Opt0ut Man: A Department of Unusual Certainties Project

DoUC_Postcard_Outlines

Opt0ut Man: A Department of Unusual Certainties Project

November 8th to 30th – CIVIC Space (411 Pelissier Street, Windsor, Ontario)

Join us November 23rd, between noon to 5pm, to talk taxes!

We’re thrilled to announce that our good friends Chris & Simon of Department of Unusual Certainties (they have worked with us here and here and will be part of Neighbourhood Spaces 2014) are back in Windsor putting together Opt0ut Man, the first stage of a project exploring issues around taxation.

Opt0ut Man is everyone – the belief that we give, but do not receive. Our society has been built on the ideal that we are all in this together. Increasingly we stand witness to changing ideas of what building a society means – a strong individual, means a strong country. The old adage that there are only two certain things in life, taxes and death, begs the question of what life do we want?

Opt0ut Man is an exploration of thoughts, opinions, opportunities, facts and consequences responding to the premise “What would happen if an individual had the option of opting out of the tax system?” expressed as a story. Seen for the first time in CIVIC Space, it is the first stage of longer term project.


Department of Unusual Certainties // www.DoUC.ca

Founded in 2010, Department of Unusual Certainties integrates the partial perspectives gleaned from its members committed explorations of a range of disciplines towards the creation of a truly Public Art. Over the last 24 months, DoUC has published work in magazines in North American and European. They have also exhibited projects across Canada, as well as at the 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture and at the Prado Media Lab. They were strategic partner to Migrating Landscapes Organizers, curators of the Canadian Pavilion 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture; and were the 2011 Innovators in Residence at the Design Exchange, Canada’s design museum.

A Pay-As-You-Go City

parkingmeterfail

An interesting article over at BLDGBLOG imagines new options for cities facing huge deficits, essentially asking: if you didn’t pay taxes, would you be willing to pay higher fees for service, or would you rather pay even higher sales taxes and have zero fees attached to any municipal use or service?

Could an entire rethinking of city services and tax structure do anything to save a destroyed infrastructure system?  Are there economies that depend on the pay per use model (as in, what would the meter reader people do for work in a city with a large lump sum paid once per year)? And, is it inevitable that cities move towards a subscription-based model of service, where you choose a package at a specific price-point for the things you actually use?

Anyways, many questions, but certainly worth a read …

Photo by compujeramey.