Re: [-empyre-] cages

[christina mcphee <christina112@earthlink.net>]

hi Catherine and empyre, 


I've been lurking but this terrific post draws me out (of my cage?@!)

Please,  Catherine, give us your book information / urls and perhaps a longer quote. I agree with Chris that this comment of yours

"A cage, for an
>animal, is a drastic loss of space and an induction into a pathological
>spatial aphasia.  For humans, "cages"--architectural cages for
>example--are a gain in the meaning and reality of space.  But both cages
>are space-boxes in the sense that they are constructed by representational
>techniques (classical perspective or digital scripting ) that makes
>"gaming", among other things, inevitable.  The caged animal and 
>"architectural human" in their boxes share a complex relationship to what
>Derrida called "ethical calculability."
 
and you add, 


"Distracted, but profound, gaming (in which real ethical calculability is
probed [and expanded] in a variety of ways) is therefore, my hasty theoretical summary of
the multitude of practices to which "spatial critical practice" might be
leading us now. I think this is, mostly, a positive and creative
direction.  Do you agree?

Would you be implying then that gaming as it takes place in the hypothetical cage or linked cages can be
a cognitive exploration of escape strategies from these cages?  (that is, to win is to get out of the game)?


Also I would love to learn more from you about your concept "pathological spatial aphasia", linking speech and (?) spatial experience of severe/severed boundary conditions. 


Finally, this ethical calculability sounds like some kind of framing differential, perhaps a differential that is implied between polar subjective identities (animal regarding human through cage  and vice versa) ?  or are you speaking more of some common field of spatial cognition , shared amongst multiple subjects (like a multplayer gamespace, or a theatre lobby ) within which a differential plays out on multiple scales of value?  Some more free associations from you before you leave us would be very intriguing. 



Christina





-----Original Message-----
>From: cingraha@pratt.edu
>Sent: Sep 15, 2007 3:51 PM
>To: empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>Subject: [-empyre-] cages
>
>The last three posts from Hugh, Sally Jean Norman, and Brian were
>fantastic.  I thought I would simply add--having no time to digest all the
>rich material offered here--a cage story (adapted from a book I wrote last
>year--a chance for a plug):  A wildlife management scientist published an
>article in the New York about being severely bitten by a hyena.  The hyena
>was in a cage and she was putting water into the cage when the hyena bit
>her, dragging her into the cage.  She lived, but with a limp that
>subsequently, according to her account, marked her as prey in the world of
>animals she worked with.  The cage arrests the hyena (in a post-animal
>world)--it is no longer able to lay down its scent on the plains, the
>means by which it announces it difference and identity.  A cage, for an
>animal, is a drastic loss of space and an induction into a pathological
>spatial aphasia.  For humans, "cages"--architectural cages for
>example--are a gain in the meaning and reality of space.  But both cages
>are space-boxes in the sense that they are constructed by representational
>techniques (classical perspective or digital scripting ) that makes
>"gaming", among other things, inevitable.  The caged animal and 
>"architectural human" in their boxes share a complex relationship to what
>Derrida called "ethical calculability."
>
>Distracted, but profound, gaming (in which real ethical calculability is
>probed in a variety of ways) is therefore, my hasty theoretical summary of
>the multitude of practices to which "spatial critical practice" might be
>leading us now. I think this is, mostly, a positive and creative
>direction.  Do you agree?
>
>Catherine Ingraham
>
>_______________________________________________
>empyre forum
>empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>http://www.subtle.net/empyre


<http://christinamcphee.net>
<http://naxsmash.net>