Re-views
Walter Alter
between life and dream, Dali and Gala, Port Ligat and Barcelona were
permeable. For Walter the boundary between Surrealism and post modern
cliche is the horizon.
Dream = reality minus physics. We are trunk line receptors. You are the
heads up display.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
walter alter artist - wiseguy - savant
____________________________
PORTFOLIO: http://infojockey.tripod.com/
PSYOPS: www.fortunecity.com/victorian/mill/1189
MP3.COM: http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/230/walter_alter.html
no man rules another
| > greetings one and all; here's your very late and bursting at the
| > seams digital envelope full of new Autonomedia releases and project
| > updates --->
| >
| > Contents of this Autonogram, with links:
| > 1. New Book: Surrealist Subversions
| > http://www.autonomedia.org/surrealistsubversions
| > 2. New Book: Tactical Reality Dictionary
| > http://www.autonomedia.org/tacticalreality
| > 3. New Book: The Molecular Invasion
| > http://www.autonomedia.org/molecularinvasion
| > 4. New 2003 Calendars now available
| > http://www.autonomedia.org/2003saints,
| > http://www.autonomedia.org/2003sheroes
| > 5. New book imprint edited by Peter Lamborn Wilson
| > http://www.autonomedia.org/exit18, with a gala party in December
| > 6. Some recent points-of-debate from the Interactivist Info Exchange
| >
| > and with that, here we go!
| >
| > * * * * *
| >
| > A fundamental question I'm asking myself about a thousand times a day
| > is "Why in the world are we maintaining this present reality?"
| > (sometimes phrased as "Where's that rocketship to outta here?") The
| > first two books on my list here deal with this question from very
| > divergent places, but in a way that, when combined with a strong cup
| > of coffee, exudes an explosive complementarity.
| >
| > "Surrealist Subversions" is a brick of a book, at 742 pages perfect
| > for hurling through the glass window of the Art History zoo -- which
| > has had surrealism tied to an early-twentieth-century stake for quite
| > some time now. Largely an anthology of "Arsenal/Surrealist
| > Subversions", the Chicago-based surrealist journal borne of a
| > late-60s dissatisfaction with the way things were going, the book
| > seeks to continue the project of realizing poetry in everyday life.
| > Of course, most of us are prevented from "realizing" poetry just like
| > that, so a good chunk of this book is devoted to their critique of
| > the miserabilist components of everyday life that conspire to block
| > the Marvellous ("miserabilism" being the system which "produces both
| > misery and the idea that misery is the only possible reality"). As
| > expected, this critique often overlaps with a fundamental critique of
| > capitalism, and in fact a Surrealist flyer called "Who Needs the
| > WTO?" received wide distribution in Seattle in those legendary days
| > in November of 1999. [For a review of this book pointing more towards
| > the relationship between Chicago Surrealism and the Global
| > Anti-Capitalist movement, go to
| > http://www.autonomedia.org/surrealistsubversions/review.html .]
| >
| > Critique of miserabilism in place, the book also traces the history
| > of American surrealism, first by collecting documents from within the
| > movement ("The Surrealist Adventure: Total Nonconformism,
| > Insubordination, and Revolution as the Way to a Non-Repressive
| > Civilization") and then by tracing the surrealist path via eruptions
| > of the Marvellous in the culture at large ("Surrealist Action: Social
| > Transformation as Festival"). The task of binding the whole project
| > together is expertly accomplished by editor Ron Sakolsky,
| > particularly with his lengthy introduction to the book, in which he
| > gives significant cultural and biographical background to the major
| > and minor players in the movement. All in all, this is a tremendous,
| > thoroughly illustrated book which will hopefully provoke and inspire
| > restless and irritated imaginations to gorgeous creative action.
| >
| > Surrealist Subversions http://www.autonomedia.org/surrealistsubversions
| >
| > * *
| >
| > Meanwhile, taking up far less space on the shelf but equally
| > inspiring (and demanding) in its critique of Perceived Reality is
| > Konrad Becker's "Tactical Reality Dictionary." Perhaps you've had the
| > experience of reading, say, "Society of the Spectacle" and thereafter
| > having a whole new mechanism for making sense of your experience of
| > the world? Or of suddenly realizing that the world as perceived is
| > primarily a media environment, with producers and their agendas
| > lurking everywhere and in everything? This book is one of those, or
| > at least it has been for me in the last few days. Becker is a
| > familiar name in the world of Tactical Media (he's giving a keynote
| > speech on the topic at the Amsterdam "World Information Conference"
| > in a few weeks -- see http://www.world-information.org), and this
| > slim book acts as a sort of primer on what could be called Dominant
| > Reality Management. Becker defines, in short essays, 72 terms that
| > initially sound like they come from a Public Relations 101 textbook,
| > but his project is much more than a decon-job of the ad industry. His
| > concern is primarily in the manipulation of information to construct
| > myths, with the intention of harmonizing subjective experience of the
| > environment -- what he calls "Information Peacekeeping", the purest
| > form of war. The terms that he introduces and defines in this book,
| > then, illuminate the many tactics and strategies involved in this
| > manipulation and construction. It's enough to make you suspicious of
| > every billboard, every registration number, every security camera.
| >
| > But fortunately, Becker's critique isn't purely a negative one.
| > Understanding the workings of Perception Management, etc., is
| > necessary in order to effectively formulate a Future Heritage. He
| > longs for a "Future Heritage foundation of cultural intelligence" and
| > "foresight institutes exploring the multidimensional potential of
| > human experimental communication beyond the role as consumers."
| > Re-inserting digital human rights and digital ecology into the
| > technological environment in an effort to democratically shape the
| > future of communication is what this book hopes to do. But he doesn't
| > stop there -- he's all for Critical Hedonism, in which we can escape
| > the vicious circle of forced work for wages and imposed leisure,
| > escape symbolic dominance and cultural entrainment, the "reality" of
| > everyday life and the flatlands of binary logic. As he puts it, "The
| > movement of critical escape from materialism is a global language of
| > zero work ethics in full e-fact. Towards the united international
| > hedonistic diversification, critical escapism will dance at the grave
| > of ordinary pancapitalism." Exclamation point! So in other words he's
| > aiming for an end to miserabilism and the realization of poetry in
| > everyday life, but definitely in other words. And let me tell you,
| > with a strong cup of coffee and this pair of books on your desk, it's
| > well-near impossible to avoid signing up for a seat on that
| > rocketship to outta here about a million times a day!
| >
| > Tactical Reality Dictionary http://www.autonomedia.org/tacticalreality
| >
| > * * *
| >
| > Now I'm all out of breath, so here's a description by the Critical
| > Art Ensemble of their new book, "The Molecular Invasion", a critique
| > of corporate science, primarily dealing with tactics of
| > contestational biology.
| >
| > <CAE>The current neo- and endocolonial initiatives by corporations
| > attempting to consolidate the food chain and its markets from the
| > molecular level on up presents anti-capitalist activists with a new
| > biological front that requires a new set of tactical responses.
| > Currently, activists are relying on traditional methods and means for
| > slowing the corporate molecular invasion. While such activities are
| > useful, they are also insufficient in and of themselves. Current
| > radical practices, such as luddite oriented sabotage, seem to do more
| > damage to the movement than to corporations. In our book,the Critical
| > Art Ensemble suggests new tactics and strategies that could be used
| > to challenge corporate authority on the _molecular level_. CAE hopes
| > to demonstrate that there is no place (physical, virtual, or
| > molecular) that biotech corporations can act uncontested. By
| > appropriating and reverse engineering corporate tools, resistant
| > culture can effectively and efficiently fight the profit machine
| > where ever it may reveal itself. </CAE>
| >
| > More on this book can be seen at
| > http://www.autonomedia.org/molecularinvasion, including the full
| > introduction to the book; the authoring collective can be found on
| > the web at http://www.critical-art.net.
| >
| > * * *
| >
| > Exit 18 is a new imprint from Autonomedia devoted to upstate New York
| > themes and authors, edited by our Hudson Valley correspondent and
| > dear colleague, Peter Lamborn Wilson. Peter's long been a fan of
| > pamphleteria (witness his passionate stategy in "Escape from the 19th
| > Century": "If you really love someone, buy rare old yellowing Fourier
| > pamphlets and let your beloved discover them as if by accident in
| > musty library of deceased uncle..."), so naturally, the first
| > offering from Exit 18 is a series of 5 pamphlets. For full
| > descriptions, please go to the web page at
| > http://www.autonomedia.org/exit18, but in brief: "Ayahuasca and
| > Shamanism" is a 24-page interview with the radical anthropologist
| > Michael Taussig by Peter Wilson, concerning anthropology, radical
| > politics, and hallucinogenia in Colombia; "High in the Himalayas" by
| > Marilyn Stablein is a memoir (with recipes!) of her travels and
| > adventures in India and Tibet in the 60s and early 70s; "Select
| > Strange and Sacred Sites: The Ziggurat Guide to Western New York" by
| > Th. Metzger is a road guide to weirdo psychogeography in the Finger
| > Lakes district; "Overcoming Fitness" by Robert Kocik examines the
| > Human Genome Project and attempts to code some poetry into the
| > commercial-grade DNA of the future; and the anonymous pamphlet
| > "Hieroglyphica" projects a thousand points of darkness onto these
| > Lite Times via a long Rosicrucian poem.
| >
| > Each pamphlet is $5, or $20 for the entire set. And if you're in the
| > Hudson Valley area, you're welcome to come to the gala release party
| > for the series at the Uptown Cafe in Kingston, NY on December 8 at
| > 2pm. The authors and editor will all be present to read from their
| > work, sign copies, give advice and make merry (beer, wine, tea and
| > coffee all available). The Uptown is at 33 North Front Street,
| > Kingston NY, telephone 845-331-5439. Right next door is a great used
| > bookstore as well -- Alternative Books -- so don't worry about being
| > early for the event, as there's plenty to do!
| >
| > * * *
| >
| > A whole raft of new calendars for the new year showed up in the
| > warehouse recently; have a look at
| > http://www.autonomedia.org/2003saints and
| > http://www.autonomedia.org/2003sheroes to see their covers and read
| > more about them. If you're unfamiliar with our decade-long calendar
| > project, though, here's a blurb I wrote just for you: Autonomedia's
| > Calendars of Jubilee Saints, Sheroes and Womyn Warriors squeeze
| > millennia of radical history into a pair of heavily-illustrated 17 x
| > 24-inch wall-hanging calendars. The famous, the obscure, and the
| > nonspectacularly notorious peer out, cheek by jowl, hoping to inspire
| > the sorts of behavior that landed them in these calendars in the
| > first place (which is detailed in the sidebar texts). Our Pantheon is
| > always growing, too, as the righteously troublesome continue to die
| > off, entering calendrical eligibility! (Newcomers this year include
| > radical sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, historian of the Kronstadt
| > Rebellion Ida Mett, Indian anti-imperialist Bhagat Singh, and British
| > Situationist Ralph Rumney, among dozens of others).
| >
| > * * * * *
| >
| > Finally, in non-book news, the web-based "Interactivist Info
| > Exchange" continues to engage all those who come to its home
| > (http://slash.autonomedia.org). Please visit if you're unfamiliar --
| > this is our "bulletin board" where articles and essays relevant to
| > the Autonomedia project are posted in a dynamic format, enabling
| > dialog and argument well into the small hours where necessity
| > requires it. Some recent pieces of interest include:
| >
| > A Surrealist manifesto against the Iraq war
| > http://slash.autonomedia.org/article.pl?sid=02/10/16/1558248
| >
| > p.m., author of "Bolo Bolo", writing on Suburbia
| > http://slash.autonomedia.org/article.pl?sid=02/10/26/2044209
| >
| > The Midnight Notes Collective writing on the anti-war movement
| > http://slash.autonomedia.org/article.pl?sid=02/10/27/1615237
| >
| > Konrad Becker, of the Tactical Reality Dictionary, on the dark ages
| > of new media
| > http://slash.autonomedia.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/26/1532258
| >
| > Twenty Southern Italian activists were arrested last week for
| > "subversive association"
| > http://slash.autonomedia.org/article.pl?sid=02/11/16/1621202
| >
| > Antonio Negri on Deleuze and Guattari and A Thousand Plateaus
| > http://slash.autonomedia.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/16/2053209
| >
| > * * * * * * * * * * *
| >
| > That's it for this one; there will be more soon, I promise. Do let me
| > know if you're not interested in receiving any more of these -- I try
| > to keep this list trim and fit -- and of course, send accolades where
| > appropriate as well. More importantly, though, please forward this
| > Autonogram to your comrades and co-readers, especially to the radical
| > librarians, the engaged professoriat, the critical hedonists, the
| > street-theaterians, and your sweet Mum (she wants to see what you're
| > up to, or so she tells me). The point of what we're doing here isn't
| > to be obscure, so please help us get the word where it'll do the most
| > good. Thanks.
| >
| > toot,
| > Ben at Autonomedia
|
Morpheal
> Has this been seen here before? I wash my hands. For Dali the boundary between life and dream, Dali and Gala, Port Ligat and Barcelona were permeable. For Walter the boundary between Surrealism and post modern cliche is the horizon.
> Dream = reality minus physics. We are trunk line receptors. You are the heads up display.
Wrong. The dream is physics. So are you. Everything is physics.
And nothing is physics. Both are equally true.
So what are you really saying of any relevance ?
That the universe can happen without science ? It did and it does.
R.
Walter Alter
"Morpheal" <morp...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:3DE04A45...@sympatico.ca...
> Walter Alter wrote:
>
> > Has this been seen here before? I wash my hands. For Dali the boundary
between life and dream, Dali and Gala, Port Ligat and Barcelona were
permeable. For Walter the boundary between Surrealism and post modern
cliche is the horizon.
>
> > Dream = reality minus physics. We are trunk line receptors. You are
the heads up display.
>
> Wrong. The dream is physics. So are you. Everything is physics.
> And nothing is physics. Both are equally true.
Yawn. Scintilating use of low resolution semiphore. We'll give him a 2 for
profound and a 9.9 for cliche (ref. above). Snap out of it, Mor, and invent
something original uniquely of your own uncopied, something the universe has
never seen before, something transantinegamimetic.
> So what are you really saying of any relevance ?
> That the universe can happen without science ? It did and it does.
Dream=realityminusphysicswearetrunklinereceptorsyouaretheheadsupdisplay
Hey kidz, let's all play pinch the loaf at the interval.
Walter