tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40798758187057063462012-01-06T22:57:20.828-08:00a field guide to spectacleChris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.comBlogger331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-41938319282680037452011-12-01T19:20:00.000-08:002011-12-01T19:20:54.594-08:00

What's the difference between spectacle and carnival? Showy revolt and revolutionary freedom? It is along the knife-sharp edge of this narrow distinction that we "win the energies of intoxication for the revolution," as Benjamin said of surrealism. "What form do you suppose a life would take that was determined at a decisive moment precisely by the street song last on everyone’s lips?" "

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-86422844206434485332011-11-27T01:24:00.000-08:002011-11-27T01:44:28.378-08:00

Some of the signs were covered in the notorious occupation "filth" with which municipal authorities  are so concerned in all their eviction orders. He had rescued them in the heat of a police raid of the Oakland Commune at Oscar Grant (re: Frank Ogawa) Plaza moments before they were trampled by a herd of cops.  He guarded them like relics from a lost occupy civilization bound for museums

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-21492290860934122242011-11-14T16:27:00.000-08:002011-11-14T16:27:53.400-08:00

Above: Jan van Bijlert, Heraclitus and Democritus, ca. 1640 The atmosphere suggested a dress rehearsal for a production of “Revolution: the Musical.”  In the warm afternoon of Indian Summer, a black-clad anarchist splashed paint on the windows of a Whole Foods. The General Strike pantomime began. One section of the crowd began to chant, “Peaceful Protest.” The anarchists responded: “Union

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-21523046946608023212011-11-07T19:11:00.000-08:002011-11-07T19:11:28.184-08:00

"Three thousand years of civilization and 200 years of accelerated industrial progress have left us with a terrible hang-over. "Economy" has become a goal in itself, and we're about to be swallowed by it. This hotel terrorizes its guests. Even when we're guests and hosts at the same time... ...It is a Planetary Machine: it eats in Africa, digests in Asia and shits in Europe. It is planned and

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-55200973261903781052010-09-15T17:16:00.000-07:002010-09-15T17:16:42.126-07:00

"The only philosophy which can be responsibly practiced in the face of despair is the attempt to contemplate all things as they would present themselves from the standpoint of redemption.  Knowledge has no light but that shed on the world by redemption: all else is reconstruction, mere technique. Perpsectives must be fashioned that displace and estrange the world, reveal it to be with its rifts

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-55619912768425476462010-08-22T22:06:00.000-07:002010-08-22T22:06:51.586-07:00

Barbies clutched in one hand, skyscraper in the other -- by smoke and mirror -- celluloid behemoth slain. Reminder: gods aren't dead until we burn them; metropolis, capital's mis-en-scène for mischief to come.

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-36644565730104681962010-06-25T16:22:00.000-07:002010-06-25T16:22:04.908-07:00

According to Eyal Weizman's account in a paper titled "Lethal Theory," [download here] the Israeli Defence Forces employed a radically new tactic during the attack on Nablus in 2002. Inspired by Deleuze and Guattari's distinction between smooth and striated space in Thousand Plateaus the IDF deployed a tactic of "walking through walls" to avoid engaging directly with enemies in hostile urban

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-35838362110582079822010-05-26T23:15:00.000-07:002010-05-27T14:43:33.440-07:00

[Left: Roman Cieslewicz, Kafka, The Trial, lithograph, 1964] It feels like this year is ending in a shuffle of paperwork. An interminable meeting. A trial, Kafka-esque. Maybe it's just that the intensity of direct action has subsided, that police surveillance and disciplinary dossiers have begun to weigh heavily upon the spirit, that legal procedures against my comrades and me have become

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-28298039218768302352010-05-15T21:36:00.000-07:002010-05-15T21:41:26.044-07:00

Some interesting art direction and editorial decisions are going on over at The Economist. Always eye-catching and provocative, the cover art over the last few months illustrates an atmospherics of terror after the year began with a more hopeful outlook. [Below: Left, Economist from January 30, 2010; Right, Economist from April 24, 2010] [Below: Left, Economist cover

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-4845167267365668802010-05-08T20:16:00.000-07:002010-05-08T20:28:48.207-07:00

[Above: NYTimes, iPad Release at San Francisco Apple Store] The fanfare for the iPad is over. Turns out the new electronic device is not the coming of the Internet messiah.  In retrospect, this little piece of glass and titanium now appears to have been the amulet to which the spectacle clung in order to fend off against the gloom of April, which has only begun to blossom in May.  Our diffuse

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-57216116435790156792010-05-07T17:35:00.000-07:002010-05-07T17:35:58.399-07:00

As I've mentioned in a previous post. The "art theme" of this year's burning man is Metropolis: The Life of Cities. A part of the project involves a large discussion on urban planning, experiments in the interaction of ideal designs and the chaos of social life, models of social integration and disintegration and reflections on how particular organizations of space create forms of life. As a

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-88433020429552824962010-03-25T19:05:00.000-07:002010-03-25T21:53:41.501-07:00

[above: Still of Lady Gaga in "Paparazzi" 2009] In a truly fascinating interview, which should settle the question as to "how not dumb is Lady Gaga," the artist cites Princess Diana as an inspiration for her "Paparazzi" music video: This song is not really about loving the camera. This song is about something much more dangerous. It’s about fame-whoring and seduction, but it’s also about social

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-57871381650836827412010-02-28T23:11:00.000-08:002010-02-28T23:15:49.391-08:00

"Wakefield discovered that in the colonies, property in money, means of subsistence, machines and other means of production does not as yet stamp a man as a capitalist if the essential complement to these things is missing: the wage-labourer, the other man, who is compelled to sell himself of his own free will. He discovered that capital is not a thing, but a social relation between persons which

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-31061078739878819942010-02-04T21:23:00.000-08:002010-02-05T02:45:32.743-08:00

For some time now, many people have been writing about the various topologies and political figures produced by the so-called war on terror. If this latter is not exactly a war in any classical sense of the term -- and, indeed, the mobilizations of this period may have completely eroded the historical distinction between politics and war -- this period's prevailing politics has certainly

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-73098441516972701522010-02-01T00:08:00.000-08:002010-02-01T00:29:27.685-08:00

The dialectical take:"The disappearance of Nature -- the commodification of the countryside and the capitalization of agriculture itself all over the world -- now begins to sap its other term, the formerly urban. Where the world system today tends toward one enormous urban system -- tendentially ever more complete modernization promised that, which has however been ratified and delivered in an

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-60212578369530293082010-01-30T17:55:00.000-08:002010-01-30T18:01:57.323-08:00

It seems like an urgent question. It's also the problem explicitly posed by this year's Burning Man art theme, "Metropolis: The Life of Cities". With images of the ruined city of Port-au-Prince plastered on the front page of every newspaper, one can't help but wonder whether, in the future, such disasters will become the general condition of life on this planet of slums. But urbanism is also

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-58873233274755353692009-10-01T18:16:00.000-07:002009-10-02T00:45:01.157-07:00

Marxist philosopher, Walter Benjamin once wrote, “The 'state of emergency' in which we live is not the exception but the rule. We must attain to a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. Then we shall clearly realize that it is our task to bring about a real state of emergency, and this will improve our position in the struggle against Fascism.”Indeed this history of

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-62106162782620754562009-09-21T14:58:00.001-07:002009-09-22T00:10:22.910-07:00

Scandalized reviews seem to be the sign of a delicious social commentary today.[Left: flesh and blood avatar, Kable, controlled by teenage gamer, Simon]Gamer has been christened "a futuristic vomitorium of bosoms and bullets" by the NYTimes. This fascinating insight into our cybernetic cultural production as being parallel to the decadence of the late Roman Empire is, of course, never followed

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-27012976449703976302009-08-25T23:00:00.001-07:002009-08-26T01:13:02.815-07:00

The Bush/Cheney regime dressed up Bill Clinton's program of extraordinary rendition in the old garb of cowboy counter-terrorism made iconic by the stoic leading men of Hollywood's American West. The explosive blowback that occurred upon the release of the infamous Abu Ghraib photos -- itself reminecent of frontier scalping expeditions -- was easily integrated into the spectacle of a protracted

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-27618031126385566902009-08-12T22:56:00.001-07:002009-08-14T17:55:35.032-07:00

I was going to attempt to write a post that is more optimistic than the last, though still submitting both capitalism and the left's utopic visions (whatever they may be) to a dialectical critique. We would have been considering some concrete "blueprints for change" in this post. Some modest proposals, if you will. (But I just couldn't go on with it, because I opened my computer and received news

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-31920277639961568942009-07-28T22:55:00.000-07:002009-08-14T17:05:42.172-07:00

"The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living. And just when they seem engaged in revolutionizing themselves and things, in creating something that has never yet existed, precisely in such periods of revolutionary crisis they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past to their service and borrow from them names, battle cries and costumes in order

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-43457306063862682642009-07-27T22:55:00.000-07:002009-08-14T17:07:08.657-07:00

"I gotta sing my songWhy should I belongto some guy who says that I'm wrong?"and"I'm exploding with youth and with zestWho needs corroding in some vulture's nest?I gotta fly on my wings,go places, do things.My freedom bells really gonna ring"    

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-20473670821163663492009-07-27T22:54:00.000-07:002009-09-15T00:24:26.346-07:00

[Bruno Tea-Bagging alleged homophobe Eminem at the MTV Movie Awards May 31, 2009]Like some post-postmodern Icarus, an outrageous fag fashionista has ceased to be the swishy darling of the Spectacle, having fallen from the sparkly heights of culture to take his place among the tarnished rabble. In what has proven to be the most ingenious consequence of one war machine of a film, Brüno, Sacha Baron

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-45878312912388982222009-07-24T22:53:00.000-07:002009-08-14T16:57:33.881-07:00

A fascinating 1965 interview on philosophy and psychology. Foucault schools Badiou on Kant, Freud, Lacan and the history of psychology. Too delicious. In part 2, Badiou lights a cigarette and relaxes a little bit. (Part 1 below)Unfortunately for those who don't know French, there is no translation of this conversation. The French transcription (edited by both Foucault and Badiou) is published in

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-82965075011045680722009-06-20T22:53:00.000-07:002009-08-14T16:56:19.713-07:00

[Tehran rally for Mousavi, 6/15/09 from infamous tweeter mousavi1388]Seriously? Is it possible that the world-wide-wired generation can "tweet its way towards revolution"? Even the usually skeptical NYTimes' heart is now atwitter about "twitter on the barricades." My pre-Iranian election riff on Foucault and "a revolt by intertubes" -- which had more than a little sarcasm in it -- needs some

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-26912657782390934392009-05-18T22:53:00.000-07:002009-08-14T16:54:50.534-07:00

"You ain't artsier than me…you pseduo-elitst old-school sapDon't let an 808 scare yashake stripes off your shirt and clear the whole areaI'm humanoid too"-The Grouch, "Artsy"It goes without saying that the media and the left are aflutter with the titillating possibility of an investigatory commission -- possibly leading to prosecutions of former Bush Administration officials -- into the

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-42249036902577850592008-05-17T22:52:00.000-07:002009-08-14T16:51:41.615-07:00

[The flag of Hezbollah, Source: Wikipedia]"This decision was a declaration of war and the start of war on the resistance and its weapons. Our response to this decision is that whoever declares or starts a war, be it a brother or a father, then it is our right to defend ourselves and our existence."-Hassan Nasralla, Leader of Hezbollah, from his televised address on May 8, 2008The Saudi- and

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-77652717324812709852008-05-15T22:52:00.000-07:002009-08-14T16:47:41.320-07:00

[Hilliary supporters at an Indiana rally, Source: NYTimes]This photo is totally uncanny. At first, it's kind of funny, but it becomes more of a horror-show the more you look at it. Kind of like this year's primary season!1). The sexy boy front and center. Gorgeous skin, nice bone structure, beautiful lips. Tricked out in full Hillary regalia; two buttons, a sign and a T-shirt. But why is he so

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-79702374287756457672008-05-08T22:52:00.000-07:002009-08-14T16:46:07.242-07:00

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans had no postal service, no public utilities, no hospitals, and very few people.However, five days after Katrina made landfall, New Orleans, built a temporary jail. Under the direction of State Prison Warden Burl Cain, prison laborers from Angola assembled cages out of chain link fencing and razor wire in the parking lot of an abandoned

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-55928311122014654542008-04-30T22:52:00.000-07:002009-08-14T16:53:06.956-07:00

An interesting story has been breaking this week in the Southern Metropolis Daily, a Chinese state newspaper in the Sichuan province that actually does investigative journalism because it has to sell papers.Unfortunately, the Southern Metropolis Daily isn't translated or online.The story, is like something out of 19th Century England. "Young people – some aged under 10 – are said to have been

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-31080828269668276772008-04-29T22:51:00.000-07:002009-08-14T16:45:12.615-07:00

"On Tuesday, August 30th 2005 at approximately 5PM I am evacuated from my unit. I have no idea that what is on the other side of that door will continually haunt me all the days of my life," Inmate 56 wrote in his ACLU questionnaire. "Then the pools of water appear. We are forced into it at gunpoint. At first I hesitate. There are things floating in it, and upon closer examination I can readily

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-81874797107511901942008-04-26T22:51:00.000-07:002009-08-12T23:15:47.785-07:00

"Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change,And though the mountains be shaken into the heart of the seas;Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,Though the mountains tremble with the swelling thereof. SelahThe nations raged, the kingdoms were moved:He uttered his voice, the earth melted.Come, behold the works of Jehovah,What desolations he hath made in the earth."

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4079875818705706346.post-57384775914930274412008-04-22T22:46:00.000-07:002009-08-12T23:10:45.007-07:00

The U.S. leads the world in both total number of persons behind bars (2.3 million) and in the more meaningful statistic of incarceration rates (751 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 in population).Since 1970, our incarceration rate has increased five-fold. America currently cages 1% of the adult population. A rather Toquevillian NY Times article published today parses out a series

Chris Chittyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11083603307219392867noreply@blogger.com0