This week is all about the way in which technological advancements change the way in which we view the world and our relationship to the world and to each other - a relationship that is mediated by (technological) artefacts.
During the introducionary session we discussed the way in which (technological) artefacts form the basis for culture and that the development of these artefacts form the basis for human existence. As a result of this, we attach certain meaning to artefacts.
The article and the accompanying video tries to bring the point across that the change in technology at the end of the paleaolithic brought about a shift in metaphysics, as a result of which larger communities both became possible and a neccessity. As communities evolved into societies, their attribution of meaning to artefacts became more and more institutionalized.
In the following exercises you are invited to experiment with this analysis.
Find an artefact that has a particular meaning for you, an object that brings back memories.
Describe this object first in an analytical, objective way, followed by a more personal description: why has it the meaning that it has for you, how did that meaning came to be and how does it relate to your own personal biography? Do you handle this artefact in a particular manner, do you perhaps surround it by small rituals, or keep it in a special place?
Next, try to come up with an artefact that is primarily meant as a tool, but that is used by its users in a more aesthetic manner, or even as an indication of their personality or identity.
Obvious examples include particular brands of automobiles or computers, but you can also think among the lines of stickers at the lids op laptops. Try to describe the way in which these people interact with these artefacts.
During the course of this week, find a group of people that form a (temporal) community – e.g. a group of people that witness a football match, a group of students from another school, or a group of people who are stuck in traffic.
Try to describe their culture: what are their ritualistic practices, is there a division or an hierarchy, are there particular roles that people play or acts that they perform, ...? What would be necessary for you to become part of this community?
In his analysis of place, Hartmut Rosa describes the way all cultures and societies have places that have a particular meaning to them. This is actually something we see happening at Göbekli Tepe:
Fast alle Kulturen der Welt verfügen über spezifische Orte, Narrationen und Praktiken, mittels deren sie zu ihren Ahnen, zu Helden, Geistern oder mit spezifischen Ereignissen ihrer Vergangenheit eine transhistorische Verbindung herstellen. (p.512)
Alle Kulturen neigen dazu, spezifische Räume und Orte rituell aufzuladen und auf diese Weise um Ankerpunkt von Resonanzachsen werden zu lassen. (p.646)
When you think about a (sub)culture that you find yourself part of, can you locate these kind of sites, narratives and practices? Describe the role that art and design play both in the formation and the recognition of these ritualistic places.
Alternatively, you can describe a place that creates communities, e.g. people that are flocking American Civil War battleplaces.
When talking about team sports, Thomas Alkemeyer has described the interactions and relationships that develop between the players:
Die Akteure werden in dieses Geschehen gleichsam hineingezogen, weil ihre sozialisierten Körper schneller reagieren als das Bewusstsein. Sie reagieren dann scheinbar spontan aufeinander. Aus diesen Reaktionen können sich produktive Energien ergeben. Es geschieht etwas, das von keinem der beteiligten Akteure vollkommen zu kontrollieren ist. (p.422)
Can you describe a situation in which you felt like you were part of something bigger, where the group of people was bigger than the sum of its constituent individuals? Please elaborate.
We saw that according to Nietzsche, the role of the artist was signposting the future. Can you describe the future that your own artistic practice is pointing towards? What form of togetherness does your work create or prevent?