Rethinking Global Identity
Last November I.D. Magazine sponsored a competition to design a "global identity card." I was surprised and pleased to see such an interesting competition brief-- and of course quite pleased that I won. Congratulations to the other finalists, especially Ashleigh Caffey whose entry I'm surprised I beat.
My entry favored the conceptual over the graphic and technologic in an attempt to both satisfy the brief and question the importance of ID mechanisms. The submission consisted of a two sided card. Thanks to Jesse Chan-Norris for the original floating market image.
Front side
What do facial features means in an age where face transplants are possible and new eye/hair color can be bought at the pharmacy?
What does your name mean when you can change it whenever you want?
Do you really have a home address?
Identity is not defined by a set of factors that specify an individual's physical manifestation but the influences which determine their mindset.
A matrix of locations identifies the individual inasmuch as we understand the peculiarities of the locations listed. The relationship between five slots and the qualities of the specific entries do not define the identity of the card holder, but create a field of relative identity.
New York today, Graz tomorrow, just want to relax in Oaxaca.
Where have you been?
Where are you now?
Where are you going?
Where did you begin?
Where do you wish you were?Global identity is derived from a glimpse of our movement through time. Answering the five questions on this card tells one who you are now and who you may be tomorrow.
Back side
What does an ID card mean for those without enough money to buy a car or have a credit card?
Do you really exist in this world if you don't participate in the great global finance machine?
What does an ID card mean to a ship breaker in Bangladesh?
What does your card do for you in Bangkok's floating markets?
Insistence on using airport codes is not merely an aesthetic stragety. If you have not flown you cannot complete this identity card. In this scheme your existance is only partially legitimized.
This proposal pessimistically concretizes the immense class differences between the Global North and Global South. It is the latter who are exploited so that we in the North may live the way we've become accustomed to. Quite literally, the North flies above in a world all its own: the skies.
In our world the Global South has no complete identity.
Sample Card
--Posted 03/03/04 08:53AM