virgil b/g taylor
Site: Metropolitan Sewer District Headquarters
Curator: Diya Vij
Confluence Decree is a series of magical dispatches from and to the sewer system of St. Louis. Departing from the principle that a great deal of power and potential is tied up in a vast infrastructure shared by more than a million people in the greater St. Louis area, Confluence Decree aims to offer the grounds for alternative political imaginary through a reimagination of ancient magical practices applied to contemporary infrastructure.
Over the course of Counterpublic 2023, three issues of Confluence Decree will be released, each addressed to a mundane piece of the sewer system: a manhole, a pipe, a drain, etc. Released once monthly, each issue continues the story connecting lead, magic, contracts, consent, rivers, history and presence in St Louis. Additionally, Confluence Decree invites local actors to express their wishes for the system and their life to the mutual power, extensive potential, and collective being embodied by the sewer system itself. Each issue also includes poetic/literary connections to larger questions about earth, water, and magic with invited contributions.
Message “Decree” to @confluencedecree on Instagram to contribute.
About the artist
virgil b/g taylor is based in Germany. He makes “fag tips”, an online speculative zine. He is one-half of sssssssssSsss, a study-friendship with Ashkan Sepahvand, a third of Indefinite Leave to Remain with Moad Musbahi and Vishal Kumaraswamy, and a fraction of What Would An HIV Doula Do?, a collective of artists, writers, caretakers, activists and more gathered in response to the ongoing HIV/AIDS pandemic. His work explores histories of care, crisis, exclusion, and toxicity.
