The Dance of The Body without Organs
My current project employs the concept of the Body w/o Organs as a model of artistic process to undermine social, scientific, and political hierarchies used in organizing our states of consciousness and embodiment. By arriving at a location of stillness, or “zero intensity” through this process of dislocating normative structures; new structures, configurations, and organizations will emerge that reflect local, emotional, or irrational consistencies. The project exists in several instantiations, including immersive virtual environments, networked art, 3-D modeling, and texts.
Body w/o Organs, Deleuze and Guattari, Artaud, Virtual Reality, Virtual Environment, Irrationality, Surrealism, Visible Human Project
1.0 Situating Subjectivity
“My mind became a place of refuge, an sanctuary, a room I could enter with no fear of invasion. My mind became a site of resistance.” (hooks, 1991)
Located as a privileged subject relative to race and gender; I am at a transitional place regarding power relations. My upbringing as a white male of a middle class family in a line of Scottish farmers immigrating to the rural Midwestern US roots me in the blood-soaked soil of the Klu Klux Klan. I was born and raised 20 years after and 30 miles from Marion, Indiana, site of countless barbaric lynchings of African Americans. My sympathies betrayed the hegemonic classifications of my own body and color of flesh. I lined up with the victims, not with my kin. My desire to be done with the coding of the politics of identity in my flesh increased my sense of disembodiment. My own betrayal of skin and kin accompanied by the undeniable privilege afforded me by the embodied coding of race has created a ...
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...cal and theoretical issues related to the technologies of immersive virtual reality, netart, and avatars; specifically with respect to issues of identity, embodiment, and human sentience. He has presented and exhibited his work in numerous international venues, including Ars Electronica, Invencao, Consciousness Reframed, Webs of Discourse, CADE, as well as museums, galleries, and alternative spaces. His essay, “A Manifesto for Avatars” was published in Intertexts in 1998. At present he is a visiting researcher at the Virtual Reality Centre at the University of Teesside, and at the CAVE Lab, New Media Center, The University of Michigan. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Art/New Media at Bowling Green State University, and an Assistant Professor of Art at Kent State University.
http://www.stark.kent.edu/~glittle
http://www.oberlin.net/~glittle
They argue that the accruing of property by figures such as Johnson meant that they literally did not think of themselves as living within a racist society, and that, despite the decline of this freedom, it is a mistake to consider their opinions as an “aberration” in a narrative of inevitable racial exploitation (Breen & Innes, 112). Rather, they claim that to understand such people as such an aberration inevitably leads to a situation in which the real equality of their freedom is
For as long as I can remember, racial injustice has been the topic of discussion amongst the American nation. A nation commercializing itself as being free and having equality for all, however, one questions how this is true when every other day on the news we hear about the injustices and discriminations of one race over another. Eula Biss published an essay called “White Debt” which unveils her thoughts on discrimination and what she believes white Americans owe, the debt they owe, to a dark past that essentially provided what is out there today. Ta-Nehisi Coates published “Between the World and Me,” offering his perspective about “the Dream” that Americans want, the fear that he faced being black growing up and that black bodies are what
“The American Dream: Out of Reach?” America Press 10/3/2011: Pages. Vol. 205 Issue 9, p6-6. 8/9
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus reigned from 616 to 578 B.C. and was the fifth king. According to legend, he was born in Etruria and wasn’t royal blood at all. He moved to Rome and became wonderful friends with King Ancus Marcius, who made him the guardian of his children. When the king died, Priscus was elected king and built many monuments and the Temple of Jupiter. His son, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, reigned from 534 – 310 B.C. and the last of the Seven Legendary Kings. Superbus was a tyrant who took away the rights of the lower class men. After his son did a crime, he was drove out of the throne and was The Lupercalia Festival, also known as the Feast of Lupercal, is often described with conflicted details by classical and Christian writers. We have an idea of what happened at the Lupercalia Feast, but not everything. We don’t know which god was celebrated, where the feast was held, or the origin the feast came from. Lupercalia is one the most famous Roman holidays and associated with Valentine’s Day. It’s the setting for Julius Caesars’s refusal towards the crown. Lupercalia was a full month before the Ides of March, March 15th. The Feast of Lupercal was celebrated on February 15th or February 13th – 15t.h, covering modern day Valentine’s Day. The Feast of Lupercal is sacrifices of goats and dogs for the fertility god, Lupercus. Two men would dress in nothing but goat skin covering their loins and slapped people with the goat skin. If you got slapped and it was hard for your family to become pregnant, then it would mean that your family would soon have a child.
Ferguson, Niall. "The End of the American Dream? How rising inequality and social stagnation are reshaping us for the worse." The Daily Beast 12 Aug. 2013. Online. 12 January 2014.
Some say, history is the process by which people recall, lay claim to, and strive to understand. On that day in May 1963, Mississippi’s lay claim: Racism. Between 1882 and 1952 Mississippi was the home to 534 reported lynchings’ more than any other state in the nation (Mills, 1992, p. 18). Jim Crow Laws or ‘Black Codes’ allowed for the legalization of racism and enforced a ‘black way’ of life. Throughout the deep-south, especially in rural communities, segregation prevailed.... ...
In 2014, Dr. Wallace Best wrote a candid article for the Huffington Post discussing what he deemed as the irrational fear of black bodies. The context surrounding this critique stemmed from the surge of black men dying by white police officers. In the article, Dr. Best provided historical insight into this deeply rooted, unwarranted anxiety that white Americans have used as probable cause to commit violent acts against blacks, as well as systemic control over black men as a means of protection to maintain societal order. With this assertion, Dr. Best offered a critical analysis in understanding the fanatical need to preserve ownership over black movement due to this ubiquitous threat of black skin and the African American male. However, what
...e. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernatics, Literature and Informatics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999.
The Association of Black Psychologist (ABP) (2013) defines colorism as skin-color stratification. Colorism is described as “internalized racism” that is perceived to be a way of life for the group that it is accepted by (ABP 2013). Moreover, colorism is classified as a persistent problem within Black American. Colorism in the process of discriminatory privileges given to lighter-skinned individuals of color over their darker- skinned counterparts (Margret Hunter 2007). From a historical standpoint, colorism was a white constructed policy in order to create dissention among their slaves as to maintain order or obedience. Over the centuries, it seems that the original purpose of colorism remains. Why has this issue persisted? Blacks have been able to dismantle the barriers faced within the larger society of the United States. Yet, Blacks have failed to properly address the sins of the past within the ethnic group. As a consequence of this failure, colorism prevails. Through my research, I developed many questions: Is it right that this view remain? How does valuing an individual over another cause distribution to the mental health of the victims of colorism? More importantly, what are the solutions for colorism? Colorism, unfortunately, has had a persisted effect on the lives of Black Americans. It has become so internalized that one cannot differentiate between the view of ourselves that Black Americans adopted from slavery or a more personalized view developed from within the ethnicity. The consequences of this internalized view heightens the already exorbitant mental health concerns within the Black community, but the most unfortunate aspect of colorism is that there is contention on how the issue should be solved.
In 1931 when the American Dream arose, Americans believed that the harder one worked, the more one would prosper (Meacham, 2012). In other words, they strongly believed that the American Dream was gaining a better, richer, happier life. Today, the American Dream is still hoping to earn a college degree, get a good job, buy a house, and start a family, but according to MetLife’s fifth annual survey, 41% of the respondents said it was about personal fulfillment, while most American’s say it is out of reach for many (White, ...
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream. 1st ed. New York City, N.Y: Henry Holt, 2006. Kindle Ebook.
...The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation. New York:
During the Jim Crow system whites often relied heavily on terror tactics and fear to uphold the idea of white supremacy. The system “went to great lengths to impress on blacks that they were a subordinate population by forcing them to live in a separate and inferior society” Morris observes (518).The methods used to achieve this were ruthless, according to wo...
Video games have been an influence part of our society since the early 70’s. The bad named that they are given is false, the only reason they have this bad name is because kids like games, so anything that is fun is bad for you. If a child loved playing chess he or she would be rewarded but it to is a game. Video games can help the learning process and should be incorporated in to the school system. If a child loved playing chess he or she would be rewarded but it to is a game. Video games can help the learning process and should be incorporated in to the school system.
A discussion of how the outcomes or objectives were supported through the implementation of the program.