Andrew Woods | Pacific Northwest College of Art (original) (raw)

Conference Presentations by Andrew Woods

The 2014 Mortgage Market Review in the United Kingdom prompted legislation that empowered lenders... more The 2014 Mortgage Market Review in the United Kingdom prompted legislation that empowered lenders to scrutinize the personal bank statements of potential borrowers for proof of “consistent behavior of being able to live within their means.” Even when someone does not have any debt, they must behave as if they are indebted.
I contend that this type of debt-credit relationship works as a form of science fiction. I base this argument on Fredric Jameson’s definition of science fiction as an effort to imagine and chronicle a “future history.” The work of science fiction posits a future which, in turn, determines possibilities in the present. When lenders extrapolate the future from recent bank statements, they disregard the possibility that potential borrowers may change their lifestyle once making debt repayments. I propose the term “indebted futurism” to describe the phenomenon in which people are expected to prepare constantly for acquiring debt.
Indebted futurism is not only operative on an individual level, but also a societal one. In his book The Making of Indebted Man, Maurizo Lazzarato argues that the pervasive and exploitative relationship between Capital and Debtor means that “the future and its possibilities . . . devoted to reproducing capitalist power relations, seem to be frozen.” Any attempt to reform or replace capitalism must confront and overcome the control that the debt industry exerts over our futures.

I argue that the work of the Italian post-autonomists provides a theoretical framework with which... more I argue that the work of the Italian post-autonomists provides a theoretical framework with which to understand the personal and political aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Specifically, I focus on the writings of Franco “Bifo” Berardi, Maurizio Lazzarato, and Silvia Federici to assert that their analyses of precariousness, indebtedness, and austerity offer powerful insights into the construction of subjectivity under contemporary capitalism. Finally, I insist that their critique must be understood as part of the project to establish “the commons,” which, I explain, emerges from a set of constitutive practices rather than a return to nature or the past.

In recent years, countless media platforms—from The Guardian to VICE—have published opinion piece... more In recent years, countless media platforms—from The Guardian to VICE—have published opinion pieces which lament the paucity of empathy in contemporary politics. For instance, the journalist Owen Jones attributes the lack of a compassionate and effective response to the European migration crisis to a reluctance or inability to see refugees as human beings. As such, there is a widespread sense that almost every political problem in the world would be cured only if people experienced a bit more empathy for one another. In this paper, I turn to the Italian philosopher Paolo Virno’s work on linguistic negation and reciprocal recognition for a more sophisticated approach to this so-called “empathy deficit.”
Drawing on the biologist Vittorio Gallese’s research about mirror neurons, Virno argues that empathy is the basis of a primary human intersubjectivity that precedes the formation of an individual mind. Yet, this original intersubjectivity can be torn apart by an act of linguistic negation. For Virno, negation is the natural capacity of a linguistic animal equipped with the ability to designate others as “not-human.” Along these lines, I emphasize Virno’s careful assertion that the “not-human” signifies heterogeneity, instead of contrariety, in relation to human. Additionally, I build on the work of Tristan Adams and Eva Illouz to argue that the “not-human” encompasses relatively banal and diffuse subjective figures of late capitalism, including the employee and the intern. In these senses, the “not-human” is an economic function.
Following Virno, I argue that it is foolish to believe that we can reverse the linguistic negation and return to a pure intersubjective state of preindividual empathy. Whereas some may assume that this negation obliterates the empathetic relation between two subjects, I explain that this negative designation works to “suppress-by-preserving” neural empathy. Moreover, I draw on the research of Adams and Illouz to show that the managerialist dogma of late capitalism attempts to recuperate this neural empathy to support and sustain the not-human category of the employee. Consequently, I reject any naïve calls for a “return to empathy,” and develop Virno’s argument that the public sphere ought to be guided by an effort to negate forms of linguistic negation. Reciprocal recognition uses negation against negation. The duty of anti-capitalist and anti-state movements, therefore, is to “experiment with new and more effective ways of negating negation, of placing ‘not’ in front of ‘not-human.’” Finally, I develop the work of Franco “Bifo” Berardi and McKenzie Wark to illuminate the connection between Virno’s theory of reciprocal recognition and his related notion of exodus.

In my paper, I unpack one of the French philosopher Simone Weil’s most enlightening, albeit negle... more In my paper, I unpack one of the French philosopher Simone Weil’s most enlightening, albeit neglected, concepts: intellectual leprosy. In her polemical 1943 essay On the Abolition of All Political Parties, Weil contends that party politics infects citizens with the habit of thinking “only in terms of being ‘in favor of’ or ‘against’ any opinion, and afterwards (seeking) arguments to support one of these two options.” I argue that Weil’s conception of intellectual leprosy is a premonition of the post-truth condition, because it denotes a state in which an emotional commitment to one’s in-group precedes sincere and reflective thought.
Intellectual leprosy depends on the degradation of attention. In my paper, I expand on Weil’s distinction between spontaneous and voluntary attention. Whereas the former is a state of tense and sudden alertness triggered by extreme emotion, voluntary attention is more purposeful and relaxed. I argue that spontaneous alertness typifies the post-truth condition, because polarizing political discourse aims to fuel outrage and disdain before it attempts to persuade and convince.
Additionally, I contend that Weil’s ideal of voluntary attention is increasingly unattainable in the age of Semiocapitalism. I investigate the impact of social media platforms and smartphones on intellectual leprosy, and explain how these Semiocapitalist mechanisms encourage partisanship through the commercialisation and “clickbaitization” of journalistic practices. I develop Franco “Bifo” Berardi’s notion of “chronopathology” to demonstrate that the attention economy strives to capture social time to prevent people from cultivating voluntary attention. Finally, I revisit Weil’s proposal in On the Abolition of All Political Parties for the complete upheaval of our political and media infrastructure, and speculate on what we need to do to develop a lasting antidote to intellectual leprosy.

In 2015, NASA commissioned the design studio Invisible Creature to produce a series of posters ca... more In 2015, NASA commissioned the design studio Invisible Creature to produce a series of posters called Visions of the Future that imagines a time at which space travel becomes a form of luxury tourism. From the “mighty auroras” of Jupiter to the “endless nightlife” of PS0 J318.5-22, these posters depict outer space as a playground for the inordinately wealthy. NASA writes in their publicity statement for the posters that “someday, with the help of new generations of innovators and explorers, these visions of the future can become a reality.” For NASA, these visions do not portray or predict the future, but predate it. In other words, this future is bound to become a reality as soon as a new generation of engineers and explorers make it happen.
In response to this assumption, I analyze the deployment of Visions of the Future as a hyperstition: a fiction that makes itself real. Building on Kodwo Eshun’s definition of science-fiction as the “Research and Development department within the futures industry,” I examine Visions of the Future’s role in a projected future of space-commodification, heteronormativity, and racial purity. I posit that the retro-aesthetic of these posters alludes to a mid-twentieth century era of glamour and prosperity for the upper echelons of society that depended on systemic racial and financial inequality. I argue that it is vital to confront this future with a counter-hyperstition. I offer the example of the speculative inaugural show Mystic Hyperstitians in the Heart of Empire at The Museum of Contemporary Art on the Moon which features works that promote Afrofuturism, anti-capitalism, and gender-neutrality. In the conclusion of the paper, I revisit Walter Benjamin’s notion that the battle for an egalitarian future should be undertaken on behalf of past generations that encountered and suffered from oppression

In a 2007 research study, The Wellcome Trust's Centre for Neuroimaging discovered that victims of... more In a 2007 research study, The Wellcome Trust's Centre for Neuroimaging discovered that victims of amnesia are cognitively unable to imagine future scenarios: an outcome that intimates the fragile bond between memory and imagination, past and future, and nostalgia and futurism. Borrowing Jacques Derrida's notion of hauntology, the critical theorist Mark Fisher argues that we are unable to envision possible futures in our time unless we remember lost futures from the past. Fisher divides hauntology into two temporal categories of the " not yet " and the " no longer. " Whereas the former refers to unfulfilled past-futures, the latter evokes futures that exist inchoately in the present. Analyzing the Otolith Group's 2003 video-essay Otolith, I argue that any aesthetics of futurity must bridge these two hauntological categories. Set in 2103, Otolith borrows the conventions of documentary and science fiction to chart a speculative history of space travel from 2003 to the early 22nd century. I build on the work of the cultural critics Nina Power and T.J. Demos to suggest that the Otolith Group's work enables us to resist the temptation of self-amnesiacization: a process that divorces us from history and, in turn, from the future. Finally, by examining Walter Benjamin's essay " Theses on the Philosophy of History, " I assert that our artistic and philosophical endeavors to represent and contemplate futurity must burrow to the historical origins from which any possible future must grow.

The Promethean endeavor of accelerationism has been frequently misinterpreted as the intensificat... more The Promethean endeavor of accelerationism has been frequently misinterpreted as the intensification of capitalism, whereas it is actually the pursuit of a transition from a capitalist society to a post-capitalist one. Proponents of accelerationism advocate a Promethean politics of mastery over the economy and the environment, which the philosopher Ray Brassier predicates on the insight that there is no preordained and hallowed equilibrium between the given and the made. Consequently, there is no limit to the ways in which we can transform the world. In their “Manifesto for an Accelerationist Politics” and recent book Inventing the Future, Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams explain that the transformation of capitalism into post-capitalism requires a renewed concept of Left modernity, the introduction of full automation, and universal emancipation from work: the Promethean making of a post-work, post-scarcity, and post-capitalist society.
Any conceptual framework that incorporates the metaphor and spirit of Prometheus—meaning “foresight”—must, at some point, consider his twin brother, Epimetheus—meaning “hindsight.”

Whereas Prometheanism looks ahead to the transition from capitalism to post-capitalism, Epimethean accelerationism would look back at this transition from a hypothetical position in the future. In this paper, I assert that Promethean politics must be conjoined with Epimethean aesthetics to provide accelerationism with a radically reoriented vision of the future.
I present The Otolith Group’s 2003 film Otolith as a prime example of this reoriented and Epimethean vision of the future. Set in 2103, the film interweaves the conventions of documentary and science fiction to chart a speculative history of space travel from 2003 to the early 22nd century. I interpret Otolith and the accelerationist fascination with space travel through Nikolai Fedorov’s Common Task for Mankind and Benjamin Singleton’s notion of escapology. The grand imagery of space travel contrasts with documentary footage of the 2003 Iraq invasion protest in London, and I use this juxtaposition to analyze Srnicek and Williams’ renewal of utopianism and their critique of the folk- political. Otolith stipulates that the Promethean mastery of an artificial environment may not lead to greater human freedom, which, I argue, provides a moment of hesitation and reflection that typifies Epimethean aesthetics. The Epimethean aesthetics of accelerationism offers a new and alternative approach towards a radical and post-capitalist future through the representation of what might happen after this transition comes to pass.

The development of contemporary art has been framed by a transition from the construction of mate... more The development of contemporary art has been framed by a transition from the construction of material objects to the exploration of immaterial forms, such as relational aesthetics and digital art. Antonio Negri has argued that this transition has taken place alongside the rise of immaterial labour in post-Fordist societies. Consequently, Negri explains, artists have had to adapt their methods to reflect a world that is shaped and constituted by cognitive, cooperative and electronic networks. However, Franco Berardi has warned that the prevalence of digital communication indicates that the material body will be neglected and erased.

Using the work of the digital artist Dries Verhoeven (Wanna Play? – 2014), this paper will illustrate that artists can use immaterial forms to highlight how one’s body can switch between the physical and the digital without risk of erasure. Verhoeven engages with the immaterial artistic practice of digital communication as well as expressing a concern for the loss (and potential renewal) of material experience. These works will be compared to Roy Ascott’s notions of ‘double consciousness’ and ‘interspace’, where the participants of a digital artwork simultaneously exist and negotiate between material and immaterial spaces. It will be argued that Verhoeven’s work points out that our digital communication devices operate as a type of balcony, connecting and transfiguring the borders of material/immaterial, physical/virtual. The architectural figure of the balcony will be shown to be emblematic of the digital age, representing our duality as material bodies and digital beings.

MA Thesis by Andrew Woods

In 2010, critical theorist Benjamin Noys coined the term accelerationism to denote the argument t... more In 2010, critical theorist Benjamin Noys coined the term accelerationism to denote the argument that the only way to overcome capitalism is to intensify exploitation and expansion to the point of collapse. Since Noys’ coinage of the term, several thinkers have attempted to present more positive and celebratory cases for accelerationism. In their “#ACCELERATE: Manifesto for an Accelerationist Politics,” Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams define accelerationism as the basic belief that existing technological tendencies “should be let loose by moving beyond the limitations imposed by a capitalist society.” They expand on this basic premise in their 2015 book Inventing the Future, in which they reframe accelerationism as the demand for the establishment of a post-work, post-scarcity, postcapitalist society. Before Inventing the Future was published, literary theorist Steven Shaviro asserted in his book No Speed Limit: Three Essays on Accelerationism that accelerationism must be an aesthetic program before it can become a political one. Shaviro defines accelerationist aesthetics as the representation of a post-apocalyptic, accelerated form of capitalism. In this thesis, I propose four alternative characteristics for an aesthetics of accelerationism that accounts for the developments and changes in Srnicek and Williams’ political program: melting, mutation, hyperstition, modernity. I then apply these characteristics to the works of three contemporary artists and artist collectives—British installation and video artist Benedict Drew; Japanese artist collective Chim↑Pom, and the British filmmakers known as the Otolith Group. These characteristics present the transition from capitalism into postcapitalism in an aesthetic form, rendering the arguments and ambiguities of accelerationism more recognizable and understandable.

Papers by Andrew Woods

The 2014 Mortgage Market Review in the United Kingdom prompted legislation that empowered lenders... more The 2014 Mortgage Market Review in the United Kingdom prompted legislation that empowered lenders to scrutinize the personal bank statements of potential borrowers for proof of “consistent behavior of being able to live within their means.” Even when someone does not have any debt, they must behave as if they are indebted.
I contend that this type of debt-credit relationship works as a form of science fiction. I base this argument on Fredric Jameson’s definition of science fiction as an effort to imagine and chronicle a “future history.” The work of science fiction posits a future which, in turn, determines possibilities in the present. When lenders extrapolate the future from recent bank statements, they disregard the possibility that potential borrowers may change their lifestyle once making debt repayments. I propose the term “indebted futurism” to describe the phenomenon in which people are expected to prepare constantly for acquiring debt.
Indebted futurism is not only operative on an individual level, but also a societal one. In his book The Making of Indebted Man, Maurizo Lazzarato argues that the pervasive and exploitative relationship between Capital and Debtor means that “the future and its possibilities . . . devoted to reproducing capitalist power relations, seem to be frozen.” Any attempt to reform or replace capitalism must confront and overcome the control that the debt industry exerts over our futures.

I argue that the work of the Italian post-autonomists provides a theoretical framework with which... more I argue that the work of the Italian post-autonomists provides a theoretical framework with which to understand the personal and political aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Specifically, I focus on the writings of Franco “Bifo” Berardi, Maurizio Lazzarato, and Silvia Federici to assert that their analyses of precariousness, indebtedness, and austerity offer powerful insights into the construction of subjectivity under contemporary capitalism. Finally, I insist that their critique must be understood as part of the project to establish “the commons,” which, I explain, emerges from a set of constitutive practices rather than a return to nature or the past.

In recent years, countless media platforms—from The Guardian to VICE—have published opinion piece... more In recent years, countless media platforms—from The Guardian to VICE—have published opinion pieces which lament the paucity of empathy in contemporary politics. For instance, the journalist Owen Jones attributes the lack of a compassionate and effective response to the European migration crisis to a reluctance or inability to see refugees as human beings. As such, there is a widespread sense that almost every political problem in the world would be cured only if people experienced a bit more empathy for one another. In this paper, I turn to the Italian philosopher Paolo Virno’s work on linguistic negation and reciprocal recognition for a more sophisticated approach to this so-called “empathy deficit.”
Drawing on the biologist Vittorio Gallese’s research about mirror neurons, Virno argues that empathy is the basis of a primary human intersubjectivity that precedes the formation of an individual mind. Yet, this original intersubjectivity can be torn apart by an act of linguistic negation. For Virno, negation is the natural capacity of a linguistic animal equipped with the ability to designate others as “not-human.” Along these lines, I emphasize Virno’s careful assertion that the “not-human” signifies heterogeneity, instead of contrariety, in relation to human. Additionally, I build on the work of Tristan Adams and Eva Illouz to argue that the “not-human” encompasses relatively banal and diffuse subjective figures of late capitalism, including the employee and the intern. In these senses, the “not-human” is an economic function.
Following Virno, I argue that it is foolish to believe that we can reverse the linguistic negation and return to a pure intersubjective state of preindividual empathy. Whereas some may assume that this negation obliterates the empathetic relation between two subjects, I explain that this negative designation works to “suppress-by-preserving” neural empathy. Moreover, I draw on the research of Adams and Illouz to show that the managerialist dogma of late capitalism attempts to recuperate this neural empathy to support and sustain the not-human category of the employee. Consequently, I reject any naïve calls for a “return to empathy,” and develop Virno’s argument that the public sphere ought to be guided by an effort to negate forms of linguistic negation. Reciprocal recognition uses negation against negation. The duty of anti-capitalist and anti-state movements, therefore, is to “experiment with new and more effective ways of negating negation, of placing ‘not’ in front of ‘not-human.’” Finally, I develop the work of Franco “Bifo” Berardi and McKenzie Wark to illuminate the connection between Virno’s theory of reciprocal recognition and his related notion of exodus.

In my paper, I unpack one of the French philosopher Simone Weil’s most enlightening, albeit negle... more In my paper, I unpack one of the French philosopher Simone Weil’s most enlightening, albeit neglected, concepts: intellectual leprosy. In her polemical 1943 essay On the Abolition of All Political Parties, Weil contends that party politics infects citizens with the habit of thinking “only in terms of being ‘in favor of’ or ‘against’ any opinion, and afterwards (seeking) arguments to support one of these two options.” I argue that Weil’s conception of intellectual leprosy is a premonition of the post-truth condition, because it denotes a state in which an emotional commitment to one’s in-group precedes sincere and reflective thought.
Intellectual leprosy depends on the degradation of attention. In my paper, I expand on Weil’s distinction between spontaneous and voluntary attention. Whereas the former is a state of tense and sudden alertness triggered by extreme emotion, voluntary attention is more purposeful and relaxed. I argue that spontaneous alertness typifies the post-truth condition, because polarizing political discourse aims to fuel outrage and disdain before it attempts to persuade and convince.
Additionally, I contend that Weil’s ideal of voluntary attention is increasingly unattainable in the age of Semiocapitalism. I investigate the impact of social media platforms and smartphones on intellectual leprosy, and explain how these Semiocapitalist mechanisms encourage partisanship through the commercialisation and “clickbaitization” of journalistic practices. I develop Franco “Bifo” Berardi’s notion of “chronopathology” to demonstrate that the attention economy strives to capture social time to prevent people from cultivating voluntary attention. Finally, I revisit Weil’s proposal in On the Abolition of All Political Parties for the complete upheaval of our political and media infrastructure, and speculate on what we need to do to develop a lasting antidote to intellectual leprosy.

In 2015, NASA commissioned the design studio Invisible Creature to produce a series of posters ca... more In 2015, NASA commissioned the design studio Invisible Creature to produce a series of posters called Visions of the Future that imagines a time at which space travel becomes a form of luxury tourism. From the “mighty auroras” of Jupiter to the “endless nightlife” of PS0 J318.5-22, these posters depict outer space as a playground for the inordinately wealthy. NASA writes in their publicity statement for the posters that “someday, with the help of new generations of innovators and explorers, these visions of the future can become a reality.” For NASA, these visions do not portray or predict the future, but predate it. In other words, this future is bound to become a reality as soon as a new generation of engineers and explorers make it happen.
In response to this assumption, I analyze the deployment of Visions of the Future as a hyperstition: a fiction that makes itself real. Building on Kodwo Eshun’s definition of science-fiction as the “Research and Development department within the futures industry,” I examine Visions of the Future’s role in a projected future of space-commodification, heteronormativity, and racial purity. I posit that the retro-aesthetic of these posters alludes to a mid-twentieth century era of glamour and prosperity for the upper echelons of society that depended on systemic racial and financial inequality. I argue that it is vital to confront this future with a counter-hyperstition. I offer the example of the speculative inaugural show Mystic Hyperstitians in the Heart of Empire at The Museum of Contemporary Art on the Moon which features works that promote Afrofuturism, anti-capitalism, and gender-neutrality. In the conclusion of the paper, I revisit Walter Benjamin’s notion that the battle for an egalitarian future should be undertaken on behalf of past generations that encountered and suffered from oppression

In a 2007 research study, The Wellcome Trust's Centre for Neuroimaging discovered that victims of... more In a 2007 research study, The Wellcome Trust's Centre for Neuroimaging discovered that victims of amnesia are cognitively unable to imagine future scenarios: an outcome that intimates the fragile bond between memory and imagination, past and future, and nostalgia and futurism. Borrowing Jacques Derrida's notion of hauntology, the critical theorist Mark Fisher argues that we are unable to envision possible futures in our time unless we remember lost futures from the past. Fisher divides hauntology into two temporal categories of the " not yet " and the " no longer. " Whereas the former refers to unfulfilled past-futures, the latter evokes futures that exist inchoately in the present. Analyzing the Otolith Group's 2003 video-essay Otolith, I argue that any aesthetics of futurity must bridge these two hauntological categories. Set in 2103, Otolith borrows the conventions of documentary and science fiction to chart a speculative history of space travel from 2003 to the early 22nd century. I build on the work of the cultural critics Nina Power and T.J. Demos to suggest that the Otolith Group's work enables us to resist the temptation of self-amnesiacization: a process that divorces us from history and, in turn, from the future. Finally, by examining Walter Benjamin's essay " Theses on the Philosophy of History, " I assert that our artistic and philosophical endeavors to represent and contemplate futurity must burrow to the historical origins from which any possible future must grow.

The Promethean endeavor of accelerationism has been frequently misinterpreted as the intensificat... more The Promethean endeavor of accelerationism has been frequently misinterpreted as the intensification of capitalism, whereas it is actually the pursuit of a transition from a capitalist society to a post-capitalist one. Proponents of accelerationism advocate a Promethean politics of mastery over the economy and the environment, which the philosopher Ray Brassier predicates on the insight that there is no preordained and hallowed equilibrium between the given and the made. Consequently, there is no limit to the ways in which we can transform the world. In their “Manifesto for an Accelerationist Politics” and recent book Inventing the Future, Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams explain that the transformation of capitalism into post-capitalism requires a renewed concept of Left modernity, the introduction of full automation, and universal emancipation from work: the Promethean making of a post-work, post-scarcity, and post-capitalist society.
Any conceptual framework that incorporates the metaphor and spirit of Prometheus—meaning “foresight”—must, at some point, consider his twin brother, Epimetheus—meaning “hindsight.”

Whereas Prometheanism looks ahead to the transition from capitalism to post-capitalism, Epimethean accelerationism would look back at this transition from a hypothetical position in the future. In this paper, I assert that Promethean politics must be conjoined with Epimethean aesthetics to provide accelerationism with a radically reoriented vision of the future.
I present The Otolith Group’s 2003 film Otolith as a prime example of this reoriented and Epimethean vision of the future. Set in 2103, the film interweaves the conventions of documentary and science fiction to chart a speculative history of space travel from 2003 to the early 22nd century. I interpret Otolith and the accelerationist fascination with space travel through Nikolai Fedorov’s Common Task for Mankind and Benjamin Singleton’s notion of escapology. The grand imagery of space travel contrasts with documentary footage of the 2003 Iraq invasion protest in London, and I use this juxtaposition to analyze Srnicek and Williams’ renewal of utopianism and their critique of the folk- political. Otolith stipulates that the Promethean mastery of an artificial environment may not lead to greater human freedom, which, I argue, provides a moment of hesitation and reflection that typifies Epimethean aesthetics. The Epimethean aesthetics of accelerationism offers a new and alternative approach towards a radical and post-capitalist future through the representation of what might happen after this transition comes to pass.

The development of contemporary art has been framed by a transition from the construction of mate... more The development of contemporary art has been framed by a transition from the construction of material objects to the exploration of immaterial forms, such as relational aesthetics and digital art. Antonio Negri has argued that this transition has taken place alongside the rise of immaterial labour in post-Fordist societies. Consequently, Negri explains, artists have had to adapt their methods to reflect a world that is shaped and constituted by cognitive, cooperative and electronic networks. However, Franco Berardi has warned that the prevalence of digital communication indicates that the material body will be neglected and erased.

Using the work of the digital artist Dries Verhoeven (Wanna Play? – 2014), this paper will illustrate that artists can use immaterial forms to highlight how one’s body can switch between the physical and the digital without risk of erasure. Verhoeven engages with the immaterial artistic practice of digital communication as well as expressing a concern for the loss (and potential renewal) of material experience. These works will be compared to Roy Ascott’s notions of ‘double consciousness’ and ‘interspace’, where the participants of a digital artwork simultaneously exist and negotiate between material and immaterial spaces. It will be argued that Verhoeven’s work points out that our digital communication devices operate as a type of balcony, connecting and transfiguring the borders of material/immaterial, physical/virtual. The architectural figure of the balcony will be shown to be emblematic of the digital age, representing our duality as material bodies and digital beings.

In 2010, critical theorist Benjamin Noys coined the term accelerationism to denote the argument t... more In 2010, critical theorist Benjamin Noys coined the term accelerationism to denote the argument that the only way to overcome capitalism is to intensify exploitation and expansion to the point of collapse. Since Noys’ coinage of the term, several thinkers have attempted to present more positive and celebratory cases for accelerationism. In their “#ACCELERATE: Manifesto for an Accelerationist Politics,” Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams define accelerationism as the basic belief that existing technological tendencies “should be let loose by moving beyond the limitations imposed by a capitalist society.” They expand on this basic premise in their 2015 book Inventing the Future, in which they reframe accelerationism as the demand for the establishment of a post-work, post-scarcity, postcapitalist society. Before Inventing the Future was published, literary theorist Steven Shaviro asserted in his book No Speed Limit: Three Essays on Accelerationism that accelerationism must be an aesthetic program before it can become a political one. Shaviro defines accelerationist aesthetics as the representation of a post-apocalyptic, accelerated form of capitalism. In this thesis, I propose four alternative characteristics for an aesthetics of accelerationism that accounts for the developments and changes in Srnicek and Williams’ political program: melting, mutation, hyperstition, modernity. I then apply these characteristics to the works of three contemporary artists and artist collectives—British installation and video artist Benedict Drew; Japanese artist collective Chim↑Pom, and the British filmmakers known as the Otolith Group. These characteristics present the transition from capitalism into postcapitalism in an aesthetic form, rendering the arguments and ambiguities of accelerationism more recognizable and understandable.