Raoul Martinez
I am a 25-year-old artist/writer currently living in London—the city of my birth. Dissatisfied and disillusioned with my formal education, I left college aged 17 to train as an artist (www.raoulmartinez.com ), whilst also devising and following a curriculum of my own making. My curriculum began with an attempt to question all my beliefs, and led to, for the next seven years, an investigation into a diverse array of disciplines, ranging from the scientific and psychological to the political and philosophical. My self-directed course soon led me to question the version of history I had been taught, and ultimately the very foundations, values, and aims of Western capitalism. Pregnant with ideas from my reading I began, aged 19, writing a book—initially this was merely a way to organize the flood of new ideas and facts that I was being exposed to, though before long it became the focus of my energies. The book evolved with my growing understanding, and with the research i was doing for it, my studies intensified. I am currently working on a documentary based on the ideas developed in the book which shares the same title: Creating Freedom. An exhibition of paintings, a third component to this project, is also being developed. As an artist I find the emphasis “Reimagining Society†places on vision a significant step in the right direction. To create a better world we must first think of one. To create anything we must first envision it. The guiding light of our most fundamental values makes it possible, via a process of elimination, to home in on a society that serves our most cherished values. As science homes in on facts by proposing, refuting and modifying hypotheses, so must our attempts to realize a better society proceed with serious attempts to propose viable societal alternatives that are subject to ongoing review, experimentation and modification. To be a part of this ongoing process is to take seriously the democratic ideal of participation. I look forward to reading the visions of others, and sharing, for whatever it is worth, visions of my own.