Materiality

Media as a geological process

When we consider media within the context of geological processes the way Jussi Parikka invites us to, I'm pulled in two opposite directions. On one hand, the length of my life is insignificant in the face of geologic time, and so any meaning in my practice becomes insignificant too. The only meaning I can ascribe to my work is how it fits in with the processes of macro-erosion and mass extinction brought by human activity on the surface of the planet through the extraction and trade of natural resources. On the other hand, given the magnitude of considering geological processes, then a single individual's actions matter so little that the question becomes "why not make art?"

Enclosure of knowledge

Everything is enclosed. Mind and emotions are territory to be captured, studied, and exploited. Territory that is meant to be common is, by violence, shamed for being exposed by the very forces building a world where we must expose more and more ourselves in order to survive. I used to tell myself that I may have been too early (or too late?) for space exploration, but just in time for the exploration of the mind. I didn't realize what that meant in a world built over colonization. If I'm not actively one of the looters, I'm left with everyone else ripe for the taking.

Chimeras

I'm a consumer: my art becomes hollow, a shallow motivation to justify my consuption of technology. I'm a resource: information for the system to extract novel and creative ways to make consumers of us all. I'm a worker: a small part of a larger soothing industrial complex that maintains mass regulation in the face of a surveillance capitalism.

Tears and Breastmilk

This one is so heartbreaking that I don't even know what to say. It's what was most surprising. My mind fills of images from Puerto Rico. I imagine el Yunque, the sacred mountain of the island, stripped for mining. A nightmare. I'm also reminded of daoist wisdome and the usefulness of being useful.

Zhuangzi praised the virtue of uselessness. In a parable, Zhuangzi explained that an old tree was “too twisted and gnarled to be used for beams or pillars,” with a trunk “too splotched and split to be used for a coffin.” A carpenter encounters the tree and deems it worthless lumber. But for the tree, this is a blessing. While useful trees get chopped down, the useless tree survives. (from https://news.hiddenbrain.org/p/the-usefulness-of-uselessness)

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The patent filling frames the cage as a safety measure to protect workers. From what? From the hazardous conditions created by Amazon themselves. The hazard of not being able to pause. The hazard of marching on. The machine must remain on. The business motto seems to be: a human life is worth protecting from hazards, but no human life is worth preventing hazards in the first place.