‘We are not Alone: The Partisan Social Club New-Collective Nouns’, Poster(s): We are not alone # 1 (Window Posters) Adjusted by James Smith

We are not alone, are a series of posters by the Partisan Social Club (PSC). We have invented new collective nouns for the people that will be most valuable to us all in a new world order. We are not alone, celebrates those that act for the collective good; and presents those that help others as most valuable to society. We are not alone, attempts to overturn the primary way in which value is attributed, demonstrating that economic worth is overrated. The window posters that we produced for the collaboration between the Harun Farocki Institut and Journal of Visual Culture, focus on inventing collective nouns for our key workers during COVID-19. You can print, colour in and place our poster in your window.
A collective noun is a collection of things taken as a whole. Collective nouns are associated with animal groups and are sometimes used to describe a job or a profession; for example, a memory of elephants, or a hastiness of cooks. As well as COVID-19 specific collective nouns, we are working on new collective nouns for groupings of people who resist the dominant political regime. Negative titling and naming can deride a political cause or activity so we have allocated collective nouns to political publics to communicate positive attributes; for example, a palace of trespassers or a harmony of whistle –blowers. As we devise new collective nouns for these groups we affirm their role as positive actors in the development of democracy.
By rethinking the collective names in which we refer to the politically active individuals amongst us we convert their resistance into positive citizenship, reminding us that the victories of protest are incorporated into our everyday lives; votes for women, the right to roam and better working conditions are the results of people standing up for the collective good.