Category:Situationist Times: Difference between revisions

Introduction

Jacqueline de Jong in her studio with pinball machine. Archive Jacqueline de Jong. Photo: Nico Koster/Maria Austria Instituut.

Originally intended to be an English-language counterpart to the Internationale Situationiste, The Situationist Times was a publication initiated in 1962 by artist Jacqueline de Jong as a response to her expulsion from the Situationist International. The 14th Special Issue will take, as its point of departure, the never published 7th issue of the Situationist Times. Had it been published, the issue would have provided an exhaustive topological exploration of Pinball.

This trimester, we will be asking: what would the seventh issue of the Situationist Times look like nowadays?

Our topic of exploration? Videogames. Our means of exploration? Videogames. Considered by Stephen Kline, Nick Dyer-Witheford and Greig de Peuter to be the ‘ideal commodity’ of post-Fordist capitalism, videogames embody its acting social forces, conflicts and crises. As a cultural artifact, video games, and triple-A video games especially, reflect and reproduce dominant hegemonic structures, often serving as a means to educate subjects into specific roles under neoliberal capitalism. Much like with the pinball machines described in the unpublished Situationist Times, the multibillion-dollar videogame industry has historically catered to a cishetero, white male audience.

However, the same mechanisms that allow videogames to function as a reproductive technology may also be explored for their emancipatory potential, making video games an especially persuasive medium for artistic expression. Together, we will be looking into a growing array of tactical videogames used for social and political activism. We will immerse ourselves in the artistic programme of the Situationists in order to explore the radical potential of play. Play, both as a category and tactic, was a major topic of interest for the Situationists. Their aim was to expand play into the whole of life, liberating it from its commodified forms under capitalism and fully utilizing its capacity for critique and subversion. In the tradition of Situationism¹, we will get hands-on with the creation of videogaming experiments in order to hijack, détourne and abuse traditional videogaming canon.

¹ With caution and critical distance: the Situationists were a famously homogeneous group (e.g.: only two of their most active members were women)

Glossary: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/SituationistTimes_Glossary

Week 1

Tuesday, January 5th:

Kick-off Special Issue #14:

• Intro to Situationist Times nº7
• Overview of the topics we will be tackling during the trimester

With: Lídia, Manetta, Michael, Aymeric and Steve

Meeting place: https://hotline.xpub.nl/st7

Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/05012021

For next week:

• Read "How to Read the Situationist Times" by Ellef Prestsæter

• Explore the Vandalist interface for the Situationist Times: http://vandal.ist/thesituationisttimes/ and select a fragment (either from the magazine, the video, or both) that grabs your attention/tickles your fancy in order to present it to the group next week (don't forget to justify why you chose it).

Week 2

Tuesday, January 12th

Diving into The Situationist Times nº7: Pinball original material:

• Annotation exercises with Steve
• Discussion of key concepts, methods and insights

File:SituationistTimes7.pdf

With: Lídia, Steve

Meeting place: https://hotline.xpub.nl/st7

Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/12012021

Glossary Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/SituationistTimes_Glossary

Assignment:

• In preparation for our next session, read the Situationist Manifesto: http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/9 You don't need to annotate it extensively, but if you could bring some questions, thoughts and comments that we could discuss at the beginning of our next session that would help getting the (pin)ball rolling.

Further Reading:

• "The détournement of détournement" by McKenzie Wark
• Glossary of Pinball Terms

Prototyping

https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2020-01-11-prototyping

Group Work/Research

Martin & Jacopo Research Wiki

Week 3

Tuesday, January 19th

Diving into Situationism:

• Brief history
• Key concepts and methods: spectacle, détournement, dérive (psychogeography), unitary urbanism
• Critique
• The Situationist definition of play
• Annotation exercises with Steve
• Discussion of key concepts, methods and critique

With: Lídia, Steve

Meeting place: https://hotline.xpub.nl/st7

Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/19012021

Literature:

• "Salvaging Situationism: Race and Space" by Andrea Gibbons
• Chapter 8: "Gender and Sexuality in the Situationist International" by Ruth Baumeister in The Situationist International: A Critical Handbook -> File:Alastair Hemmens (editor), Gabriel Zacarias (editor) - The Situationist International A Critical Handbook-Pluto Press (2020).pdf

Further Reading:

• "Report on the Construction of Situations" by Guy Debord ("Towards a Situationist International" chapter)
• Contribution to a Situationist Definition of Play
• "An Introduction to the Situationists" by Jan D. Matthews

Wednesday 20th January - A session with Steve

• Steve's office https://pad.xpub.nl/p/20_01_20
• Euna & Nami's office (collective reading and annotation) https://pad.xpub.nl/p/eunami_st7
• Twine sketch from Floor https://hub.xpub.nl/sandbot/~floorvanmeeuwen/si.html

Prototyping

• https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2020-01-18-prototyping
• https://pad.xpub.nl/p/prototyping21012021 (hypertext & dérive, what is an API, extending (XPUB) platforms, workflows for publishing research on-the-go)

Week 4

Tuesday, January 26th

Play:

• From pinball to videogames
• Intro to the topic of videogames
• The reproductive role of videogames

With: Lídia

Meeting place: https://hotline.xpub.nl/st7

Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/26012021

1 Sentence Game Ideas: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/gameideas

Literature:

• "Game Boys" by Vicky Osterweil

Further reading:

• "Homo Ludens for the People" by Mattie Brice
• "Ctrl+Alt+Del: GamerGate as a precursor to the rise of the alt-right" by Kristin Bezio
• "What we still haven't learnt from Gamergate" by Aja Romano
• "No girls allowed" by Tracey Lien

Prototyping

• https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2021-01-25-prototyping
• https://pad.xpub.nl/p/28121 (hypertext & dérive continued: mediawiki API, generating HTML pages with wikilinks, downloading images)

Week 5

Monday, February 1st

Prototyping session with Michael (see info in Prototyping section below)

Tuesday, February 2nd

Lecture: Jamie Woodcock (https://www.jamiewoodcock.net/)

With: Lídia

Meeting place: https://hotline.xpub.nl/st7

Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/02022021
Pad for the lecture by Jamie https://pad.xpub.nl/p/marxarcade

Further Reading:
Game Workers Unite Literature -> https://www.gameworkersunite.org/gwu-literature
"Videogames and the Spirit of Capitalism" by Paolo Pedercini

Wednesday, February 3rd

Session with Steve Start at 11:00

Read together
Making Games in a Fucked Up World: https://www.molleindustria.org/blog/making-games-in-a-fucked-up-world-games-for-change-2014/
11:40 Annotate call centre game (in different groups)
12:50 Compare methods and outcomes
13:00 Lunch
14:00-16:30 Annotate game in groups.
16:30 Group recap

Thursday, February 4rd

Session with Manetta

• Html 2 Print using Images downloaded (with API) > Print a small publication

Prototyping

• https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2021-02-01-prototyping
• https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2021-02-04-prototyping (download party + web2print images zine making with Weasyprint and Jinja2)

Week 6

Tuesday, February 9th

Public Lecture: Ellef Prestsæter (https://monoskop.org/Ellef_Prests%C3%A6ter)

Tactical Game Studies:

• Presentation of What Remains
• "Games against Empire":
  • Tactical Games

• 1st publication brainstorm session

With: Lídia, Aymeric

Meeting place: https://hotline.xpub.nl/st7

Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/09022021

Further Reading:

• "The ABC of Tactical Media" by Geert Lovink and David Garcia

Games:

• What Remains by Iodine Dynamics

Prototyping

• https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2021-02-08-prototyping (with Michael)
• https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2021-02-11-prototyping (with Manetta) -- Prototyping session on the pad, making prototypes in response to the Situationist Times as magazine format

Links to prototypes

• https://hub.xpub.nl/sandbot/Lecture_Zine/ (Camilo)
• https://hub.xpub.nl/sandbot/Lecture_Zine/lecture_zine.pdf (Camilo)
• https://hub.xpub.nl/sandbot/PrototypingTimes/HOTSPOTS/one/Martin/index.html (with Firefox) (Martin)
• https://hub.xpub.nl/sandbot/pon/try.mov (Federico)
• namiclarazine.gif (Nami & Clara)
• https://arcade-test-xpub.glitch.me/ (Louisa)
• https://hub.xpub.nl/sandbot/~floorvanmeeuwen/Fish/gifli.html (Floor)
• https://hub.xpub.nl/sandbot/~floorvanmeeuwen/Fish/glifi01.html (Floor)
• https://hub.xpub.nl/sandbot/~floorvanmeeuwen/Fish/glifi02.html (Floor)
• https://hub.xpub.nl/sandbot/PrototypingTimes/tic80/tic80.php?cart=/sandbot/PrototypingTimes/tic80/sketches/kendal/soundtry.tic (Kendal)
• Lecture_Zine/1.png (Camilo)
• Lecture_Zine/2.png (Camilo)
• Lecture_Zine/3.png (Camilo)
• File:Capture_d%E2%80%99%C3%A9cran_2021-02-05_%C3%A0_18.05.31.png (Euna)
• File:Capture_d%E2%80%99%C3%A9cran_2021-02-05_%C3%A0_18.16.17.png (Euna)

How does your prototype respond to the Situationist Times?

Descriptions of how these prototypes respond to the ST are on this pad, from line 605: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2021-02-11-prototyping

Week 7

Monday, February 15th Discussion of Format for Issue 14:
https://pad.xpub.nl/p/0215

-> A usb stick with gamified folder system on it. (preferably playable offline) Everyone is in charge of the content of their folder. Usb stick could be given out together with small printed zine or something else. Usb sticks could be hidden throughout the city like geochaches. Chainmail to publicise the locations.

Different contents could come together by shared medium/topic like the S.T.. Potentially video games or something more specific.

Tuesday, February 16th

Public Lecture: Anne-Marie Schleiner (http://www.opensorcery.net/)

Week 8

Tuesday, March 2nd

Lecture: Kishonna Gray (http://www.kishonnagray.com/)

Title: Intersectional tech: feminism in digital gaming culture 

Description: From #solidarityisforwhitewomen to #MeToo, gaming culture provides an interesting case study to explore the experiences of women within the transmediated spaces of gaming. Drawing from ethnographic observations of gamers and games, this talk will trouble what it means to be a 
woman inside gaming as well as what feminist contributions to gaming can look like. 

Production mode phase 1:

• Editorial guidance and support
• Consolidation of collective approach
• Consolidation of final format
• Division into work teams

With: Lídia (11h - 16h40), Manetta and Michael (14h-15h)

Meeting place: https://hotline.xpub.nl/st7

Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/02032021

Further reading:

• "Feminist game environment" by Natacha Roussel
• "Confronting Toxic Gamer Culture: A Challenge for Feminist Game Studies Scholars" by Mia Consalvo
• "Collective Organizing, Individual Resistance, or Asshole Griefers? An Ethnographic Analysis of Women of Color In Xbox Live" by Kishonna Gray
• "On Being a Feminist in Games Studies" by Sal Humphreys
• "Editor’s Introduction: It Isn’t Difficult to Find Feminist Game Studies, but Can We Find a Feminist Game History?" by Carly A. Kocurek for Feminist Media Histories (Volume 6, Issue 1)
• "Is the video games industry finally reckoning with sexism?" by Keza MacDonald

Games:

• "The Game: The Game" by Angela Washko
• "Darshan Diversion" by Padmini Ray Murray

Prototyping

• Monday with Michael: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/protoSI14 + https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2021-03-01-prototyping (prototypes for publication format, TIC80 games & more)
• Thursday with Manetta: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/prototyping04032021 (Raspberry Pi's & hotspots)
  • Shell_Cheat_Sheet (for the command line introduction in the morning)
  • The_Ultimate_RPi_Installation_Guide (for installing the pi's)
  • The_Pi_is_installed_now_what_do_we_do? (created after the session, it lists all the steps we went through together: making accounts, changing the hostname, installing a webserver and changing file permissions)

Week 9

Tuesday, March 9th

• Presentation of Villains and Heroes by Marloes de Valk
• Production mode phase 2:
  • Editorial guidance and support

With: Lídia, Marloes

Meeting place: https://hotline.xpub.nl/st7

Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/09032021

Further reading:

• "Rise of the VIdeogame Zinesters: How Freaks, Normals, Amateurs, Artists, Dreamers, Dropouts, Queers, Housewives, and People Like You are Taking Back an Art Form" by Anna Anthropy
• "SF: Science Fiction, Speculative Fabulation, String Figures, So Far" by Donna Haraway
• "Parasite" by Porpentine

Games:

• Villains and Heroes by Marloes de Valk
• Parasite by Porpentine
• Queers in Love at the End of the World by Anna Anthropy

Prototyping

• Monday with Michael: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2021-03-08-prototyping + https://pad.xpub.nl/p/protoSI14
• Thursday with Manetta: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/prototyping11032021 (watching the docu The Art Rebel, one hour situationism reading, setting up Pi's + hotspots part II)

Week 10

Tuesday, March 16th

• 1 hour feedback session w/ Jacqueline de Jong and Ellef Prestsæter
• Editorial guidance and support

Meeting place: https://hotline.xpub.nl/st7

Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/16032021

With: Lídia, Aymeric, Ola(PNF), Jacqueline de Jong and Ellef Prestsæter

Prototyping

• https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2021-03-15-prototyping (Michael)
• https://pad.xpub.nl/p/prototyping18032021 (Manetta)

Week 11

Tuesday, March 23rd

Editorial guidance and support

With: Lídia and Steve

Meeting place: https://hotline.xpub.nl/st7

Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/23032021

Prototyping

• https://pad.xpub.nl/p/2021-03-22-prototyping (with Michael)
• https://pad.xpub.nl/p/prototyping25032021 (with Manetta) talks and feedback about individual works and games + license conversation + design group conversation

Week 12

Tuesday, March 30th

Editorial guidance and support

With: Lídia and Steve

Meeting place: https://hotline.xpub.nl/st7

Pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/30032021

Friday, April 2nd

Safe launch party \o/