Ray Brassier: Alien Theory: The Decline of Materialism in the Name of Matter (2001)

“The thesis tries to define and explain the rudiments of a ‘non-philosophical’ or ‘non-decisional’ theory of materialism on the basis of a theoretical framework provided by the ‘non-philosophy’ of François Laruelle. Neither anti-philosophical nor anti-materialist in character, non-materialism tries to construct a rigorously transcendental theory of matter by using certain instances of philosophical materialism as its source material.

The materialist decision to identify the real with matter is seen to retain a structural isomorphy with the phenomenological decision to identify the real with the phenomenon. Both decisions are shown to operate on the basis of a methodological idealism:- materialism on account of its confusion of matter and concept; phenomenology by virtue of its confusion of phenomenon and logos. By dissolving the respectively ‘materiological’ and ‘phenomenological’ amphibolies which are the result of the failure to effect a rigorously transcendental separation between matter and concept on the one hand, and between phenomenon and logos on the other, non-materialist theory proposes to mobilise the non-hybrid or non-decisional concepts of a ‘matter-without-concept’ and of a ‘phenomenon-without-logos’ in order to effect a unified but non-unitary theory of phenomenology and materialism. The result is a materialisation of thinking that operates according to matter’s foreclosure to decision. That is to say, a transcendental theory of the phenomenon, licensing limitless phenomenological plasticity, unconstrained by the apparatus of eidetic intuition or any horizon of apophantic disclosure;- but one which is simultaneously a transcendental theory of matter, uncontaminated by the bounds of empirical perception and free of all phenomenological circumscription.” (Synopsis)

Doctoral Thesis
Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick, April 2001
241 pages

discussion (Levi R. Bryant)

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Armin Medosch: Automation, Cybernation and the Art of New Tendencies, 1961-1973 (2012)

“My research investigates exhibitions as sites of research and appraises the possibilities and contradictions of a progressive and socially engaged media art practice. The international art movement New Tendencies (NT) (1961-1973) provides the material evidence through its exhibitions, symposia, artworks, catalogues, newsletters and artist’s statements. The basic methodological assumption behind my research is that new insights are gained by questioning the various interdependencies between NT and historical change.

NT was searching for a synthesis between socialist emancipation and artistic modernism by proposing to replace the notion of art with visual research. The project emerged in Zagreb, capital of Croatia which was then part of Yugoslavia, a Socialist nation which did not belong to the Eastern bloc and experimented with market Socialism combined with social self-management and self-government. Yugoslavia’s unique role between the hegemonic power blocs made it possible that an international, humanistic, and progressive art movement could emerge from its territory.

With every exhibition and conference NT articulated its artistic position and set itself into relation with the respective techno-economic paradigm. NT began during the height of Fordism, continued during Fordism’s moment of crisis in 1968, and ended when a new paradigm – informational capitalism – started to develop from within the old one. In this historical context, my hypothesis is that NT’s exploration of participatory art stands in direct relation to the rise of automation and cybernation in society. A further layer of inquiry is the historically changing relationship between manual and intellectual labour and how art addresses it.

By contextualising NT my research contributes a new dimension to the history of media art. Through the chosen methodology, a new understanding is gained not only of this important art movement but of the general dynamics of media art in the second half of the 20th century.” (Abstract)

Doctoral thesis
Arts and Computational Technology, Goldsmiths, University of London
369 pages

Author
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Viktor Šik: Kulturní analytika – metoda vizualizace velkých kulturních dat (2012) [Czech]

Předmětem této magisterské diplomové práce je kulturní analytika jako metoda pro výzkum kulturní produkce se zaměřením na vizuální produkci za použití nejnovějších technologií výpočetní techniky. Práce si klade za cíl představit základní principy kulturní analytiky, teoretický a historický kontext a související metodologii jakou je například vizualizace informací. Debata o kulturní analytice je zasazena do diskurzu softwarových studií jakožto nové humanistické a uměnovědné disciplíně, která se kriticky vymezuje proti mediálním studiím a obrací se k základním principům informačních technologií. Závěrečná případová studie pak ve smyslu kulturní analytiky demonstruje možnosti zpracování velkých dat, techniky automatizované analýzy a způsoby vizualizace médií na analýze vytvořené výhradně pro účely této práce.

Magisterská diplomová práce
Masarykova univerzita, Filozofická fakulta, Obecná teorie a dějiny umění a kultury/Teorie interaktivních médií
Vedoucí práce: Jana Horáková
Brno: FF MU, 2012

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