Acc01: Koch Industries
I was just working on this project for Venice, researching information online about Koch (pronounced coke) Industries. I have completed a number of prints using the brother's images, smokestacks, corporate headquarters, and logos of the subsidiary companies, but I was looking for two more projects to tie the images together. Something text based, to make the intent of the piece clear (questioning the unfettered accumulation of wealth by the company, by focusing on the fact that it's a private company, and not required to make a profit for shareholders.) In looking over the information I found, I was thinking of contrasting the statements from the Koch Industries broscure with statements about the company from other people and organiztions, both for and against. What I found is the information in the broscure was banal but memorable- I've listed some of the statements below- while indictments against the company, while blood-boiling, were unwieldy and almost unquotable. Maybe it's something to work with anyway, but being unable to make a clear argument, and the amount of sites with articles about Koch, seems to aid the company's efforts to remain annoymous. Nonetheless, here's a sample of the statements from the broscure (the word "value" was used 47 times.)
Create value. Add value. Live value.
Perhaps the best way to understand Koch Industries is to view it as a collection of “capabilities” continually searching for new ways to create value – for customers, and for the many communities which Koch companies operate in and serve.
It’s all about value…
There is a nice side benefit to hiring good people who want to create value – their passion to make the world better doesn’t stop at creating superior products.
Live values by acting on principle.
Koch’s trading companies help bring liquidity and efficiency to global commodity and securities markets.
(Our) steadfast commitment to living by a core set of values and principles – integrity, humility, entrepreneurship and respect for others, to name a few.
Every employee is an owner in this process and is held accountable for living by clearly defined principles, foremost of which is conducting all business affairs with integrity.
A company’s value comes solely from the value it creates for others.
Think about success.
The company also produces aromatic solvents, which are required to manufacture adhesives, paints and coatings.
Diverse capabilities, global reach.
The have reduced the potential for fugitive emissions to a level that others should emulate.
Assets add to knowledge.
Leading the way with innovation.
You are the heros of this information revolution.
Enbedded in everyday life.
Discipline above all else.
Koch believes the only real opportunities in the marketplace are those where it sees opportunities to create real value.
To Koch, bigger doesn't always mean better.
Koch companies support a wide variety of non-profit organizations that share our values and market-based philosophy.
A company is only as good as its people and the values they embrace.
Like a society, a company is an economic system with rules, incentives and cultural values.
We believe that the success we’ve had in the past – an any success we will have in the future – is a direct result of our commitment to live by values.
Create value. Add value. Live value.
Perhaps the best way to understand Koch Industries is to view it as a collection of “capabilities” continually searching for new ways to create value – for customers, and for the many communities which Koch companies operate in and serve.
It’s all about value…
There is a nice side benefit to hiring good people who want to create value – their passion to make the world better doesn’t stop at creating superior products.
Live values by acting on principle.
Koch’s trading companies help bring liquidity and efficiency to global commodity and securities markets.
(Our) steadfast commitment to living by a core set of values and principles – integrity, humility, entrepreneurship and respect for others, to name a few.
Every employee is an owner in this process and is held accountable for living by clearly defined principles, foremost of which is conducting all business affairs with integrity.
A company’s value comes solely from the value it creates for others.
Think about success.
The company also produces aromatic solvents, which are required to manufacture adhesives, paints and coatings.
Diverse capabilities, global reach.
The have reduced the potential for fugitive emissions to a level that others should emulate.
Assets add to knowledge.
Leading the way with innovation.
You are the heros of this information revolution.
Enbedded in everyday life.
Discipline above all else.
Koch believes the only real opportunities in the marketplace are those where it sees opportunities to create real value.
To Koch, bigger doesn't always mean better.
Koch companies support a wide variety of non-profit organizations that share our values and market-based philosophy.
A company is only as good as its people and the values they embrace.
Like a society, a company is an economic system with rules, incentives and cultural values.
We believe that the success we’ve had in the past – an any success we will have in the future – is a direct result of our commitment to live by values.
posted by Lou at 6:06 PM
2 Comments:
doesn't it strike you as interesting that our current society is entirely built on buzzwords and branding? in addition, that no matter what is being produced (everything is merely "product" anymore)it all eventually has to be put into language, text. and since, it is my opinion, the vast majority don't want to know, don't want to have to learn, don't want to be above the lowest common denominator (an odd sense of pride) it allows corporations (or individuals...everyone is looking for that one phrase that everyone else will remember them by) to create hollow shells out of words that sound like they mean something but never do. of course, they were never meant to, but hey, that's another topic. right now, it's just language. and how nobody desires to look even remotely beneath the surface. there's a great sign alongside interstate 40 through new mexico (which led me to dub it the "existential" state) that reads "Gusty Winds May Exist." we've heard rumors about these "Gusty Winds", but so far there's no corroborative evidence...
unfortunately that is just humorous. it's the ones that surround us everyday, that no one questions, that are so damn dangerous. are we too lazy? too scared of what we'll find? too tired to fight? or just convinced that it is hopeless? what the hell is there to do from there? we know there is no soul, but when no one else cares...
I think that's the danger with this project and how I have made work in the past- I want this to have a clear reason behind it, it would be very easy to let it remain cloudy and claim it to be a reflection or something. So the exhibition in Venice will need to have a concise text to make things clearer for the viewer- I'm not looking to frustrate them further, but to make them more curious.
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