mkstewar /201 /response 9

Response Writing Week #9

Week 9 – Wedensday November 28 — Embodiment

Jean-Francois Lyotard, “Can Thought Go On Without a Body?” in The Inhuman (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988), 8-23.

Mark B N. Hansen, “Introduction” and “The Affective Topology of New Media Art” in New Philosophy for New Media (Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2004), 1-11, 197-232.

Henri Bergson, Matter and Memory, trans. N.M. Paul and W.S. Palmer (NY: Zone Books, 1991). Translated from the 5th Edition published in French in 1908. Excerpt of 3 pgs.

From Three Different Times

On one hand it is amazing to me that Bergson was able to see ideas so far into the future, and on the other being born into a new era where the concepts of the individual was emerging due to the discourse between Darwinian thought, which in tern question concepts of God... I don't think it is a stretch to compare (not topically) the significance of the subject matter relative to newness, Donna Haraway''s, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century” with Bergin's Matter and Memory. Both contend with a world in flux, Harraways because of a technological new world void of a gender impressioned historical context and Bergson because origin of life itself was being questioned.



I am familiar with Mark Henson's work, I saw it at the San Jose Museum of Art during the Zero One festival. It was an interesting exhibit both visually and contextually. I went with two friends. One was a photographer, with a real keen eye for curating, she was fascinated. In contrast the other friend, a sculptor didn't think it was even art. I mention this because this is an example of a different digital divide, this is the one that exists in the art community. Additionally the more fervent attitudes represent a toxic silence.


Lyotard's persective was the one wth the most relevence to me, and I am looking forward to the class discussion. I know Craig will bring us a broader and clearer definition that what I am gathering on my own.


Specifically reflex! The comment "A human, in short, is a living organization, that is not only complex, but so to speak, replex (12) Processing, abstracting, focusing on goals and activities, and as an object ... means we have a unique perspective - our human survival neccesitates these qualities (13)


According to Dreyfus humans don't think in binary code, unlike artificial intelligence Survival being dependent on having a body to perform human activities however can and will likely e the human landscape of the future. (15) All I can think is "not yet". Artificial intelligence is It leaves me hopeful that artificiai intelligence can not retrieve visual memories and use that data to predict a future (17). But what about computer chess? Programmable anything... The article concerns itself with human qualities like "thinking and suffering" (20), but I can't help but be concerned about creativity and reproduction. Those are the crown jewels of systems not to be tampered within a binary what could become occult. Freud didn't need to be referenced... Ahem! In closing the power was the belonging to the body and mind (23), and I would add motivation.

About the Video

This Video is called The Human Race.

This is an interview with Pro. Sandra Kemp of the Royal College of Art, on human enhancement.
About the Video

The New York Times Company Debuts "Moveable Type"

Nope, it's not the corporate blogging software we're talking about here, but the new permanent art installation in the lobby of the newspaper's new Renzo Piano-designed headquarters building on Eighth Avenue and 41st Street.

Artist Ben Rubin and UCLA professor/statistician Mark Hansen have created a multi-media installation of 560 small screens, mounted on two walls, which display information culled from the newspaper's archives and live feeds. Information is parsed and displayed by algorithms created by the artists.

The duo's last collaboration as the Listening Post, which debuted at the Whitney in 2002 and has been traveling, most recently at the San Jose Museum of Art.

The new work by Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen is reported in today's New York Times. Above is the segment that David and I did with the artists. This is one of a series of videos we have been creating for The New York Times Company about the new building.

If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and see "Moveable Type." No ticket needed.

-- Andy Plesser, Posted on Thursday, October 25, 2007

This video is called PostHuman Society.

To me it is stunning visually and contextually.

Youtube Video Description: An interpretation of a Futuristic Society into a Controled MicroUniverse, with music by Dresden Dolls (672, Good Day) and MUSE (Ruled by Secrecy)... what are we becoming?


    Page Details
    Contact DANM  |  Digital Arts and New Media  |  Arts Division  |  Grad Division
    login