Agalia Tan

Books you read are sending you input. Your friends modeling behaviors for you. Newspapers. Tools. People you follow on Twitter. The architecture of a Gothic church beaming serenity into you—that is input too.

At the same time, you are also sending output to other nodes. Now, I am sending these ideas into my pocket notebook, which will send them to... See more

these “cultures” are ever-evolving . (Latin ‘cultura’ = grow, tend, cultivate, to care)

The paradox of human sexuality and social politics, and the tension between public performance vs. private desire is worthy of significantly more of our attention. I don’t say this lightly. Public condemnation often masks private fascination.

This data doesn’t just reveal our hypocrisy, but the intricate ways desire, itself, navigates social stigma.... See more

In ad land we are tasked with making things. But what matters most is the relationships that birth those things.

The output matters, but nothing matters more than how we treat each other in the moment.

(And, do it right and you get both)

Dialectic conversation is about an exchange of views and ideas which resolves itself in consensus. The goal is to align the participants under a mutually agreed resolution they can all support from that point forwards.

Essentially, there is one right answer.

Dialogic conversation, on the other hand, isn’t about reaching a consensus. It’s about an... See more

In a culture where porn is ubiquitous, depictions of graphic, explicit sex are abundant and low-value. Its mere mechanistic frictions can only show us people doing something. Heated Rivalry transports us somewhere else. The show’s intimacy is not just in arousal, but in being known, understood and part of a heightened, ecstatic experience beyond... See more

Cue The Visuals: Repackaged Sameness

The reason the same corny ideas cycle endlessly online isn’t just because people love bite-sized wisdom—it’s because graphic design can breathe new life into the same tired advice. The aesthetic evolution of a message—whether it’s slapped onto a hope-core edit, stock image or Canva template — makes it infinitely... See more