Note: The intent is to outline the rudimentary theoretical foundations for certain cultural practices involving the subversion of consumer technology. The growing phenomenon of artists involved in active critique of the technosphere creates a set of interesting questions. The author starts this discussion by tracing the history of social critique all the way back to the classical Marxist model, followed by the critical discourse of alienation continues in writings of Jean Baudrillard.
Charlie Chaplin, Modern Times
The intent of this expose is to outline the rudimentary theoretical foundations for certain cultural practices involving the subversion of consumer technology. By consumer technology I mean hardware and software produced with an the intent of maximum financial gain. The “Do it Yourself” in the field of fine art is almost a tautology, but it certainly isn’t so in the world of consumer electronics and software design. The growing phenomenon of artists involved in active critique of the technosphere (which includes my own art practice), creates a set of interesting questions. The first one is: “why do we feel compelled to mess with electronic devices and call it art?”, and the second: “is what we do still a continuation of Modernist principles or an all together different thing; and if so what kind of thing is it?”
Disney Land, free stock photo “American Family” and an example of a useless commodity
I’d like to start this discussion by tracing the history of social critique all the way back to the classical Marxist model. We are going back to the moment in history when the very concept of oppression came to its maturity and entered the political and artistic vocabularies. The Marxist discourse is based on the dialectical conflict between the oppressed class of proletarians and the bourgeois oppressors. The new economy becomes possible thanks to the Industrial Revolution and mass mechanical reproduction of goods. The proletarians are essentially people who sell their unskilled labor for minimum wage and become extensions of the factory machine lines. They lose what Marx believed to be the most fundamental human need: the access to the fruits of their own labor. This disconnect created by the industrial production severs humans from the objects they make, and breeds what Marx calls the “alienation of labor”
Cracked game intro, hacked Xbox, Cory Arcangel’s “Mario Clouds”
Paul Slocum, Joe McKay, JODI
Lance Weakeling, Marcin Ramocki, Alex Galloway (RSG)
Cory Arcangel, Kara Hearn, Mike Beradino
CJ Yeh (局部), Jamie Allen
