In the third section of his book, Electronic Monuments, Gregory Ulmer writes of the process by which an event, or disaster, might become an emblem in the EmerAgency process of MEmorialization. Ulmer also talks about the importance of MEmorialization itself, the attempt at viewing and understanding oneself in relation to disaster (or any event that "stings.") The basic process for MEmorialization is to feel the sting from an event; to construct a concetto, or to form connections based on incidental similarities of various discourses related to the event; to infer from those connections some abject value/sacrifice; and to construct an emblem which captures a "trace of the real," of the emotions or mood of the abject sacrifice, which will allow the egent to "write a disaster we can't think or feel." In doing so, the egent is able to place himself in the field of the disaster in an awareness of how he relates to that disaster or to that abject value/sacrifice- all for the goal of fostering a collective awareness toward that abject, to the end of (hopefully) ethical action.
The Process of MEmorializing
According to Ulmer, the process of MEmorializing begins with the sting/punctum of a current event- something (maybe inexplicably) stings me and makes me feel it, even in spite of my own compassion fatigue. From there, the egent must fill "out the sting" (118) by way of building a "concetto" - a collection of associations and information from various sources and discourses, in order to map the relations of these things, not only to one another but to oneself. This process is rooted in the need to "feel" something. Ulmer would likely say that under literate apparatus, and under our societal conditions, it is impossible for us to truly understand the way that we exist in relation to any event or disaster- to be aware of the abject- for a few reasons: 1) because the literate logic would be to describe and explain, rather than to connect, represent or evoke any emotion; 2) because of our compassion fatigue as a result of the spectacle, we know more but feel less; and 3) because we (society) tend only to recognize and commemorate those disasters/sacrifices that fit with societal ideals, ignoring the abject sacrifices as such.
While Ulmer would say that we cannot become aware of the abject under normal circumstances, he clearly sees MEmorializing and the EmerAgency as a way to foster awareness of these things. From my own reading, there are a few reasons MEmorializing- and electracy itself- would work differently in bringing about our awareness. First, in stepping outside of the literate operation of "explaining" or "describing," we are freed from an apparatus which relates to the object/event from afar. In representing or evoking emotion, it may be possible for the viewer/subject to be interpolated by the image and find some way of relating to that image. Second, Ulmer would argue that the only way to break through our own compassion fatigue is through response to an event that stings. Further than that, compassion fatigue is amplified by the sense that any disaster occurs separate and independently from the "self," while the EmerAgency would strive to make the "self" aware of his relation to a disaster. If that is successful, it would be hard to maintain compassion fatigue, at least toward that particular event/disaster. Finally, in the process of MEmorializing, the abject itself is searched for and commemorated- not in an idealized or subliminal manner but for itself. If the abject is recognized and (ME)morialized, then it is more likely that we will be aware of it.
Ulmer's investigation into the abject begins with the juxtaposition of the inner and outer self in the form of human excrement. At a basic level, the outer self represents that which is ideal while the inner self represents that which is vile, repulsive (or unknowable, specifically to the subconscious) but a part of the self nonetheless. The suggestion, along the metaphor of human waste, is that the inner self naturally comes out and is manifest in the world and in our lives. However, just as our own waste is seen as filth and even at times shameful once "outside," the manifestations of our own subconscious are seen along the same lines- as repulsive, or to be feared (not that they are understood.) In these collective manifestations of the inner, the subconscious, the abject is created. Not tolerable to look at or talk about, the abject is a part of us nonetheless. Specifically, the abject is a value which demands a sacrifice- just as the ideals (outer self) of society demand sacrifices: freedom, liberty, justice, etc. The difference is that the sacrifices to the ideal are commemorated and even celebrated (or perhaps even turned into spectacle,) while sacrifices to the abject values- which we still cling to as a part of our way of life- go unnoticed or even worse, are met with shame or disgust.
However, Ulmer would say that overcoming these obstacles to feeling or even seeing the abject is essential to both an individual and collective identity in the age of the internet and electracy. If the MEmorial can cause a viewer/individual to "feel" the disaster, then it is possible for that individual to come to an understanding of his own role and relation to the abject and/or to the disaster. The typical mode of thinking of a disaster is "outside of self": as Ulmer quotes Blanchot "There is death and murder... It is an impersonal, inactive, and irresponsible "they" that must answer for this death and this murder. And likewise this child is a child, but one who is always undetermined and without relation to anyone at all." The goal for the egent is to shift this perspective, through the punctum of an emblem representing the abject values surrounding some disaster/sacrifice, to a perspective of thinking of a disaster as "inside of self." A successful result for the egent would be to confront the question, "how am I a part of this problem?" Given the nature of the abject, it is a reasonable goal of the EmerAgency to cause people to confront this question, because the answer will seemingly be a "yes." I am a part of the disaster of child abuse, because I hold inside of me the value of family and the rights of a parent to raise one's own child. Upon this realization, two responses are desirable for the egent: one, a collective recognition of the abject sacrifice as such; two, the arising of an ethical situation in the collective psyche. If an individual or a collection of individuals realizes that it plays a part in some disaster, and is outraged/disgusted/etc, the natural question is "how can we fix it?" And this is where Ulmer leaves us, with the question of what comes next after a successful MEmorial project?
My suggestion is that an appropriate reaction would not be the eradication of the cause of the abject. You don't eliminate parenthood because you realize that child abuse is in part due to your own family values, and you don't outlaw driving because you realize that car accidents are a sacrifice so that you have the freedom to drive. In the same vain, you don't eliminate the ideal of freedom because of the horrors of war. You do all that you can to avoid the horrors of war, while celebrating and remembering the sacrifices made in the name of your ideal. Similarly, I think the "ideal" next step once we become aware of our role within the abject is to continue to commemorate and remember the abject sacrifices in the same breath as the ideal. With the sheer volume of possible abject sacrifices existing in the world, the Internet seems like the perfect forum for that.
Questions:
1) Ulmer leaves the "next steps" after awareness of the abject up to the reader or the future. What would you say the next step is after the MEmorial is successful?
2) The abject values and ideal values of a society seem to be sharply separated; is it possible to cross that plane, for something that was once abject to be held in the ideal? Could that be a desirable "next step," after the awareness of the abject is formulated?
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Ulmer, the Call and the Transversal
In his Third and Fourth chapters of "Electronic Monuments," Gregory Ulmer looks to news reports and pop culture for models of how a MEmorial might function. This blog will serve to document some of the relative features that Ulmer sees as useful to the EmerAgency in its attempt to use the MEmorial to draw the public into a virtual civic sphere.
The Provocation
The starting point for the MEmorial, as related to a news story, is that there must be an event, a disaster or a circumstance that provokes the egent to action. We live in a world that has become so over-informed and inundated with stories and images that we become numb and unresponsive when we encounter them. The key for the egent is to be touched by something, anything. If the egent is touched by something, this provocation calls him or her into an interaction with that disaster or event, and this is the starting point. This provocation can come in many shapes and sizes, but it typically comes for one reason: something about the news story or the event hits home, it relates to the egent in a personal way. When one has a personal way of relating to an event (or image,) then he or she can feel and be compelled to action or reason.
Reasoneon
Apart from the news story, Ulmer equates the proclamation of a "state of emergency," or its representation as an image, to a neon sign. A neon sign catches one's attention, but as Ulmer says the reasoneon does more than catch one's attention. The sign (MEmorials might be one manifestation of this reasoneon) in this case does more than simply indicate or convey historical information or the "facts" of a disaster or state of emergency. The role of reasoneon is to capture one's attention to the extent that it provokes further inquiry into that situation. The neon (sizzle) grabs the attention, the reason stimulates critique. The neon sign, under the idea of reasoneon sets the stage for the consulting practice that is to come.
The Aura and the Punctum
Ulmer begins speaking of "aura" by equating its role in electracy to the role of clarity in literacy. In the literate world, clarity reveals truth or makes knowledge of the truth more possible. So, in the electrate society, aura does the same thing. How does it do this? Aura gives to an image a quality (emotionally provoking or personally significant) that draws us, touches our emotions or connects to us. Ulmer associates it with the "ax blow" of the punctum- that "third meaning" of an image or photograph that somehow "pricks" the viewer. Something about the image or photograph breaks through the thick skin that we have developed, and we feel it somehow. We are personally situated in relation to the event or disaster because the aura of the image or the news story harkened us to some past memory or experience in some way, shape or form. The relevance to the EmerAgency is this: that the news story that I connect to because of its aura is somehow a reminder of something "I already know or should know." This is the point of departure for the MEmorial- as a response to a news event that has somehow pierced its viewer in a personal way.
The key for the MEmorial and the models that it is based off of is that the goal is not so much to tell a story in the traditional sense: to provide the details of the story and how things happened. The aim is more to capture feelings, moods, memories that evoke a different sort of connection to the viewer. Practically, a viewer can see a news story and not feel anything- but when that news story is represented as a collection of images that connect him to a mood, emotion, tone or memory- the viewer (or egent) is situated inside of the story.
In his chapter on the Transversal, Ulmer takes the news from the previous chapter and places it in the realm of entertainment, leading us to the world of the spectacle- where, as Ulmer says, "actuality and images merge and become indistinguishable." Ulmer makes mention of an argument that says that the effects of the spectacle- namely, the condition in which people see/know more and feel less- is a necessary defense mechanism, lest we become overstimulated and overwhelmed by the amount of images, events and information surrounding us. The MEmorial, and the EmerAgency, look to find ways to exist that are compatible with the vast "data stream" of the spectacle. In this chapter, Ulmer documents ways in which arts and entertainment are capable of being used to grasp "a situation holistically in an image." The use of image categories is important in that it allows the connection between individual identity and collective identity to be formed. Image categories are the "transversal" mentioned in that they connect all levels of identity/being.
Simulacrum
In the context of the MEmorial, categorical images which are transversal can be considered "simulacrum"- images that are representative of something else and needing no reference to an origin. Simulacrum are a way to "map" the relation of an item or meaning between different spheres (such as the various arenas of the popcycle- family, entertainment, career, school) which express the idea or image in different ways. Relevant to EmerAgency is the way in which an idea or image can cross between these different spheres and be interpreted and related differently in each arena. As a whole, they can create a map that can demonstrate our collective understanding of an idea/concept/image, while still maintaining individual perspectives as well.
Ulmer uses various stories of transsexuality to show how this idea passes through the popcycle. He starts with the idea of transsexuality in the life of an individual, in the school setting- and shows a story of some of the concerns and complications that may (or may not) arise in that setting. He then passes the simulacrum through the lens of entertainment- showing how a news story of a bank robbery that was prompted by transsexuality was the motivation for a movie. He then shows how the movie motivated a fine arts piece, which represented the story in a different way- bringing back the original and actual bank robber and created a spectacle of the story through the blurred lines between "the movie" and the "real movie," or the way it really happened, as told through the reenactment of the robbery. Finally, he shows another perspective of the movie itself, one which does not focus directly on the character itself but on the environment and the other actors as figures for something else.
Becoming Image
One final idea of note is the transformation that Ulmer describes of the individual, the self identity in an electrate culture. Ulmer first points out that what is considered real (including individual identity) is relative to the apparatus of the day, and thus being renegotiated under the electrate apparatus. The "new experience of identity" in an electrate world is that of "becoming image" in the sense that celebrities become an image more than an individual. An "image" of a person can become determinant of the self's identity- sometimes even more so than the organic body, to the extent that it can the image can impose itself on the "self's" behavior and circumstances. The phrase, "I have an image to upkeep" resonates- as there is, for some, a pressure to conform one's physical appearance or behavior with that of his "image." This is also becoming more of a reality in a virtual world, where "images" are easier to produce. This highlights the transformation of the concept of identity in the electrate apparatus. In the oral apparatus, identity was formed through spirituality in religion; in literacy, identity was shaped through rational science. In electracy, identity is shaped by imaging or self becoming image.
Questions:
1) Has there been a news story recently that has "pricked" you? What was it and what about it pricked you?
2) Have you ever felt like "you" exist and are identified more through an "image" than some notion of physical/spiritual self?
3) Ulmer says "Commemoration in the public sphere is dominated so far by the spectacle, which is to say it is a collective process that sanctions certain images and not others, around which group subjects form." What is an example of a "sanctioned image," and what would be an example of a non-sanctioned image- that which the MEmorial might pay attention to?
The Provocation
The starting point for the MEmorial, as related to a news story, is that there must be an event, a disaster or a circumstance that provokes the egent to action. We live in a world that has become so over-informed and inundated with stories and images that we become numb and unresponsive when we encounter them. The key for the egent is to be touched by something, anything. If the egent is touched by something, this provocation calls him or her into an interaction with that disaster or event, and this is the starting point. This provocation can come in many shapes and sizes, but it typically comes for one reason: something about the news story or the event hits home, it relates to the egent in a personal way. When one has a personal way of relating to an event (or image,) then he or she can feel and be compelled to action or reason.
Reasoneon
Apart from the news story, Ulmer equates the proclamation of a "state of emergency," or its representation as an image, to a neon sign. A neon sign catches one's attention, but as Ulmer says the reasoneon does more than catch one's attention. The sign (MEmorials might be one manifestation of this reasoneon) in this case does more than simply indicate or convey historical information or the "facts" of a disaster or state of emergency. The role of reasoneon is to capture one's attention to the extent that it provokes further inquiry into that situation. The neon (sizzle) grabs the attention, the reason stimulates critique. The neon sign, under the idea of reasoneon sets the stage for the consulting practice that is to come.
The Aura and the Punctum
Ulmer begins speaking of "aura" by equating its role in electracy to the role of clarity in literacy. In the literate world, clarity reveals truth or makes knowledge of the truth more possible. So, in the electrate society, aura does the same thing. How does it do this? Aura gives to an image a quality (emotionally provoking or personally significant) that draws us, touches our emotions or connects to us. Ulmer associates it with the "ax blow" of the punctum- that "third meaning" of an image or photograph that somehow "pricks" the viewer. Something about the image or photograph breaks through the thick skin that we have developed, and we feel it somehow. We are personally situated in relation to the event or disaster because the aura of the image or the news story harkened us to some past memory or experience in some way, shape or form. The relevance to the EmerAgency is this: that the news story that I connect to because of its aura is somehow a reminder of something "I already know or should know." This is the point of departure for the MEmorial- as a response to a news event that has somehow pierced its viewer in a personal way.
The key for the MEmorial and the models that it is based off of is that the goal is not so much to tell a story in the traditional sense: to provide the details of the story and how things happened. The aim is more to capture feelings, moods, memories that evoke a different sort of connection to the viewer. Practically, a viewer can see a news story and not feel anything- but when that news story is represented as a collection of images that connect him to a mood, emotion, tone or memory- the viewer (or egent) is situated inside of the story.
In his chapter on the Transversal, Ulmer takes the news from the previous chapter and places it in the realm of entertainment, leading us to the world of the spectacle- where, as Ulmer says, "actuality and images merge and become indistinguishable." Ulmer makes mention of an argument that says that the effects of the spectacle- namely, the condition in which people see/know more and feel less- is a necessary defense mechanism, lest we become overstimulated and overwhelmed by the amount of images, events and information surrounding us. The MEmorial, and the EmerAgency, look to find ways to exist that are compatible with the vast "data stream" of the spectacle. In this chapter, Ulmer documents ways in which arts and entertainment are capable of being used to grasp "a situation holistically in an image." The use of image categories is important in that it allows the connection between individual identity and collective identity to be formed. Image categories are the "transversal" mentioned in that they connect all levels of identity/being.
Simulacrum
In the context of the MEmorial, categorical images which are transversal can be considered "simulacrum"- images that are representative of something else and needing no reference to an origin. Simulacrum are a way to "map" the relation of an item or meaning between different spheres (such as the various arenas of the popcycle- family, entertainment, career, school) which express the idea or image in different ways. Relevant to EmerAgency is the way in which an idea or image can cross between these different spheres and be interpreted and related differently in each arena. As a whole, they can create a map that can demonstrate our collective understanding of an idea/concept/image, while still maintaining individual perspectives as well.
Ulmer uses various stories of transsexuality to show how this idea passes through the popcycle. He starts with the idea of transsexuality in the life of an individual, in the school setting- and shows a story of some of the concerns and complications that may (or may not) arise in that setting. He then passes the simulacrum through the lens of entertainment- showing how a news story of a bank robbery that was prompted by transsexuality was the motivation for a movie. He then shows how the movie motivated a fine arts piece, which represented the story in a different way- bringing back the original and actual bank robber and created a spectacle of the story through the blurred lines between "the movie" and the "real movie," or the way it really happened, as told through the reenactment of the robbery. Finally, he shows another perspective of the movie itself, one which does not focus directly on the character itself but on the environment and the other actors as figures for something else.
Becoming Image
One final idea of note is the transformation that Ulmer describes of the individual, the self identity in an electrate culture. Ulmer first points out that what is considered real (including individual identity) is relative to the apparatus of the day, and thus being renegotiated under the electrate apparatus. The "new experience of identity" in an electrate world is that of "becoming image" in the sense that celebrities become an image more than an individual. An "image" of a person can become determinant of the self's identity- sometimes even more so than the organic body, to the extent that it can the image can impose itself on the "self's" behavior and circumstances. The phrase, "I have an image to upkeep" resonates- as there is, for some, a pressure to conform one's physical appearance or behavior with that of his "image." This is also becoming more of a reality in a virtual world, where "images" are easier to produce. This highlights the transformation of the concept of identity in the electrate apparatus. In the oral apparatus, identity was formed through spirituality in religion; in literacy, identity was shaped through rational science. In electracy, identity is shaped by imaging or self becoming image.
Questions:
1) Has there been a news story recently that has "pricked" you? What was it and what about it pricked you?
2) Have you ever felt like "you" exist and are identified more through an "image" than some notion of physical/spiritual self?
3) Ulmer says "Commemoration in the public sphere is dominated so far by the spectacle, which is to say it is a collective process that sanctions certain images and not others, around which group subjects form." What is an example of a "sanctioned image," and what would be an example of a non-sanctioned image- that which the MEmorial might pay attention to?
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Gregory Ulmer and an Introduction to Electronic Monuments
In the opening sections of his book, "Electronic Monuments," Gregory Ulmer speaks of a societal shift in "language apparatus"- away from literacy and toward what he calls "electracy," a sort of digital literacy. Ulmer talks about how literacy (and orality before it, and electracy in the future) has impacted the way things are memorialized. He documents the traditions of orality- that things were remembered through spoken language and ritual; and of literacy- where things are remembered through writing. Ulmer proclaims the basis of his EM project out of the need "for a compositional practice capable of supporting learning with digital media, to do for the Internet and hypermedia what the essay did for the library and argumentative writing."
Ulmer sees "electronic monuments" as a method of inviting the collective into this realm of an "electrate civic sphere." The basis of this theory comes from the ways our literate culture constructs monuments to commemorate people, places and things that have passed. Particularly, monuments are used to form both an individual and collective identity through making sense of traumatic events (9/11 is the main example in the book.) However, in an electrate society- memory and socialization will be less tied to the physical and more tied to the virtual. Further, Ulmer references Paul Virilio in stating that we are now living in a world of "instantaneous activity," a world of "real time"; with "unprecedented immediacy" that leads to "the displacement of the real city by the telecity, the loss of a lived public space in favor of a virtual gathering on the Internet..." Human identity is at risk in such a context. However, Ulmer argues that these things may appear as crises from the perspective of literacy- but electracy provides a new apparatus for these shifts in identity. The venue for these shifts is in the digital world and on the Internet.
Electronic monuments themselves operate off the basis that commemoration is a basic human operation which, as I said before, helps shape both individual and collective identities. In electracy, this commemoration happens, at least in part, in the digital realm. Ulmer concerns himself mostly with what I can only guess is a specific kind of electronic monument in these first couple of chapters- the MEmorial. Whereas a memorial "bears witness" to a prominent specific person(s) or event, a MEmorial is the opposite- it refers to that which is "neither clear nor distinct." Furthermore, Ulmer goes on to compare the two in terms of the ideal and the abject. A memorial is a celebration and a conceptualization of an ideal of some kind. He uses the example of the Vietnam memorial as representing the ideals of freedom, and contrasted it to the "sacrifice" of car accidents as something that might be "MEmorialized" as an abject value.
An abject value is an underlying societal value; one that is not visible or readily apparent, and one that the collective might not even be consciously aware of- let alone accepting of. Ulmer uses the example of car accidents, by making the point that car accidents are social sacrifices of a sort- just not in the ideological sort like a soldier at war. The abject value that is demanding this sacrifice is this- we want to be able to drive, where we want, when we want, how we want; as Ulmer says. The sacrifice that we willingly give up is the knowledge that accidents happen and that thousands of people die every year in traffic accidents. This value is not a national or cultural ideal- it is abject in that it reflects the "base" or perhaps the underbelly of human existence that often only takes place in our subconscious.
The goal of these MEmorials is to recognize the abject, the things that aren't recognized by the dominant-hegemonic ideology of the time. This does not just mean car accidents, but anything that is suppressed by the dominant ideology- homosexuality, minorities, etc. The hope is that, in recognizing the abject through these electronic monuments, both the individual and the collective would become more self-aware and in becoming so, would grow into an electrate society. Ulmer mentions the ways in which monuments (particuarly in America) invite people into national ideals and a national spirit. People "tour" (a key analogy in the book) our national monuments- the Lincoln Memorial, for example- and they are somehow ushered into relationship to the ideals which those monuments embody. Similarly, electronic monuments can invite individuals into a better understanding of self and community in the digital age- and usher them into a new way of relating- that of electracy.
Ulmer sees "electronic monuments" as a method of inviting the collective into this realm of an "electrate civic sphere." The basis of this theory comes from the ways our literate culture constructs monuments to commemorate people, places and things that have passed. Particularly, monuments are used to form both an individual and collective identity through making sense of traumatic events (9/11 is the main example in the book.) However, in an electrate society- memory and socialization will be less tied to the physical and more tied to the virtual. Further, Ulmer references Paul Virilio in stating that we are now living in a world of "instantaneous activity," a world of "real time"; with "unprecedented immediacy" that leads to "the displacement of the real city by the telecity, the loss of a lived public space in favor of a virtual gathering on the Internet..." Human identity is at risk in such a context. However, Ulmer argues that these things may appear as crises from the perspective of literacy- but electracy provides a new apparatus for these shifts in identity. The venue for these shifts is in the digital world and on the Internet.
Electronic monuments themselves operate off the basis that commemoration is a basic human operation which, as I said before, helps shape both individual and collective identities. In electracy, this commemoration happens, at least in part, in the digital realm. Ulmer concerns himself mostly with what I can only guess is a specific kind of electronic monument in these first couple of chapters- the MEmorial. Whereas a memorial "bears witness" to a prominent specific person(s) or event, a MEmorial is the opposite- it refers to that which is "neither clear nor distinct." Furthermore, Ulmer goes on to compare the two in terms of the ideal and the abject. A memorial is a celebration and a conceptualization of an ideal of some kind. He uses the example of the Vietnam memorial as representing the ideals of freedom, and contrasted it to the "sacrifice" of car accidents as something that might be "MEmorialized" as an abject value.
An abject value is an underlying societal value; one that is not visible or readily apparent, and one that the collective might not even be consciously aware of- let alone accepting of. Ulmer uses the example of car accidents, by making the point that car accidents are social sacrifices of a sort- just not in the ideological sort like a soldier at war. The abject value that is demanding this sacrifice is this- we want to be able to drive, where we want, when we want, how we want; as Ulmer says. The sacrifice that we willingly give up is the knowledge that accidents happen and that thousands of people die every year in traffic accidents. This value is not a national or cultural ideal- it is abject in that it reflects the "base" or perhaps the underbelly of human existence that often only takes place in our subconscious.
The goal of these MEmorials is to recognize the abject, the things that aren't recognized by the dominant-hegemonic ideology of the time. This does not just mean car accidents, but anything that is suppressed by the dominant ideology- homosexuality, minorities, etc. The hope is that, in recognizing the abject through these electronic monuments, both the individual and the collective would become more self-aware and in becoming so, would grow into an electrate society. Ulmer mentions the ways in which monuments (particuarly in America) invite people into national ideals and a national spirit. People "tour" (a key analogy in the book) our national monuments- the Lincoln Memorial, for example- and they are somehow ushered into relationship to the ideals which those monuments embody. Similarly, electronic monuments can invite individuals into a better understanding of self and community in the digital age- and usher them into a new way of relating- that of electracy.
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