Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2003 13:00:05 +0000
From: "steve.devos" <steve.devos-AT-krokodile.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Article 136 - The Digital Death Rattle of the AmericanMiddle


Glen

thanks on a cursory look this atrticle looks very interesting....

Reading your comments and responses below I can see why Virillo's work 
on  speed and technology has been on interest to you.  I would have 
assumed given what I know of your work and interests that Virillo would 
have been more crucial than he appears to be below.... Is there some 
deeper philosophical or theoretical reason why the couple 
Foucault/Deleuze attracted rather than say the Virillo/Deleuze and 
possibly the Situationist/Lefebvre couplet ?

which article is the Armitige portmanteau notion of chronotopianism in ?

( to clarify i'm thinking of the virillo of 'polar interia' and the 'art 
of the motor' rather than the 'information bomb' and the 'desert screen' )

regards
steve

Glen Fuller wrote:

>BTW, there is an excellent article here:
>http://www.a-aarhus.dk/velfaerdsbyen/sider/download/nabd-mobilityUK.pdf
>The Nordic countries really seem to be on top of contemporary mobility 
>research. And to add a little note to their article about the 
>connection between speed and mobility (which they do not spell out, 
>maybe because they think it is obvious, I dunno?). Mobility is related 
>to speed in that the greater the speed, the greater the distance 
>travelled, therefore the greater the mobility. To tie it into their 
>power=speed virilio-esque argument, the greater the (potential for) 
>mobility the greater the (ability to exercise) power (as power 
>differentials only ever emerge as a relation). 
>
>  
>
>>Steve,
>>
>>Very interesting article. I know these comments below do not fit with 
>>the current discussion to do with religion, et al (well, maybe 
>>not...ha!), but it kind of fits with the C-theory essay. 
>>
>>I have been thinking about John Armitage's notion of Chronotopianism 
>>(the merging of 'speed' and utopianism, which operates as an 
>>ideological myth) and John Urry's suggestion that mobility is a key 
>>concept that can transcend the nation-state framework of 'society'. 
>>    
>>
>In 
>  
>
>>terms of my own work I have been thinking about the translocal 
>>phenomenon of young males infatuated with cars in terms of 
>>a 'subcultural' response to the inherent contradistinction with the 
>>dominant culture's chronotopianism (the feedfoward loop of 
>>    
>>
>the 'faster' 
>  
>
>>ideal) and the 'chronodystopic' conditions of their own existence. 
>>    
>>
>They 
>  
>
>>have near absolute mobility with new communications and auto-
>>    
>>
>transport 
>  
>
>>technologies, however it amounts to nothing, as they are already 
>>running, plugged in and dressed up with, literally, no where to go. A 
>>simulacra of mobility, like Wild E. Coyote's running in mid-air 
>>    
>>
>before 
>  
>
>>he perceives the drop (feels the friction of gravity) after flying 
>>    
>>
>off 
>  
>
>>a cliff face, mobility without destination or departure, the 
>>    
>>
>perpetual 
>  
>
>>cruise...
>>
>>I orginally headed down the Deleuze/Foucault route, looking at the 
>>micro-politics of what they were doing, but that is almost useless. 
>>Foucault is useful for his 'macro' concepts to understand how the 
>>    
>>
>road 
>  
>
>>safety industry disciplines the biopower of road users to accept the 
>>necessary losses and assume the road-user-habitus (look right, look 
>>left, look right again, whoops, crash!) the highly destructive 
>>technologies of automobility. As one critic of the road safety 
>>    
>>
>industry 
>  
>
>>has suggested, they are not actually worried about safety in any 
>>definitive sense, they are more concerned about shaping the human to 
>>    
>>
>be 
>  
>
>>as safe as possible (which is not very 'safe'!) in the face of auto-
>>death. Deleuze is useful for understanding 'why' my car-dudes would 
>>want to be car-dudes, but neither of their respective theories and 
>>concepts are very good at explaining 'how', the 'captured' conditions 
>>of emergence (what Bourdieu calls a 'field of possibility').
>>
>>The 'abstract machine' of the subcultural response to the 
>>    
>>
>contradiction 
>  
>
>>between the myth of freedom through mobility and the reality of the 
>>simulacrum of 'speed' is represented quite well by the film 'Mad Max 
>>2', known in the US (and maybe the UK?) as 'The Road Warrior'. The 
>>    
>>
>film 
>  
>
>>is actually premised (in the opening sequence) on an Arab vs US oil 
>>world war, but that is not what is interesting. Max is the meanest 
>>mother of the road driving the meanest mother of all vehicles - the 
>>last V8 Interceptor. The 'diagram' of the subcultural response to the 
>>inherent contradictions in the myth of the freedom of automobility 
>>finds form of the lone warrior transversing the Australian outback 
>>looking for fuel to feed his supercharged monster. His existance is 
>>determined by nothing else other than the ongoing struggle to sustain 
>>his accelerated mobility, otherwise 'stasis is death'. Social 
>>    
>>
>relations 
>  
>
>>premised on a dromocratic society without war are social relations 
>>based on the logitics of everyday life. No one benefits from the 
>>displacement of sites of sociality like work, home, liesure sites 
>>    
>>
>from 
>  
>
>>one another except for those groups or individuals who can produce 
>>    
>>
>and 
>  
>
>>extract a surplus profit from the myth of surplus speed. Those that 
>>benefit are, what Armitage calls, the 'global kinetic elite' and 
>>    
>>
>those 
>  
>
>>that suffer are the '(s)lower classes'. 
>>
>>If it is the tendenct of 'capital' to migrate to the localities of 
>>    
>>
>low 
>  
>
>>overhead/production costs to extract maximum profit (the 
>>    
>>
>dromoeconomic 
>  
>
>>equivalent of a low pressure weather pattern) produces global 
>>displacements of 'home' (consumption) and work (production), and 
>>    
>>
>social 
>  
>
>>relations are premised on the circulation of goods, services and 
>>    
>>
>people 
>  
>
>>between them, then the diagram of the mad max abstract machine can be 
>>found in the US response to the dwindling supplies of oil-energy. 
>>    
>>
>They 
>  
>
>>hit the road in the meanest mother of all 'war machines' whose 
>>existence is determined by nothing else other than the ongoing 
>>    
>>
>struggle 
>  
>
>>to sustain their accelerated mobility. 
>>
>>Ciao,
>>Glen.
>>
>>
>>-- 
>>PhD Candidate, Centre for Cultural Research
>>University of Western Sydney
>>
>>
>>    
>>
>
>  
>


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