Wow, one of the most original and interesting articles I have read on Readup. Lots to investigate and ponder. Acid Communism as an experiment in applied Hauntology - fascinating!
Hauntology is sometimes referred to as a “puncept” – if ontology is the study of what is, then its punning cousin is the study of what is not.
Fascinating stuff. I keep reading about the loss of public imagination (again and again: dystopia) from many different angles. I have found myself becoming quite bored in political conversations that don’t involve some kind of “let’s imagine how everything could be different.”
It’s fascinating to consider that the advent of modern technology (meaning the web - basically, being able to see everything, at your fingertips, all day every day) created a cultural chasm, rather than an expansion of new ideas. Go figure: good ideas start from scratch. Are we not good at doing things from scratch these days?
Digging deep on vaporwave and what some have started to call the 21st century gothic aesthetic. The political aspects of this analysis don't necessarily resonate with me, but I acknowledge that they might be inextricably linked to the artistic manifestation. The contrast between British and American hauntology is super interesting and something I hadn't come across before. I've also never considered vaporwave as a sort of sub-genre of a broader hauntological category of music. I'm a huge Boards of Canada fan but never made that connection.
There are a lot of interesting concepts here that I would be curious to hear others' thoughts on.
Mark Fisher noted that since the 1990s “cultural time has folded back in on itself”.
As someone who grew up in the 90's I certainly feel this but it's impossible to tell if this is something unique to our era or if every generation feels this way as they get older. Was the future really cancelled in the late 80's/early 90's or is it in a perpetual state of cancellation?
I find the concept of technology materializing memory similarly interesting. Again, is this a historical constant or have we really reached a turning point? Will Gen Z feel nostalgic for 4k video when 8k is the norm? I find it hard to believe. The deltas seem to be getting smaller as we approach ubiquitous "retina" resolution. Except for fucking Zoom calls of course.
Wow, one of the most original and interesting articles I have read on Readup. Lots to investigate and ponder. Acid Communism as an experiment in applied Hauntology - fascinating!
Fascinating stuff. I keep reading about the loss of public imagination (again and again: dystopia) from many different angles. I have found myself becoming quite bored in political conversations that don’t involve some kind of “let’s imagine how everything could be different.”
It’s fascinating to consider that the advent of modern technology (meaning the web - basically, being able to see everything, at your fingertips, all day every day) created a cultural chasm, rather than an expansion of new ideas. Go figure: good ideas start from scratch. Are we not good at doing things from scratch these days?
Digging deep on vaporwave and what some have started to call the 21st century gothic aesthetic. The political aspects of this analysis don't necessarily resonate with me, but I acknowledge that they might be inextricably linked to the artistic manifestation. The contrast between British and American hauntology is super interesting and something I hadn't come across before. I've also never considered vaporwave as a sort of sub-genre of a broader hauntological category of music. I'm a huge Boards of Canada fan but never made that connection.
There are a lot of interesting concepts here that I would be curious to hear others' thoughts on.
As someone who grew up in the 90's I certainly feel this but it's impossible to tell if this is something unique to our era or if every generation feels this way as they get older. Was the future really cancelled in the late 80's/early 90's or is it in a perpetual state of cancellation?
I find the concept of technology materializing memory similarly interesting. Again, is this a historical constant or have we really reached a turning point? Will Gen Z feel nostalgic for 4k video when 8k is the norm? I find it hard to believe. The deltas seem to be getting smaller as we approach ubiquitous "retina" resolution. Except for fucking Zoom calls of course.
Great read. Interesting topic. I want to read some Mark Fisher. Never heard of him but now I’m interested.