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7:00pm, Cineworks Studio
1131 Howe St (lane entrance)
Free
Text To Speech is a reading group organized by Western Front, Cineworks and VIVO Media Arts Centre. Focused on writing about media, media art and the surrounding concepts and frameworks of the mediated world, Text To Speech gatherings aim to build stronger community ties and knowledge in our field. In this reading group, participants will be provided with copies of the text, and we will facilitate a group reading, discussion, and analysis. Prior knowledge of the work is encouraged but not required, as the session will involve some form of introduction, and some portion of close reading (out loud).
READING 17
Geoffrey Winthrop-Young
Silicon Sociology, or, Two Kings on Hegel's Throne? Kittler, Luhmann, and the Posthuman Merger of German Media Theory
In 1999 Rudolf Maresch and Niels Werber co-edited a Suhrkamp volume entitled Kommunikation Medien Macht ("Communication Media Power") that aspired to reclaim the abandoned peaks of German philosophy. In their letter of invitation, the editors solicited contributions that would respond to "a philosophical, intellectual, creative and political challenge of the first order" by helping to merge the poststructuralist media theory of Friedrich Kittler with the autopoietic systems theory of Niklas Luhmann. […] the merger was doomed from the outset. But then why write about it, or why try to initiate it in the first place? Because in matters of theory--just as in matters of love and business--ambitious failure is a great deal more interesting and revealing than moderate success; and what makes this particular failure so intriguing is that it grows out of an exemplary move within the space of posthuman theorizing.
Following N. Katherine Hayles, "posthuman" does not refer to the absence of humans but to a historically specific construction that recently emerged from the changing constellation of media, technology, and culture. As Hayles argues, the 'posthuman' is a point of view characterized by a set of (highly debatable) assumptions including the privileging of informational pattern over material instantiation, the debunking of consciousness "as an evolutionary upstart trying to claim that it is the whole show when in actuality it is only a minor sideshow," and, most importantly, the redesign of the "human being so that it can be seamlessly articulated with intelligent machines.”…
VIVO is located in the homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples in a warehouse space at 2625 Kaslo Street south of East Broadway at the end of E 10th. Transit line 9 stops at Kaslo Street on Broadway. From the bus stop, the path is paved, curbless, and on a slight decline. The closest skytrain station is Renfrew Station, which is three blocks south-east of VIVO and has an elevator. From there, the path is paved, curbless, and on a slight incline. There is parking available at VIVO, including wheelchair access parking. There is a bike rack at the entrance. The front entrance leads indoors to a set of 7 stairs to the lobby.
A wheelchair ramp is located at the west side of the main entrance. The ramp has two runs: the first run is 20 feet long, and the second run is 26 feet. The ramp is 60 inches wide. The slope is 1:12. The ramp itself is concrete and has handrails on both sides. There is an outward swinging door (34 inch width) at the top of the ramp leading to a vestibule. A second outward swinging door (33 inch width) opens into the exhibition space. Buzzers and intercoms are located at both doors to notify staff during regular office hours or events to unlock the doors. Once unlocked, visitors can use automatic operators to open the doors.
There are two all-gender washrooms. One has a stall and is not wheelchair accessible. The other is a single room with a urinal and is wheelchair accessible: the door is 33 inches wide and inward swinging, without automation. The toilet has 11 inch clearance on the left side and a handrail.
To reach the bathrooms from the studio, exit through the double doors and proceed straight through the lobby and down the hall . Turn left, and the two bathrooms will be on your right side. The closest one has a stall and is not wheelchair accessible. The far bathroom is accessible.