[-empyre-] COVID and circulation workers
--empyre- soft-skinned space--Hi all! Thanks so much for having me—I have deeply enjoyed the rich discussion that’s been happening over these last few weeks, and have learned a lot from it. Below is a little thing I wrote last week while I was thinking about the relationship between two connected issues that have emerged out of present circumstances. The first is about the fate of the neoliberal intellectual project, with its fantasies about markets as magically self-coordinating systems that don’t require centralized intervention (in its strongest version, this argument doesn’t just say “we don’t care about human flourishing and the social good but only about markets,” it actually says “markets will produce human flourishing and the social good far better than any other system”). The second is about the fact that under current circumstances, workers in the logistics and service sectors—including many workers who have been the victims of intensified exploitation as a result of gigification—have become newly essential to social provisioning, as we all need delivery drivers and grocery store workers and big-rig truckers to get us necessary items even more than we did before. These two things come together, for me, under the heading of “circulation,” so here are some thoughts… On circulation We think a lot about circulation these days. We think about supply chains: the shipping container, the warehouse, the big rig; about the loading bay, the pallet, the shelf, the delivery vehicle. There’s a version of this that Bruce Robbins describes as the “sweatshop sublime”: the sudden realization “that one is the beneficiary of an unimaginably vast and complex social [system]…that brings goods from the ends of the earth to satisfy your slightest desire.” For Robbins, the “sublimity” of this moment lies in the abyssal sense of powerlessness that attends it. To realize that we are part of an unimaginably large whole is unsettling, and we feel as small and powerless when we contemplate the vastness of the market as we do gazing at the vastness of the mountain. This powerlessness thus distinguishes Robbins’ “sweatshop sublime” from the more self-satisfied feeling Milton Friedman experiences as he ponders the free market “coordinat[ing] the activities of hundreds of millions of people all over the globe [under] ever-changing conditions,” or the “marvel” Friedrich Hayek says we ought to feel when we consider the natural and uncoordinated working of the price system. Yet Friedman and Hayek (and Robbins too) are all describing this coordinated, vast, networked system when it works, at least for those for whom it works. This is first-world thought, neoliberal thought, boom-time thought. It’s not crisis thought, so it’s not what we are mostly doing now. Instead, we think about why GM can’t use its idle factories to make ventilators instead of cars, about why virus testing kits are stuck in warehouses rather than converging “from the ends of the earth” and going where they are needed most. We see the empty shelf where the toilet paper or dried beans should be. We wonder why all the demand in the world can’t magically coordinate a supply of face masks. On the phone, a friend says “Now I can’t stop thinking about all the hands that touched everything I buy.” This sudden awareness of what it takes to get an apple into one’s cart is different than Robbins’ “sublime” and Hayek’s “marvel”—it’s not the largeness of supply chains and provision networks but rather their intimacy, the human labor whereby goods move hand to hand to hand. Marx: “All commodities are non-use-values for their owners, and use-values for their non-owners. Consequently, they must all change hands. [T]his changing of hands constitutes their exchange, and their exchange then puts them in relation with each other as values and realizes them as values …When one commodity replaces another, the money commodity always sticks to the hands of some third person. Circulation sweats money from every pore.” Hands in Marx are usually synecdoche for human labor. The passage about circulation, though, isn’t about labor, but rather about exchange, which here comes after but is not itself work—indeed, Marx’s argument here is that despite its visibility, the “noisy sphere of circulation” isn’t where value is made; rather, value is created out of view, in the “hidden abode of production” Yet if circulation sweats, so do circulation workers. 19th century “sweated” production labor allowed manufacturers to expand work and output without investing in buildings and machines, as unskilled workers, mostly women and children, did unskilled work for piece-rate wages in their own kitchens, decentralizing the industrial workforce and preventing collective labor unrest. 21st century sweated labor, however, is mostly circulation work (in the overdeveloped world, at least). Stockers and packers at Amazon,
Re: [-empyre-] Welcome to Week 4 on -em; yre- Interfacing COVID 19: the technologies of contagion, risk, and contamination
--empyre- soft-skinned space--Dear all, Thanks, Junting, and of course, Tim and Renate, for this opportunity to read comments from the one-of-a-kind Empyre community regarding the current situation and share my opinion about it. It is not easy to articulate something which makes sense in these days, yet it’s worth a shot. I will try to do my best. To the question, how COVID is affecting everyone’s work, I would like to reply, taking into account my interest in cinema and, therefore, in the moving image. I am in Italy now. I arrived here on March 21, and since that day, I’ve been monitoring at how media and public intellectuals have been covering the pandemic. On the one hand, there is an ongoing discussion among philosophers, originated by Agamben – a piece that, I think, most of you are aware of (you may find something here: https://www.journal-psychoanalysis.eu/coronavirus-and-philosophers/). All in all, that debate has been regarded as a discussion unable to give any form of theoretical guidance to comprehend the crisis, making more and more reasonable the assertion that one should rethink the role of theory as a supposedly grand narrative of the present. In this regard, I found particularly striking the passage from Merleau-Ponty – his letter to Sartre – that Gary Hall quoted in one of his interventions. To avoid the “trap of existing discourses,” it almost seems that theory should gain (or regain?) the status of an anachronistic practice or, perhaps, that of a minor one – using the term minor in a Deleuzian sense. On the other hand, though, the efforts that most of the journalists made are incredible, extremely accurate in providing stories and contexts. Social networks helped, too – if possible, I would like to share a post from someone I know, a press officer from Bergamo, who described the situation there with a justifiable mix of anger and sadness. Thus, overall, those media one might call “static” (newspaper, photography) did their job. Yet the contagion, the movement in itself, seems to be the missing ring in this scenario. Even if someone may talk about the “metaphysics of patient zero” ( https://www.diacriticsjournal.com/the-metaphysics-of-patient-zero/), Italy’s inability to pinpoint the physical origin of the spreading (that invisible Soo Yon Lee mentioned) has meant the impossibility to give form (representation) to the virus movement. And, therefore, control it partially (which is always better than nothing). The results, at least in terms of imaginary, is that of living in a sort of hallucination. For example, I am writing these words in my room, and outside the sun is shining, and it looks like the umpteenth ordinary day in my life – my province has a ridiculously low percentage of cases, so I can say that I am safe. However, the media surfaces in my home (televisions, computers) remind me that deaths, up in the North, haven’t vanished. Those images, though, do not reveal anything new or detailed in their visuals. In essence, it is an endless documentary in which press conferences and hospitals feature as the only possible settings at play. Visuality does not equal understanding. For this, it makes sense that a cinematically mediocre film like “Contagion” (S. Soderbergh, 2011) is back in fashion as the cinematic anticipation of this catastrophe. It is certainly true for its staging. Lastly, I would like to ask to all if you have opinions on a topic that, if I am not wrong (if so, I apologize), turns out to be absent in our thread so far. Namely, the nature of the next idea of globalization that COVID is fatally contributing to create. As far as I know, the lack of a coordinated response in Europe entailed a series of misalignments among countries, something that surely had some impact on the spreading. The same story inside Italy, where we have Region-based legislation concerning health policies. Undoubtedly, the contagion is global, yet a global response has been missing. The world is far from being “synchronous,” even in the media field. For example, I am sure that if we had had a better set of data of what happened in China – more press coverage of Chinese newspapers and journals; more translations – we wouldn’t ever considered Wuhan as the usual distant East in February. And perhaps Italy and Europe would have taken different choices. Recently, I ran into an Italian online blog that republished Carlo Ginzburg’s “Killing a Chinese Mandarin: The Moral Implications of Distance” (it seems available via Jstor). I had never read it, so I did it. In my view, it is worth reading it even today, at least to the extent that it highlights the presence of some features belonging to the inherent vice that still informs the core of the current conception of globalization. Stay safe and connected, Il giorno gio 23 apr 2020 alle ore 17:22 Renate Ferro ha scritto: > --empyre- soft-skinned space-- > Welcome to Week 4 on -empyre- soft-s
Re: [-empyre-] Bio-Fascism: Eclipse of the Social /Decline of Politics -- question marks
--empyre- soft-skinned space--> > dear Johannes and all, > > Thanks so much for your queries about my Shapeshifters drawings. I > apologize, I've been away designing a book for days on end and nearly > disappeared into the computer. > > The works Johannes is referring to were introduced in week one; the link > to images is > http://www.christinamcphee.net/category/projects/1-2-shapeshifters-drawings-2020 > Johannes wrote: > > "These are very large 'Shapeshifters' - Christina, and they seem a mixture > or assemblage of organic forms or elements and the digital, digital > refrains, can you please tell us more about how Sor Juana's writings or > compositions inspired you, and whether you felt the solitude of a monastic > cell was also implying something gritty/resilient for you (Sor Juana had > visitors and a lover, I gathered from "Sor Juana and the Chambered > Nautilus", a theatrical staging and reembodiment I saw last year at MECA, > Houston),…” > > I started drawing from the Enigmas with small studies over a year ago in > March 2019. I had fallen in love with a translation by Stalina Emmanuelle > Villarreal (2015). Gritty sound clashes in English, against and toward the > elegant twisted original in Spanish. Readers like me find her short, tweet > length questions rich in possible answers and none. > > As for lovers, Sor Juana keeps us on the wrong foot : she asks, “What can > be the favor / that by secret virtue/ if reached is rued/ and if awaited, > feared?” (Joanna Newsom: “Time is a symptom of love.”) Temporality is a > symptom of eros, an overloading of circuits, intensification between two or > more nodes. Stalina writes about this effect in the task of translation: > “In essence, to maintain structural integrity employs a series of > simulaneous parallels, like a string of double helix carrying Sor Juana’s > and my blood to donate to a reader’s pulse.” > > > https://uglyducklingpresse.org/publications/enigmas/ > Symbolically then, we find tranverse, helix crossings between our love of the Earth, and our overwhelming desire for both future climate change mitigation and human survival, over against how that ‘favor’ — of suddenly clean air and burgeoning wildlife, elk herds on the beaches near Portland, all this — is achieved by a terrible ‘secret virtue’ (the coronavirus’s monstrous algorithms by which it generates new genetic code in our carrier bodies remains obscure)—and, ‘if reached is rued’ (we are in global quarantine for the foreseeable)— and, ‘if awaited, feared?’ — fearing that art and community despite all reasonable efforts (pace Simon Taylor) could all die soon... > > http://www.christinamcphee.net/captivating-reason-cautivando-la-razon/ > > > So yes although I had already been studying the poems for a year, it was > not until after they were installed in their current un-viewable show in > LA, that the force of affiliating to her poetry seems ‘an even more > inspiring premonition?’ I think though that we must collectively develop > resistances through works of art, as Premesh Lalu was so inspired, by the > amazing Francis Darby painting, “The Opening of the Sixth Seal” in the > Irish National Gallery. I find Premesh’s inductive hypothesis, around > temporal contiguous events around abolition of slavery in at least parts > of the world and simultaneously the production of this painting of Darby’s > circa 1828, very speculative in the best way: “The Danby painting, > completed in 1828, converged with the abolition of slavery in the Caribbean > and the Cape and coincided with a revolution in scientific communication > that proved to be indispensable in the genealogy of race upon which > apartheid rested…Would it give us a new perspective on race and how to deal > with our concomitant biological fragility?” (This question also reminds me > of the installation films of John Akomfrah like“Purple”, 2017.) > > > Johannes goes on to tell me: “I was trying to read your "Caminando al > tormento" in light of Premesh Lalu refering us to apartheid and less good > ideas (thanks for making me look at Season 1 and the performances in > Kentridge's & Pahla O.Phala's curation), and the painting by Francis Danby > titled *The Opening of the Sixth Seal* (1828)." > http://onlinecollection.nationalgallery.ie/objects/3074/the-opening-of-the-sixth-seal?ctx=35e4b97d-3d9d-4603-ae78-d4f762a24033&idx=1 > > > > > Johannes is referring to this drawing, “Caminando al tormento / Trekking > towards a hellish plight” : > http://www.christinamcphee.net/trekking-toward-a-hellish-plight-caminando-al-tormento/ > > > > Just for fun, here’s the ‘primary text’ from which “The Opening of the > Seventh Seal” derives, and is some kind of ur-source for mine. The passage > about the sixth seal occurs in the Apocalypse of St John the Divine: > > > “Then I watched as he broke the sixth seal. And there was a violent > earthquake: the sun turned black as a funeral pall and the
Re: [-empyre-] Bio-Fascism: Eclipse of the Social /Decline of Politics -- question marks
--empyre- soft-skinned space--
dear Christina and all
what a breathtaking tour de force through your painting-sculptures and what
you, at the end of your beautiful response, refer to as "materiality and
performance,
repetition and reweaving/redrawing."
This also answers some of my questions to us all, about concrete examples of
"thinking through materials" and less good ideas (which I consider "art as
virus" to be, even if Burroughs or Laurie Anderson sang about it); Christina
you also took us through a show that is in quarantine, something museums would
like to offer now, virtual tours with zoom effects where you can get a little
closer to a painting without being in the room/space of collective
experiences.(museums often don't quite write as well as you do, Christina!).
Thank you for that, and all you say about how the translations of Sor Juana's
enigmas, but also the poetics of an (indigenous) land and its shapeshifts,
inspired you and motivated you: I noted that one of your wonderful physical
works hangs in the doorway (Eleggua comes to mind; and as my Cuban friends told
me, this trickster plays a role in every aspect of our lives, offering us
opportunity and just as likely throwing an obstacle in our way).
Exit Doors. (I'm reresding Mohsin Hamid's novel "Exit West," and can recommend
it warmly)
More to talk about for sure, about these black exit doors, passages -- and
those "very materials of performing drawing, compelling us not to settle."
I feel like you in this respect, only now beginning to learn how to draw and
paint, so my attempts are compellingly modest yet.
Today, a newspaper here in my region recalls WPA (under Roosevelt), federal art
and federal writers projects (Ralph Ellison wrote "Invisible Man," then,
and Zora Neale Hurston composed "Their Eyes were watching God"; Oswald de
Andrade had already written a different kind of manifesto, Manifesto
Antropófago, that might resonate from the south), and I wondered this morning
what/how our emergency relief acts will act, what public art and murals we will
produce, where we will gather to perform or enjoy rituals, demonstrate our
"temperaments and affiliation with a notorious bodies of enigmatic writings --
perhaps resisting derivations, or repeats," and (Christina) yet echoing.
I am unable to respond much now to high theory, and may be forgiven, but our
DAP-Lab ensemble's last dance, in December, was drawing the climate crisis into
its thinking through material, and if you have time & a dark chamber, here is
the link:
"Mourning for a dead moon": https://youtu.be/I66-b21y8oE
with regards
Johannes Birringer
ps.
(thanks also for the reference to Joanna Newsome's "Divers" album and this song
you chose ("Time, as Sympton, of Love"). When I refered to Dor Juana's
visitors/lovers, I meant Father Antonio, her confessor, and Maria Luisa,
Countess of Paredes, her lover, the one she dedicated her poems to).
From: Christina McPhee
Sent: 24 April 2020 08:18
dear Johannes and all,
Thanks so much for your queries about my Shapeshifters drawings. I apologize,
I've been away designing a book for days on end and nearly disappeared into the
computer.
The works Johannes is referring to were introduced in week one; the link to
images is
http://www.christinamcphee.net/category/projects/1-2-shapeshifters-drawings-2020
Johannes wrote:
"These are very large 'Shapeshifters' - Christina, and they seem a mixture or
assemblage of organic forms or elements and the digital, digital refrains, can
you please tell us more about how Sor Juana's writings or compositions inspired
you, and whether you felt the solitude of a monastic cell was also implying
something gritty/resilient for you (Sor Juana had visitors and a lover, I
gathered from "Sor Juana and the Chambered Nautilus", a theatrical staging and
reembodiment I saw last year at MECA, Houston),…”
I started drawing from the Enigmas with small studies over a year ago in March
2019. I had fallen in love with a translation by Stalina Emmanuelle Villarreal
(2015). Gritty sound clashes in English, against and toward the elegant twisted
original in Spanish. Readers like me find her short, tweet length questions
rich in possible answers and none.
As for lovers, Sor Juana keeps us on the wrong foot : she asks, “What can be
the favor / that by secret virtue/ if reached is rued/ and if awaited,
feared?” (Joanna Newsom: “Time is a symptom of love.”) Temporality is a symptom
of eros, an overloading of circuits, intensification between two or more nodes.
Stalina writes about this effect in the task of translation: “In essence, to
maintain structural integrity employs a series of simulaneous parallels, like a
string of double helix carrying Sor Juana’s and my blood to donate to a
reader’s pulse.”
https://uglyducklingpresse.org/publications/enigmas/
Symbolically then, we
