Re: [NetBehaviour] "If nature is unjust, change nature!" Re: Accelerationism
While there are obviously damaging changes to "nature" (as though the meaning of that terms was obvious and univocal), not all "changing nature" is morally wrong, surely. (The eradication of smallpox, for example, seems to me to be an unambiguously good and progressive action). Tom Sent from my iPad > On May 3, 2016, at 8:38 AM, Alan Sondheim wrote: > > > > agree. we _are_ changing nature at an increasingly accelerated rate. > the damage is irreversible. > - alan > >> On Tue, 3 May 2016, Annie Abrahams wrote: >> >> for me it seems as if you are all dreaming >> please smile at your neighbour in the morning >> Annie >> On Mon, May 2, 2016 at 5:59 PM, ruth catlow >> wrote: >> This all rather got away from me this week :-( >> Every post is bursting with so much juice. >> >> But this is a cause for great cheer! >> >> >> and a Promethean feminism: >> >> "In the name of feminism, 'Nature' shall no longer be a refuge >> of injustice, or a basis for any political justification >> whatsoever! >> If nature is unjust, change nature!" >> >> (Xenofeminist music is a thing: >> https://soundcloud.com/yoneda-lemma/sets/d-n-e ) >> >> Thank you all for everything so far. >> >> :) >> Ruth >> ___ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >> -- >> Gretta Louw reviews my book from "estranger to e-stranger: Living in between >> languages", and finds that not only does it demonstrate a brilliant history >> in performance art, but, it is also a sharp and poetic critique about >> language and everyday culture. >> New project with Daniel Pinheiro and Lisa Parra : Distant Feeling(s) > > == > email archive http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ > web http://www.alansondheim.org / cell 718-813-3285 > music: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ > current text http://www.alansondheim.org/tx.txt > == > ___ > NetBehaviour mailing list > NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour ___ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
Re: [NetBehaviour] Accelerationist aesthetics
Hi Ruth, That really is a very interesting piece, and particularly germaine to the questions of accelerationist aesthetics in its developments of *times*. The speed of the humans flashing in and out of the camera contrasting with the permanence of the wall and, for me at least, the slightly foreboding messages on the wall that suggested a sort of Zeno's paradox effect: each day you are alive is 1/7 of the week that you were alive which is 1/4 of the month etc. But I do wonder if, name nonwithstanding, if accelerationism and accelerationist aesthetics means something a bit more than just the cultural registration of speed. After all, Jonathan Swift in *The Tale of the Tub* is, among other things, about the massive over-proliferation of books, news media and popular (admittedly printed) culture, and that was in the relatively sedate 18th century. I forget who mentioned the futurists, but Benjamin Noys, who initially coined the term accelerationism to describe that late 60s conjunction of Deleuze&Guattari, Lyotard and Baudrillard in "Marxist heresy," has a short geneaology in *Malign Velocities* about the "fetishization" of speed, or speed as a cultural imperative. Obviously, grounding any sort of cultural movement in the Italian futurists is pretty dangerous (facism, but also anti-feminism, pro-imperialism and militarism with the racisms that go along with that). And I agree that the Nick Land solution -- mass suicide by communication overload -- is unpalatable to say the least and doesn't make a whole lot of sense in terms of constructing any sort of political culture. To get to the point: is there something specific about this particular moment now that makes accelerationism possible as a political aesthetic? One thing that occurs to me by way of response to that question is related to the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, when it appeared that the prognostications of the first wave of accelerationists had partly came true: namely, that the accelerations inherent in capitalism, specifically the tendency to mobilize more surplus labour and resources at greater rates of efficiency and abstraction, would exacerbate the system's inherent contradictions to a catastrophic point. Only partly came true though: the system did not collapse but massively reorganized itself (all those would-be John Galts suddenly all too happy to accept government bail-outs, massive expropriation of assets from the poor). This required a recalibration of the theses of that first wave of accelerationists, a recalibration that perhaps either is reflected in art, or in which art participates? On Fri, Apr 22, 2016 at 5:27 AM, ruth catlow wrote: > Hi Tom, > > I like where you take this question of accelerationist aesthetics. > >So the question that accelerationism poses might be something like: what > sort of coordination can/should exist between a post-capitalist political > program and art? > > I think/hope that there are a number of people preparing to join this bit > of this discussion soon. > > For me, in politics as in art, a successful encounter is one that moves > diverse people to seek agency (on their own terms) within contemporary > culture; and that acts as a spur for joyful, mutualist acts. > > Not that we all need to be in an unending frenzy of communication and > exchange. More that we have ever-more nuanced ways to sense the > significance of different kinds of participation: in a loop of unwitting > participation and active collaboration and organisation. > > I am currently showing a live networked video piece, I created with Gareth > Foote, called *Time is Speeding Up* at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre up in > Scunthorpe as part of the show We Are Not Alone. I have no idea whether > this is an Accelerationist artwork. > > The image capture software is designed to reproduce the sensation that we > have of how time speeds up as we get older. A webcam takes a new image > every 3 or 4 minutes and adds it to a 3 minute looping video. The video is > becoming more dense over time- and so the images of individual gallery > visitors are gradually being crushed out of memory, like dead leaves into > oil. > > See it live here ( we are now on day 44 approx 17fps) > http://gtp.ruthcatlow.net/ > And after 8 days (at 3fps) > https://embed.ascribe.io/content/1PHX3XJid9Erh5rCTNgf6L2M15ePL39Ror > > I agonized about the aesthetics of the work- at first- so un-"cool", so > un-cyber - because the humans are so alive AND they make the work. > But now I'm really happy with it and would like to assert a place for this > almost folksy aesthetic (rather than a rush to slick, black fluidity) in > post-capitalist art. > > Cheers > Ruth > > On 21/04/16 23:09, Tom Kohut wrote: > > Regarding what an accelerationist aesthetics might resemble
Re: [NetBehaviour] My name is [Your Name Here] and I am an Accelerationist
Regarding what an accelerationist aesthetics might resemble (or the set of things which m ight be grouped via family resemblance as an "accelerationist aesthetics"), there's the June 2013 EFlux which was devoted to exactly this question. In it, Patricia MacCormack (In "Cosmogenic Acceleration: Futurity and Ethics") asks: "[…] what is the qualitative difference between a nihilistic reading of acceleration as saturation without refined intensity [as in its 90s, Nick Land versions], and an accelerationist aesthetic that does not equate speed with the too-fast replacements of capitalism, instead seeking intensity in all movement, and thus all movement as acceleration (even multidirectional)?" I think this last point is particularly interesting insofar as it insists, as I think Rob Myers pointed out vis-à-vis Futurism, that speed is not an absolute quality, but is a relational concept. In this sense, no continents without islands. I also wonder about how accelerationism's aesthetics relates to the larger question of political aesthetics. What I mean by this is: accelerationism, in its latest version, started off primarily as a way of naming a political tendency: how to best bring about a post-capitalist global situation using the tools which are available. Thus, not exactly an oppositional stance – we must smash capitalism – but rather a repurposing/hacking of the platforms that capitalist interests have made available and using them as weapons against that which impedes a transition to post-capitalism. Is aesthetics one such tool? I might point out that the 90s cyber version of accelerationism certainly had aesthetic investments (Neuromancer, Blade Runner, Terminator, etc.). So the question that accelerationism poses might be something like: what sort of coordination can/should exist between a post-capitalist political program and art? Sent from my iPad > On Apr 21, 2016, at 3:11 PM, Rob Myers wrote: > > I think Haraway is a good historical example. Their Cyborg Manifesto was > written against sclerotic essentialist-/eco- feminism and amidst the decline > of left politics in the US during the Reagan era. They take the Cold War > figure of the cyborg and re-purpose it to critique all of this. There are > strong parallels to Srnicek & Williams' current argument that "folk politics" > is insufficient to bring about political change. > > I don't think that Accelerationist aesthetics are even slightly resolved yet, > and that's a good thing. In "Accelerationist Art" I mention some examples and > possibilities, particularly art that tries to exit the confines of > Contemporary Art's simulacrum of freedom. Maybe we can come up with something > here. :-) In general, Accelerationist aesthetics would presumably be about > increasing the capabilities of our reason in/via art, which I think would > require increasing the capabilities of our perception. One view of this would > be something like Cultural Analytics, the ability to deal in millions of > images or other cultural/perceptible phenomena at a time. But then there's > the singular power of myth and icons/iconography to guide and organise our > thought and perception. Which brings us back to the quarantine zone in which > we can look at Hyperstition... > > I think that a) and c) are good positions to combine. If they lead to b), > that's great. If not, hopefully understanding why not will lead to positive > action in other ways. > >> On Thu, 21 Apr 2016, at 06:25 AM, dave miller wrote: >> I don't understand what accelerationism is yet, as I need to read a lot more >> - and a few times - and let it sink in. I find it hard to understand, to be >> honest. >> >> I'm interested though in the connection with Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto >> >> And I'd like to know more about the accelerationist aesthetic, what it is, >> and why. >> >> I'd like to know the general view from people on this list - as we are all >> new media/ net art/ media techy types , who have been experimenting with >> art, networked technology and politics for ages, is this something we should >> a) take very seriously >> b) embrace >> c) be sceptical of? >> d) be scared of? >> e) wish that we'd thought of > > ___ > NetBehaviour mailing list > NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour ___ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
Re: [NetBehaviour] My name is [Your Name Here] and I am an Accelerationist
Hello, My name is Tom Kohut and I'm a sort of accelerationist. I've been following the discussion of accelerationism since version 2 began to coalesce in 2008. (V.1 being the work in the 60s/70s of Deleuze&Guatarri, Lyotard's *Libidinal Economy* and Baudrillard). I say "sort of accelerationist" because while I am widely sympathetic to the principles of accelerationism (not necessarily those of Williams and Srnick's Manifesto), I think the implications of accelerationist tendencies in art and thought need to be articulated and debated. I look forward to doing it here. On Thu, Apr 21, 2016 at 8:25 AM, dave miller wrote: > I don't understand what accelerationism is yet, as I need to read a lot > more - and a few times - and let it sink in. I find it hard to understand, > to be honest. > > I'm interested though in the connection with Donna Haraway's Cyborg > Manifesto > > And I'd like to know more about the accelerationist aesthetic, what it is, > and why. > > I'd like to know the general view from people on this list - as we are all > new media/ net art/ media techy types , who have been experimenting with > art, networked technology and politics for ages, is this something we > should > a) take very seriously > b) embrace > c) be sceptical of? > d) be scared of? > e) wish that we'd thought of > > cheers dave > > > On 21 April 2016 at 14:06, Alan Sondheim wrote: > >> >> >> Hi - I have a naive question - does accelerationism deal with issues of >> pollution, extinction, and so forth? Can one wait for accelerationism? Has >> one already waited? >> Thanks, Alan >> >> >> On Thu, 21 Apr 2016, ruth catlow wrote: >> >> Hello, >>> My name is Ruth Catlow, >>> and I am an Accelerationist. >>> >>> Back in 1996 >>> (to be continued) >>> ___ >>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>> NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org >>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>> >>> >>> >> == >> email archive http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ >> web http://www.alansondheim.org / cell 718-813-3285 >> music: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ >> current text http://www.alansondheim.org/tx.txt >> == >> >> ___ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >> > > > ___ > NetBehaviour mailing list > NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > ___ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
