[-empyre-] vigilar y castigar

[marc garrett]

Hi Davin & all,

Sorry for not getting back earlier, it has been rather busy here...

 > I think it is easier to see that art from a blank anthropological
 > view, over our lifetime, has expressed an ironically posthuman set of
 > priorities--the service of markets, the expression of those markets,
 > and the general reification of market mythology.

Posthumanism is an interesting element which I feel can be included in 
the larger context of what is being discussed. If we include the 
netopticon, neoliberalism and postmodern marketing appropriations and 
its techniques as well, we see a vista so profound and absolute in its 
influence on our world; surely then 'as you suggest', we are unable to 
build alternatives as 'equally' powerful.

 > Rather than surrender to the bleak view that resistance is futile or
 > flee to the false view that resistance is inevitable, I hope to join
 > my voice with the growing chorus of people who are saying that a
 > better world is possible, but we have to work for it.  We need
 > critical thinking.  We need aesthetic practices.  We need each other.

Universal change from the bottom up seems like an impossibility. 
Universal change may be misdirected desire, serving a lack of personal 
growth intuitively and psychologically. Perhaps It would be more 
appropriate to introduce small, human-scale initiatives which include 
individuals and groups, according to their own needs and shared 
resources, and then build from there. As far as I am concerned 
(personally & with others), this has already been happening in regard to 
furtherfield and other forms of networked peer production, and 
independent community ventures, on-line and off-line.

"Peer production is based on the abundance logic of digital 
reproduction, and what is abundant lies outside the market mechanism. It 
is based on free contributions that lie outside of the labour-capital 
relationship. It creates a commons that is outside commodification and 
is based on sharing practices that contradict the neoliberal and 
neoclassical view of human anthropology. Peer production creates use 
value directly, which can only be partially monetized in its periphery, 
contradicting the basic mechanism of capitalism, which is production for 
exchange value. So, just as serfdom and capitalism before it, it is a 
new hyperproductive modality of value creation that has the potential of 
breaking through the limits of capitalism, and can be the seed form of a 
new civilisational order." An interview with Michel Bauwens founder of 
Foundation for P2P Alternatives By Lawrence Bird. 
http://www.furtherfield.org/interviews/interview-michel-bauwens-founder-foundation-p2p-alternatives 


A term I've come across is 'Zipperheads', which draws on the vocabulary 
of hacker culture - Zipperhead is a term for a person with a closed 
mind. I consider that various systems in place reflect a 'Zipperhead' 
mentality as default, in many different places - family, our everyday 
media and in our institutions etc. We can re-imagine perspectives and 
processes of changing our behaviours in how we engage with the art 
world, if we wish to and if it deserves it that is ;-)

Wishing you well.

marc