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Towards a Collective Intelligence: Transmediality and the Wu Ming Project Towards a Collective Intelligence: Transmediality and the Wu Ming Project Melina Masterson Introduction Umberto Eco, as far back as 1964 with the first publication of Apocalittici e integrati, was not only focused on the two categorizations of “Apocalyptic” and “Integrated” intellectuals and their reactions to a burgeoning and omnipresent mass culture, but also demonstrated his interest in this culture’s production, distribution, and consumption: The universe of mass communications is—whether we recognize it or not—our universe; and if it is of values that we wish to speak, the objective conditions of communication are those provided by the existence of newspapers, radio, television, recorded and recordable music, the new forms of visual and audiovisual communication. Nobody is free of these conditions, not even the virtuous man who, angered by the inhuman nature of this universe of information, transmits his own protest through the channels of mass communication, in the columns of a great newspaper or in the pages of a paperback printed in linotype and sold in railway station kiosks. (Eco 1994: 20) Eco’s sentiments still ring true in the cognitive, digital society of 21st century Italy. Since the dawn of the Italian Second Republic, it is undeniable that former Prime Minister Berlusconi’s tactics of media domination, as well as his approach to culture creation, have had a considerable effect on the Italian collective imaginary; his control of Between, vol. IV, n. 8 (2014) Melina Masterson, Towards a Collective Intelligence: Transmediality and the Wu Ming Project both public and private television, as well as print media, sport, banking and the building trades demonstrates how he has effectively insinuated himself into every realm of Italian culture. If, as Eco observed, mass communications is indeed «our universe» (ibid.: 20), then he who controls that universe wields the power, not just of the government, but of the everyday, and «[n]obody is free of these conditions» (ibid.). It is not surprising, then, that this all-consuming media presence has elicited a considerable backlash, especially among left-wing Italian intellectuals, many of whom came of age during the period of Berlusconi’s ascent. The Bolognese writing collective Wu Ming, who set themselves in opposition to Berlusconi’s brand of neo-liberal capitalism beginning with their chosen name1, are among those writers, artists, and thinkers who question the cultural paradigms that have become hegemonic in Italy over the last twenty years. They do so by following in Eco’s path, reevaluating the production, distribution, and consumption of culture and adapting their strategies of resistance to fit the increasingly digital world of the 21st century. Wu Ming demonstrate a unique approach to writing not only in their collectivity (which would be anathema to Berlusconi’s “cult of the individual celebrity”), but also in the multisensorial and multimedial dimension they bring to narrative. By extending the boundaries of the traditional written text through digital tools, music, and physical performances, they seem to invite increased agency on the part of their readership and seek to connect their followers across times and spaces, thus creating a borderless transnational community. The experience of a Wu Ming novel extends past the printed word, as the collective experiments with the tactile, visual, aural, and even the olfactory to enhance the way in which the reader lives the content on the page: soundtracks, hiking excursions, fan fiction, and photo exhibitions, among others, are just some of the ways they seek to go beyond the confines of the written text. Their use 1 Wu Ming signifies either “anonymous” or “five authors” in Chinese depending on the pronunciation and is a title often used by dissidents of that country as a form of protest. 2 Between, vol. IV, n. 8 (2014) of old and new media to achieve these ends represents a clear example of Henry Jenkins’s convergence culture2 at work, since many of their initiatives are designed to foster interaction through multisensorial forms of communication. While an examination of all of these forms exceeds the scope of an essay3, I will focus specifically on the interplay of word and image in Wu Ming’s (relatively recent) venture into the social media/networking site Pinterest. My intent is to illustrate how this particular aspect of their project serves as a microcosm of their overall approach to culture creation and art, and how their facilitation of the collective process of consumption4 contributes to the development of «communities of sentiment» (Appadurai 1996: 8) and a «collective intelligence» (Jenkins 2006: 2)5. These are formations that revitalize the concept of popular culture for the digital age of our cognitive society and offer an alternative to an Italian cultural imaginary long dominated by the practices of Berlusconism6. 2 «[w]here old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways» (Jenkins 2006: 2). 3 I am currently working on an extended study on the multisensorial in Wu Ming where I argue that it represents one of the primary strategies of culture creation of the collective and is an effective way of forming «commu- nities of sentiment» (ibid.: 8) through imagination, participation, and collabo- ration; this “sensory convergence” invites increased agency on the part of the reader and is one way in the which the collective “writes back” to Berlusco- nian practices regarding the passive consumer. 4 See Jenkins 2006: 4 for additional discussion. 5 Here Jenkins cites French cybertheorist Pierre Lévy (Jenkins 2006: 2). 6 I use this term to refer to those practices utilized by the former prime minister to gain consensus and maintain control over Italian popular culture. These practices include, but are not limited to: strategic television program- ming on both public and private networks that focused on American sitcoms, quiz and variety shows, all of which featured the requisite veline, or scantily- clad young women; control over publishing and print media through owner- ship of the Mondadori publishing house, as well as other newspapers and magazines; selling the Italian people a specific type of capitalist dream 3 Melina Masterson, Towards a Collective Intelligence: Transmediality and the Wu Ming Project “I figli problematici della popular culture” Perhaps one of the reasons for Wu Ming’s attraction to the multi (or trans)medial and the multisensorial, and specifically to the relationship between word and image, is precisely their background and their predisposition to and engagement with the popular culture of their time. For the purposes of this essay, I intend to use the terms “popular culture” and “mass culture” synonymously, in keeping with the intentions of the collective itself. In his 2008 “Memorandum” on the New Italian Epic, Wu Ming 1 discusses the historical distinction between the two terms in the Italian context, which he finds problematic in modern times, as the folkloristic connotation of cultura popolare clearly contrasts with the technological, mass-mediated cultura di massa.7 In his view, the difference involves placing a focus on the through the building of the subdivision/media headquarters of Milano 2; his use of sports metaphors and his own “rags to riches” story to sell himself as the “everyman” of Italian culture; and the forging of strategic alliances and the establishing of laws that would protect his questionable business deal- ings. According to Paul Ginsborg, what Berlusconi truly promoted was “negative freedom”, an unregulated form of liberty which essentially al- lowed him to alter the legal system for his own personal gain. 7 «Oggi la stragrande maggioranza dei prodotti culturali non è DI MASSA: viviamo in un mondo di infinite nicchie e sottogeneri. Il MAIN- STREAM generalist e “nazionalpopolare” è meno importante di quanto fosse un tempo, e continuerà a ridimensionarsi. La sfumatura di significato, inve- ce, consiste in questo: cultura di massa indica COME viene trasmessa questa cultura, vale a dire attraverso i mass media; CULTURA POPOLARE pone l’accento su CHI la recepisce e se ne appropria. Di solito, quando si parla del posto che la tale canzone e il tale film ha nella vita delle persone, o di come il tale libro e o il tale fumetto ha influenzato la sua epoca, si usa l’espressione “popular culture”. Il problema è che il dibattito italiano sulla cultura pop no- vanta volte su cento riguarda la spazzatura che ci propina la televisione, co- me se il “popular” fosse per forza quello, mentre esistono distinzioni qualita- tive ed evoluzioni storiche» (Wu Ming 2009: 18). [Today the great majority of culture is not MASS: we live in a world of infinite niches and subgenres. The 4 Between, vol. IV, n. 8 (2014) producer (mass media) rather than on the consumer (the people), neither of which fully represents the “popular culture” which today we associate with those films, television shows, video games, and magazines which have been both produced through mass means and consumed by a large part of a more global population. In his words: «Di solito, quando si parla del posto che la tale canzone e il tale film ha nella vita delle persone, o di come il tale libro e o il tale fumetto ha influenzato la sua epoca, si usa l’espressione “popular culture”» (Wu Ming 2009: 18). What is important to underline here, particularly because it appears to challenge many Cultural Studies theories on the damaging, hegemonic effects of mass produced popular culture, is that Wu Ming 1 does not provide a qualitative judgment on popular culture as a whole; rather, he acknowledges its role in human life and interactions, and the ability of the consumer to somehow mold the culture to satisfy him or herself, indicating that the power of hegemony lies more in “production” than “reception”.
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