Umay Mammadzada

At a time where nationalisms are increasingly gaining ground freedom of movement across countries, already controlled before, is threatened. It is now highly restricted for individuals perceived as pernicious because of the nation they belong to, and restrained for citizens of western countries. Meanwhile, capitals often enjoy rapid and fluid circulation, accelerated via secondary routes set up by structures such as the offshore company: can the offshore company, then, offer a model to think citizenship anew and investigate ways of experiencing citizenship differently?

Turn the Tide is an offshore company whose boardroom will be temporarily based in the Dyson Gallery at the  Royal College of Art, and open to the public between 28th - 30th April.  It will launch with a press conference on the evening of the 27th April, 6 – 9pm. Turn the Tide aims to establish a non-solid ground for debates about citizenship to happen. To do so, Turn the Tide is organising a series of meetings whose core issue will be: how to share the company’s ownership to reach a new mode of citizenship?

Everyone who wants to can participate in the meetings held at the Dyson Gallery. Meetings will be divided into two phases: the first will be focused on the reading of minutes that have been produced by the gathering of discursive material of all sorts, mostly dealing with offshore company and liquid citizenship. The second will enable a true debate between individuals attending the meeting, discussing the launch of Turn the Tide’s liquidation process and strategies to share its ownership more broadly.  

During that second phase, the meeting is transcribed to produce another minute. The outcome is then printed and given to all the attendants of the meeting, the document acting as a bearer-share: thus turning the individual as a permanent share-holder and owner of company. With this process, Turn the Tide could become a real collective space dedicated to the production of a shared knowledge.