Raqs Media Collective: Seepage (2010)

Raqs is a word in Persian, Arabic and Urdu and means the state that “whirling dervishes” enter into when they whirl. It is also a word used for dance. At the same time, Raqs could be an acronym, standing for “rarely asked questions”…!

This book gathers together a compilation of texts authored by Raqs Media Collective (Monica Narula, Jeebesh Bagchi, and Shuddhabrata Sengupta). Raqs has been variously described as artists, media practitioners, curators, researchers, editors, and catalysts of cultural processes. Their work, which has been exhibited widely in major international spaces and events, locates them at the intersections of contemporary art, historical enquiry, philosophical speculation, research, and theory—often taking the form of installations, online and offline media objects, performances, and encounters. They live and work in Delhi, based at Sarai, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, an initiative they co-founded in 2000. They are members of the editorial collective of the Sarai Reader series. In 2008 they were co-curators of the Manifesta 7 biennale.

Recent solo exhibitions include “Lightbox,” Tate Britain, London (2009), and “Escapement,” Frith Street Gallery, London (2009); group exhibitions include “Experimental Geography,” travelling exhibition, Canada and USA (2008–11), and “Indian Highway,” Serpentine Gallery, London (2008) and Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo (2009).

Publisher: Sternberg Press, April 2010
ISBN 978-1-933128-86-3
176 pages

publisher

PDF (updated on 2013-10-1)

Michal Murin (ed.): Avalanches 1990-95: Zborník spoločnosti pre nekonvenčnú hudbu (1995) [Slovak]

An anthology of the Society for Non-conventional Music (SNEH).

Translations: Eva Keprtová, Jozef Cseres, Peter Zagar, Miroslava Telúchová, Alexander Avenarius ml.
Publisher SNEH, Society for Non-Conventional Music, Bratislava
ISBN 8096720643
216 pages

PDF (no OCR, updated on 2012-8-3)

Julian Assange: Conspiracy as Governance (2006)

“The non linear effects of leaks on unjust systems of governance

You may want to read The Road to Hanoi or Conspiracy as Governance; an obscure motivational document, almost useless in light of its decontextualization and perhaps even then. But if you read this latter document while thinking about how different structures of power are differentially affected by leaks (the defection of the inner to the outer) its motivations may become clearer.

The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. This must result in minimization of efficient internal communications mechanisms (an increase in cognitive “secrecy tax”) and consequent system-wide cognitive decline resulting in decreased ability to hold onto power as the environment demands adaption.

Hence in a world where leaking is easy, secretive or unjust systems are nonlinearly hit relative to open, just systems. Since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance.

Only revealed injustice can be answered; for man to do anything intelligent he has to know what’s actually going on.” (author, 31 Dec 2006, source)

commentary (workwithoutdread.blogspot.com, 27 Nov 2010)
commentary (zunguzungu, 29 Nov 2010)

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