Constellations: August
August 30, 2023 W. David Marx Daisy Alioto Yanis Varoufakis
Trying something new: A list of things I’ve encountered this month, and which have stuck with me for one reason or another.
- Jörg M. Colberg on accidental drone photography in wartime:
I’ve been looking at the imagery emerging from the war in Ukraine in part because I am interested in both the use of images and in whether or not there are new types of images.
- Cage for reviving canary, with oxygen cylinder, made by Siebe Gorman & Co. Ltd, London
- How Socialist Realism and AI images compare.
Interestingly, this is also what »Socialist Realism« was about, according to Boris Groys – rather than showing the reality of real existing socialism, its mission was to convey »transcendental« messages by »incarnating« them in what only superficially looked like real people
— Roland Meyer is @bildoperationen.bsky.social (@bildoperationen) August 21, 2023
6/9 pic.twitter.com/JLOHvnJIKU
- W. David Marx on our human defenses against AI-generated culture:
At the moment, generative A.I. produces works by repurposing a large body of pre-existing material, which means it mostly recycles clichés and drips out stale kitsch.
- Yanis Varoufakis has a new book coming out: Technofeudalism.
Insane sums of money that were supposed to re-float our economies in the wake of the financial crisis and the pandemic have ended up supercharging big tech’s hold over every aspect of the economy. Capitalism’s twin pillars - markets and profit - have been replaced with big tech’s platforms and rents. Meanwhile, with every click and scroll, we labour like serfs to increase its power. Welcome to technofeudalism.
- Rosetta S. Elkin’s stunning Landscapes of Retreat
I love a good website project, and this one translates the entire book onto the web.