Constructions

The photograph makes life not one fluid entity but instead a construction of an infinite number of small pieces. For the sake of argument, I will say that objective reality and truth did not exist until the invention of the photograph. Before the invention, the reality of any experience was only as real as the recollections of those who had seen the experience and those whom they had told about it.

Literature too, is a construction built out of systems of rules, plot, narration, etc. The Other in literature is the refusal of its ‘Creators’ to acknowledge the boundaries that keep them locked within the the illusion of story. This refusal to acknowledge the boundaries keeps literature within the confines of rules which have less and less to do with the present as our species grows and evolves into new patterns of organiztion. Contemporary culture presses against the old ways; the stories, the limitations, and with the growing presnce of the digital medium, it attempts to mutate out of the old ways into something new.

The materialists, and notably Karl Marx percieved human action as an unfolding and constantly transforming system which would culminate into a final stage. For the purposes of this class, the final stage is a singularity of people, the superorganism. In order for the singularity to arise, the ways in which we tell our stories, and in effect, percieve our realities, must be allowed to progress beyond its current boundaries.

I see the cut up as an attempt to reconcile the old way of literature into the new ways of communication that are becoming more ingrained into our lives daily. With the cut up, one can intersperse 'classical' modes of communication with images, sound bites, or video. The infinite supply of these sorts of media that we have at our disposal thanks to the internet can be easily placed within our digital texts. Now, rather than quote a movie quote or song, we can embed the original within our modes of communication to more effectively communicate our points, as well as draw our ideas and expressions from a larger pool of thought. This again connects us with the idea of the superorganism. We can use already created images, sounds, etc. to make our own points and arguments.

This seems to be a merging between the ideas of what could be called plagiarism as well as free and inspirated thought. It is neither one or the other. And yet it encompasses the potential of the contemporary world.