Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace?
Roy Ascott is an artist, theoretician, and educator. His seminal essay, “Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace?”(1) was written in 1990—a year before the internet became accessible to the general public.(2) Ascott created the term technoetic, which describes the computer-mediated relationships between people and their institutions. He was prescient about the impact of communications technology, in particular, social media, and he promoted a utopian vision of the transformative, consciousness-raising potential of a globally networked, interactive artistic practice.
Almost 30 years later, what aspects of Ascott’s vision still ring true? In contrast to his exalted vision of a cosmically unified future, if you don’t have easy, affordable access to a computer and the internet, are not able-bodied, or face a language barrier--you are rendered dysfunctional.(3)
Inspired by Roy Ascott’s essay, I drew a series of cartoon creatures who, amidst electronically charged energy lines, awkwardly express the permutations of their desire. My further exploration of these ideas resulted in a performance and dance on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2015, at Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.(4)
At 4:30 a.m, I donned my costume and then hurried out to the site for my sunrise performance. Polo Fields is a sport stadium with a grassy soccer field that is circumscribed by a paved cycle track. Behind the bleachers is a dirt course used for running; this is where I began my circumnambulation. Wearing magenta fuzzy slippers on my hands, hot pink and black zebra striped shorts, rainbow leg warmers, a hand-drawn Telematic Embrace t-shirt, and a red silk turban, I performed prostration movements, influenced by Islamic, Russian Orthodox, and Buddhist traditions, blended with core strengthening exercises. I put my face in the earth and felt the contradictions—the vulnerabilities and joys—of our “brave new world.”(5)
Though I am attracted, I am wary of the love (a 1960‘s+ revolutionary-cum-avant-garde utopian collective) described by Roy Ascott. Its social, economic, and political cost that concerns me. We seek to find love in the telematic embrace. Yet here in San Francisco, the city’s massive investment in the tech industry and its wealthy employees has resulted in greedy rent hikes and daily evictions. The makeshift encampments grow. We see the unfortunates, take their picture, and post it on Facebook. We like it. We convince ourselves that we are all connected.
Documentation of this series is posted here as part of the Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project.
END NOTES
1 Roy Ascott, “Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? Art Journal Vol. 49 No. 3, Computers and Art: Issues of Content (Autumn, 1990): 241-247. See also “Telematic Connections: The Virtual Embrace,” http://telematic.walkerart.org/overview/overview_ascott.html (accessed June 24, 2016).
2 Barry M. Leiner, et. al, “Brief History of the Internet,” Internet Society, http://www.internetsociety.org/internet/what-internet/history-internet/brief-history-internet (accessed June 24, 2016).
3 For example, Facebook, to date supports approximately only 70 out of 7,000 languages in the world. See “Localization and Translation,” Facebook for for Developers, https://developers.facebook.com/docs/internationalization and also Jess Bolluyt, “Why the Internet Needs to Overcome Its Language Barriers,” The CheatSheet, November 28, 2014, http://www.cheatsheet.com/technology/why-the-internet-needs-to-overcome-its-language-barriers.html/?a=viewall (accessed June 24, 2016).
4 See "Going Away Clothes: 5 Year Project", Janet Silk, c. 2014.
5 Phrase that originates from Aldous Huxley’s book Brave New World, published in 1932. It is used to define a dystopian, dehumanizing, technology-based society. The book’s title is taken from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Act V, Scene I.
© 2016 The Author, Janet Silk.
Roy Ascott is an artist, theoretician, and educator. His seminal essay, “Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace?”(1) was written in 1990—a year before the internet became accessible to the general public.(2) Ascott created the term technoetic, which describes the computer-mediated relationships between people and their institutions. He was prescient about the impact of communications technology, in particular, social media, and he promoted a utopian vision of the transformative, consciousness-raising potential of a globally networked, interactive artistic practice.
Almost 30 years later, what aspects of Ascott’s vision still ring true? In contrast to his exalted vision of a cosmically unified future, if you don’t have easy, affordable access to a computer and the internet, are not able-bodied, or face a language barrier--you are rendered dysfunctional.(3)
Inspired by Roy Ascott’s essay, I drew a series of cartoon creatures who, amidst electronically charged energy lines, awkwardly express the permutations of their desire. My further exploration of these ideas resulted in a performance and dance on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2015, at Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.(4)
At 4:30 a.m, I donned my costume and then hurried out to the site for my sunrise performance. Polo Fields is a sport stadium with a grassy soccer field that is circumscribed by a paved cycle track. Behind the bleachers is a dirt course used for running; this is where I began my circumnambulation. Wearing magenta fuzzy slippers on my hands, hot pink and black zebra striped shorts, rainbow leg warmers, a hand-drawn Telematic Embrace t-shirt, and a red silk turban, I performed prostration movements, influenced by Islamic, Russian Orthodox, and Buddhist traditions, blended with core strengthening exercises. I put my face in the earth and felt the contradictions—the vulnerabilities and joys—of our “brave new world.”(5)
Though I am attracted, I am wary of the love (a 1960‘s+ revolutionary-cum-avant-garde utopian collective) described by Roy Ascott. Its social, economic, and political cost that concerns me. We seek to find love in the telematic embrace. Yet here in San Francisco, the city’s massive investment in the tech industry and its wealthy employees has resulted in greedy rent hikes and daily evictions. The makeshift encampments grow. We see the unfortunates, take their picture, and post it on Facebook. We like it. We convince ourselves that we are all connected.
Documentation of this series is posted here as part of the Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project.
END NOTES
1 Roy Ascott, “Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? Art Journal Vol. 49 No. 3, Computers and Art: Issues of Content (Autumn, 1990): 241-247. See also “Telematic Connections: The Virtual Embrace,” http://telematic.walkerart.org/overview/overview_ascott.html (accessed June 24, 2016).
2 Barry M. Leiner, et. al, “Brief History of the Internet,” Internet Society, http://www.internetsociety.org/internet/what-internet/history-internet/brief-history-internet (accessed June 24, 2016).
3 For example, Facebook, to date supports approximately only 70 out of 7,000 languages in the world. See “Localization and Translation,” Facebook for for Developers, https://developers.facebook.com/docs/internationalization and also Jess Bolluyt, “Why the Internet Needs to Overcome Its Language Barriers,” The CheatSheet, November 28, 2014, http://www.cheatsheet.com/technology/why-the-internet-needs-to-overcome-its-language-barriers.html/?a=viewall (accessed June 24, 2016).
4 See "Going Away Clothes: 5 Year Project", Janet Silk, c. 2014.
5 Phrase that originates from Aldous Huxley’s book Brave New World, published in 1932. It is used to define a dystopian, dehumanizing, technology-based society. The book’s title is taken from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Act V, Scene I.
© 2016 The Author, Janet Silk.
