Medium/rare continues a series of investigations into art,science and speculative theory under the moniker,VILE/RATS operating from the dia/projects space in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In this response to the platform, Institutions for the Future, we consider systems of knowledge production through para-institutions by traversing earth and natural sciences, media and communications theory, fiction and perception to global economic flows and ontological delusion – ingredients we suppose at the base core of many institutions.

The starting point comes with the May 2011 announcement that China plans to constrain the global export of its rare earth and alloy products, of which it controls a 95% market, significantly impacting the global industries and economy that depend on its supply.