Ars electronica 2000: hudders talking to the symposium «next sex»

Totalitar bio-rhetoric has become final salon

How was that possible? With steelmen and nuchal words, the theses are read: the rape has to do with sex, not by force. The rape occurs in line with nature, which is called you an adaptation. And the sheer unfabbare high point (wortliche copy): "rape is a by-product of evolution, search as computers, arthritis a.O." ("the rape is a by-product of evolution, such as computers, arthritis u.A."To). — where are we here? At a lecture organized by neonazis on eugenik and racial hygiene in thuringen? For some freaky science sect in america? At dubious organic fascists of extreme rights of france? No, we are in the "city with sun in the heart"!

Extrauterine fetalincubation, nabuya unno / j, source: nabuya unno

Rape? As arthritis!

Imagine now, this presentation, especially a certain randy thornhill, who with his book "a natural history of rape" launched to sad sadness takes place between the submission of two women. Yes, a lecture that builds on that rape (by manner to women, it’s just about them!) nothing to do with violence to thank natural selection and only in the rarest traps to death drove (!), located in the midst of a unit of veena gowda to female sexuality in india and the well-known live (fake) orgasm of sandy stone inspired by annie sprinkle. Guess! We are on the ars electronica 2000 in linz, on the second day of the symposium "next sex". So that festival so that since 1996 actually "geno demagogica" and whose general theme had to be fair this year in "last fuck. Macho rhetoric in the age of salon ability neo-totalitarian organic policy" converted.

The sentences of randy thornhill were totalitar demagogy, no question: logically inconsistent, highly sympathizing, incompatible darnesses against each other, far away from each empiric, highly paradox. This is a new form of suggestive persuasiveness in the science discourse, which simplifies like jorg haider and with science even less than capra with serious research. Thornhill simply says this and this is so because it can not be evident differently. And this so-be one is a fact, no (hypo-) thesis. Point. The rape is naturally and not overall, so befind in nature and assistant not to the realm of spirits. What is nature, examines biology — etc..

After ripe consideration, i find no suitable term for this word-crap. "Biological", "naturalistic" or "naturalized", "(bio-) deterministic" — all the goods much too gentle. A reactionary, a conservative is thornhill anyway, clear. Bio-, techno or macho fascism were actually suitable terms, but the fascism reproach, once tattered, unfortunately can be used reversibly in the discourse (according to the motto: "who calls thornhill a fascist is itself one!"To).

The scandal is in program planning

The guilt for the incredible scandal is customizable: it is located in grurried stocker and christine schopf, the ladders of the ars electronica. In particular, program planner stocker has to answer against politics, the sponsors and the press, randy thornhill offered a forum in which his theses have to be accepted criticism. The partners of the "ars" can not accept the at least not without comment.

On the right eye blind? Stocker said after the lecture sinngemab it was good to have invited the man, because, you see indeed what he had drawn. — this is ubelster surface cynicism that was thought to be thought of nothing and no one stop. How to pull the border, mr. Stocker? "Good to invite the revisionists under mr. Irving to finally work on the constructivistic historical concept! Great, finally the ndp offered a forum to make a picture of how the rights really use the network! What has this not provoked and irritated! What has not emotionalized and polarized!" everything seems to be in the sign of this self-value: commands theme reading function.

Artists as pr-staffs of the gene generes

This cynicism that everything social and (probably above all 🙂 media noise produces, just therefore justifying, is to puke. And he’s twice, because he also hides his medial wizards: it’s just about stimulating a critical discourse, it then is about it’s about it, "to scratch taboos", how the local oberosterreich press always formulates, which the organic gene designer fair in brucknerhaus has been carrying ideologically.

Were the nightmare of a thornhill this year exceptions? The bad thing is: they were at this "ars" so far only the top of the iceberg. Here is a small chronology:

  1. The performer isvan kantor demands the audience in his performance "the file cabinet project" to do this, to carry out copulating movements on card box, which in turn control a video in which, depending on the interpretation and sensitivity rape, sm-sex, necrophilia u.A. You can see. A visitor responds particularly sensitive to the total nature of performance, fails to the famous milgram experiment reminds and confronts the artist with this parallel and fascism reproach. This describes the visitor in turn as a fascist, which leads to a violent body attack between the two. The artist escapes from the bruckner house. (sunday, 3. September, 10pm). (this is absolutely no comment against this performance and the artists, but in the context of this "ars" if the interactive co-produced just gets a completely new meaning!To)
  2. Kurt behrends, a psychiatrist from dusseldorf (there is no abstract in the "ars"-catalog book) shows at the symposium polaroids of transsexuals, which he has broken the eyes black with felt-tip pen. He refers to a photo as "misspelled case", in another picture he notices: "you see the facial attractiveness suffers." the transsexuals are reduced to angaff objects in a freak show, actually a more than unpleasant aftertaste. (monday, 4. September, 12.3pm)
  3. As mentioned in telepolis, steel is called stenslie "rape as an artist strategy". (sunday, 3. September, 10.45 o’clock)

And that’s just a small excerpt from the diary of this year "ars": to yield were the goats to death, which had to die for — as meaningless — animal experiments with artificial placenta, as well as artists who manipulate and dolls to butterflies "semi-living objects" building (the shameless propaganda for tie engineering of course, not missing). And: as reported, the best spermiators are tired of daily and harassment. — is not that too much of what remind us of highly unpleasant and pregnant veal points got to?

I did not like to be misunderstood: i am for every technological or. Medical innovation, which makes life more pleasant, avoids diseases, lives to life or even one day will be immortal. And i have absolutely nothing against scientists, on the contrary. So please none science wars incertain, it’s not a sickness of the spiritual scientist. Only: just have the artists to become the propaganda staff of the genfisser? Which can not be much better that the coarse organic and gene companies can not be much better? Such uncritical-affirmative use of how he is currently in the field of "bio-" and "life-style" shows, is probably my knowledge — except for art production under total rule — unique in the story of art. And the "ars" hypt this terrain also merciless.

No distance to blue

Where are the critical computer artists who are slow but safe from the "ars" be fully banished? Where are the media and cultural scientists who are protesting openly? Where the women’s associations? All are called to relate now. A well-known austrian media theorists who want to stay anonymous for some reason, remarked thornhill on monday:

"It is an incredible scandal that the organizers offer biologist reactionaries a platform so they can spread their crude theses without putting the whole thing in a cultural scientific discourse context."

The diabolical is that this scandal of the "ars" again will only play in the hands: there is no bad advertising. Once the medialization machine has come started, benefit all pages of it, or? Totalitary thought is so unstoppable feed. The "ars" has to answer for this form of "science" to have returned with salon.

She has proved austria and linz thus not yet austerable bad service. Somehow it suits that the organizers did not have lost a single critical word over blaights in this year-old program. Timothy printrey and geert lovink have criticized that, and not a few easter-rich artists have not come from protest. All this intended together results in an unbalancing overall impression, and me becomes mulmy with the idea of getting tomorrow in the history-loaded city of linz on this festival.

Dr. Stefan weber is media scientist and free journalist from salzburg.