LINK-A. POLICIES OF AFFECTIVITY, AESTHETICS OF BIOPOWER
(a selection of 11 web art works on contemporary affectivity and its
technological mediation)
www.vinculo-a.net
Curator: Juan Martin Prada
Produced by: MediaLabMadrid
Artists: Rob Bevan + Tim Wright; John Miller + Takuji Kogo; Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries; Akira Mori; Jess Loseby; David Crawford; MTAA (M. River & T. Whid Art assoc.) ; Colectivo 8552; Laura Bey
Essays by: Michael Hardt, Franco Berardi (Bifo), Juan Martin Prada
CURATORIAL STATEMENT :
Although affectivity is still a "perturbing enigma", it appears to act as the first link for human interaction or more like the link that precedes (link A, first or primary link) all of the others in this function; i.e. before professional, economical, political, identity links or those that are generated by ludic affinities. Probably the set of psychic representations of the drives, affectivity is the departure point in the generation of all sociability.
Affectivity is a bodily experience that occurs between the individual and the pre-individual and is certainly the part of psychism that most actively makes the organism become a body. It is undoubtedly located in an area somewhere between culture and biology, and thus the generation of affections may only be understood in a complex, sometimes opposed dynamic between nature and culture.
Affectivity points towards the virtuality of the world, its potential of being for the subject, for its own existence, by indicating to him/ her that it is not a complete part of reality. It requires a permanent excess or exteriorisation of the individual, which must go beyond him/herself, proven by all of his/her inclinations for the others in the world or for things, by his/her propensity to love. It is a primordial point of connection between the outside and the inside, between individuality and sociability. Affective syntony, shared affection, is the elementary basis for real interaction between people. There is a profound dependency between affectivity and interactivity, in the depth of what "being in touch" means.
Regardless of the relationship or dependency of affectivity on body chemistry, there is no doubt that affectivity is an aesthetic link, it is the link that is generated with the world, its objects, environments and beings through the emotions on the world, of the feelings that are produced by affecting and being affected by it. Perhaps this is why affectivity situates aesthetics so obviously in a prepolitical place (and thus what is probably its immense revolutionary potential). Thus, to propose an analysis of affective meetings is to try to impact on the basis of the political, even on what precedes the forms of organisation that represent ethics.
Despite the fact that the sphere of affection is still one of the least
studied fields in the behavioural sciences, the various contributions made in recent decades have opened up a very important gap by acknowledging, at least, the role of affectivity in the production of meaning and significance, by virtue of which this relationship is proving to be particularly relevant, for example, in developing the new educational theories, in which confirmation of the impossible separation between cognition and affectivity nowadays conforms one of its most essential methodological nuclei.
Of course, the intrinsic relationship between affectivity and aesthetic
experience means that many of the manifestations of artistic creation seem to be the most interesting ways to approach the problems that affect the sphere of human affection in contemporary society. Active development of research on this relationship could be able to reveal the connections and interrelations between aesthetics and biopolitics, demonstrating, perhaps and in the last instance, that the politics of affectivity and of its production, management and handling are actually aesthetics of contemporary biopower.
This project intends to take one step in this direction. In order to do so, the following texts intend to present, basically, approximations to the problems that arise regarding the affective nature of biopolitical
production, and the processes of desensitisation and automatism imposed by cybertime. The artistic proposals that have been selected, on the other hand, evoke a whole range of references related to the desires for personal contact and affection through the networks, their forms that are often camouflaged by deceit or fiction, or their narrative forms. We will also include allusions to the warm sincerity of the amateur affective imaginaries that are proliferating with increasing strength in the Internet, and the cold disaffection that characterises the casual meetings between people in the areas of transit of major cities and, of course, the subtle borders, which are often very blurred, between care and control, affectivity and submission.
Juan Martin Prada
e-show: LINK-A. POLICIES OF AFFECTIVITY, AESTHETICS OF BIOPOWER
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Type: discussion
Comments
CURATORIAL STATEMENT :
[english translation:]
Although affectivity is still a "perturbing enigma", it appears to act as the first link for human interaction or more like the link that precedes (link A, first or primary link) all of the others in this function; i.e. before professional, economical, political, identity links or those that are generated by ludic affinities. Probably the set of psychic representations of the drives, affectivity is the departure point in the generation of all sociability.
["affectivity" is the first thing that happens to you, before your thinking has a chance to really kick in.]
Affectivity is a bodily experience that occurs between the individual and the pre-individual and is certainly the part of psychism that most actively makes the organism become a body. It is undoubtedly located in an area somewhere between culture and biology, and thus the generation of affections may only be understood in a complex, sometimes opposed dynamic between nature and culture.
Affectivity points towards the virtuality of the world, its potential of being for the subject, for its own existence, by indicating to him/ her that it is not a complete part of reality. It requires a permanent excess or exteriorisation of the individual, which must go beyond him/herself, proven by all of his/her inclinations for the others in the world or for things, by his/her propensity to love. It is a primordial point of connection between the outside and the inside, between individuality and sociability. Affective syntony, shared affection, is the elementary basis for real interaction between people. There is a profound dependency between affectivity and interactivity, in the depth of what "being in touch" means.
Regardless of the relationship or dependency of affectivity on body chemistry, there is no doubt that affectivity is an aesthetic link, it is the link that is generated with the world, its objects, environments and beings through the emotions on the world, of the feelings that are produced by affecting and being affected by it.
["affectivity" happens between your body and what's outside of your body.]
Perhaps this is why affectivity situates aesthetics so obviously in a prepolitical place (and thus what is probably its immense revolutionary potential). Thus, to propose an analysis of affective meetings is to try to impact on the basis of the political, even on what precedes the forms of organisation that represent ethics.
[tweaking a person's "affection" is a nifty way to tweak her subsequent thinking.]
Despite the fact that the sphere of affection is still one of the least
studied fields in the behavioural sciences, the various contributions made in recent decades have opened up a very important gap by acknowledging, at least, the role of affectivity in the production of meaning and significance, by virtue of which this relationship is proving to be particularly relevant, for example, in developing the new educational theories, in which confirmation of the impossible separation between cognition and affectivity nowadays conforms one of its most essential methodological nuclei.
["affectivity" be reprazentin'. yo!]
Of course, the intrinsic relationship between affectivity and aesthetic
experience means that many of the manifestations of artistic creation seem to be the most interesting ways to approach the problems that affect the sphere of human affection in contemporary society. Active development of research on this relationship could be able to reveal the connections and interrelations between aesthetics and biopolitics, demonstrating, perhaps and in the last instance, that the politics of affectivity and of its production, management and handling are actually aesthetics of contemporary biopower.
[since art tweaks a person's "affectiion," art is a nifty way to tweak her subsequent thinking.]
This project intends to take one step in this direction. In order to do so, the following texts intend to present, basically, approximations to the problems that arise regarding the affective nature of biopolitical production, and the processes of desensitisation and automatism imposed by cybertime. The artistic proposals that have been selected, on the other hand, evoke a whole range of references related to the desires for personal contact and affection through the networks, their forms that are often camouflaged by deceit or fiction, or their narrative forms. We will also include allusions to the warm sincerity of the amateur affective imaginaries that are proliferating with increasing strength in the Internet, and the cold disaffection that characterises the casual meetings between people in the areas of transit of major cities and, of course, the subtle borders, which are often very blurred, between care and control, affectivity and submission.
[this is a show with different kinds of internet art and some catalog essays about how art tweaks a person's "affection" and thus her subsequent thinking.]
like the primeval unisexuality of snails?<BR>
<DIV id=wmMessageComp name="wmMessageComp"><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 8px; MARGIN-LEFT: 8px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid">——– Original Message ——–<BR>Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: Re: e-show: LINK-A. POLICIES OF AFFECTIVITY,<BR>AESTHETICS OF BIOPOWER<BR>From: curt cloninger <[email protected]><BR>Date: Sun, June 04, 2006 7:35 pm<BR>To: [email protected]<BR><BR>CURATORIAL STATEMENT :<BR><BR>[english translation:]<BR><BR><BR>Although affectivity is still a "perturbing enigma", it appears to act as the first link for human interaction or more like the link that precedes (link A, first or primary link) all of the others in this function; i.e. before professional, economical, political, identity links or those that are generated by ludic affinities. Probably the set of psychic representations of the drives, affectivity is the departure point in the generation of all sociability. <BR><BR>["affectivity" is the first thing that happens to you, before your thinking has a chance to really kick in.]<BR><BR><BR>Affectivity is a bodily experience that occurs between the individual and the pre-individual and is certainly the part of psychism that most actively makes the organism become a body. It is undoubtedly located in an area somewhere between culture and biology, and thus the generation of affections may only be understood in a complex, sometimes opposed dynamic between nature and culture. <BR><BR>Affectivity points towards the virtuality of the world, its potential of being for the subject, for its own existence, by indicating to him/ her that it is not a complete part of reality. It requires a permanent excess or exteriorisation of the individual, which must go beyond him/herself, proven by all of his/her inclinations for the others in the world or for things, by his/her propensity to love. It is a primordial point of connection between the outside and the inside, between individuality and sociability. Affective syntony, shared affection, is the elementary basis for real interaction between people. There is a profound dependency between affectivity a
nd interactivity, in the depth of what "being in touch" means. <BR>Regardless of the relationship or dependency of affectivity on body chemistry, there is no doubt that affectivity is an aesthetic link, it is the link that is generated with the world, its objects, environments and beings through the emotions on the world, of the feelings that are produced by affecting and being affected by it. <BR><BR>["affectivity" happens between your body and what's outside of your body.]<BR><BR><BR>Perhaps this is why affectivity situates aesthetics so obviously in a prepolitical place (and thus what is probably its immense revolutionary potential). Thus, to propose an analysis of affective meetings is to try to impact on the basis of the political, even on what precedes the forms of organisation that represent ethics. <BR><BR>[tweaking a person's "affection" is a nifty way to tweak her subsequent thinking.]<BR><BR><BR>Despite the fact that the sphere of affection is still one of the least <BR>studied fields in the behavioural sciences, the various contributions made in recent decades have opened up a very important gap by acknowledging, at least, the role of affectivity in the production of meaning and significance, by virtue of which this relationship is proving to be particularly relevant, for example, in developing the new educational theories, in which confirmation of the impossible separation between cognition and affectivity nowadays conforms one of its most essential methodological nuclei. <BR><BR>["affectivity" be reprazentin'. yo!]<BR><BR><BR>Of course, the intrinsic relationship between affectivity and aesthetic <BR>experience means that many of the manifestations of artistic creation seem to be the most interesting ways to approach the problems that affect the sphere of human affection in contemporary society. Active development of research on this relationship could be able to reveal the connections and interrelations between aesthetics and biopolitics, demonstrating, perhaps and in the last instance, that
the politics of affectivity and of its production, management and handling are actually aesthetics of contemporary biopower. <BR><BR>[since art tweaks a person's "affectiion," art is a nifty way to tweak her subsequent thinking.]<BR><BR><BR>This project intends to take one step in this direction. In order to do so, the following texts intend to present, basically, approximations to the problems that arise regarding the affective nature of biopolitical production, and the processes of desensitisation and automatism imposed by cybertime. The artistic proposals that have been selected, on the other hand, evoke a whole range of references related to the desires for personal contact and affection through the networks, their forms that are often camouflaged by deceit or fiction, or their narrative forms. We will also include allusions to the warm sincerity of the amateur affective imaginaries that are proliferating with increasing strength in the Internet, and the cold disaffection that characterises the casual meetings between people in the areas of transit of major cities and, of course, the subtle borders, which are often very blurred, between care and control, affectivity and submission.<BR><BR>[this is a show with different kinds of internet art and some catalog essays about how art tweaks a person's "affection" and thus her subsequent thinking.]<BR>+<BR>-> post: [email protected]<BR>-> questions: [email protected]<BR>-> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz<BR>-> give: http://rhizome.org/support<BR>+<BR>Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the<BR>Membership Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/info/29.php </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>