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Leonardo_36-1_001-098 1/24/03 9:24 AM Page 19
ARTIST’S ARTICLE ABSTRACT
Existential Technology: Wearable The author presents “Existen- tial Technology” as a new category of in(ter)ventions and Computing Is Not the Real Issue! as a new theoretical framework for understanding privacy and identity. His thesis is twofold: (1) The unprotected individual has lost ground to invasive surveillance technologies and Steve Mann complex global organizations that undermine the humanistic property of the individual; (2) A way for the individual to be free and collegially assertive in such a world is to be “bound to freedom” by an articulably external force. To that end, the s our world becomes more and more glob- services corporation such as the Ex- author explores empowerment A via self-demotion. He has ally connected, the official hierarchies of corporations and istential Technology Corporation). governments become larger and more complicated in scope, In the same way that large “covern- founded a federally incorporated often making the chain of command and accountability more ments” (convergence of multiple company and appointed himself to a low enough position to be difficult for an individual person to question. Bureaucracies governments corrupted by interests bound to freedom within that spanning several countries provide layers of abstraction and of global corporations) are em- company. His performances and opacity to accountability for the functionaries involved in such powered by being less accountable in(ter)ventions over the last 30 official machinery. Thus, policy affecting our everyday life is for their actions, existential tech- years have led him to an under- standing of such concepts as moved further from our ability to influence, affect or even un- nologies allow individuals to self- individual self-corporatization derstand it. At the same time, the increased use of surveillance bureaucratize in order to achieve a and submissivity reciprocity for and monitoring technologies makes the individual more vul- balance of bureaucracy when deal- the creation of a balance of nerable to, and accountable to, these very organizations that ing with government organizations. bureaucracy. are themselves becoming less accountable to the surveilled Existentialist theory holds that in- populace. dividuals are entirely free, thus en- In this paper, I propose the concept of “Existential Tech- tirely responsible. Clerks and functionaries, however, are not nology” as the technology of self-determination and mastery free, or at least can allege to be not free, and thus, ironically, over our own destiny, and I provide several examples of are in some ways more free to escape responsibility or ac- in(ter)ventions (new inventions I filed with the Patent Office countability for their actions. In the existentialist tradition, my as well as new interventions). In this article I deliberately con- apparatus of computer-mediated reality (e.g. wearing a com- flate the terms invention and intervention, as I did in my re- puter and living in a computer-generated world) suggests the cent exhibit at Gallery TPW, Prior Art: Art of Record [1]. (The absurdity of reality that is so much a part of existentialist think- terms “Prior Art” and “Art of Record” are commonly used in ing [3]. patent law.) Existentialism is not a philosophy but a label for several My performances and in(ter)ventions attempt to reflect the widely different revolts against traditional philosophy. The re- technological hypocrisies of large bureaucratic organizations fusal to belong to any school of thought and a marked dissat- on a moralistic (or humanistic) level by way of firsthand encounters with low-level “clerks,” rather than the more traditional Fig. 1. Installation of SeatSale: Seating Made Simple, at the San Francisco Art Institute, 2001. (© Steve Mann) approach of writing letters to manage- ment, politicians or the like. By mirror- ing the structures of bureaucracy and complexity, I engage in a Reflectionist ap- proach that I have found is, in many situations, surprisingly far more success- ful than writing letters to high-level offi- cials [2]. Ironically, Existential Technology serves to empower the individual by dis- empowering the individual of responsi- bility for his or her own actions. Empowerment is achieved through self- demotion (e.g. assuming a low rank in the corporate hierarchy of a subservience
Steve Mann (mailroom clerk), University of Toronto, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mailstop S.F. B540, 10 King’s College Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 3G4. E-mail:
© 2003 ISAST LEONARDO, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 19–25, 2003 19 Leonardo_36-1_001-098 1/24/03 9:24 AM Page 20
isfaction with traditional philosophy as What we now often have is a change from on the computer, the four of us placed superficial form the heart of existential- what might once have been a purchase our hands gently on the mouse, to posi- ism [4]. Thus, in formulating the con- into a license. I addressed the complex- tion the cursor wherever it was sum- cept of Existential Technology, I ity of this paradigm shift in a recent trav- moned to go. deliberately try to avoid making it too eling art installation entitled SeatSale: Ouijagree contained elements of “Oui” clear upon exactly whose shoulders I am Seating Made Simple, in which a simple ob- (French for “yes,” as in “yes, we agree”) standing, yet in so doing, I follow the (ex- ject, a chair, was connected to a global and of the Ouija board’s planchette. The istentialist) tradition of not following a computer network with a license man- mouse assumed the role of the latter. On tradition. ager. Rather than owning the chair, the the abstract level, we might say that the The true spirit of much of existential- user licenses the use of the chair. Sliding spirits of the dead are bound by the ism includes many of the great moral a credit card through a slot in the chair Terms and Conditions of the contract, questions raised in response to the rise causes 23 seat spikes to retract, for the whereas on the more concrete level, of totalitarian covernment regimes [5]. duration of the “Seating License™” [6] since no one particular one of us moved Ordinarily it is said that “necessity is (Fig. 1). the mouse, it would be difficult to discern the mother of invention.” In other words, The complicated array of computers, which of us, if any, were to be bound by there is first an “essence” (abstract idea, servers and other equipment in the 19- these unfair and outrageous Terms and a need); later, invention brings it into “ex- in relay rack (”License Manager,” “Li- Conditions. istence” (reduction to practice). How- cense Server,” etc.) is juxtaposed with the The Ouijagree performance was a ever, I more often find myself inventing corporate slogan “Seating Made Simple.” very simple example of what I call Exis- something from within my own heart, Downloading a “Free Seating License™” tential Technology (technology of self- not to satisfy any specific known need. causes the solenoid-activated seat spikes determination and mastery over our own Only later, after reduction to practice, to retract for a certain time period. The destiny). Ironically, our mastery over our when I begin using the apparatus of my word “free” is used with jest, in the sense own destiny (our freedom) came from inventions, do I discover their meaning. that although there is zero monetary cost our very lack of control over the situation For example, after wearing a computer (the credit card is for “identification pur- (i.e. the fact that no one person exercised for more than 20 years, I am only now be- poses only”), the true cost is the loss of decisive voluntary control over the posi- ginning to understand what it all means privacy and the loss of freedom to sit with- tion of the planchette mouse). and why I came up with what at the time out asking for permission from a global The Ouija board is an appropriate seemed to others to be a totally useless Seating Services™ provider. metaphor for my “community of cy- invention. The point of SeatSale was to show how borgs,” because it complicates the locus I refer to these inventions, where their the protection of “Intellectual Property” of control. In the same way that a gov- existence (reduction to practice) pre- violates something one might call the ernment’s firing squad may include some cedes their essence, as “Existential Tech- right of “Humanistic Property” [7]. unloaded guns, the Ouijagree piece re- nology.” flects a similar diffusion of responsibility. I begin by describing some of my “cy- For example, a large community of on- ONSENSUS ACTICS borg” in(ter)ventions over the past 30 C T : line users could remotely operate a years, during which I invented, designed O UIJAGREE AS CONSENSUAL global Ouija board to write a program to and built experimental apparatuses for DISSENT convert Proprietary Data Format (PDF) various experiments, which were also per- Shortly after SeatSale, I created a perfor- documents to plain text for accessibility formances. My experimental subjects mance piece called Ouijagree. On Friday, to the blind or visually impaired. Adobe were often drawn from the following 5 January 2001, at 18:12:34 EST, I (purveyors of PDF) would then have a groups: plugged in a new computer for the first hard time knowing whom to prosecute. • gambling casino owners time. Like many new computers, it had • security guards at gambling casinos been “tagged” with unsolicited advertis- Y ANAGER LEASE AIT • security guards in department stores ing, including a sticker reading “De- M M : P W where video surveillance was being signed for Microsoft Windows 2000.” I FOR MY NEXT AVAILABLE used extensively wondered how this corporate tag was any MOMENT • customs officials different from graffiti that kids use to tag In a mid-1970s performance I connected • other officials involved in placing our their gang’s territory. The computer also my body to electricity to stimulate body society under surveillance and who seemed to have been tagged internally movement. Much like the planchette in were fearful of being placed under with some unsolicited advertising as well, Ouijagree, the My Manager performance surveillance themselves. because a software message popped up allowed me to corporatize my body. In- I then summarize, within a theoretical on the screen indicating Terms and Con- deed, just as a corporation is an abstract framework, what I have learned from ditions, which I certainly did not agree entity, my body became an abstract en- these in(ter)ventions. with. (I had not asked for any software tity, writhing in movement beyond my for this computer since I ordinarily use own control. only open-source software such as GNU My Manager also evolved into other SEATSALE Linux.) Among other things, the Terms pieces that explored the freedom associ- The over-protection of intellectual “prop- and Conditions forbid the practice of sci- ated with covering, restraining and di- erty” has emerged as a situation that ence (e.g. trying to understand how a minishing the capabilities of the human could threaten scholarly discourse, com- program works, its underlying opera- body, using such works as PleaseWait [8] puter science and fair use. tional principles, etc.). So, having three (Fig. 2) and Sight License (Color Plate A Take, for example, the “purchase” of a students (Ryan V. Fung, Ashish J. Khisti No. 1), which prevented me from seeing typical computer or computer program. and Meghal H. Varia) working with me or hearing anything until a person iden-
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tified themselves by sliding an ID card through a slot on my head. PleaseWait bears some similarity to Ed- uardo Kac’s Telepresence Garment [9].
W EARCAM A more recent series of performances, from the mid-1980s to the present, in- volved wearing photographic apparatus to create an incidentalist intervention. In such apparatus, intentionality can be con- veniently obscured. For example, my telematic body in Wearable Wireless Webcam (a live performance transmitting contin- uously on the Web from 1994 to 1996) al- lowed other people (not me) to initiate a picture-capture process, and in some cases remotely teleoperate my body. When asked by security guards or department store staff if I was taking pictures, I could respond with uncertainty and consensus tactics, e.g. I was not knowingly taking pic- tures of anyone and I would need to check with my managers (thousands of other people I did not even know) in order to Fig. 2. PleaseWait (1–6 June, 1998): I don’t talk to strangers. Therefore you must slide a determine whether or not pictures were government-issued photo ID card through the slot on my head before I can see or hear you (or acknowledge your existence). If you would like to show me an advertisement, press 3 and being remotely acquired [10]. Question- slide your credit card through the slot on my head to purchase my attention (otherwise I ing and deconstructing rules becomes a cannot see your billboards or other ads). (© Steve Mann) new art form [11].
so that I would not have it.) Thus, I could asked not to take pictures, so I continued PLAYING IN THE KEY OF LOST not access any of the controls or deter- to wander around and make my own doc- In the making of the film Cyberman, a film mine whether or not the system was in umentary. Nobody seemed to know that crew followed me through various day-to- Capture mode. I might be playing in the key of C. day life activities, e.g. my visit to Casino Now once I was MAYBE playing in the Later, I left and met up with the film Niagara on Sunday, 2 July 2000. key of C, but definitely playing in the key crew who were waiting outside, having For shooting my documentary video of Lost, I wandered into the casino, with been prohibited from shooting inside the (upon which the above was based) I used the film crew following. casino. my EyeTap system—eyeglasses that cause The film crew managed to sneak in all Casinos have traditionally been associ- the eye itself to function as if it were a their film gear (this was not merely video, ated with money-laundering and crime, camera. My wearable apparatus is con- but included a large Arriflex motion pic- so that shooting video within casinos raises trolled by a handpiece that looks (and ture camera that shot real celluloid film). some interesting questions as to what is works) much like a musical instrument. The line producer (Alexi Steele) dis- prohibited and what is allowed (e.g. the This “keyer” [12] has various keys that can tracted the guard, while the cameraman question as to whether photography is be pressed in various combinations to (Rudy) pretended to be close friends often prohibited in order to hide evidence form various chords. I unplugged my with his assistant, giving her a big hug, of wrongdoing by the casino owners). keyer so that I would have no control over with the camera hidden between them, my EyeTap rig, but before I unplugged it, as they walked in past the guards. The I asked my wife to MAYBE press C, so that sound crew also managed to sneak in past HEARTCAM I would not know whether or not my eye- the guards, and so as I walked in, the crew HeartCam was a bra made using two sur- glasses were remembering (or recording quickly assembled inside and followed veillance domes as cups, with a heart or transmitting) anything. The keyer, me up the escalator. There was a tall es- monitor in the left cup to trigger image which works like a musical instrument calator going up a very grand entrance, capture; the apparatus took pictures that I usually start off by playing in the key and the crew knew that they could not be when the heart beat faster (Fig. 3). of G (Grab), then change to the key of C attacked in the confined space of the es- HeartCam turned the tables on the “male (Capture), was now removed so that I had calator, so that even after detection, any gaze” by allowing the female wearer of no way of controlling the function of the assailants would need to wait until the the apparatus to capture images; at the apparatus or of knowing whether or not crew got to the top. same time it used heart rate as a natural I was in the key of C. The assailants were waiting at the top. index to frame rate (i.e. frame rate was Finally, I switched to the key of Lost: I The film crew explained that they were proportional to the wearer’s degree of locked my waist-worn computer rig shut making a documentary of me (that they arousal). with a small padlock for which I did not had been following me around, in my Because image capture was involun- have a key. (I gave the key to my manager day-to-day life, etc.), but the crew was tarily controlled by the wearer (heart rate
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quarters. Therefore, it requires the same degree of protection as EXISTech’s Cor- porate Headquarters, namely that it be protected from undocumented access to its contents, or to access by strangers. Accordingly, an audit trail log, with fin- gerprints of anyone and everyone open- ing this briefcase, whether for business, or simply for routine inspection, must be maintained. Routine inspection may include in- spection by officials, such as law- enforcement personnel, customs offi- cials, etc., as well as by private security of- ficers such as those stationed at the egress of establishments such as depart- ment stores, public libraries, and other places where bags and personal belong- ings are checked upon exiting or enter- ing these establishments. In order to ensure this accountability, the owner or person carrying this brief- case cannot open it. Only persons other than the owner of this briefcase can open it. Anyone opening this briefcase, whether they be law enforcement offi- cers, customs officials, military police, or Fig. 3. HeartCam (2001) reverses the “male gaze” with a heart-triggered camera system private security forces, must therefore be conspicuously concealed in the left bra cup together with an infrared night vision camera fingerprinted, and the fingerprints must and computer processor. HeartCam further includes a second high-resolution color camera be maintained in a time-stamped ac- in the right cup. (© Steve Mann) countability archive. Additionally, this briefcase contains a video surveillance system to document any inspection of its contents, in order to ensure that the con- being an externality not directly under scanners. A computer inside the case tents are not compromised by strangers her intentioned control), the apparatus matches the fingerprints against a data- or corruption. provided an incidentalist element [13]. base, and I have simply put myself in the Compliance with these directives is en- Moreover, if an assailant objected to the /etc/deny directory. forced by both policy as well as by using camera, or the possibility of a camera, by The Griefcase bears these written in- the latest in keyless lock security tech- nology. The briefcase uses keyless thumb assailing the wearer, whether verbally or structions on its exterior surface: latches activated by pressing both otherwise, the frame rate would increase. thumbs on the latches simultaneously. Thus, a potential perpetrator who be- This briefcase is property of EXISTech The onboard microprocessor scans the came upset at the wearer for photo- Corp. By extension, it is thus considered thumbprints of the person attempting to to be part of EXISTech’s corporate head- open the briefcase. If the fingerprints are graphing him would cause her heart to beat faster, which would cause her to take more pictures of him. Fig. 4. An official is fingerprinted at an exhibit of the Griefcase, Wednesday, 1 November Since this feedback loop was beyond 2000. (© Steve Mann) A large number of government officials, including Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) officials, were fingerprinted with the Griefcase. her control, it could be said that the as- sailant was taking pictures of himself by agitating her.
GRIEFCASE: MY BRIEFCASE CAN BE OPENED BY ANYONE OTHER THAN ME Finally, I should emphasize that not all Existential Technology need be wearable. Although wearability is closely correlated to existentiality, there are examples, such as handcuffs, of wearable technologies that are not very existential in the con- text of their ordinary usage. There are also examples of non-wearable tech- nologies that are very empowering (in the context of personal empowerment). One such example is a briefcase that can be opened by anyone other than myself (Fig. 4). Even though I built it, I cannot open it, because I have replaced the thumb-operated latches with fingerprint
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those of the owner, the briefcase is not opened. If the fingerprints are those of any person other than the owner, the fin- gerprints are transmitted by way of a built in cellular telephone data communica- tions system, for remote archiving and comparison with a database of known criminals. Assuming no criminal match is found, the briefcase can be opened by anyone other than its owner, pending successful transmission and archiving of that person’s fingerprints to a logfile mirrored across EXISTech’s global net- work of servers.
As Assistant Mailroom Clerk for EXIS- Tech Corporation, my job is simply to de- liver the mail, and I, of course, cannot be trusted with access to the mail. There- fore, I cannot open the Griefcase. Fig. 5. An individual vs. a clerk under the control of a manager under control of a CEO under control of a board. . . . (© Steve Mann) This situation creates something I call Submissivity Reciprocity. That means that anyone wishing me to submit to a search of the case must submit to being finger- reference to the MANAGER. The CLERK irrational, rude or otherwise inappro- printed. can either claim that the MANAGER in- priate. Additionally, by handcuffing one of my stalled the surveillance cameras—or au- Another example is that of video sur- hands to the case, and leaving the key in thorized or required the installation of veillance. If we visited a friend’s house EXISTech’s level 4 laboratory (or inside the cameras—or that the MANAGER de- where video surveillance was used be- the briefcase itself), I am unable even to cides whether or not images are captured cause that person did not trust us, we try to open the case, because I cannot get from these domes. Alternatively, the would likely be quite angry. However, we both thumbs onto the scanners at the CLERK can completely deny knowing often accept the use of video surveillance same time. Thus, I require the help of the whether or not the domes actually con- systems by owners of large organizations, person wishing the case to be opened tain cameras. Similarly, the MANAGER is simply because it is not clear who is re- [14]. bound by, or can pretend to be bound by, sponsible for the installation of such sys- conditions from a chief executive officer tems. In my ShootingBack performance (CEO). The CEO is bound by, or pre- [15] I explored this phenomenon, by ask- UMMARY UMANS EING S : H B tends to be bound by what the insurance ing clerks at department stores, and the CLERKS CAN MAKE CLERKS company requires, or by a board of di- like, why they had placed me under video BE HUMAN rectors, denoted BOARD. surveillance. Their typical response ex- The fundamental problem that the indi- A typical example of such a situation is ternalized the responsibility to some vidual faces when interacting with the when an individual attempts to negotiate higher and unquestionable authority ever-increasing scope of larger and larger with a used-car salesman, and the used- such as management. When I attempted global bureaucracies is that of imbalance car salesman might say something like, to follow the chain of responsibility up- and asymmetry. “I’d love to give you the car for two thou- wards, management indicated the direc- Figure 5 illustrates this imbalance by sand dollars; let me check with my man- tive was from head office, and head office way of an individual interacting with a ager.” The used car salesman then argued video surveillance was just policy, clerk who either is, or pretends to be, disappears into a back room, alone, has or for insurance purposes or the like. under the control of a manager who ei- some coffee and reads a newspaper for a Thus, there was no clear accountability ther is, or pretends to be, under the con- few minutes and then comes out and says, for the situation. trol of a chief technology officer, who “I’d love to give you the car for two thou- If an individual carried a handheld either is, or pretends to be, under the sand dollars but my manager won’t let video camera around, videotaping clerks, control of a board of directors, etc. For me.” Although the salesman never talked casino operators, police officers, customs example, the CLERK may be protected to a manager, the salesman has some de- officials and the like, the individual by a surveillance camera or by a con- gree of power over the customer by virtue might be regarded as strange, rude or spicuously covert container for a surveil- of being able to credibly pretend that he otherwise acting in an inappropriate lance camera (such as a large Plexiglas is bound by a higher and unquestionable manner. hemispherical dome of wine-dark opac- authority. A credible, articulable, higher The individual could rely on religion ity). If the INDIVIDUAL complains and unquestionable authority allows rep- as a manager, by, for example, wearing a about the surveillance or about the po- resentatives of organizations to obtain ex- camera contraption as part of a religious tential for surveillance (e.g. by asking ternal blame and excuses for what would order. Just as religion allows individuals about Plexiglas hemispherical domes of otherwise be irrational or disagreeable ac- the right to wear special headwear even wine-dark opacity within the establish- tions. as uniformed employees (e.g. to wrap ment), the CLERK either can claim not Unfortunately, the individual person their heads in various materials that to know what is in the domes or can ab- does not ordinarily enjoy the same lux- would otherwise be regarded as inap- solve himself or herself from responsi- ury as the clerk and must therefore be- propriate), a new religion such as the bility for the situation by making have more rationally, or risk seeming “personal safety religion” could be in-
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vented that required its members to wear either real or perceived, that forces the or a back channel is opened, disrupting cameras. CLERK out of the normal role, making the normally top-down nature of the flow Thus, religion could be used to play a necessary a true back channel (RE- control from the management to the role similar to that of the manager for the VERSE PATH) from the CLERK to the CLERK. Thus, the individual human be- individual, but there is the danger that MANAGER, which will often also require coming a clerk forces the clerk to be- others (including clerks) may dismiss the a true back channel to the CEO, etc. come an individual human and make individual as a religious freak. Therefore, Ordinarily there would be no such responsible decisions outside the scope what I invented was another way for the back channel, or the back channel would of being just a clerk. individual to have excuses for, and to ex- be reduced, or its existence may even be In addition to an SMO, the INDIVID- ternalize blame for, otherwise irrational denied or obscured by the CLERK. For UAL can also choose to be bound by (or or disagreeable actions. example, if an INDIVIDUAL complains to pretend to be bound by) an SMO that An important aspect of my invention about video surveillance systems in use is itself bound by a higher authority such is for the individual to be able to non- by a CLERK, then the CLERK will simply as an insurance company. Thus, in one confrontationally inflict fear of account- refer the INDIVIDUAL to management, embodiment, the INDIVIDUAL could, ability, uncertainty or doubt on persons and management will likely be available for example, take out a life-insurance pol- exerting physical or other coercive force, only during certain limited hours, and icy that required him to wear a personal or the threat or possibility thereof, upon only after extensive delay. Then man- safety device that recorded video at all the user of the invention. I did this by way agement will likely say the directive for times. of an incidentalist imaging possibility. use of surveillance comes from the head Thus, an individual wishing to wear a Incidentalist imaging is imaging that office, and refer the INDIVIDUAL to a video-capture and recording system can be made to seem as if it occurs merely head office, where the INDIVIDUAL will merely signs up with a life-insurance com- by chance or without intention or calcu- spend several hours waiting on hold and pany (e.g. EXISTech Corporation) that lation. An incidentalist imaging system calling various telephone numbers, etc. requires him to do so. A small premium may in fact blatantly capture images (as by The head office will then often say that of one cent per year is paid by the indi- an articulable requirement from a higher the surveillance is used because the in- vidual, primarily for the reason of being authority to do so), or it may present itself surance company requires it. bound by the requirement to wear the as a device that could capture images, in a However, if the INDIVIDUAL takes out device. The life-insurance company pro- way that makes it difficult to discern the his or her own personal handheld cam- vides the individual with a choice of two intentionality of the use of the invention. era and photographs the CLERK, indi- programs, one being one cent a year Figure 6 illustrates the situation of a cating that the SMO requires it, a very wearing a camera, and the other being wearable computer user who is able ei- rapid back channel (REVERSE PATH) two cents a year not wearing the camera. ther to be or to pretend to be under the will emerge. Quite often the MANAGER Thus, the individual wishing to wear a control of a Safety Management Organi- will immediately become available, and camera system simply selects the lower zation (SMO). the INDIVIDUAL will no longer have to premium and then blames his apparently This figure shows an embodiment of wait in line or come back on a certain spe- irrational actions (constantly wearing a my WearComp invention, in which the IN- cial day to talk to the manager. The camera system) on the insurance com- DIVIDUAL has a credible mechanism to CLERK will, in fact, desperately seek a pany. EXISTech Corporation simply be- externalize at least a portion of his or her manager to avoid being photographed. comes the individual’s corporationality image-capture actions to a Safety Man- The matter will therefore rapidly escalate (corporate rationality). agement Organization (SMO). The SMO to the highest available level of authority. Thus, the life-insurance company pro- provides an articulable basis upon which This system thus has a symmetrical ef- vides the individual with a means for ar- to deny free will or self-determination. fect in which the individual and manager ticulably externalizing his own irrational The SMO creates a management system, either snap out of their respective roles actions. Now the individual can say, “I’m wearing this camera because my manager (SMO) requires it, and the insurance Fig. 6. Empowerment through self-demotion. (© Steve Mann) In the same way that clerks company requires the SMO to require facilitate empowerment of large organizations, I was able to facilitate personal empower- me to wear it, etc.” ment by being a clerk. My self-demotion provided a deliberate self-inflicted dehumanization Preferably, in the experimental appa- of the individual that forced clerks to become human. In summary, I found that humans ratus, a PROCEDURALIZER is used to being clerks can make clerks be human. allow the individual to follow, or to ap- pear to follow, a prescribed procedure without appearing to be thinking for him- or herself. The lack of apparent in- dividual thought or intentionality allows the individual to become or seem to be- come a clerk, which forces the CLERK to be human in being forced to think and make decisions for himself or herself.
References and Notes 1. See
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ment usually brings me face-to-face with their high- cal Telepresence Art and Net Ecology,” in Ken Gold- 12. See
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LEONARDO/ISAST ANNOUNCES
Leonardo Music Journal Volume 12
The LMJ series is devoted to aesthetic and technical issues in contemporary music and the sonic arts. Cur- rently under the editorship of Nicolas Collins, each thematic issue features artists/writers from around the world, representing a wide range of stylistic viewpoints. Each volume includes the latest offering from the LMJ CD series—-an exciting sampling of curious and unusual, but eminently listenable, music. Indepen- dently curated and annotated by experts and aficionados, these CDs offer a feast for the ear and mind alike. LMJ is available by subscription from the MIT Press. Visit http://mitpress.mit.edu . LMJ12: PLEASURE
From its naughty lyric content to the pounding physicality of its sound, Pop music is unabashedly driven by the pleasure principle. “Serious” music, however, is usually perceived as more refined, genteel or—-to put it another way—-repressed. And the avant-garde has traditionally found itself in the peculiar position of ac- companying bohemian, hedonistic lifestyles with a defiantly itchy and uncomfortable music. But are plea- sure and thoughtful invention necessarily at odds? Can there be no “bump and mind”? What of the Maryanne Amacher fan who spent 2 hours at The Kitchen, body pressed close to subwoofer? What of the delight experienced by virtuosi in particular finger-tickling passages? What of the trance-like state induced by the Perfect Fifth of the tambura, and all its Western imitators? What of the gratifying, sternum-thudding din of Rhys Chatham’s guitar pieces or the heaving, well-oiled muscularity of Gordon Monahan’s swingers? For nigh on a half-century, journalists have tried to raise Pop out of the gutter and convince us of its intel- lectual merit, but there has been scant critical attention paid to the feel-good factor of “serious” music. The time has come to think of libido and Ligeti in the same breath: in LMJ12 we reflect on the role of pleasure in all genres of music. This volume includes articles by: Ben Neill, David Byrne, Bob Ostertag, Arthur Elsenaar and Remko Scha, Reinhold Friedl, Ricardo Arias, Frieder Butzmann, Gil Weinberg, Dave Soldier, Marina Rosenfeld, Robert Wilsmore, Bruce Crossman, Amnon Wolman, Yale Evelev, Robert Poss, David Rosenboom. LMJ12 CD INCLUDED IN ISSUE
LMJ12 includes an audio CD curated by Christian Scheib and Susanna Niedermayr: From Gdansk till Dawn: Contemporary Experimental Music from Eastern Europe. The CD features works from throughout Eastern Eu- rope by: Tigrics, Olga Jozef, Wolfram, nicron, EA, Daniel Matej, Borut Savski, Molr Drammaz, The Ab- stract Monarchy Trio, Arszyn, Vladimir Djambazov, Jeanne Frémaux, Arkona, Vapori del Cuore and Martin Burlas. Leonardo Music Journal Vol. 12, including CD, is available from the MIT Press for $30. To order, send email to