Hi Patricia, Is that piece from Becoming Undone? I'm writing an essay on ecocriticism and materialism and would dearly love to read it, as I am not a materialist either at this point, and it may be that there are some convergences.
Yours, Tim http://www.ecologywithoutnature.blogspot.com On Jun 28, 2012, at 10:42 AM, "Clough, Patricia" <pclo...@gc.cuny.edu> wrote: > Yes Grosz. Wonderful piece by her on why she no longer is a materialist > Very beautiful on matter and life. Patricia > ________________________________________ > From: empyre-boun...@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au > [empyre-boun...@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au] On Behalf Of pinar yoldas > [p...@duke.edu] > Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 9:36 PM > To: soft_skinned_space > Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Week 4 - Bio/Nano/Materialisms - the transperversal > aesthetic of Texas grasshoppers > > Thank you Heather, > Your question "how do we think of the human reaching beyond the human?" is of > great importance to me. > I want to quote Elizabeth Grosz here , who is a big influence for me and my > project . > > "What is distinctively human in the humanities if man is again, in the light > of Darwin's rearrangement of the universe, placed in the context of animals > and animal-becomings? > What would the humanities, a knowledge of the posthuman, be like far in the > future, after mankind has evolved beyond man? " > > "What kind of new understanding of the humanities would it take to adequately > map this decentering that places man back within the animal, within nature, > and within a space and time that man does not regulate, understand, or > control? What new kinds of science does this entail? And what new kinds of > art? " > > ( Grosz, Becoming Undone, p12) > > Grosz emphasizes Darwin's contribution in decentering of the human by > placing the animal right next to the human , not above, not below. The > nihilism Heather has pointed out is unavoidable at the moment of no-future > future and nanocaust. Yet Grosz' approach fills my lungs with fresh , > uncontaminated air, and a genetically modified desire to create rather than > annihilate. > If human is not at the center anymore we can look at future as a pool of > animal possibilities. I personally strongly believe that the bio-nano realism > surrounding us can at least pave the way to post-human ecosystems where the > residues or 'cruft' of capitalism gives birth to new species , species beyond > capitalism, beyond military and maybe perhaps hopefully beyond religion. > > > Pinar Yoldas > ----------------------------------------------- > {artist, designer, neuroenthusiast} > ----------------------------------------------- > PhD Student > Art , Art History and Visual Studies > Duke University > ----------------------------------------------- > {http://pinaryoldas.info} > > > > > On Jun 27, 2012, at 7:24 PM, Heather Davis wrote: > > The no-future future is definitely something that lays heavy on me, as a > person and as a thinker, especially as it relates to what you call the > 'nanocaust' with its differential racial/class distributions over this earth. > it seems precisely at the level of the nano that these struggles are being > played out, within and outside of our own bodies, other living organisms, the > surface of the earth and the composition of water. > > what i have been struggling with for a while is a desire to avoid the kind of > nihilism that would lead to a relishing in the terminal capitalism/empire > moment we seem to be finding ourselves in. beauty in pure destruction is at > once a driver of social change and its expiration. This tendency, seen within > certain strands of SR (I am thinking of Nick Land/Reza Negarestani) has an > incredible appeal in its heightening of (nano) intensities, in maintaining > destruction as an important political concept, but seems to also slide > towards messianic end-of-the-world christian narratives of destruction and > perfection. is it possible or desirable to think with this material moment, > think with the dying cows, rapidly extinguishing species, without giving over > to the pure pleasure of annihilation? how do we think of the collective as > necessarily reaching beyond the human, its transversal ontogenesis that > encompasses the object revenge that you speak of (especially in relation to > non-liv in > g objects, such as chemicals, minerals, polymers, etc.) without falling into > a kind of christian rapture of the end times. perhaps this is for me where > art and theory provide a kind of breaking point/ambiguity that would enable a > different kind of movement. in other words, the anti-anti-utopian position of > art (through it's multiple negatives that leaves us where exactly?) provides > this kind of useful ambiguity that pushes in the direction of new organisms > (such as pinar's or ricardo's poetic nano-interventions) operate as a > magical object, that is, the object that wards off the devil by becoming the > devil. > > I really love Pinar's categorization of 'post-natural ecosystems' and Elle's > ethno-dysphoric cloning in this regard because this categorization offers a > way to acknowledge the destruction of capitalism while refusing the scenario > of apocalypse that gives too much weight to figures of origins and certainty. > thank you for these interventions. > heather. > > > > On Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 5:57 AM, rrdominguez2 > <rrdoming...@ucsd.edu<mailto:rrdoming...@ucsd.edu>> wrote: > Hola Heather and all, > > The transperversal 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 - transperversal 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 transperversal 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, n > eoliberal 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 clone s > 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<http://elleelleelle.org/>> > assemblyofmazes.com<http://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<mailto:empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au> > http://www.subtle.net/empyre > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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<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
