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Wed Sep 17 19:00:04 EST 2014
ion of actionable futures, many of the processes inherent to “the dig=
ital” are taking place outside of the phenomenal field of human perce=
ption. To this end, not only is the performative “stuff” of the=
digital functionally evasive, but the reiterative and regenerative executi=
ons that drive its operation also suggest that even when we do “see s=
omething,” it is nothing more than an ephemeral apparition… </=
i></span> </blockquote><blockquote style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;b=
order-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:s=
olid;padding-left:1ex" class=3D"gmail_quote"><span><i><br></i></span><i><sp=
an style=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-=
space:pre-wrap">As I mentioned in an earlier post, much of what we refer to=
when we speak of “the digital” takes </span><span style=3D"fon=
t-family:Arial;font-size:13px;white-space:pre-wrap;line-height:1.15">place =
outside of the field of human perception.</span></i></blockquote></span><sp=
an><br><p dir=3D"ltr" style=3D"line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-botto=
m:0pt"><span style=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:basel=
ine;white-space:pre-wrap">This statement makes me think about driving in na=
ture. I live in NYC now and don’t really get to act on the “Did=
you know New York has 10,000 miles (or whatever amount) of snowshoe hiking=
trails?” as much as I’d like to. That being said, The “e=
phemeral apparition,” - or as I like to call it, </span><span style=
=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;font-style:italic;vertical-align:basel=
ine;white-space:pre-wrap">experience</span><span style=3D"font-size:13px;fo=
nt-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> - of the dig=
ital reminds me of taking the offramp on the highway to observe a scenic ov=
erlook. I grew up in Northern Virginia and my family didn’t have a lo=
t of money when I was young to go travel or book hotels for long weekends. =
Instead we would go down US interstate 81 until we got to the historical sc=
enic route </span><span style=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;font-styl=
e:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Skyline Drive</span>=
<span style=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;whi=
te-space:pre-wrap">. We would cruise up and down the windy road, listening =
to tapes on the car stereo or playing guessing games until my brother and I=
would get tired and fall asleep in the back seat. From time to time, howev=
er, we’d pull over and take a look out into the Blue Ridge Mountains =
and rolling hills of the lower Appalachian Trail. </span></p><br><p dir=3D"=
ltr" style=3D"line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span styl=
e=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:p=
re-wrap">More recently, whenever I make long car trips (in that ever-so-qui=
ntessential Americana way), I rarely remember the mile marker, or the comme=
morative plaque, or where I was on my journey, or even the actual view. Wha=
t I </span><span style=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;font-style:itali=
c;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">do</span><span style=3D"fon=
t-size:13px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"=
> remember is that I turned off the road and interrupted my trip - and that=
this interruption is often a way of reminding myself of my journey through=
the “stuff” of the road (or information superhighway if you wi=
ll).</span></p><br><p dir=3D"ltr" style=3D"line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;=
margin-bottom:0pt"><span style=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;vertical=
-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">So, then, what is the objectification=
of that experience? What is the matter that consolidates or crystallizes t=
hat moment of rupture? It could be a photograph, or a video, or a tweet, or=
a sound recording, or a text to a loved one - some digital artifact of rem=
embrance, a keepsake of data. But I’d wager that the real </span><spa=
n style=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;font-style:italic;vertical-alig=
n:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">substance</span><span style=3D"font-size:1=
3px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> of exp=
eriencing the ephemeral occurs in the moment of interruption. With a slight=
nod to Kev Bewersdorf, I’d say that the materiality of the digital o=
nly happens AFK - removed from the torrent of being plugged in, reflecting =
on it only when one has fully stepped away from its monotony. The moment in=
which one pulls off the road, interrupting their electronic activities, is=
the moment when the digital becomes material. It is when the onslaught of =
digital stuff becomes sublime.</span></p><br><p dir=3D"ltr" style=3D"line-h=
eight:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style=3D"font-size:13px;=
font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">For me the =
experience of the sublime is the elusive moment of terrified separation fro=
m humanity/civilization. In that moment of (self) recognition away from the=
digital, I am deeply troubled by what I see in front of me. I see the subl=
ime as a terrible thing, or else a thing of terror (ala Burke). It is terri=
fying and horrific to reflect on the digital - and it is in that moment of =
terror that the digitial becomes “real,” or else it becomes &ld=
quo;matter.” The “terribleness” - as described by Burke -=
of that feeling transforms the ephemeral into the actual, and in doing so =
it shapes the digital into an object.</span></p><br><p dir=3D"ltr" style=3D=
"line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face=3D"Arial"><s=
pan style=3D"white-space:pre-wrap">***</span></font></p><br><p dir=3D"ltr" =
style=3D"line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style=3D"=
font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wr=
ap">Perhaps the terror that I see during (self)reflection away from the dig=
ital speaks to the dangers that occur within a disappearing submedial space=
. The invisibility of surveillance and the political work that goes on with=
in network culture is often only visible en masse - as is the case with OWS=
, the Arab Spring, and the current Hong Kong protests. The problematic pose=
d by Groys’ analysis of 21st century submedial space suggests not onl=
y that the presence of such a space is becoming hard to perceive but also i=
ts </span><span style=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;font-style:italic=
;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">affect</span><span style=3D"=
font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wr=
ap"> is becoming harder to </span><span style=3D"font-size:13px;font-family=
:Arial;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">feel=
</span><span style=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:basel=
ine;white-space:pre-wrap">. This lack of emotional (or psychological) tacti=
lity that occurs from observing these mass-produced (or mass-represented) f=
orms of political action from the outside creates a dangerous type of assoc=
iation - one that is inherently built on distance, absence, and othering.</=
span></p><br><span style=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align=
:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">When affect has been evacuated from social =
exchange a different type of objectification happens, one that I don’=
t actually know how to define, but certainly </span><span style=3D"font-siz=
e:13px;font-family:Arial;font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-sp=
ace:pre-wrap">feels</span><span style=3D"font-size:13px;font-family:Arial;v=
ertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> different. The matter of a di=
gital object is one that is quickly losing its affect, one that gets subsum=
ed into an infinite scroll. It doesn’t feel like pulling off the road=
, at least. Instead it feels more like a self-driving car. </span></s=
pan><br clear=3D"all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Nicholas =
O'Brien</div><div><br></div><div>Visiting Faculty | Gallery Director</d=
iv><div>Department of Digital Art, Pratt Institute</div><a href=3D"htt=
p://doubleunderscore.net" target=3D"_blank">doubleunderscore.net</a></div>
</div></div>
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re.library.cornell.edu</a><br></blockquote></div>
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