User:Pleun/grad/Proposal2ndversion

~~Project Proposal

“If once we were able to view the Borges fable in which the cartographers of the Empire draw up a map so detailed that it ends up covering the territory exactly [...] this fable has now come full circle for us, and possesses nothing but the discrete charm of second-order simulacrum [...] It is the real, and not the map, whose vestiges persist here and there in the deserts that are no longer those of the Empire, but ours. The desert of the real itself.”

(Baudrillard, Simulacra and simulation)

Abstract

This yet untitled project will be an audiovisual experience which will explore the alternative therapy of the 'Sensory Deprivation Tank' or 'Flotation Tank.' Not only as a Technology of the Self, but also to use as a window to talk about a bigger ill in society, which for now I will call by the same name as that of the 2016 documentary by Adam Curtis: 'Hypernormalisation.' With which I mean the tendency of our modern western society of trying to escape from instead of dealing with the complexities of this world while keeping up appearances of a fully functioning society.

“[...] however the past 40 years, politicians, financiers and technological utopians, rather than face up to the real complexities of the world, retreated. Instead they constructed a simpler version of the world, in order to hang onto power.”

(Hypernormalisation, Documentary, BBC, October 2016)

I see tendencies that express this phenomenon who are popping up everywhere in society. One I mentioned before: The Sensory Deprivation Tank, which was developed by a neuropsychiatrist in the fifties and later used with LSD research in the sixties, before becoming available for commercial use. The second one is our vast en growing belief in a technological utopia and the third one is the growing influence of populist politics. I will describe them below:

Sensory Deprivation Tank

Presentator:“I wonder if sensory deprivation could work towards deconditioning or mitigating the damage caused by all this technology?” Frequent user: “Not just the technology. I think it can mitigate the damage of living in our society in general”

(Sensory Deprivation Tanks, Documentary, VICE, April 2013)

The act of going into a Sensory Deprivation Tank is for me one of the most extreme expressions of this behavior, where we literally hide ourselves from all stimulation by voluntarily laying inside a small and closed off space for a while. The shape represents both the beginning of life with its womb-like connotations as well as the coffin-shaped end of it. Its white, shiny and rounded exterior reminds me of how architects and designers of the nineties would describe the furniture of the future.

The strange form of commodified relaxation of floating is seen as a healing therapy, all the while similar sensory deprivation techniques are used as a system of torture within the walls of monstrosities like the prison base at Guantanamo Bay.

“When you are in the tank you are cleansing the doors of perception. When you come out you are like a baby coming out of the womb and seeing things with fresh eyes [...]”

(Sensory Deprivation Tanks, Documentary, VICE, April 2013)

The pod is reflected in a range of films like The Matrix and Alien and appears to always be used to reach a certain non-state. A sort of coma-state where the mind and body are separated to create a lapse in time, promote a healing process, keep the body from harm and/or to use the body as a source of energy.

Technological Utopia

Another trend is escaping into the technological utopia of for example Elon Musk, who is hoping to colonize Mars within the next 30 years, or Raymond Kurzweil who is a public advocate for the belief in and workings towards the singularity.

Alt-Right

A third example, cause and effect of this trend of escapism is the huge rise of populist politics–especially the alt-right movement–everywhere in western society, which promotes simple solutions to extremely complex problems. Politicians who are more than ever more concerned with image and personal gain than with facts have a big influence on the way we view truth, media, news, ourselves and others. We see this reflected in the enormous amounts of mis-information which is easily spread via social media. I am mostly interested in the structure of the language used by Alt-Right politicians. Donald Trump for instance has a clear way of building his sentences; short, strongest word at the end and a lot of repetition. He also tends to use confirmation-sentences which state how obvious his points are. Such as: “Everybody knows it.”, “Believe me.”, “You know it's true.” and “Everybody tells me this.”. I want to look further into how this strategy builds trust and especially how it numbs our judgement.

Method

Within the project I will try to deconstruct systems and language used by these tendencies and re-use them to undermine them. Each example will provide certain parts of the project, who together will form a strange alternative reality, a hyperreality if you will, which will highlight and comment on current events.

For the Sensory Deprivation Tank I am mostly interested in the physicality of it, the healing promises and the atmosphere. Within the futuristic prospects of a technological utopia, I am interested in the way it exaggerates the now to build a

Minor Literature

Vaporwave

Another example is the relatively new, but already completely evolved subculture, visual language and musical genre of Vaporwave. Born in 2010, Vaporwave began as an “ironic critique of global capitalism in the form of sample based informercials and home shopping networks” (Urban Dictionary) that used the empty promises within capitalism as a critique by heavily overusing brand aesthetic in combination with glitch/glitter/fluor, Roman statues, early 90s web and more. The subculture later completely transformed into the subject of its own critique and was declared dead, when MTV and Tumblr started incorporating it in 2015. At the end of 2016 it is definitely not dead, it is actually more popular than ever, but it's intentions are unclear.

Perception Management

American and Russian version

Practical Execution

Right now I'm thinking of using a space in which i can steer the sensory input of the public in the space.

reveal and comment on structures and relations in society that are not always

Timeline

December - January

Further crystallising the concept.

Experimentation with: sound, image, space,

February - March

April - May

June

Further Context

Verhouden tot andere boeken/teksten/etc.

Alt-Right–Florian Cramer, Hypernormalisation–Documentary Curtis, Huxley– Museum of Analogue Reality, Urland–Internet of Things and Prometheus Unbound, Wait but why: Singularity,

Relation to previous practice

In continuation of the

How design can reveal and comment on structures and relations in society that are not always visible, while, or maybe because, it pushes the boundaries of its own discipline.

Social and political messages, exploring my stance on the ills of society.

Exploring alternative ways of narrative. Exploring

Thesis intention

References

(bronnen beelden)

Endnotes

Technology of the Self

One of four "technologies" as described by Michael Foucault is the Technologie of the Self:

"[...] which permit individuals to effect by their own bodies and souls, thoughts, conduct, and way of being, so as to transform I themselves in order to attain a certain state of happiness, purity, wisdowm, perfection, or immortality."

Hypernormalisation, Escapism and Post-Truth

“The term "hypernormalisation" is taken from Alexei Yurchak's 2006 book Everything was Forever, Until it was No More: The Last Soviet Generation, about the paradoxes of life in the Soviet Unionduring the 20 years before it collapsed.[3][4] A professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley,[5] he argues that everyone knew the system was failing, but as no one could imagine any alternative to the status quo, politicians and citizens were resigned to maintaining a pretence of a functioning society.[6] Over time, this delusion became a self-fulfilling prophecy and the "fakeness" was accepted by everyone as real, an effect which Yurchak termed "hypernormalisation".”

(Hypernormalisation, Etymology, Wikipedia)