Welcome to the prelaunch Metamute.org web site

Pre-launch developmentsite

Go to metamute.com to see the production site

Mute vol. II, issue #0 - Mute's current issue of its new volume II
This Mute Reader collects together texts on the politics of precarious labour that first appeared in Mute issues 29 (January 2005) and 28 (August 2004) with writing on the politics of precarity from a number of other sources.

The intention is to present in one small volume a selection of texts which address the problems and potentials of the concept of precarious labour. This Reader reflects something of the current discussion and debate around social precariousness, precarious work, precarious life, and the struggles against this condition.From the Introduction:
'The idea of transversal social unity in shared precariousness is closely linked to the insight that ‘all life is work’, in the sense that value is transformed from labour into capital right across the social field, not just in jobs. But ‘all life is work’ doesn’t mean all work is the same.'

Includes:
Angela Mitropoulos on the use and misuse of the notion of precariousness; John Barker on the perilous employment of economic migrants; Anthony Iles reviewing Republicart's issue on precarious labour; Marina Vishmidt on the dubious equation of artists with other forms of insecure (service) workers; an interview with Alex Foti of ChainWorkers, by Merijn Oudenampsen and Gavin Sullivan; Kidd McKarthy putting precarity in historical perspective; the Frassanito Network unpacking 'precarity' and its relationship to migration; Loren Goldner on Collectif de Solidarité (Solidarity Collective); Hydrarchist on the death of the Italian Disobbedienti and the rise of the precariat; Laura Sullivan's interview with Selma James and Nina Lopez of Wages For Housework in Venezuela; and Kolinko's findings from their enquiry into call centre work

Price | £5 | €7 | $6 plus p&p each

Copies can be ordered online here

Mute's new publishing model
(as of autumn 2005)

METAMUTE.ORG
Mute's new website, Metamute.org, is currently in its final development phase and being prepared for a launch in Autumn 2005. Compared to Metamute.com, our new site places more emphasis on the collaborative and discursive processes out of which Mute's editorial content and policies emerge. It will foreground its readership community – making the processes by which they shape the magazine's identity and overall direction more clear and bringing these to the front of the site in forums, filesharing areas, collaborative review libraries and more. The website will also continue its distinctive editorial commissioning policy, building on a decade of original critique and forging a strong sense of continuity with the archive of content already created.

CLUSTERS and PODS, CHANNELS, NEWS and REVIEWS
The website, which will ultimately contain the whole Mute archive, will offer thematic 'clusters' of articles on a frequently updated basis rather than producing biannual or quarterly issues. A high turnover of news and events will appear alongside articles which take longer to commission, develop and edit in the tradition of the magazine's 'Mains', 'Short Cuts' and 'Rear Views'. All articles, both new and archived, will be categorised to allow them to be accessed thematically, by name, date, etc., offering ways of filtering and exploring them in different contexts, creating new connections and bringing the latest articles into contact with older ones. Through the new channels of News and Reviews, user-submitted content will be included in this mix. Our quarterly PODs will then be used to compile some of the best material.

DIY MUTE
Metamute.org will offer very easy home printing of clustered content with no complicated assembly instructions etc. but a minimum of clean, template-based design and options for binding/organising collections of content in an attractive and readable way. We are currently also developing an economic model for making the site a gateway between users and our print on demand printers, thus enabling readers to create self-compiled PODs in small runs and for comparatively low prices.

NEW DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS
Finally, Mute's New Publishing model seeks to engage its readers as much as possible in new distribution networks. Included in the new site will be a home-grown distributor list to which readers can add themselves. Using a basic set of terms and conditions, this will deliver the magazine to the full diversity of its audience in social spaces, cybercafes, small galleries, independent bookshops and media centres.