Ezra Pound once said that artists are the antennae of the race. They are the ones who are sensing what comes next, literally influencing and shaping the zeitgeist. However, creators are facing a problem - where they are shackled by market demands and bound by client briefs that merely scratch the surface.

Our zine envisions a future where artists reclaim their autonomy, and explore their whims and fancies: What will be created if there’s no algorithmic anxiety? What will be created if creators choose to please themselves and not their audience?

Bypassing The Invisible Hand is a 92-page zine that espouses a new cycle of creativity where you are invited along through our three chapters: breaking away - liberation - coalescence.

Breaking Away is us pulling apart the nuts and bolts of our laundromat culture. In this first chapter, you’ll find a series of artworks and essays that probe into the norms that currently bind us, and pave the way for us to ask the important question of “what if…?”

Liberation explores what happens when we stop paying heed to the invisible hand, and start exploring our whims and fancies – be it calling for permission to create bad art, creating a new identity through digital fashion, or imagining new worlds with emerging technologies. This second chapter captures how we’ve broken out of structure and are evolving in the ways we respond to the ebbs and flows of culture, and the democratisation of new technologies.

Coalescence, our final chapter, is a treasure trove of new worlds that will stretch your imagination and provoke questions around emergent futures: How can we reclaim ownership over our own narratives in a world that seeks to censor and control? How can we facilitate the continuous exploration of one’s multifaceted identities? Or, how can we utilise AI to deepen the connection between the creator and the fan?

This Metalabel release makes available 220 physical copies of the zine available from a total print run of 400 for early supporters. The initial copies were exclusively available to attendees of the vector launch party held in Singapore.

A digital edition of the zine will also be made available later in the year.

This is the first release by vector, Singapore's first release club that brings together global cultural thinkers and tinkerers to create immersive experiences and resources that move the needle on creativity.

All profits will go back to powering the vector community and their future work.

vector is proudly led by .XYZ, the future strategy and innovation arm of We Are Social. Visit https://wearesocial.xyz/ for more information.