WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT

We invited three creative powerhouses to comment on the state of the States

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The current US administration has ushered in a new era in the creative-cultural compact, with elected officials dismantling tenets that have underpinned societal norms for decades - directly impacting those whose work enshrines how we see and judge ourselves and each other. As relationships, roles and rights erode, so the cultural sector suffers its manifold consequences. It would be remiss of us to dedicate an issue to the American creative spirit and pretend that it was business as usual. Here, we call upon three powerful voices in design, architecture and fashion to describe the outlook from where they stand, in their own words and opinions. Our trifecta comprises: Murray Moss, the passionate design maven and founder of Moss gallery and Moss Bureau: Florencia Rodriguez, architect, writer and artistic director of this year's Chicago Architecture Biennial; and Willy Chavarria, the fashion designer with an activist heart.

We tasked each of them to describe the impact of the present political and social landscape on their personal and professional outlook. What they - and we - share is an optimistic belief in the power of people to pull together in the face of adversity.

Culture is defined as the shared beliefs, values, behaviour and norms that bind a group of people together. It is a complex system of learned and transmitted ways of life and the ensuing relationships, encompassing shared attitudes towards literature and art, social structures and material objects, and, of course, politics.

Culture is a very swarm-like phenomena, and regardless of which particular culture you belong to, any attempt to deviate from it or to go against its tenets once it has gathered enough steam, or to control it and direct its course towards one's own agenda, does not require (at least not at first) a large group of people, but rather a Machiavellian mindset and the will and skill to use it.