In an era when capitalism leaves so many to suffer and to die, with neoliberal ‘self-care’ offering little more than a bandaid, how can we take health and care back into our hands? In The Hologram, Cassie Thornton puts forward a bold vision for revolutionary care: a viral, peer-to-peer feminist health network.
The premise is simple: three people – a ‘triangle’ – meet on a regular basis, digitally or in person, to focus on the physical, mental and social health of a fourth – the ‘hologram’. The hologram, in turn, teaches their caregivers how to give and also receive care; each member of their triangle becomes a hologram for another, different triangle, and so the system expands.
Drawing on radical models developed in the Greek solidarity clinics during a decade of crisis, and directly engaging with discussions around mutual aid and the coronavirus pandemic, The Hologram develops the skills and relationships we desperately need for the anti-capitalist struggles of the present, and the post-capitalist society of the future. One part art, one part activism, one part science fiction, this book offers the reader a guide to establishing a Hologram network as well as reflections on this cooperative work in progress.
Vagabonds #002. Vagabonds is a series of radical pamphlets to fan the flames of discontent. Too feisty for the academic press but too thoughtful for the online outrage machine, these short, beautiful and provocative texts inspire the radical imagination and catalyze creative action. Vagabonds occupy the overlap between critical inquiry, social activism and interventionist art and are in dialog with the great struggles of our age. The series will include unique anti-capitalist, anti-racist, queer and feminist voices towards revolutionary change and collective liberation. The series editor is Max Haiven, Research Chair in Culture, Media and Social Justice at Lakehead University, Canada.