SOFTWARE ART-WORK FOR-ITSELF
Geoff Cox
University of Plymouth / Arnolfni

With software, not only is the programmer's work diffcult to
identify (often hidden behind the interface) but the user's labour
also disappears into the operating system. In a contemporary
scenario, this is exemplifed by the operations of 'social media',
wherein the social relation is produced in restrictive form,
underpinned by the socio-technical hierarchical logic of server-
client relations. The participatory work-play ethic of social media
can thus be understood as an expression of new forms of control,
such that the value stolen no longer relates simply to labour power
but to subjectivity too. The associated dislocation of social
antagonism remains useful to conceptualise the way that
exploitation is 'subsumed' into the wider social realm.
Consequently, the control of social media, and the labour related
to it, are key sites of antagonism that need to be identifed for
alternatives to be engaged. The presentation will refer to a number
of artist projects that draw attention to the contradictions
expressed in the complexities of production, and the continued
importance of antagonism as a mechanism for social change. The
phrase software-art-work is expressed in a deliberately ambiguous
way - to indicate the work involved in making software, the work
involved in using software, as well as the work that software does
in-itself - taken together to establish the necessity of software-
art-work to operate 'for-itself'.

'The story is told of an automaton constructed in such a way
that it could respond to each move in a game of chess with a
countermove that ensured him victory. A puppet in Turkish
attire, and with a hookah in his mouth, sat in front of a
chessboard placed on a large table. A system of mirrors created
the illusion of a table transparent from all sides. Actually a
hunchback dwarf, who was an expert chess player, sat inside and
guided the puppet's hand by means of strings. One can imagine a
philosophical counterpart to this device. The puppet known as
'historical materialism' is always supposed to win. It can
easily be a match for anyone if it ropes in the services of
theology, which today, as the story goes, is small and ugly and
must, as it is, keep out of sight.'
(Benjamin)

#!/usr/bin/perl
print "Hey, you there!";

'Every more or less traditional text is codework
with invisible residue; every computer harbours
the machinic, the ideology of capital in the
construction of its components, the oppression of
underdevelopment in its reliance on cheap labor.'
(Sondheim 2004)

With software, not only is the programmer's work diffcult to
identify (often hidden behind the interface) but the user's labour
also disappears into the operating system. In a contemporary
scenario, this is exemplifed by the operations of 'social media',
wherein the social relation is produced in restrictive form,
underpinned by the socio-technical hierarchical logic of server-
client relations. The participatory work-play ethic of social media
can thus be understood as an expression of new forms of control,
such that the value stolen no longer relates simply to labour power
but to subjectivity too. The associated dislocation of social
antagonism remains useful to conceptualise the way that
exploitation is 'subsumed' into the wider social realm.
Consequently, the control of social media, and the labour related
to it, are key sites of antagonism that need to be identifed for
alternatives to be engaged. The presentation will refer to a number
of artist projects that draw attention to the contradictions
expressed in the complexities of production, and the continued
importance of antagonism as a mechanism for social change. The
phrase software-art-work is expressed in a deliberately ambiguous
way - to indicate the work involved in making software, the work
involved in using software, as well as the work that software does
in-itself - taken together to establish the necessity of software-
art-work to operate 'for-itself'.

'Today the enemy is not called Empire or Capital.
It's called Democracy.'
(Badiou 2004)

'The social web facilitates an unprecedented level
of social sharing, but it does so mostly through
the vehicle of proprietary platforms.'
(Bauwens 2008)

'If production today is directly the production of
a social relation, then the “raw material” of
immaterial labor is subjectivity and the
“ideological” environment in which this
subjectivity lives and reproduces. The production
of subjectivity ceases to be only an instrument of
social control (for the reproduction of mercantile
relationships) and becomes directly productive,
because the goal of our postindustrial society is
to construct the consumer/communicator – and to
construct it as “active”. [...] The fact that
immaterial labor produces subjectivity and
economic value at the same time demonstrates how
capital has broken down all the oppositions among
economy, power, and knowledge.'
(Lazzarato 1996)

It 'tends not to sell any product at all to the
consumer, but rather sells the consumer to the
product'.
(Prada 2007)

The confusion over what constitutes work and non-
work turns attention to situations where work
takes the forms of nonwork. Pil and Galia
Kollectiv extend this point, by drawing on Paolo
Virno's observation that work and action have
become indistinct. They argue for uncovering
latent action in non-work (2007).

'if the publicness of the intellect does not
yield to the realm of the public sphere, of a
political space in which the many can tend to
common affairs, then it produces terrifying
effects. _A publicness without a public sphere_:
here is the negative side - the evil if you wish -
of the experience of the multitude.'
(Virno 2004)

With software, not only is the programmer's work diffcult to
identify (often hidden behind the interface) but the user's labour
also disappears into the operating system. In a contemporary
scenario, this is exemplifed by the operations of 'social media',
wherein the social relation is produced in restrictive form,
underpinned by the socio-technical hierarchical logic of server-
client relations. The participatory work-play ethic of social media
can thus be understood as an expression of new forms of control,
such that the value stolen no longer relates simply to labour power
but to subjectivity too. The associated dislocation of social
antagonism remains useful to conceptualise the way that
exploitation is 'subsumed' into the wider social realm.
Consequently, the control of social media, and the labour related
to it, are key sites of antagonism that need to be identifed for
alternatives to be engaged. The presentation will refer to a number
of artist projects that draw attention to the contradictions
expressed in the complexities of production, and the continued
importance of antagonism as a mechanism for social change. The
phrase software-art-work is expressed in a deliberately ambiguous
way - to indicate the work involved in making software, the work
involved in using software, as well as the work that software does
in-itself - taken together to establish the necessity of software-
art-work to operate 'for-itself'.

http://project.arnolfni.org.uk/antisocial

CRAFTIVISM
12 December 2009 - 14 February 2010
Kayle Brandon + Heath Bunting / Rhiannon Chaloner + Manuel Vason /
glorious ninth / GOTO10 / Rui Guerra / House-Hold / Christine +
Irene Hohenbüchler / JODI / Mandy McIntosh / Gloria Ojulari Sule /
Trevor Pitt + Kate Pemberton / Janek Simon / Stephanie Syjuco /
Clare Thornton
Craftivism is an Arnolfni / Relational contemporary art project that responds to the
resurgent interest in craft as it relates to socially-engaged art practice. It
involves fourteen projects developed by artists and collectives that work with craft-
based traditions and activist practices, and who employ the tactics of 'craftivism'
(combining crafting + activism) to question and disrupt the prevailing codes of mass
consumerism.
The project attempts to collapse the distinction between 'making' and 'doing' - the
former associated with craft, the latter with human action. It places an emphasis on
interaction and participation in the wider social realm, and employs aspects of self-
organisation and 'open-source' principles. The artists involved engage with craft-
based traditions through diverse practices including art, technology and fashion.
Craftivism is developed in relation to a range of contexts and includes nine artist-
led participatory projects developed with local communities, the outcomes of which are
shown as part of a gallery-based interactive exhibition, online and in free software-
related projects, workshops, talks and the uncurated satellite event UnCraftivism.
Selected works exemplify 'innovation' in the general sense that newly invented forms
might diverge from established rules and perceived norms.
The project will invite public interaction and provide opportunities to take part,
make work and learn craft-based skills to customise products. It encourages wider
communities to embrace the 'freedom' to create, modify and distribute products, and in
so doing demonstrates the possibilities for people to modify their own lives.

http://folksomy.net/

With software, not only is the programmer's work diffcult to
identify (often hidden behind the interface) but the user's labour
also disappears into the operating system. In a contemporary
scenario, this is exemplifed by the operations of 'social media',
wherein the social relation is produced in restrictive form,
underpinned by the socio-technical hierarchical logic of server-
client relations. The participatory work-play ethic of social media
can thus be understood as an expression of new forms of control,
such that the value stolen no longer relates simply to labour power
but to subjectivity too. The associated dislocation of social
antagonism remains useful to conceptualise the way that
exploitation is 'subsumed' into the wider social realm.
Consequently, the control of social media, and the labour related
to it, are key sites of antagonism that need to be identifed for
alternatives to be engaged. The presentation will refer to a number
of artist projects that draw attention to the contradictions
expressed in the complexities of production, and the continued
importance of antagonism as a mechanism for social change. The
phrase software-art-work is expressed in a deliberately ambiguous
way - to indicate the work involved in making software, the work
involved in using software, as well as the work that software does
in-itself - taken together to establish the necessity of software-
art-work to operate 'for-itself'.

In 'The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte'
of 1851-2, Marx claims: 'Men [sic] make their own
history but they do not make it just as they
please; they do not make it under circumstances
chosen by themselves, but under circumstances
directly encountered, given and transmitted by the
past.'

This is a move from 'in-itself' to 'for-itself' in
Hegel's terms - from 'ground' to 'conditions'
where ground is the essence and the conditions
are the conditions that bring this about. The two
opposing factors must be combined without losing
the antagonism. There must be an antagonism
between ground and conditions, between the inner
essence and the external circumstances that gives
rise to that essence - expressing the dialectic of
what is possible and actually exists.