Hola Heather and all,
The trans/per/versal movement(s) that *particle group* attempts to trace
via bio/nano scale(s) gestures may indeed call forth "a kind of material
corollary" of affect/effect. Elle's capturing the EEG of
"ethno-dysphoric cloning" or Pinar's new organ/ism pass and are passing
between the utopian synthetics of particle capitalism(s) and the
nanocaust (or the revenge of the object) - an apocalyptic materiality.
The bio/nano aesthetic in the above work moves within and around a
critical anti-anti-utopian condition of making these engines of
imperceptibility visible - trans/per/versal or a type of queering movement.
But one does not have to look very far into the no-future future or the
freeze dried past to see what grey ecology of bio/nano is manifesting
via pre-set accidents or trans-effects at the bio/nano scale:
*
Genetically modified grass linked to cattle deaths**
http://wtvr.com/2012/06/24/genetically-modified-grass-linked-to-cattle-deaths/
*
Indeed a new materialism transmuting feed grass into poison which now
only Texas grasshoppers are enjoying (the trans/per/versal moment).
As artists we are all Texas grasshoppers - but for how long?
Very best,
Ricardo
On 6/24/12 5:27 PM, Heather Davis wrote:
Hi all,
Apologies for my tardy arrival. I am so excited to be a part of this
conversation with each of you, and find myself stunned by the quality
of thought and engagement of my brilliant interlocutors here. Thank
you for your contributions so for and to Zach and Micha for initiating
and curating this conversation. I am curious about the way in which
the nano, in each of your work, becomes a kind of significant
imperceptibility. I am thinking about how, in a previous discussion
this month, the idea of 'queer is everywhere' was broached. My initial
reaction to this was a kind of doubt, not trusting the utopic
overtones, nor the amorphous quality of the statement that lacked the
dissensus that characterizes politics. What I appreciate about the
nano, in each of your works, Pinar, Ricardo, and Elle, is the way in
which this kind of utopic moment of the viral meets with an politics
of imperceptibility not as simply an aversion or counter-move to
surveillant systems (of sex, the state, neoliberal corporate models,
etc.) but as an imperceptibility that moves through the body to make
significant changes. It makes me wonder about the nano as being a kind
of material corollary of affect - that which carries a force, but is
seen through its effects, rather than in a chain of causes or origins.
this is indeed a queer position, a kind of passing that is important
in its movement, of what it touches and shifts, that is locatable in
its actions. the nano seems particularly adapted to this kind of
effect, movement.
I cannot present here as beautiful a summary of the work that I am
doing, as it has yet to begin. Aside from dirt, which I love because
of its contaminating/contaminated qualities, because of its
amorphousness and its ability to be distinct while encompassing a
range of materials, metaphors, etc, I have become increasingly
fascinated with plastic. It marks our current age that is seemingly
ubiquitous, unfathomable (in its scale, duration, reach) and also
makes the nano a human possibility. for it is only because of the
creation of purely synthetic polymers that we both have the ability to
manipulate things at a nanoscale, and are able to perceive the nano as
a separate measurable scale. I am interested in the way in which
plastic, as a medium, connects to a politics of imperceptibility.
heather.
On Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 11:57 AM, Clough, Patricia
<pclo...@gc.cuny.edu <mailto:pclo...@gc.cuny.edu>> wrote:
Thanks to all who engaged during week 3 and welcome week 4 Patricia
________________________________________
From: empyre-boun...@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
<mailto:empyre-boun...@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
[empyre-boun...@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
<mailto:empyre-boun...@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>] On Behalf Of Elle
Mehrmand [ellemehrm...@gmail.com <mailto:ellemehrm...@gmail.com>]
Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2012 8:43 PM
To: empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
<mailto:empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
Subject: [-empyre-] Week 4 - Bio/Nano/Materialisms
Hello out there,
I am honored to have this opportunity to neuro-jaculate on this
list. The notions of materialisms/ immaterialisms/
bio-materialisms/ -erialisms, within the context of the
bio-political, bring to mind the pixellated flesh of my
holographic/ fauxlographic clones who live in my most recent
performative installation entitled fauxlographic. For the past
year I have been working within the speculative space of an
ethno-dysphoric cloning laboratory, where diasporic anxiety is
analyzed through the process of fauxlographic cloning. The clones
enact sonic rituals, singing in Farsi, English and Perz-ish [a
faux-ish language], based on multiple sources of information
including embodied memories, wikileaks cables, and textual/
visual/ aural references concerning Iran and Persia. The
ethno-dysphoric scientist analyzes her dislocated subjectivity by
performing a daily neurotic ritual within a glass computing
chamber while wearing an EEG neuro-headset. As she neuro-jaculates
with the clones
in order to (pars)e their data streams, the diasporic computing
sounds of the EEG oscillate in pitch based on her neural activity.
When high levels of CO2 are detected by the lab's sensors, the
clones become aware of those gazing upon them, resulting in an
anxious act of erasure and multiplication of their pixellated
flesh on the fauxlographic screen, reciprocating the affective
presence and implications of other bodies within the laboratory.
The use of organic sensors transforms the lab into a cyborgian
spatial interface, allowing for unconscious collaboration between
multiple bodies in space, confusing the somatic architecture of
the performance.
// bodies
[fragmented.dislocated.flesh]
the metaphor of the split subject in a multitude of
representations calls for the split subjectivity of the diasporic
body. the hologram. the clone. the screenal flesh of the
projection. the reflection on the glass. the live specimen with a
neural prosthetic.
//donna haraway's cyborg reconfigured
the live specimen lays in a burst of stillness within the glass
chamber for 30 minutes. the liveness of her naked body creates an
affect that the clones cannot produce, but ultimately she will
become a reproduction of herself. she performs analysis on the
clones by means of neural computing. her experiments are open to
the public, allowing for multiple bodies to inhabit the
laboratory. the intersectionality of all of the bodies produce the
organic energy that is necessary for the installation to function.
the fauxlographic clones are fragmented and displaced as they
interact with their ironic head scarfs from american apparel
through gestural research. the black scarf cuts into their
screenal skin, erasing their flesh due to the translucent nature
of the fauxlographic screen. they are never fully in or out of the
fabric, creating a fluidic relationship to the object, one that is
not part of a binary construct, but one that arises from a unique
space within the perception of being persian, and is expressed
through the gestures of their diasporic anxiety. fractured
elements of their being are echoed in the displacement of their
body parts. they are vulnerable in their nudity with their
pixellated flesh and informatic contents exposed, but that is the
nature of the clone.
- elle mehrmand
--
elleelleelle.org <http://elleelleelle.org><http://elleelleelle.org>
assemblyofmazes.com
<http://assemblyofmazes.com><http://assemblyofmazes.com>
_______________________________________________
empyre forum
empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au <mailto:empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
http://www.subtle.net/empyre
_______________________________________________
empyre forum
empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
http://www.subtle.net/empyre
_______________________________________________
empyre forum
empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
http://www.subtle.net/empyre
