On What We Owe - Triple Canopy

On What We Owe
Astra Taylor & Laura Hanna

Astra Taylor is a filmmaker, writer, and organizer living in New York. Her films include What Is Democracy? (2018), an exploration of the meaning and work of democracy; Examined Life (2008), a series of excursions with contemporary thinkers; and Zizek! (2005), a documentary about the philosopher Slavoj Žižek. Taylor is the author of the forthcoming book Democracy May Not Exist, but We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone (2019), The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age (2014), and Examined Life: Excursions with Contemporary Thinkers (2009). Her writing has appeared in the Nation, the London Review of Books, n+1, and the Baffler, among other publications.

Laura Hanna is an organizer and filmmaker. She is co-founder and co-director of the Debt Collective, a membership-based economic justice organization. She serves as board president of Rolling Jubilee, a fund that has facilitated $33 million dollars of debt relief to people struggling with predatory debts, including medical debts and student loans. Hanna's background is in filmmaking. Prior to political organizing, she developed film and media strategies on behalf of those facing the death penalty. She has produced and directed films that have been screened and installed in museums in the U.S. and abroad.

“On What We Owe” was published as part of Two Ears and One Mouth, Triple Canopy’s twenty-sixth issue, which is made possible through the generous support of the Stolbun Collection, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

26 Two Ears and One Mouth

The Great Equalizer, by Alexander Provan
Omniaudience, by Triple Canopy & Nikita Gale
Parts of Speech at MCA Chicago, by Triple Canopy & Public Fiction
On the Difficulties in Writing the Truth, by Hari Kunzru
On What We Owe, by Astra Taylor & Laura Hanna
On Similitude, by Steffani Jemison with Garrett Gray
On Onomatopoeia, by Tomeka Reid with Taylor Ho Bynum, Ugochi Nwaogwugwu & Mike Reed
On Labor and Management, by Julio Torres
On the Next Economy, by Christopher Kulendran Thomas
Parts of Speech
Rave, by Rainald Goetz
Stereomodernism, by DeForrest Brown, Jr.
Listening, by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge
A Cinder Block Falling on Concrete, by Lawrence Abu Hamdan
The Black Catatonic Scream, by Harmony Holiday
LITTLE GIRLS, by Nikita Gale
Second Rate, by Jonathan Sterne & Mara Mills
Table of Visions, by Tashi Wada with Alexander Provan
Proyecto DATA, by Julia Weist & Nestor Siré
Proyecto DATA, by Julia Weist & Nestor Siré
Answers with Questions, by Gregg Bordowitz with Jasmine Nyende, Vivien Goldman, Joy Ladin, Kendall Thomas, Morgan Bassichis & The Illustrious Pearl
On the Letterform of the Age, by Bo-Won Keum
A Heavy Nonpresence, by Derica Shields
i have too much to hide, by Benjamin Krusling
And Besides, It’s True, by Paige K. B. & Tiffany Sia
Medium Rotation, Season 1: Omniaudience, by Alexander Provan & Nikita Gale with Harmony Holiday, Derica Shields, Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste & Tashi Wada
Episode 1: Twenty Thousand Bodies Can’t Be Wrong, by Nikita Gale & Alexander Provan
Episode 2: Holy Ghosts, by Harmony Holiday with Nikita Gale & Alexander Provan
Episode 3: The Big Society, by Derica Shields with Nikita Gale & Alexander Provan
Episode 4: The Dead Can Dance, by Tashi Wada
Light Shows, by Benjamin Krusling, S*an D. Henry-Smith, Jibade-Khalil Huffman, Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste & Asiya Wadud
Episode 5: Get Lower, by Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste
Episode 6: Little Symphonies, by Nikita Gale
Live in Concert, by Harmony Holiday & Fred Moten

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