Ian Alan Paul is an artist and theorist. Below is a public archive of their writing and projects.

More about Ian can be read here, and they can be contacted by using the form here.

Controlling the Crisis ◦ Text ◦ 2020

// an essay that examines the cybernetic policing of migrants during the 2015-16 migrant “crisis” in the European Union.

Ten Premises For A Pandemic ◦ Text ◦ 2020

// a pandemic isn’t a collection of viruses, but is a social relation among people, mediated by viruses.

The Corona Reboot ◦ Text ◦ 2020

// an attempt to provisionally theorize the emergence of new subjectivities in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

Climate, Capitalism, Control ◦ Video Essay ◦ 2019

// a video essay that diagrams the conjunctive power of planetary-scale computation, commodification, and climate change.

Climate, Capitalism, Control (Script) ◦ Text ◦ 2019

// the script of the video essay “Climate, Capitalism, Control”

The Dis/Appeared ◦ Video Essay ◦ 2018

// a video essay that theorizes colonial regimes of perception in contemporary Palestine.

The Dis/Appeared (Script) ◦ Text ◦ 2018

// the script of the video essay “The Dis/Appeared”

La Orilla Infinita ◦ Photo Essay ◦ 2018

// a photo essay that explores three histories on the Canary Islands brought together by the surrounding sea.

Negative Monument ◦ Poster ◦ 2018

// an open invitation to engage in the participatory yet imperceptible negation of a monument.

Antisocial Media ◦ Text ◦ 2017

// a remix/cut-up/utopian-plagiarism of Guy Debord’s “The Society of the Spectacle” that reflects on the networked present.

Ten Preliminary Theses on Resistance ◦ Text ◦ 2017

// a set of theses speculatively proposing modes of resistance and revolt in the Trump era.

Ten Preliminary Theses on Trump ◦ Text ◦ 2017

// a set of theses diagramming the significance and consequence of Trump’s election.

Conditions of Possibility ◦ Online Documentary ◦ 2016

// an online documentary that theorizes the post-revolution/post-coup period in Cairo, Egypt.

The Guantanamo Bay Museum ◦ Website / Speculative Fiction ◦ 2012-? (Ongoing)

// a critical fiction exploring the legacies of the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities.

Texts in Mourning And Action ◦ Electronic Civil Disobedience ◦ 2014

// a networked intervention organized in solidarity with the Zapatistas of Chiapas, Mexico.

A Future Memorial for NAFTA ◦ Public Installation ◦ 2014

// an installation at the Mexico-US Border to mark the 20th anniversary of NAFTA.

Bird Migration Authority ◦ Website / Speculative Fiction ◦ 2013

// a critical fiction exploring the aesthetic, ethical, and political policing of migration in the EU.

Drone Crash Incident ◦ Performance ◦ 2012

// a drone crash simulated on the campus of UC San Diego.

Border Haunt ◦ Electronic Civil Disobedience ◦ 2011

// a collective disruption of the networked policing of the Mexico-US Border.