post-Fordist relief

As self-declared “Artists in Residence” for the US Government, Institute for Wishful Thinking (IWT) believes that the community of artists and designers possesses untapped creative and conceptual resources that could be applied to solving social problems. IWT has responded to the latest economic disaster by collectively re-envisioning an iconic image from the last fiscal crisis. In the mid-1970s the United States federal government initially refused to assist a then bankrupt New York City until austerity measures were put in place severely curbing spending on public schools, hospitals, libraries, and public transportation. Many see President Gerald Ford’s decision as a punishing, first step towards the adoption of neoliberalism, the radically deregulated economic model responsible for the global financial meltdown of 2008. Wishing artists and policy makers more, rather than less wishful historical thinking, IWT’s Agents offer Post-Fordist Variations, a suite of substitute mementos based on the infamous October 25^th, 1975 New York Daily News headline: “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”