Collaborations from Mayakov+sky Platform featuring
poet Lara Durback, composer/sound artist Savvas Metaxas
and electronica performance duo Raspberry Fields
Kepos (Leitmotif)
Cherry Tree (Skylight)
Circuit
EX to EXO (☒ to ⦻)
i) Threading the system
ii)
Stitches, circling the square
(Naughts@Knots to
Notes & Nots)
Notes & Nots)
iii) Smorgasbord
iv) Brains and Drains
Studies in Amphoteric Architecture
- Cyclical
Structure - Hyper-Optimization
- Gradual Clarity to Mass
Alacrity - Pseudo-Vertical
Breathing Centrifugality - Mobile
Dynamics - Tangent
Plasticity (Nymphaea Effect)
1.
The Nations of Capitalism
The Nations of Capitalism
a)
Public Transportation Möbius Strip
2.
Hysterohistory (towards an architecture of history)
Hysterohistory (towards an architecture of history)
a) Communal Space
3. Phases
A)
Identifying
B)
Modifying (Residue – Digestion)
a)
Congestion – (B)rains in (P)reason
Congestion – (B)rains in (P)reason
b) Autogestion
& Public Transportation Möbius Strip
4.
Metastasis
5.
Beehive Behaviorism
Beehive Behaviorism
6.
hellen-hol(o)=hol(o)-hellen (Nymphaea Effect)
Re-Fugue
in loving memory of poet Csaba Polony
Amphoterics
(Degradation)
Capitalist
recipe for sale
Insurrectionary
Plateau and
Plateau and
the Staircase Effect (on Perpetual Praxis)
&
Syllogism
Moon Contour II (Re-gnomon no Monger)
Golden Ratio of the Revolution
towards Eggydemia
Delta (in
between)
Robin Banks
&
the Valences (Fillers) of Money/Value
the Valences (Fillers) of Money/Value
Manifold
Elephantiasis
for Kojin Karatani
for Kojin Karatani
Not a hyperbole (the problem with dialectics)
Winds of change
Notes on Amphoterical Economics
1.
Let’s hypothesize. There is a hacker named Robin Banks.
She has managed to hack a PayPal account.
She enters a store that sells computers (new and second hand). She has
chosen this store specifically because she knows that you can buy a computer
with a PayPal account. She chooses a second hand laptop. She plays with it for
a little bit (the plan) and affirms to one of the employees that she wants to
buy it. She (the plan) asks for the store’s website and mentions that she can
buy the laptop on the spot (thru the laptop itself) using her PayPal account.
She shows a fake ID (the account’s real owner), buys the laptop and leaves.
Let’s hypothesize. There is a hacker named Robin Banks.
She has managed to hack a PayPal account.
She enters a store that sells computers (new and second hand). She has
chosen this store specifically because she knows that you can buy a computer
with a PayPal account. She chooses a second hand laptop. She plays with it for
a little bit (the plan) and affirms to one of the employees that she wants to
buy it. She (the plan) asks for the store’s website and mentions that she can
buy the laptop on the spot (thru the laptop itself) using her PayPal account.
She shows a fake ID (the account’s real owner), buys the laptop and leaves.
Let’s talk about ontology. This paradigm
would have been the first in economic history where a consumer buys a commodity
by using the same commodity. The ultimate economic Ding an sich. Just
think about it. She bought the laptop with the laptop itself (Eugene Ionesco would have called it The self-buying laptop). The Marxian
categories (currency, surplus value, production, circulation, consumption and
so on) by no means vanish (per se). Nevertheless, the variables Internet, meaning
fourth dimension, meaning software, meaning services, meaning electricity,
meaning binary system, meaning neo-materiality of currency and value, mean that
we must urgently understand and confront the new reality (of capital(ism)). The
above hypothesis is a prime example of an amphoteric. Money does exist but in this case, via
hacking and the rest of the hypothesis M-C-M‘ becomes M=C=M‘, or in other words Wertding
= Wertkorper. The forms are not just perverted, they are dematerialized. We
want the workers to produce the (final) Crisis but what happens when the Crisis
is easily (de)immaterialized or when the worker is not the only one who creates
new value?
would have been the first in economic history where a consumer buys a commodity
by using the same commodity. The ultimate economic Ding an sich. Just
think about it. She bought the laptop with the laptop itself (Eugene Ionesco would have called it The self-buying laptop). The Marxian
categories (currency, surplus value, production, circulation, consumption and
so on) by no means vanish (per se). Nevertheless, the variables Internet, meaning
fourth dimension, meaning software, meaning services, meaning electricity,
meaning binary system, meaning neo-materiality of currency and value, mean that
we must urgently understand and confront the new reality (of capital(ism)). The
above hypothesis is a prime example of an amphoteric. Money does exist but in this case, via
hacking and the rest of the hypothesis M-C-M‘ becomes M=C=M‘, or in other words Wertding
= Wertkorper. The forms are not just perverted, they are dematerialized. We
want the workers to produce the (final) Crisis but what happens when the Crisis
is easily (de)immaterialized or when the worker is not the only one who creates
new value?
2.
Let’s hypothesize. There is an inventor and engineer
named Robin Banks. In collaboration with other communist scientists (the
question already arises: where are these communist scientists?) she manages to
build a 3D printer that builds 3D printers. This amphoteric (speculation) is
crucial in considering the idea and procedure called factory. One of the
biggest mistakes Lenin and his communist party ever made was the failure to
investigate and produce the idea of a purely communist architecture i.e. an
effective architecturally and functionally communist factory (My proposal being
Kepos
(Leitmotif)). Whether seizing a factory or
constructing a strong industrial(ist) nation he would have (and he did) to just
(unjustly amphoterically in macro and micro) return to “the” Keynesian. The
form, the structure, the architecture called factory begs for a manifold of
surpluses and division(s) of labor into classes (i.e. not communism).
Nonetheless, what do we learn (for the future) from the permutations:
small-scale manufactory and 3D printer?
The capitalists are planning a future of maximum individualism, the
self-factory, the autonomous consumer, the self-monopoly (overaccumulation of
capital).
Let’s hypothesize. There is an inventor and engineer
named Robin Banks. In collaboration with other communist scientists (the
question already arises: where are these communist scientists?) she manages to
build a 3D printer that builds 3D printers. This amphoteric (speculation) is
crucial in considering the idea and procedure called factory. One of the
biggest mistakes Lenin and his communist party ever made was the failure to
investigate and produce the idea of a purely communist architecture i.e. an
effective architecturally and functionally communist factory (My proposal being
Kepos
(Leitmotif)). Whether seizing a factory or
constructing a strong industrial(ist) nation he would have (and he did) to just
(unjustly amphoterically in macro and micro) return to “the” Keynesian. The
form, the structure, the architecture called factory begs for a manifold of
surpluses and division(s) of labor into classes (i.e. not communism).
Nonetheless, what do we learn (for the future) from the permutations:
small-scale manufactory and 3D printer?
The capitalists are planning a future of maximum individualism, the
self-factory, the autonomous consumer, the self-monopoly (overaccumulation of
capital).
They will keep the (factory) working class exploited and
decentralized in the periphery (overaccumulation of labor) to produce the basic
“materials” of capitalism and they will take in their hands “a” (but not all)
production. It is still in its infancy but we gradually observe a new upper class
that makes its own bread, grows vegetables in its back yard, builds its own
(minimalist, modernist, mobile) houses and “communities” within urban centers.
Urban farming, nonetheless, has emerged as a new form of anti-capital struggle.
Is Software the new factory, a new kind
of class? Are we living the era of Coder (upper class), Hardware (proletariat)
and Software Class (Bourgeoisie)? Are robots & 3D printers the new labor
subjects? The computer is not the same constant capital as the traditional
machine.
decentralized in the periphery (overaccumulation of labor) to produce the basic
“materials” of capitalism and they will take in their hands “a” (but not all)
production. It is still in its infancy but we gradually observe a new upper class
that makes its own bread, grows vegetables in its back yard, builds its own
(minimalist, modernist, mobile) houses and “communities” within urban centers.
Urban farming, nonetheless, has emerged as a new form of anti-capital struggle.
Is Software the new factory, a new kind
of class? Are we living the era of Coder (upper class), Hardware (proletariat)
and Software Class (Bourgeoisie)? Are robots & 3D printers the new labor
subjects? The computer is not the same constant capital as the traditional
machine.
3.
Electricity. Repetition is the mother of knowledge. Electricity. If the
hacker Robin Banks could hack or/and sabotage/jam satellites, that would be
enough to destroy the world banking system. Repetition is the mother of
knowledge. The world banking system cannot function (at all) without satellites.
Satellites, meaning electricity. Electricity (energy) and internet, meaning the
real currency of our times (see note 1 and 2). Satellites are a new kind of
constant capital, a thermosphere/exosphere capital, which complicates the notion
& praxis of (class) struggle and capital expansion. Let’s not forget that
electricity is produced in factories. It’s a commodity. Nonetheless, electricity is, amphoterically, a potential
anti-capital commune.
Electricity. Repetition is the mother of knowledge. Electricity. If the
hacker Robin Banks could hack or/and sabotage/jam satellites, that would be
enough to destroy the world banking system. Repetition is the mother of
knowledge. The world banking system cannot function (at all) without satellites.
Satellites, meaning electricity. Electricity (energy) and internet, meaning the
real currency of our times (see note 1 and 2). Satellites are a new kind of
constant capital, a thermosphere/exosphere capital, which complicates the notion
& praxis of (class) struggle and capital expansion. Let’s not forget that
electricity is produced in factories. It’s a commodity. Nonetheless, electricity is, amphoterically, a potential
anti-capital commune.
4.
Capitalism is experimental unlimited. A perpetual unfinished form. Chronocidal (time exists because it appears as commodity). Capital equals private (ownersh)ipso facto(ry).
Capitalism is experimental unlimited. A perpetual unfinished form. Chronocidal (time exists because it appears as commodity). Capital equals private (ownersh)ipso facto(ry).
5.
Electricity is an Amphoteric (=commodity & currency & capital
& capitalist imaginary & military weapon & fourth-dimension &
energy & signified + signifier & Anthropocene)
Electricity is an Amphoteric (=commodity & currency & capital
& capitalist imaginary & military weapon & fourth-dimension &
energy & signified + signifier & Anthropocene)
i) The First Transcontinental Railroad (1,912 miles) was
constructed, between 1863 and 1869, in the United States with the help of almost 15.000 Chinese
workers that were “imported” (by labor contractors) straight from China because
the white (predominantly) labor power was in scarcity.
constructed, between 1863 and 1869, in the United States with the help of almost 15.000 Chinese
workers that were “imported” (by labor contractors) straight from China because
the white (predominantly) labor power was in scarcity.
ii) During the summer of 2016, TrainOSE S.A., the
only company that operates all passenger and freight trains in Greece decided
to go on strike, a decision that could have brought catastrophic consequences
in the region. The Chinese shipping and logistics company COSCO did not break a
sweat. They utilized the equation Port of Koper (in Slovenia) + feeder lines (a
transportation route that is subdivision of the main lines) that were cheap at
the time. The result was a zero loss of its global competition advantage.
only company that operates all passenger and freight trains in Greece decided
to go on strike, a decision that could have brought catastrophic consequences
in the region. The Chinese shipping and logistics company COSCO did not break a
sweat. They utilized the equation Port of Koper (in Slovenia) + feeder lines (a
transportation route that is subdivision of the main lines) that were cheap at
the time. The result was a zero loss of its global competition advantage.
The above
paradigms are not unique and unprecedented in the history of capital but the
argument remains (see note 3). Let’s study, closely, HABITAT I, II & III.
paradigms are not unique and unprecedented in the history of capital but the
argument remains (see note 3). Let’s study, closely, HABITAT I, II & III.
6.
The fundamental
forms of society wherein human relations exist are morphing into amphoterics.
Digital economy and drones. Banks in a palm. Loans & rents. Their dating.
Concentration of bourgeois society in the form of electricity. Belligerent
value brilliant. The State as credit factory. Taxes & sex at politics.
Reproductive debt & internal colonization. Rates of immigration & the
development of underdevelopment (crises). The spectacle is sociology. Capital
is ingrown hair. All co(u)ps are capital(’s). Hence, the terminal hypothesis: This
very moment all human beings disappear. Would civilization continue? Is it
still civilization? Is it still humanity or anthropogenic capital? Is it an electrophoretic
Riemannian Manifold? Has all this objectified/institutionalized
(reified) gnosis that Castoriadis identifies, via Marx, gone beyond the
subject’s hand/economy? All capitalist enemies should be taken seriously. All
capital is (a) “the” present (see note 4). As Anti-capitalists, we must
confront the present as organized Amphotericists (Anarchists/Communists/Feminists/Autonomists/Anti-Authoritarians),
namely, thru immediate international multifarious present and suprapresent
struggle (sabotage/re-appropriation of the capitalist mode of production/imaginary,
and as importantly, the construction of a synthetic global, solidaritarian, participatory Amphoteric
pedagogy/imaginary/architecture) against all patriarchal binaries/social compositions. We abolish class, gender and the state in our daily praxes. We are egress, epiphytes and lichen. Not only transitions but transmissions of new humanisms. We rise above the banality of obvious truth. We are new truths. Yes, we are Eutopia (we’ll leave Utopia to the bourgeoisie, its academia and art) and Eggydemia (academia comes from the word εκάς (far) + δήμος (the people), in other words, it means: away/far from the people). Eggy-demia is close (εγγύς) to the people, the dispossessed, the workers-(re)producers-mothers of this totality called Earth. We are Robin Banks.
The fundamental
forms of society wherein human relations exist are morphing into amphoterics.
Digital economy and drones. Banks in a palm. Loans & rents. Their dating.
Concentration of bourgeois society in the form of electricity. Belligerent
value brilliant. The State as credit factory. Taxes & sex at politics.
Reproductive debt & internal colonization. Rates of immigration & the
development of underdevelopment (crises). The spectacle is sociology. Capital
is ingrown hair. All co(u)ps are capital(’s). Hence, the terminal hypothesis: This
very moment all human beings disappear. Would civilization continue? Is it
still civilization? Is it still humanity or anthropogenic capital? Is it an electrophoretic
Riemannian Manifold? Has all this objectified/institutionalized
(reified) gnosis that Castoriadis identifies, via Marx, gone beyond the
subject’s hand/economy? All capitalist enemies should be taken seriously. All
capital is (a) “the” present (see note 4). As Anti-capitalists, we must
confront the present as organized Amphotericists (Anarchists/Communists/Feminists/Autonomists/Anti-Authoritarians),
namely, thru immediate international multifarious present and suprapresent
struggle (sabotage/re-appropriation of the capitalist mode of production/imaginary,
and as importantly, the construction of a synthetic global, solidaritarian, participatory Amphoteric
pedagogy/imaginary/architecture) against all patriarchal binaries/social compositions. We abolish class, gender and the state in our daily praxes. We are egress, epiphytes and lichen. Not only transitions but transmissions of new humanisms. We rise above the banality of obvious truth. We are new truths. Yes, we are Eutopia (we’ll leave Utopia to the bourgeoisie, its academia and art) and Eggydemia (academia comes from the word εκάς (far) + δήμος (the people), in other words, it means: away/far from the people). Eggy-demia is close (εγγύς) to the people, the dispossessed, the workers-(re)producers-mothers of this totality called Earth. We are Robin Banks.
Démarrage (an animation poem)
The donkey of eu(-)
(eats
the straw that breaks the camel’s back)
for Gilberto Francisco Ramos Juarez
the straw that breaks the camel’s back)
for Gilberto Francisco Ramos Juarez
(in loving memory of Rod Dibble)
Meconium – Poem of the initial
(Amphoteric) poem
(Amphoteric) poem
for my goddaughter R.
Upper & Lower
Abstraction is the only utopia
and that is not a compliment
and that is not a compliment
[ c.a.p.i.t.a.l ]
Timomachia – Reddish Green
On Capital and Amphoteric Value
Sarcomachia
Studies
in topology and materiality
in topology and materiality
materials studied: wood,
hair, concrete, leather, leaves, skin (human palm)
Archemachia
– Helixpolis
– Helixpolis
Capital’s Gewalt/Gestalt
Physimachia
for Vilém Flusser
for Vilém Flusser
The children revolts
(Biblioteca Popular Victor Martinez)
(Biblioteca Popular Victor Martinez)
Virus
featuring poetry written and recited by Lara Durback
Lara Durback’s text* included for further study
*a segment from her book
A Lizard, a Smashed Safe, and a Pillow (Encountered on a Walk in Oakland)
The man offered me a
plum.
plum.
She turned to me and
said, “Watch out, stay back.” [first cough]
said, “Watch out, stay back.” [first cough]
And there was a
vertical line of one man running at the other man and the one running toward
would shove at the other’s shoulders and the other would push back and skip
vertical line of one man running at the other man and the one running toward
would shove at the other’s shoulders and the other would push back and skip
back back
back back back all the way across the
room.
back back back all the way across the
room.
And they would get
addicted to it, push
addicted to it, push
back back
back back back
back back back
almost to the wall
of the room.
of the room.
The same pusher
every time, pushing to an edge. The
pusher’s eyes look over the head of the other person and never look at their
face. And they go
every time, pushing to an edge. The
pusher’s eyes look over the head of the other person and never look at their
face. And they go
back back back
skip skip skip skip skip across
the room.
the room.
Twice they fall
backwards but smoothly.
backwards but smoothly.
Twice they nearly
collide with me.
collide with me.
When they are done
they are giddy and laughing, visibly charged.
they are giddy and laughing, visibly charged.
They run back and do
it over and over, like a child to a sliding board.
it over and over, like a child to a sliding board.
A lot of this is
about tricking the mind so you can act.
about tricking the mind so you can act.
You need to see
directly, you need to pierce someone with a laser.
directly, you need to pierce someone with a laser.
You have not seen
the stars for a long time and it doesn’t matter. You don’t need them. You don’t
need them you are fine.
the stars for a long time and it doesn’t matter. You don’t need them. You don’t
need them you are fine.
So is that one.
They are fine, they
have everything they need, food and all. They had a wire armature covered in
soft fabric, it was as good as a mother. They had a body that you didn’t have,
a body that indicated something but also naked, unclothed with the suit of
heavy schooling, or falling into finance.
have everything they need, food and all. They had a wire armature covered in
soft fabric, it was as good as a mother. They had a body that you didn’t have,
a body that indicated something but also naked, unclothed with the suit of
heavy schooling, or falling into finance.
They were safe from
the NSA. They were safe from the things the NSA kept from you. They were so
safe that they never had to worry about that. Safe from the use of a bank
account, safe from being discriminated against for health insurance that didn’t
exist. Without it, a smaller island, less need to spread, why leave a 10-block
radius, not needed.
the NSA. They were safe from the things the NSA kept from you. They were so
safe that they never had to worry about that. Safe from the use of a bank
account, safe from being discriminated against for health insurance that didn’t
exist. Without it, a smaller island, less need to spread, why leave a 10-block
radius, not needed.
Have you ever used
the airport? Without the airport, they
never had to worry about turbulence.
the airport? Without the airport, they
never had to worry about turbulence.
[From Pier Paolo Pasolini’s
The Worker’s Cough]
The Worker’s Cough]
“I hear the worker
coughing down below;
coughing down below;
his cough comes up through
the ground floor grating
the ground floor grating
giving onto my
garden, so that it avoids resonating among the plants
garden, so that it avoids resonating among the plants
touched by the sun
on this last morning of good weather.
on this last morning of good weather.
He, the worker, down
below, intent at his job, coughs now and then pretty sure no one’s hearing it.
below, intent at his job, coughs now and then pretty sure no one’s hearing it.
When illness comes
it’s received heroically: a worker’s always 18, even if he has kids bigger than
him, ones new to that heroism.
it’s received heroically: a worker’s always 18, even if he has kids bigger than
him, ones new to that heroism.
In short, in those
wracking coughs the tragic meaning of this beautiful October sun is revealed.”
wracking coughs the tragic meaning of this beautiful October sun is revealed.”
Curtains
featuring music composed and
performed by Savvas Metaxas
Glaukopis against Weltschmerz & Ersatz
featuring music composed and
performed by experimental project Raspberry Fields
Unicode of the poor
*Poems/music/animations/films were written/made by Nicholas Komodore, unless indicated otherwise.
All photos were taken by Nicholas Komodore
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic
(CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) for all the above content.