such call
for change is a call for imitation and
a call to become somebody that
somebody else already is. But is it
possible to become another person,
to follow a model to radically
change our own identity to imitate
another identity and if it is possible
to follow this, should we follow this,
so is our desire of imitation really
good?
First off, I would suggest that the
desire to become similar to the
others - the “mimetic” desire that
is so criticised by many authors is
actually in a certain way a positive
desire. It is a desire to be social, to
produce sociality. We tend to think
about our society as a society of
differences. We tend to think about
our society as the society of differences.
We have different culture
identity, different professions,
skills, sexual orientations etc. However,
a society that is only defined
by differences seizes to be a society
the space of difference is not a
society but an economy, and specifically
market economy - that means
economy of exchange. Difference
13

Call NOW!
CHANGE YOUR LIFe
NOW!
Professor Boris Groys lecture
On the Use of Theory by Art
and Use of Art by Theory

Issue #1
Who let my fish loose?
opens a possibility of exchange
and makes it unavoidable. I give
to the others what I have, and do
not have, and the others give me
what they have and I do not have.
A society of difference, is a society
of commodity exchange, but
also, exchange of communication.
Communication as exchange of
information and also a market
of opinions. We exchange discourses
and information items
as we exchange all other commodities.
This operation leaves
our identities unchanged. So an
act of exchange itself, be it in
the market or within the framework
of communication leaves
our own identity unchanged. We
require freedom of information
and communication and these
are very important goals. But an
actual, initial goal of theoretical
discourse (and i speak now today
as a theoretician) is not merely
to inform the others about what
opinions I personally have. The
scene of theoretical discourse
does not coincide with the scene
of communication. Rather one
stars a theoretical discourse
with a hope that it will change
the attitude of an audience. The
The Critical theory calls for action.
To change the world instead of
trying to understand it. (a very
famous Marxist slogan) To actively
change life instead of wasting time
for contemplation and passively to
live fully and actively instead of
merely surviving. How is theory
formulated? it is not formulated as a
theory, but as a call.
theoretical discourse wants to be not informative,
but transformative discourse. Thus, every
theoretician is necessarily interested in the
transformative power of discourse as such. In
fact, every theoretical discourse can be read
as the description of the conditions of its own
persuasiveness, and of transformative power of
word in general.
So, an explanation of why a discourse can be
transformative and not only informative. Every
discourse offers a scenario, a set of conditions
under which one can expect that a discourse
becomes transformative. Here, a philosopher,
theoretician, a thinker, discovers an uncanny
similarity between his or her own discourse
and the advertisement that calls its listeners to
change and transform themselves. The theoretician
shares, with the advertisement and fashion
a common possibility of a transformative
call. Transformative word. At the same time,
the traditional philosophy attempts to accuse
all the non-philosophical transformative discourses
of being based not on reason and logic,
but exclusively on seduction and manipulation.
So if you look at the history of religion if you
look at the history of philosophy and theoretical
thought it always operates by this kind of
command:
Come now
Change your attitude
Change your life.
If you go back to Christianity to the period of
enlightenment and you read philosophers like
Deleuze of Derrida, even they suggest similar
things; Don’t think in this direction, begin to
think in another direction and so on. It is not so
much an argumentation to call the change of
your direction of attention and your mind.
There is a common ground between all these
beauty contests and reality shows or what ever,
that we experience in our meditated culture
in a very fundamental attitude of any speaker
including the speaker attempting a critique on
this very subject; Let us not believe them, let
us believe to criticise them, Criticise them now.
Do not delay your critique.
The artists answer this call in its ambiguity.
Why would I say that this call is ambiguous?
15

Issue 1
May 2017
OHOO
The Edible
Water Bottle
16
Modular gastronomy and plastic
The fact that plastic waste is an issue is a point that no longer
needs arguing. Of course, recycling is a solution but it
only seems to work half of the time. On top of that, plastic in
general can be toxic and dangerous for the surroundings of
the production area, as well as the ridiculously large Carbon
footprint that comes with shipping variety of bottled drinks.
While juice can be called a luxury, and the society can live
without, the same cannot be said for water. Water is absolutely
necessary, and since humans need to consume at least
2L of water everyday, it is not something that can be avoided
out of simple good will and the love of environment.

Issue #1
Who let my fish loose?
Of course, we can use reusable water
bottles and invest in a filter, but just
taking the demand and need on drinking
water into consideration, all of the
efforts become relatively small when
one looks at a post-marathon site that is
filled with single-use plastic cups.
Ooho has taken the world by storm after
their campaign launched with the aim
to raise 400,000GBP, (They ended up
raising twice the ammount). It is an edible,
raindrop shaped sack that contains
the water inside of its thin membrane.
This "method" has been used for years
and it is called Modular gastronomy. It
is often used to spherify certain deserts
that are too liquidy to take on solid
shape. Ooho is a great idea that can
really help reduce the use of plastic.
The best part about Ooho is, that it has
the potential to be homemade. While
the creators are working and developing
the recipe in such way that it can be
more durable and hygenic, the current
Ohoo recipe can be used at home. The
reason why this is great is because Ooho
edible bottles will have the potential to
be produced locally - with ease of ingridients
that cant be found anywhere.
This, if nothing else will at least reduce
rising carbon footpring that transporting
plastic waterbottle is eifnitly one of the
top contrbutors to.
Nearly half of plastic
bottles used by British
households are never
recycled
17

Issue 1
May 2017
How to make your
own Ohoo at home.
Modular Gastronomy
18

Issue #1
Who let my fish loose?
Directions:
You will need:
1. Add 1g of Sodium Algenate to a bowl with
one cup of drinking water.
2. Using the hand-blender, make sure you
blend the solution well.
3. Set the Sodium Algenate mixture aside until
all of the bubbles that formed during the
blending proccess dissapear
4. In a larger bowl, mix 4g of Calcium Lactate
and 4 cups of water.
5. Gently stir the Calcium Lactate solution
with a spoon until no more Calcium Lactate
can be seen.
6. Once all of the bubbles in the Sodium
alginate solution are gone, take a spoonfull
out and very gently plop it into the Calcium
Lactate bath
7. Repeat this step while gently stirring the
Calcium lacitate soltion.
8. Stir the soltion for aproximatley five minutes,
and let it sit for two more .
9. With a pasta spoon, or using hands, gently
remove the Ooho from the bath and place it
in a rinsing bowl full of normal water.
10. Let the Ooho edible water bottles rinse in
the water bath for a few minutes, then take
them out
11. Enjoy the 0 impact healthy edible water
bottles.
P.S. Eating the outside of the bottle is entirely
optional, however, it does contribute to
the hydration of the body.
1. Sodium Alginate
2. Calcium Lactate
3. A hand-blender
4. Three medium sized
bowls
5. A deep, round spoon
19

Japanese House:
Architecture
and life after
1945
March 23rd - June 25th 2017
at the barbican center

Issue #1
Who let my fish loose?
Personal
belongings of an
urban hermit
inside the 1-in-1
recreation of his
home
This exhibition is everything
you would never expect to
see. It is an experience an immaterial
portrait of society.
It is more of a performance
than a simple architectural
exhibit. The centre of this
exhibition is the Moriyama
House. A spacial portrait
of a man who has never
caught a plane, or left Tokyo
- a city where he was born.
The one in one recreation
of the Moriyama House by
an award winning Japanese
architect, Ryue Nishizawa is
a successful, personal and
unique fruit of the relationship
between the architect
and his client, and a story of
how this fruit can grow into
something much greater than
just a building. The Moriyama
House is as much a feeling as
it is a house.
Most of the progressive
reconstruction in Japans
started precisely because of
destruction of everything
and the housing crisis that
arose from their defeat in
WWII. They had to think
practically, but also wanted
to integrate their tradition
and national identity to the
demoralised public, to raise
their spirit. Here, architects
were not only faced with
a constructional issue but
also a social one, and so,
rapid Japanese architectural
growth began. The exhibition
explores precisely this. How
construction and character
can intertwine. The curators
of this exhibition achieve
this by intelligently guiding
the viewers, though time and
space. Both, the metaphorical
and physical centre of the
21

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May 2017
22
exhibit is the Moriyama house,
however, the viewers are directed
to start the exhibition on the top
level of the space. There, the visitors
are introduced to the important
role that architecture played
in both social and economical
development of Japan after the
total destruction in suffered during
the World War II. The most
interesting being a movie reel
exploring the idea of a home, as
a structure, and how this home,
as a structure can be a reflection
social values in regard to the
family life in Japan. There is the
first ever aired commercial of the
so-called “capsule” apartment by
Kisho Kurokawa, an architect who
was also a part of the prominent
“Metabolism” movement. The
capsule acted as a symbol and
a prediction to the future of the
society in Japan, and the world,
really. It was created on the presumption
that the modern man
will be solitary and focused on
the importance of an individual
rather than the relationship with
others. Around the same time, an
important American historian and
moralist was coming to similar
conclusions as Kurokawa, and he
predicted that there will be a rise of Narcissism
in the public(for further details look at The
Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch).
What is interesting, is that the architects have
managed to come to a similar conclusion as cultural
theorists, and that this was not just a local
issue in Japan, but to an extent, a global one.
The Crazy Family by Soho Ishii, is a literal interpretation
of the idea of destruction of family
relations, as well as the need for a family home,
where the family members, paranoid about the
upcoming termite attack physically demolish
their family home, yelling and screaming in
agony as they do this.
“ The ideal is to create something
that, through its presence, makes
the overall environment look
better, and at the same time
makes your own building look
good by virtue of its relationship
with the surrounding buildings.”
Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa,
Architects at SANAA

Issue #1
Who let my fish loose?
in contemporary architecture, and their
focus is the cinematic exploration of contemporary
architecture. Through the film
Moryama-San, we follow the touching story
behind Ryue Nishizawa’s masterpiece.
The story went something like this: After
his mother has died, our protagonist, Mr.
Moriyama wanted to tear down their family
house and build a new one, so he wrote
a letter to the architect. “You don’t need a
house, you need your own village”- said the
architect.
A small village inside a forest
The Moriyama house itself is an archipelago
of ten units. These can be used
by the resident himself, or, rented out.
Ryue Nishizawa focuses on creating the
environment that fits within the existing
landscape. In the suburbs where
Mr. Moriyama resides, everybody has
known each other for dedicates, and
the street is often used as a shared
communal area. Nishizawa wanted to
create an unrestricted part of this landscape
that is still unique. He does not
use fences, and uses large transparent
windows and even a glass corridor in
one of the blocks, in order to not create
isolation from the natural landscape,
as well as the communal feeling of this
Tokyo neighbourhood. He also highlights
the importance of soil in a concrete
city like Tokyo. Having soil in his
garden, allowed Moriyama to keep one
of his mothers trees after her passing,
and also use the trees for the utilities
they provide, often using them for drying
his clothes.
We see the intimate, organic relationship
between the house and it’s
inhibitor unfold in a dainty, spontaneous
film by the iconic duo Ila Bêka
and Louise Lemonie, also known as
“Bêka&Lemonie”. Bêka and Lemonie
are considered to be the cult figures
Moriyama-san is a man of exquisite taste
and character. Bêka stumbled into him
spontaneously, and they started talking
about music, which resulted in mr. Moriyama
inviting him to the basement of his house
where he kept his extensive record collection
(parts of which can be found scattered
around the exhibition units) and they
bonded over their liking of Otomo Yoshihide,
one of the pioneers of “noise music”
which Moriyama is very fond of. There is a
line in the film that explains that Moriyama
likes music and film, but he loves reading.
Much of the film is spontaneous, but it is an
interesting, unique portrait of a man and
his house, which seem to have become one.
They cannot exist without each-other. The
visitors feel the closeness and seem to be
very touched by Moriyama’s character. It is
interesting to be able to get to know a man’s
character based on his home. The film features
shots of small collectable sculptures,
that are also displayed in the exhibition
which only intensifies the feeling of familiarity.
This is why, it can be said that Moriyama
House is not a building. It is an immaterial
and material portrait of the man and his
spirit coming together in perfect balance
with the surroundings that make this building
Moriyama’s home, and an absolute architectural
masterpiece.
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25

#1
Who let my Fish Loose
23/ 05/2017
In this edition, you can find a range of topics including popular
and current:
Trump and rise of Narcissism and newly created edible water
bottles,
Cultural theory looking at the sense of urgency of life by Boris
Groys
Current exhibitions in London: Japanese House and why everyone
should see it.
for digital access and more visit
www.wholetmyfishloose.com