Benjamin Tippin | Goldsmiths, University of London (original) (raw)
Papers by Benjamin Tippin
The production and exercise of radical political subjectivity is necessary for the further develo... more The production and exercise of radical political subjectivity is necessary for the further development of humanity, for the further development of our current stage of capitalism or the possibility of moving beyond it. Capitalism-all social production, really-requires challenges and competition in order for it to change and synthesize new modes of its existence. The lack of a radical challenge to the liberal mode of productioncapital, social, or otherwise-is the most pressing urgency of contemporary capitalism. The inherent tendencies of Capitalism toward decay and inherent contradictions necessitate constant movement in order to prevent absolute collapse. Without it, the crises produced by the innate structure of capitalism overwhelm and consume society. What does it mean to be revolutionary in our era of extensive and entrenched capital that dominates systems that examine and produce political will? Can art exercise a revolutionary politic within these systems?
If the 21st century is to understood in terms of the proliferation of interface and image exchang... more If the 21st century is to understood in terms of the proliferation of interface and image exchange platforms and if predominate forms of media only attempt to reconcile and navigate these technologies, theoretical examinations of these platforms aimed at understanding their aesthetics and effects have become imperative. Utilizing an understanding of cognitive technology from Marcelo Dascal, understandings of networks, protocol and control developed by Alexander R Galloway, and a theory of modern technogenesis by Katherine Hayles, this paper maps out emerging aesthetic forms in art and visual production as a result of the preponderance of computer interface in contemporary modes of communication. It examines the function and form of hypertext and protocol as they relate to visual culture. This work examines film and other visual forms with an eye to cognitive development in order to uncover the visual manifestation of networks as well as the systems of control that are embedded within.
Drafts by Benjamin Tippin
If the 21st century is to understood in terms of the proliferation of interface and image exchang... more If the 21st century is to understood in terms of the proliferation of interface and image exchange platforms and if predominate forms of media only attempt to reconcile and navigate these technologies, theoretical examinations of these platforms aimed at understanding their effects become imperative. Utilizing interrogations of technology, understandings of protocol and control developed by Alexander R Galloway and a theory of modern technogenesis by Katherine Hayles, this paper postulates that the technological and computational protocols underlying popular and emerging social media and mobile technologies, such as Instagram and Bubbli, engender a change in social behavior and enable cartographies of surveillance and control. This paper undertakes this examination by engaging the way that social media platforms have translated into engines of image economy. These platforms utilize imaging and integrated global positioning systems to map out, both visually and spatially, the movements of their users. These economies map intensities of engagement in social media spaces and create webs of surveillance, both extrinsically (“governmental”) as well as intrinsically (self-monitoring behavior). Through investigations into both the FBI's investigatory response to the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing and the Broad Museum's 'selfie oriented' social media strategy, this paper reveals transformations in the relationship of user to user environs that rethink photographic interactions and map the architectonics of locality. This paper ultimately attempts to correlate these transformations to the reproduction of space and the restrictions that social media interactions actually present.
Books by Benjamin Tippin
Architecture and the Smart City, 2019
How do sonic systems embedded within navigation software prefigure a transformation to movement a... more How do sonic systems embedded within navigation software prefigure a transformation to movement and flow in urban development? Can the commodity structure of GPS navigation apps point to new developments within the production of space as a social phenomenon? This paper takes up concepts from Marc Couroux’s glossary of speculative sonic technics as incitements for speculation about these questions by positing the community-driven social navigation software Waze as an amplifier of soft systems of capitalist urban development. This paper presents Waze as an affirmative engine of Couroux‘s concept of cyberaffordance reinforcing capitalist futures through cybernetic feedback. Turn-by-turn navigation is a recently developed site of commodity production. The sound guiding users away from centralized arteries of transit towards the periphery and challenge the visual feedback of urban travel. The dings and beeps of the GPS the supersede lines and signage of urban negotiation; sound revolts against the visual norm. Sound is a site of capital development through which Waze activates its logic of dispersion contra centralization, temporal logic contra spatial logic. Through sonic cybernetic feedback, Waze turns participation in its data collection into “soft” urban redevelopment—subjecting peripheral communities to aggressive speculation.
The production and exercise of radical political subjectivity is necessary for the further develo... more The production and exercise of radical political subjectivity is necessary for the further development of humanity, for the further development of our current stage of capitalism or the possibility of moving beyond it. Capitalism-all social production, really-requires challenges and competition in order for it to change and synthesize new modes of its existence. The lack of a radical challenge to the liberal mode of productioncapital, social, or otherwise-is the most pressing urgency of contemporary capitalism. The inherent tendencies of Capitalism toward decay and inherent contradictions necessitate constant movement in order to prevent absolute collapse. Without it, the crises produced by the innate structure of capitalism overwhelm and consume society. What does it mean to be revolutionary in our era of extensive and entrenched capital that dominates systems that examine and produce political will? Can art exercise a revolutionary politic within these systems?
If the 21st century is to understood in terms of the proliferation of interface and image exchang... more If the 21st century is to understood in terms of the proliferation of interface and image exchange platforms and if predominate forms of media only attempt to reconcile and navigate these technologies, theoretical examinations of these platforms aimed at understanding their aesthetics and effects have become imperative. Utilizing an understanding of cognitive technology from Marcelo Dascal, understandings of networks, protocol and control developed by Alexander R Galloway, and a theory of modern technogenesis by Katherine Hayles, this paper maps out emerging aesthetic forms in art and visual production as a result of the preponderance of computer interface in contemporary modes of communication. It examines the function and form of hypertext and protocol as they relate to visual culture. This work examines film and other visual forms with an eye to cognitive development in order to uncover the visual manifestation of networks as well as the systems of control that are embedded within.
If the 21st century is to understood in terms of the proliferation of interface and image exchang... more If the 21st century is to understood in terms of the proliferation of interface and image exchange platforms and if predominate forms of media only attempt to reconcile and navigate these technologies, theoretical examinations of these platforms aimed at understanding their effects become imperative. Utilizing interrogations of technology, understandings of protocol and control developed by Alexander R Galloway and a theory of modern technogenesis by Katherine Hayles, this paper postulates that the technological and computational protocols underlying popular and emerging social media and mobile technologies, such as Instagram and Bubbli, engender a change in social behavior and enable cartographies of surveillance and control. This paper undertakes this examination by engaging the way that social media platforms have translated into engines of image economy. These platforms utilize imaging and integrated global positioning systems to map out, both visually and spatially, the movements of their users. These economies map intensities of engagement in social media spaces and create webs of surveillance, both extrinsically (“governmental”) as well as intrinsically (self-monitoring behavior). Through investigations into both the FBI's investigatory response to the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing and the Broad Museum's 'selfie oriented' social media strategy, this paper reveals transformations in the relationship of user to user environs that rethink photographic interactions and map the architectonics of locality. This paper ultimately attempts to correlate these transformations to the reproduction of space and the restrictions that social media interactions actually present.
Architecture and the Smart City, 2019
How do sonic systems embedded within navigation software prefigure a transformation to movement a... more How do sonic systems embedded within navigation software prefigure a transformation to movement and flow in urban development? Can the commodity structure of GPS navigation apps point to new developments within the production of space as a social phenomenon? This paper takes up concepts from Marc Couroux’s glossary of speculative sonic technics as incitements for speculation about these questions by positing the community-driven social navigation software Waze as an amplifier of soft systems of capitalist urban development. This paper presents Waze as an affirmative engine of Couroux‘s concept of cyberaffordance reinforcing capitalist futures through cybernetic feedback. Turn-by-turn navigation is a recently developed site of commodity production. The sound guiding users away from centralized arteries of transit towards the periphery and challenge the visual feedback of urban travel. The dings and beeps of the GPS the supersede lines and signage of urban negotiation; sound revolts against the visual norm. Sound is a site of capital development through which Waze activates its logic of dispersion contra centralization, temporal logic contra spatial logic. Through sonic cybernetic feedback, Waze turns participation in its data collection into “soft” urban redevelopment—subjecting peripheral communities to aggressive speculation.