Reset the Algorithm
Much like everything else, our digital consumption is heavily biased, and those biases follow us throughout all of our social media platforms. Once you are in a certain algorithmic lane, AI will comfortably guide you along the path of least resistance, feeding you the same information, by the same creators you’ve always followed. Rarely does this digital chicken noodle soup make us question, make us uncomfortable, or make us think critically about what we are being fed. The goal of ‘Reset the Algorithm’ is to break us out of these echo-chambers and expose us to; new ideas, truths that make us uncomfortable, and questions we would never have asked. Join Moj Mahdara as they go on a learning journey and take us all along for the ride with them. From the International Criminal Court to LGBTQIA+ Rights in the Islamic Republic, there is no topic off the table and each week’s expert guest will bring us into their world, a place we might never have been invited to if left to our own ‘devices’.
Episodes
4 days ago
A2A: Shahrzad Changalvaee
4 days ago
4 days ago
In this episode of Artist 2 Artist, Patrisse Cullors sits down with Iranian artist Shahrzad Changalvaee, to explore the role of art in the act of resistance under oppressive powers. Shahrzad shares her background and the experience of realizing one is an artist under the limiting and oppressive demands of the Iranian government during her childhood. In her early years as an artist, she was taught that "limitations beget creativity", and while there is value in those words for many of us who forsake our everyday freedom of expression, Patrisse and Shahrzad discuss the fortitude one must cultivate in order to question the sources that offer the words we internalize as artists, as an important step to individuation and independent expression, especially when art inevitably finds its way to becoming itself an act of resistance. Explore the use of language, in art and beyond, Patrisse and Shahrzad emphasize the power of the artist to build coalition, change, abolitionist practices and challenge the regimes that seek to silence or appropriate the artistic voice. Being an artist from Iran, under a restrictive government, may have been Shahrzad's beginnings, but in her work, she revolutionized her self expression and found the power of her voice and ability to create for not only herself, but the culture she wants to celebrate. In this episode, Patrisse and Shahrzad discuss how background and cultural identity play, effect, and cultivate an artist's identity, and the deeply personal journey of finding mediums and language to ensure that the perception of the art, matches its intent; "The artist is like a shapeshifter. The artist is the through line." Using collage, metal sculpture, photography and beyond, Shahrzad offers her art and story to us as itself an act of resistance, and reminds us that while limitations may present opportunity, the language we use both within ourselves and how we choose to express our unique perspective to others, is truly the choice that translates the most healing and revolutionary power, right from the source.
Tuesday May 07, 2024
RTA: Omar Barghouti
Tuesday May 07, 2024
Tuesday May 07, 2024
This week on Reset the Algorithm, we talk with Omar Barghouti, the Co-founder of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. The clarity and focus with which Omar expresses the goals of Palestinian Liberation is incredibly admirable. With this organization, they aim to utilize peaceful tactics to place pressure on repressive institutions in an effort to end complacency and free the Palestinian people from occupation. From his time at Columbia University in 1985, where he participated in anti-Apartheid protests and encampments to his thoughts on the encampments of college campuses today, Omar and Moj discuss what it means to resist and how we can truly bring about change through nonviolent strategies. It is not lost on us that conversations like this are challenging for some to hear and that those with different lived experiences might find the topics covered to be very difficult to process. Exposure does that. Our goal with this program and the entire mission of our organization is to be in conversation with EVERYONE, to talk through the lived experiences of MANY, and to break out of our algorithmic echo-chambers. This process is inherently uncomfortable and painful. We know, because it is for us too. But now more than ever, we must listen, we must learn and we must show grace, so that we can move forward in building a world that is safe and fair and healthy for ALL OF US. We know it isn’t easy, but we trust that it is incredibly worth it, and we hope you join us in the journey.
Tuesday Apr 30, 2024
A2A: "Songs From The Hole"
Tuesday Apr 30, 2024
Tuesday Apr 30, 2024
This week on Artist 2 Artist, Patrisse Cullors sits down with the team behind the SXSW film, “Songs From The Hole”. JJ'88, richie reseda, and Contessa Gayles offer us a poignant reminder that a commitment to our artistic expression, is a commitment to heal, transform and inform our communities. A documentary visual album, "Songs from the Hole" made its premiere at SXSW last month. Directed and co-written by Contessa Gayles, the film follows JJ'88 and his innermost experience as he serves a double-life sentence in prison. Introducing the public to the life and music of JJ'88, the film uses imaginative creations of memory, dreams, spiritual experiences, and interviews, set to JJ'88's original music, produced by richie reseda. Exploring the intersection of art and accountability, this weeks’ conversation explores the process by the team collaborated on their film, and the importance of centering the artistic voices and experiences of incarcerated individuals. Through the process of creating his music with richie reseda, and bringing his album to the screen with Contessa, JJ’88 reflects on the power of finding community, and the deeply cathartic, healing and artistically triumphant film they created. Contessa, JJ’88 and richie are a brilliant example of using film as a conscious, authentic medium to highlight a narrative that has the power to reshape our society. “Songs from the Hole” is currently being shown at film festivals and plans are underway for an impact campaign to bring it to prisons, jails, and communities impacted by state violence and gun violence. Contessa continues to spearhead poignant documentary narratives. JJ’88 has released his fourth single, "Hustla's Lament", and richie reseda serves as the Creative and Political Director of Foreveryone Collective, a space dedicated to supporting the artistic and economical contributions of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. This week, we call you to revolutionize your ideas of documentary filmmaking, examine your personal sense of expression, and open your ears to the authentically human, raw, and inspirational journey this film has shared with the world.
Thursday Apr 25, 2024
The Economy of Empathy
Thursday Apr 25, 2024
Thursday Apr 25, 2024
In this bonus episode of Reset the Algorithm curated in partnership with Mother Tongue Magazine, Moj Mahdara sits down for an emotional and heart-felt conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous and Patrisse Cullors.
As we see our world more and more divided everyday, the economy of empathy feels in recession. Creating coalition and holding space for one another’s pain feels like the only way forward. In this exchange Rabbi Brous shares how she is choosing to direct the conversation in her community, while Moj shares their homes and dreams for the people of the Middle East, and Patrisse shares her experience building coalitions and creating intersectional communities.
From crying together to laughing together, this powerful conversation shows us what it means to truly see one another’s humanity and reminds us how much we need each other.
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
RTA: Sara Wahedi
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
This week Moj sits down with Sara Wahedi, Tech-founder and CEO of Afghanistan’s first civic-tech start-up; Ehtesab. In her goal to democratize access to life saving information across the globe regardless of where they live or what they do. Her incredible work with Ehtesab has lent Sara platforms to speak on the injustices faced by Women in Afghanistan and across the Middle East at the hands of extremist governments. Her work on the mission to ‘End Gender Apartheid’ is what brought her and Moj together initially.
From working as a full-time CEO and student to speaking on gender-based violence on the global stage, Sara is a true futurist who has taken matters into her own hands. From the explosion that led to the concept of Ehtesab to the business side of creating a start-up in Kabul, Sara takes us into her world and reminds us how important it is to lean on community to achieve massive goals.
Tuesday Apr 16, 2024
A2A: EMEL
Tuesday Apr 16, 2024
Tuesday Apr 16, 2024
EMEL’s new album, available April 19, 2024, is titled MRA, which translates to “woman” from Arabic, and is a physical manifestation of an important aspect of her music and art. This week on Artist 2 Artist, Patrisse Cullors gets to know the narrative behind this international musician, her deeply rooted ethos of feminine power in music, and how she embraced the power of her voice to speak for those that were silenced in the oppressive climate that shaped her early life. Three years ago, Emel Mathlouthi, the New York City-based art-rock musician who simply goes by EMEL, began writing her fourth studio album MRA, a beguiling coalescence of ethereal, hip-hop, and indie-pop sounds that is, at turns, a call to compassion and to action. Created with an entirely woman-identifying team, it fully embodies the core of its title. Growing up in Tunisia, EMEL listened to everything from classical music to Art Tatum to Celine Dion. From diverse inspirations, EMEL believes that her art is the means by which she can impact the culture around her, that the artist does not choose their audience, but instead offers their voice and a revolutionary message, to anyone who may or may not know they need to hear it. Her musical narratives are rooted in the perseverance of human experience, and rouses us from complacency into empathetic action. For EMEL, presenting her music as art, is of core importance to her, reminding us that when we forget the power behind music, and its ability to highly affect the human psyche, we overlook its power to create political and social reimagination. In an intersection of art and abolition, EMEL and Patrisse offer us a reminder of the powerful impact we each hold the power to effect, simply by examining the boundaries by which we currently show up… and breaking them down, one by one. Today, as this episode releases, EMEL performs at Public Records, sharing her voice and story, and daring the women in her life to stand, fully and proud, in their power.
Tuesday Apr 09, 2024
RTA: Alex Edelman
Tuesday Apr 09, 2024
Tuesday Apr 09, 2024
In this conversation with the very funny Alex Edelman, we talked about how comedy can be healing and a way for us to see through our differences. In his latest show, now available on HBO, Alex describes his experience attending a white nationalist meeting in NYC…as a Orthodox Jewish man. The stories that follows shows the brilliance of Alex’s humor. Aside from being hilarious, he is excellent at building bridges and showing us all how much more similar we are than different.
In a moment of immense divide, conversations like this one with Alex are a reminder to me of how important it is to build bridges and, of course, belly laugh together.
Tuesday Apr 02, 2024
A2A: JOJO ABOT
Tuesday Apr 02, 2024
Tuesday Apr 02, 2024
It is hard to find an artist more dynamic and embodied than JOJO ABOT. With her interdisciplinary work, she bridges gaps in the art world to bring viewers into immersive experiences that evoke emotion and shift paradigms.
In this conversation, JOJO ABOT and Patrisse connect on the importance of one’s message over medium and the challenges and rewards of being an interdisciplinary arts in a world that persuades artists to “stick to their lane”. We also learn of JOJO ABOT’s process, what inspires their work and how they create balance and harmony to stay inspired.