Reading and later discussing the ideas of articulation and assemblage by Slack and Wise was interesting because it is so relatable now more than ever. The reading talks about the rise of the surveillance industry in the past decade as well as how this is connected to assemblage and articulation. When we are able to survey or observe something as an outsider, we can see how every part or articulation of a process works to form a cohesive unit which in this case is called an assemblage. With the constant development of technology and our need as a society to be innovative, there are many active parts that are necessary to move society forward. For example, highways and roads to help us travel, phones and other devices to help us communicate. In terms of assemblage, articulation, and surveillance, an example that surprisingly relates all of them is "Endless" which is R&B singer, Frank Ocean's visual album. To give a bit of a background on it- many of his fans have been waiting for him to release an album for quite some time. So, Frank Ocean uploaded a live stream on his website where fans were curious to see what he has been up to for four years. Towards the end of this live stream, Frank Ocean played music and built some type of installation as millions of people watched his live stream. This live stream was a form of surveillance in which the audience was able to see him work and build this visual album in this environment. It's interesting to apply this concept to popular culture, can you think of other ways in which assemblage & articulation can be applied?
Here is a very short link to the live stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d54xZAxeU7w (the livestream was running for over 100 hours so this is just a very small snippet)
I think another great example that portrays the concepts of articulation and assemblage is a movie called Snowpiercer. This movie takes place in a train called "Snowpiercer" which holds that last remnants of humanity after a failed attempt at stopping global warming. This has caused the world to be frozen and has created an ice age where life is not possible outside this train.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't not your regular train and it is said that the engine is "supposed" to run until eternity. Inside the train, we recognize many different elements that combine the train together. Armed forces has separated the poor locating them at the bottom half of the train and the rich to the top half which I think highlights a non-physical element of segregation and social class. It is very interesting to notice the train with this kind of contingent connection.
I think that another example of articulation and assemblage would be a popular website called Twitch. Twitch is a website that people can go onto to watch gamers play their games live while seeing them as well. In other words, this would be an example of a live stream surveillance. However, this website incorporated the idea of communication where everyone watching can send instant messages, similar to a giant group chat and the person playing the game can reply by voice or text at any given time. Not only this, but people can donate money at the same time to see the gamer do special things for them in the game or even just to donate because they think the gamer deserves it. Twitch incorporates surveillance and network communication in which is now becoming a materialistic thing as more and more users are beginning to start live streams.
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