Deconstructing the Deck

“Insiders promote special interests, but intellectuals should be the ones to question patriotic nationalism, corporate thinking, and a sense of class, racial, or gender privileges.” Edward Said, Representations of the Intellectual: The Reith Lectures (1996) “I spend half my life trying to dumb down my ideas to fit nicely in a 15 slide deck.” (@MissShellySays, Twitter) The pitch deck is both medium and method— not to mention one of the most consequential forms of rhetoric our civilization has produced. Uber, AirBnB and even the Challenger began in powerpoint. If we imagine a world in which visuals not only have meaning, but material impact, then we can look at the pitch deck as both a critical reality and new territory for artistic and performance practice.