Our World to Change!

Book excerpt: To explain the desperate state of our world, its functioning and malfunctioning, is the ambitious goal of this book by Ruedi and Vera Baur. To achieve this goal they have joined forces with the globalization- critical organization Attac, which has provided them with the data. The publication is a formal homage to the sociologist Otto Neurath and the graphic designer Gerd Arntz, who created the Isotype (International Education System by Typographical Images) in the 1920s. Ruedi and Vera Baur also recycled a figurine system originally developed for Manifesta 11, the European Biennial for Contemporary Art in Zurich. Our World to Change! not only explains figures related to economics, finance, ecology, nutrition, and immigration, but also presents suggestions and alternatives from specialists in these fields and from Attac. Visually deciphering the functions of our world system helps to show that another world is possible and necessary.