Independent research project — Kalamazoo, MI

THE MEANS
OF PRODUCTION

The fish have theories about the water.
The theories are also in the water.

We are investigating the machinery that produces the real.

Classically, the means of production are the factories, the land, the capital.

But what are the means that produce reality itself?

Not metaphysical reality. Lived social reality. The kind you wake up inside.

What produces:

moneyreputation identitygender workmerit scarcitynormality successfamily intelligencevalue

Not factories. Layers of stories, institutions, technologies, incentives, measurements, rituals, interfaces, laws, habits, architectures, symbols, and feedback loops.

We are in the soup. We have theories about the soup. The theories are also in the soup. This is the problem and the method.

01 — PUBLISHING
The Press
An independent literary press publishing fiction that takes the machinery seriously. Two collections out. One in progress.
VISIT THE PRESS →
02 — CATALOG
The Myth Index
A running inventory of operative myths — the stories that function as infrastructure. Not lies, exactly. Productive fictions.
VIEW THE INDEX →
03 — LABORATORY
LayerBound Labs
Experimental tools and interactive visualizations for mapping the systems that produce the world.
ENTER THE LAB →
04 — LANGUAGE
The English Department
Language is not a neutral medium for transmitting reality. It is one of the primary mechanisms that produces it. This is the department that studies the weapon.
ENTER THE DEPARTMENT →
05 — TRANSMISSION
The Red Screen
Dispatches on the current moment. Where theory meets the news cycle. Irregular, when necessary.
TUNE IN →