Selective Misanthropy
written for The _____ Experiment, in collaboration with the Harn Museum of Art
to be premiered February 2026 – Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida (Gainesville, FL)
Selective Misanthropy is based on Orange by Frank Henry Shapleigh (1842 – 1906) displayed at the Harn Museum of Art during the exhibition Florida in Frame: A Century of Artists’ Reflections on the Sunshine State. Orange is an oil-painted still life of the fruit that has become synonymous with Florida. Oranges, as we enjoy them, are a hybrid fruit extensively cross-bred between the pomelo (C. maxima) and the mandarin (C. reticulata). Florida’s orange pride would make one believe that oranges have always been a Florida thing, despite originating from Southern China, Northeast India, and Myanmar. An immigrant coming to Florida in 2025, originating from any of the aforementioned areas, would factually not become the new face of Florida’s pride, regardless of said immigrant’s capital or cultural benefits.
Why is it that Florida seems to care more about nature than its people? Why does Florida celebrate the sunshine that tans the privileged but burns the detained (see ‘Alligator Alcatraz’)? To me, it is largely evident that Florida’s understanding of nature includes a select group of people and rejects many of its residents. Oranges get a pass because they’re ‘natural.’
Consider the following quotes:
“For it is no slight undertaking to disentangle what is original from what is artificial in the real nature of man and to understand well a condition which no longer exists, which perhaps did not exist, which probably never will exist, and concerning which it is nevertheless necessary to have some accurate notions in order to assess properly our present state.”
– Jean Jacques Rousseau from Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality Among Men
“My three main goals would be to reduce human population to about 100 million worldwide, destroy the industrial infrastructure and see wilderness, with its full complement of species, returning throughout the world.” // “The human race could go extinct and I for one would not shed any tears.”
– David Foreman of Earth First!
“For life to survive as we know it, millions of people are going to have to die.”
– Craig “Critter” Marshall of Earth First!
The essence of Selective Misanthropy is the juxtaposition of the anarchist principles of misanthropic eco-terrorism appearing in the current state of Florida’s legislation and cultural practices. This work aims to highlight the demoralizing consequences of the naturalistic fallacy (because X is natural, X is good and right // because X is unnatural, X is bad and wrong). Selective Misanthropy achieves this aim through quotation of human-centric musical literature: Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 (Adagietto); Owl City’s Fireflies; John Cage’s Living Room Music; The Parting Glass (Irish trad.) as performed by Ye Vagabonds and boygenius.
Selective Misanthropy is written for and dedicated to my inimitable friends, colleagues, and artists at The _____ Experiment.
duration: ~6:00
