[mf2012] networked insurgents and communications guerilla

[rachelbaker at irational.org]

“And you all know security, Is mortals' chiefest enemy”.
Hecate, Macbeth

So the problem with the MF narrative of a 'networked insurgency' is of
course that it is predicated on, and therefore anticipates, the kind of
smart-city network technology that IBM and the Olympic machinists would
want foisted upon us in their over-securitised cybernetic nightmare. The
school of thought that says revert, infect, hack or parasite the
technology is one i have sympathy with - create conditions for The Glitch
- but mostly as a theatrical proposition.

1. If we created a non-rational Moving Forest map that was layered with
geo-fictions, obscuring the surveillance friendly panoptical tendencies of
all electronical mapping devices, then that might be more interesting.
Camouflage. Anyone interested to design such a map?

2. Also, the 'insurgent' suggests a binary oppositional narrative of good
vs evil -  however, MF recognises that our wost enemies are usually
ourselves as Macbeth proves. MF is an associative artwork of dissonant
dissensus, insurgents can be at odds with each other as they move towards
the Castle. As long as there is movement.

3. Also, networks don't always have to be predicated on the electronic.
To uncover/read city infrastructure we can use material that is close to
us and everyday, to make relationships and associations through simple
actions, for example London's reading groups and walking groups such as
the Wetherspoons Underground SykoGeosofy Club which meets on occasion to
follow the various routes of London's many underground rivers. Over the
years river infrastructure has been built on, replaced in parts by the
London Underground. In turn a further layer of infrastructural formatting
is laid congruently with the railtrack in the copper cabling used for high
speed telecommunications. Copper was one of the 7 metals that alchemists
used (gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, iron & tin). Before its highly
conductive properties were discovered in electromagnetism it was used to
craft mirrors and was associated with love and attraction. The spikes in
copper trading prices have resulted in a spate of copper theft around
London including the Barbara Hepworth sculpture 'Two Forms (Divided
Circle)'

4. So base metal can be transformed into 'gold'. These small associations
of associative drifts are what will shape the Moving Forest in July and
beyond. To this end I propose 'Hecate's Prophecies' Reading Group and
invite all the witches on the list to attend. The intention is to explore
the idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy, a key Macbethian theme and also
the core principle of cybernetic systems. The reading list is currently:-
- The witches soliloquies in Macbeth
- Caliban and The Witch by Silvia Federici
- Witch Cult in Western Europe by Margaret Murray
- On Seduction by Baudrillard
- A General Theory of Magic by Marcel Mauss
- Zeroes + Ones : Digital Women and the New Technoculture by Sadie Plant

Any more suggestions welcome, and any satellite groups encouraged.
The first meeting is being prepared for Friday 13th April at the Autonomy
Club at Freedom bookshop, Angel Alley, Whitechapel.
\

rachel