Mia/Annotated Reader

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The annotated reader

1. Link to the RW&RM session in wiki calendar

2. The annotated reader is an approach to theoretical texts we find relevant or interesting (possibly in relation to our own practices). First the class divided in three groups each defined by a core text or domain of interest. We conduct this process of research for several weeks, aiming at an 'annotated reader' as a final result.

3. Our group (temporarily named) Living in the Black Box chose to focus on the structure of apparatus, taking photographic apparatus as an example and further investigate other apparatuses as an omnipresent structure in modern society. As a starting point we took the text by Vilem Flusser's - Towards the Philosophy of Photography, since the author breaks down the mechanism of apparatus through the philosophy of photography. The process of studying the text included close reading individually, taking notes, making synopses, discussions, group readings, making a mind map, commenting and sharing our notes etc. During the process, as certain questions opened up, we chose additional texts:

• Giorgio Agamben: What is an Apparatus?
• Sean Dorrance Kelly: A philosopher argues that an AI can't be an artist (an article)

Since the final reader is still in development, we might add other texts if necessary.

4. The final reader will probably encompass a selection of quotes from examined texts, with our own comments, synopses, questions and conclusions. The final form is yet to be defined, since it depends largely on the content we will select from all the material. Few keywords for the final form:

• book
• digital hypertext
• mind map
• poster
• webpage
• user's guide
• mind map as an inserted poster (folded, can be the first page of each chapter)

5. The methods we used for studying the texts were diverse, however, they all seem to tie together towards the final reader. First, we individually took notes and/or made synopses of book's chapters. To find a common space for our thoughts and to be able to visualise connections between them, we used Milanote BOARD which allows us to add notes, texts, images, comments and organise the content. After reading the whole text, each of us chose a specific domain of interest and concentrated on it. This resulted in subtopics temporarily named Photographic Universe, The Apparatus, Information, Subverting the Program and Image. This workspace was convenient for sharing and freely adding content, however, at some point we realised that our content overgrew the form and became disorderly. To be able to translate it into a final reader, we decided to convert it into a (rather linear) form of text aka Word document.

Underneath is a draft page or a sketchbook for ideas, possible texts, forms and topics which represents a cluster of interests that we deal with in the process.

the group (participants & interests)

Group 1: Cemal, Mia, Felix, Andreas, Sonia

What is the apparatus? Author and apparatus as one organism? Consciousness of the apparatus (tool to create images)

a) the apparatus being conscicous

b) we being conscious of the apparatus

Lacanian Gaze, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault (This is not a Pipe - https://monoskop.org/images/9/99/Foucault_Michel_This_Is_Not_a_Pipe.pdf), Slavoj Zizek

• https://socialecologies.wordpress.com/2016/10/16/on-photography/
• The Fright of Real Tears: Krzysztof Kieślowski Between Theory and Post-Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fright_of_Real_Tears

(Indexicality - C.S. Peirce, Noam Chomsky - semiotics of photography and film.) (Talk by Isabelle Graw and Benjamin Buchloh on different theories of indexicality (de and en) https://www.textezurkunst.de/99/lost-traces-life/)

CORE BOOKS ON PHOTOGRAPHY: John Berger: -Ways of Seeing: http://waysofseeingwaysofseeing.com/ -Understanding a photograph: http://classes.dma.ucla.edu/Winter16/8/Berger.pdf Jeff Wall: Conceptual, Postconceptual, Nonconceptual: Photography and the Depictive Arts https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/667420?seq=4#metadata_info_tab_contents -Hito Steyerl

Suggested Readings

Joanna Zylinska: Nonhuman Photography - https://research.gold.ac.uk/20871/1/MED_Zylinska_2015c.pdf (intro) https://www.nonhuman.photography/

Light and Photomedia: A New History and Future of the Photographic Image - Jai McKenzie

Vilem Flusser: Apparatus Theory - which texts fit into this domain? - Flusser: http://cmuems.com/excap/readings/flusser-towards-a-philosophy-of-photography.pdf

(https://dictionaryonphotography.wordpress.com - a site that might or might not be helpful)

What is an Apparatus? - Georgio Agamben - https://soundenvironments.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/agamben-what-is-and-apparatus.pdf

Burden of Representation

Mark Poster: Foucault and Databases

Robert Shore: Post-Photography: The Artist With a Camera - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Post-Photography-Artist-Camera-Elephant-Books/dp/1780672284

IMAGES "WITHOUT AN AUTHOR" On AI as artist (not sure if relevant, still need to read it), Sean Dorrance Kelly (Harvard): https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612913/a-philosopher-argues-that-an-ai-can-never-be-an-artist/

more on image: Hans Belting: An Anthropology of Images - http://layoftheland.net/archive/art3959c/readings/out.pdf

Texts as a starting point

• Vilem Flusser: Towards the Pholosophy of Photography
• Additional reading: Giorgio Agamben: What is the Apparatus?
• Sean Dorrance Kelly: A philosopher argues that an AI can't be an artist (an article)