Simulacra & Simulations pt 2

I read and re-read that thing, and I think it's brilliant. I ignore all the Marxist talk, I realize that the continental and post-modern philosophers all have that bent, and so it doesn't distract me, or disturb me. I think I understand his point about the loss of reality, the loss of a point of reference for power. Although I think it is most like a loss of some determinate reference for truth.
Nothing is as it seems and everything seems to be what it is not.

It reminds me of the last words uttered by Hassan i Sabbah, "Nothing is true, everything is permitted." It's like we've really come to that, I guess it's hyperreality, and it's here.

The essay gives me a deepening sense of alarm. It explicated something I've sensed for a long time, but it's strike is potent, it gives me a start.
At various times, various people have expressed that same kind of feeling, that overwhelming lack of reality, multiple ambiguous truths floating around, the smoke and mirrors, the audacity of media, the absence of sanity and so on. However, Baudrillard tells it in a very succint way. He is accusing and incendiary, but he has reason to be. I get caught up in him. His points are well made, his language is fascinating.
That's good philosophy.

Simulacra & Simulations

This piece of writing became impressed upon me in the strangest way. For the first couple of pages I wasn't following him very well, but then I started to see.
It was like a veil being slowly lifted and then I started to see quite clearly what he was getting at, and then I started to agree. It eerie how much this piece of writing applies to what's happening right now in the political arena of the world. There is the over abundance of imagery which leads to a meaninglessness, the loss of any reference point for the truth, the masking of and double masking, also the never ending parade of illusions until all is illusory, clearly we are lost in a house of mirrors.
We are victims of a sophisticated kind of doublespeak, as he says, "All the hypotheses of manipulation are reversible in an endless whirligig."
I feel as if we are all victims of this indeterminate discourse, and it's not a purposeful conspiracy as much as the nature of the game, "such collusions admirable knit together without their authors even knowing it..." The participants of this kind of conspiracy do their parts unconsciously.
It is inevitable.

I am fascinated by what he says of the presidents who must die, or pretend to, in order to reinvent the power. Also this idea that a simulated crime might cause a greater outrage than a real one, since the threatened domain is one of paradigmatic importance.

more later...

I have read and re-read "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" by Walter Benjamin, published in 1936. It is a fascinating and challenging read. Much like philosophy text books, it requires very closes reading, and multiple readings to actually elucidate the complete meaning. I'm not there yet.

What I have gathered so far is that reproduction destroys something about a work of art. The original piece maintains its identity in relation to its unique location in space, its history, and its 'aura' as an object with presence. Copies and reproductions of any kind lose this uniqueness, this aura.
Authenticity is another concept with suffers from reproduction, and in fact the author states that once mechanical reproductions began to flourish the very "authority of the object" is jeopardized. (p. 4)
It is easy to see how such a change would have lasting and permanent effects on the art world, and its traditions. Whereas before there was one and only one object, now there are an unlimited number of copies floating around and making their way into the lives of common people.
Prints, magazine, photos and films are all consumed by the masses on scales far exceeding anything known before the age of mechanical reproduction.
Copies both destroy and create. They destroy aura, presence, authenticity and in some way the authority of art, but at the same time copies increase consumption and distribution of art, making it widely available where it never was before.

Benjamin states that the earliest art forms were in service of ritual, first magical, then religious.
I like that comment since I am interested in ritual art forms.

Oh, this article is long and boggy, so I'm going to end this post for now.
We'll talk about it more today in class I'm sure.

advice

I had a very emotional reaction to Anna Deavere Smith's book, Letters to a Young Artist.
Those opening pages are just what I always needed to hear. It's so mushy and sappy, but it made me feel a lump in my throat. What a great hook.
I read the book very fast, it's great advice, and I know at least one other person I'll recommend it to.
The talk about The Man was very valuable for me. I've struggled to improve my relationship to authority and wealth. About a decade a friend pointed something out to me. I was jealous and angry at rich people, and yet I wanted to be one. He suggested that as long as I maintained this conflicting attitude I wouldn't be able to manifest any decent money.
I was very liberated by that statement and it did improve my financial life, but I think that I still harbor internal blocks that prohibit me from attaining even larger goals.
Meetind The Man, and practicing ways to communicate with that kind of entity has got to be part of my education.

The book certainly interested me more in Ms. Smith herself.

Only today did I begin to approach the article which was next on our reading list. I suppose that's not very linear.

First Entry

I have been tearing through the required reading for this class. It looks to be approximately one book per week.
I started with "Wanderlust: A history of walking, by Rebecca Solnit, which was not too bad. I started to read it at Burning Man this year, and incidentally it was a terribly year for riding bikes. The Playa was completely torn up and so most everyone left the bikes at camp and just walked, or rode art cars.
I thought it was an interesting coincidence that I should find myself WALKING at Burning Man for the first time since '98 (when I didn't have a bike.) As I read the book I took note of how being on foot actually forced me to interact with Black Rock City in a different way. The city was more palpable, and concrete, in the sense that I had more time to grasp and digest the events, objects and people that I encountered.
On Saturday, during the terrible dust storm I remembered that I'd left my book on the table in our kitchen area. I ran outside to retrieve it. The wind and sand whipped the pages and suddenly I noticed a signature on the title page. "Rebecca Solnit" WOW! I had a signed copy! What a shocker. I got the book off an Amazon used sellers page for about $3.00. I guess the seller didn't realize it was a signed copy. After that a feeling of remorse fell upon me. I had let the book get dirty, battered, and even set my drink on the cover a few times. I tended to leave it open and face down, bending the spine. Dang......now I'll try to take care of it better.

About 1/2 way through Rebecca's book I started to get bogged down, and a little bored so I switched to the other text: The Railway Journey: The Industrialization and Perception of Time and Space, by Wolfgang Schivelbusch. As soon as I started to read it I was sucked in. I found the change in time/space perception to be fascinating. In fact it seems the railroad technology influenced the prevailing paradigm of that time in a radical way. I also enjoyed the comparison of British to American style railroads very intriguing, indeed both choices of design and function seem to reflect the difference in culture very well.
I was able to finish this book last night, as it truly held my interest all the way through, so I guess now I'm back to the walking book. . . (sigh) I have a lot to read before tomorrow.

that's all for now,
A. Daerice