No subject

Sat Oct 8 08:16:18 EST 2011

=20

Paradoxically the same framework that constitutes the viable limits of =
objectivity are those that constitute the possibilities for the =
fictional. No wonder that reality and fiction are incresingly confounded =
in spectacular society, where technical images become hiperreal, as =
Baudrillard suggests, i.e. more real, indeed politically, than whatever =
is outside them, while reality seems to hover on the edge of the =
invisible.

=20

Behind the apparent liquidity of media culture and web 2.0, ubiquitous =
interfaces and camera-screens are reproducing frontiers and barriers, =
those of the cartesian subject-object divide, where every subject =
connected to a terminal assumes the tragic (and delusive) erasure of the =
bodie's specificity for the sake of the abstract mind, which thinks of =
itself as capable of transmiting universal signifiers and meanings.

=20

The notion of information itself, as Katherine Hayles points out, =
relates to this pervasive attempt to erase corporeality. Yet, if =
according to enactive congition, other cognitive theories and =
phenomenology, consciousness is the effect of bodies moving in relation =
to other bodies, i.e. the effect of relational movements, whatever we =
call the mind cannot be other than bodily.

=20

The architecture of theatres, concert halls, auditoriums and cinemas, =
with their centralised perspective and their framing of the stage is =
equivalent to the camera-screen, where the spectator is placed, sitting =
at a certain distance from a fixed framing, a distance that safely =
allows to identify, in this case, the limits of the fictional, and to =
place oneself problematically outside it.=20

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<P style=3D"MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=3DMsoNormal><SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><FONT size=3D3>Dear all,</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style=3D"MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=3DMsoNormal><SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><FONT size=3D3><STRONG>&nbsp;</STRONG>herewith I start my =
contribution=20
to this discussion, with a number of posts in which I introduce some of =
the=20
issues I am working on at the moment, both theoretical and=20
practical.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style=3D"MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=3DMsoNormal><SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><FONT size=3D3></FONT></SPAN>&nbsp;</P>
<P style=3D"MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=3DMsoNormal><SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><FONT size=3D3>thanks to all for the wonderfull=20
contributions.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style=3D"MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=3DMsoNormal><SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><FONT size=3D3>yours</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style=3D"MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=3DMsoNormal><SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><FONT size=3D3>Jaime del Val</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style=3D"MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=3DMsoNormal><B><SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><FONT size=3D3><A=20
href=3D"http://www.reverso.org">www.reverso.org</A></FONT></SPAN></B></P>=

<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><A=20
href=3D"http://www.microsex.org">www.microsex.org</A></=
P>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>&nbsp;
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>&nbsp;
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>METAFORMANCE - Redefining=20
Relationality
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>Genealogies of perception: from =
proprioception to=20
otherception
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>&nbsp;
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>Perceptual technologies and the production =
of the=20
cartesian subject-object divide<?xml:namespace prefix =3D o ns =3D=20
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" =
/><o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>How is it that the cartesian, humanistic and =
logocentric=20
subject-object divide has come to be in terms of the articulation of =
sensory=20
anatomies?<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>I will focus on some of the technologies =
that are bound=20
to this genealogy. In particular technologies of vision and the =
camera-screen=20
paradigm.<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>Since the XV century specific uses of the =
camera obscura=20
gave birth to a realistic paradigm of representation in paiting. This =
has=20
developed further through the photographic camera, film and with the =
ubiquitous=20
proliferation of camera-screens in information=20
society.<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>Fixed framing, distance and exteriority to =
the observed,=20
centralised perspective, clear focus and "correct" exposure time have =
become=20
normative and standardised parameters, indeed conditions of possibility =
for the=20
very notion of objectivity in =
representation.<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>Fixed framing relates to the faciality of =
the humanist=20
subject, where the camera acts as an extension of the eyes, fixed in the =
face=20
that represents the subject as an abstract, disembodied and rational =
mind.=20
Distance allows to situate oneself as exterior to the observed thus =
making the=20
divide subject-object possible. Centralised perspective accounts for =
humanism's=20
anthropocentrism and universalism and for space as extensive reality. =
Clear=20
focus allows the mapping and representation of the object exterior to =
the=20
subject, its subjection to control. "Correct" exposure accounts for the =
fiction=20
of real and linear time, of the present as an instant between past and=20
future.<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>I will argue indeed that the production of =
the subject=20
and the object as pervasive political fictions relies upon the sensory=20
standardisation induced by the proliferation of these parameters of the=20
technical image, without which the subject-object divide, and its =
related=20
dualisms (mind-matter, soul-body, culture-nature, mental-physical, =
virtual-real,=20
artificial-real, masculin-feminin, heterosexual-homosexual) would not be =

possible. <o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>This political fiction, this paradigm =
permeates all of=20
scientific enquiry and lies in the foundations of=20
information-communication-control society at =
large.<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333399; =
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333399; =
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>The obsolete notion =
that we have 5=20
senses which work independently pervades not only the arbitrary =
divisions of the=20
art disciplines, but society at =
large.<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>Visualisation and=20
control<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>Visualisation is a long-standing control =
technology that=20
has evolved in the midst of, and foundational to, imperialisms of =
diverse kinds.=20
The attempt to subject all of reality to control, (which is more present =
than=20
ever in media and simulation culture), is the intentionality which lies =
behind=20
the production of technologies of visualisation. =
<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>In surveillance societies such as ours, =
cameras still=20
need to have the fixed framing, distance, perspective, focus and =
exposure that=20
allows for an object to be identified as such and be subjected to=20
control.<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>The production of the subject as something =
distinct from=20
its environment relates directly to this long tradition of control, =
which is=20
however challenged increasingly from the most diverse perspectives going =
from=20
quantum mechanics, symbiogenesys or enactive congnition theories to =
posthumanist=20
critique: all of these question the possibility to place oneself as an =
exterior=20
observer and stress the way in which we are part of immanent relations =
which are=20
indeed productive: from the atomic and molecular through the bacterial =
and=20
cellular, to the social and planetary, we are effects of relationalities =

happening at multitude of interrelated levels. Quite contrary to what =
the=20
humanistic dream attempted to make us believe, with its tales of =
autonomy,=20
superiority and free will.<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>What control is it possible to excercise =
upon something=20
that we are part of and which is contitutive of what we are? Arguably, =
in order=20
to excercise control it is necessary to place oneself, however fictional =
and=20
problematic this may be, outside of the controlled. Since this can never =
be=20
really the case control is continually failing, and life is exceeding =
its=20
boundaries in always unexpected movements. There is our only=20
hope.<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>From the camera-screen to the stages of =
spectacular=20
society<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>Paradoxically the same framework that =
constitutes the=20
viable limits of objectivity are those that constitute the possibilities =
for the=20
fictional. No wonder that reality and fiction are incresingly confounded =
in=20
spectacular society, where technical images become hiperreal, as =
Baudrillard=20
suggests, i.e. more real, indeed politically, than whatever is outside =
them,=20
while reality seems to hover on the edge of the=20
invisible.<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>Behind the apparent liquidity of media =
culture and web=20
2.0, ubiquitous interfaces and camera-screens are reproducing frontiers =
and=20
barriers, those of the cartesian subject-object divide, where every =
subject=20
connected to a terminal assumes the tragic (and delusive) erasure of the =
bodie's=20
specificity for the sake of the abstract mind, which thinks of itself as =
capable=20
of transmiting universal signifiers and =
meanings.<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>The notion of information itself, as =
Katherine Hayles=20
points out, relates to this pervasive attempt to erase corporeality. =
Yet, if=20
according to enactive congition, other cognitive theories and =
phenomenology,=20
consciousness is the effect of bodies moving in relation to other =
bodies, i.e.=20
the effect of relational movements, whatever we call the mind cannot be =
other=20
than bodily.<o:p></o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>The architecture of theatres, concert halls, =
auditoriums=20
and cinemas, with their centralised perspective and their framing of the =
stage=20
is equivalent to the camera-screen, where the spectator is placed, =
sitting at a=20
certain distance from a fixed framing, a distance that safely allows to=20
identify, in this case, the limits of the fictional, and to place =
oneself=20
problematically outside it. 
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>&nbsp;
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>.....
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB>&nbsp;
<SPAN=20
style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"=20
lang=3DEN-GB><FONT=20
size=3D3><o:p></o:p>&nbsp;</DIV></BODY></HTML>

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