The Inauthentically Exhibitionist Technological Age

Exhibitionism is a key tendency in the technological age today: the technological age involves products that don't just use technology, but actively flaunt the inner technology in use. We have those rudimentary Apple computers which had see-through plastic exteriors that made the wiring and machinery visible. At that point in history, Apple's technology was not so advanced that they would want to genuinely flaunt it, rather, the exhibition of the wiring was done to create the fantasy of complexity. A lot of the sophisticated knowledge about devices today is at the level of wiring and not the 'sub-wiring' level, this is done in order to try and curb the effects of a more intense exhibitionist logic that would not have stopped at revealing the level of the wiring alone. Our impulses to destroy fragile wiring and machines is curbed by a fascinating knowledge of the wiring level. 

The dissection of frogs in biology is not relevant to learn about the frog, but rather we dissect frogs to prepare for the manipulation of the wiring of machines; but it is more a preparation for assembly-line technology-related jobs rather than advanced “bio-tech” jobs. The rise of the technological age has brought about changes in the education system that go beyond simple changes to the subject of "computer science," but impact all other subjects of study, especially all the sciences. Indeed, in an ironic vein, computer science itself seems to fall behind in the technological age.

The real logic of exhibitionism is not content with the revealing of naked flesh, but rather, beyond that, the revealing of the internal organs and ultimately the continuous “cutting up” of the outer layers that serve as clothing to reveal another layer of clothing within. It is “clothing all the way in” when it comes to exhibitionism, there is no truer authentic reality to reveal. The initial fascination with the insides of a computer must therefore be moderated by the understanding of the logic of exhibitionism: that the technology they see is not the more important, more serious, final reality. We are, in other words, inauthentic exhibitionists when it comes to our fascination with wiring.

Perhaps there will come a time when the exhibitionist logic gets so intense that the machines are broken apart, smashed and damaged, when we move beyond the fascination with their wiring and try to go deeper and deeper within the surface. Machines will eventually be seen in this scenario as "damage-prone" as they tempt us to destroy their exterior to look inside. Perhaps this exhibitionism towards the devices will outweigh our considerations of their “use-value.” A post-technological age could then begin.

The Age Of Concern For The Artist

Although today's trend of paying record-breaking prices for art work is criticized as capitalist “commodification” and superficial trade of art, the trend could well be an indicator of the faith in art work that the art world has. But even more so, this expensive trend demonstrates an attempt to “save” or “uplift” the figure of the artist in society. Even if the artist in question is already dead, paying large sums for his/her art work provides him/her with a legacy, a success story and an “ordinariness” regarding his/her relevance in the world today; the attempt is to make the artist feel safe. Paying record sums is part of a wider age in the art world: the age of showing concern for the artist.

One way in which the age of the concern for the artist has come about is through globalization. With globalization, what were previously close relations in the art world have gotten even more intimate. The artist, at the center of the art world of dealers, collectors, viewers and students, is now exposed and revealed to these identities in great detail. The artist is found to be problematic, not because of any specific malady, but because the image of a “problematic artist” can finally be properly employed given the possibility of intimacy and care for the artist. A kind of parental impulse in the art world can be satisfied by the artist figure who serves as the object of concern/attention.

The artist's status becomes more important than the art work he/she produces. The concern for the artist has moved beyond just attention towards him/her to outright scrutiny. In this scenario, the art work completely “hides behind” the artist, the work is deliberately made obscure, and if it happens to be displayed “prematurely” before the artist's “problematic years,” its value is deliberately taken to be small, for it has to be displayed at the right moment so that its trade may prove “therapeutic” for the artist. Today the art world around the artist is too eager to help the artist. 

As the display of the art work becomes the final act for the artist, the art work no longer becomes the point of production of information and knowledge about the artist's life and health. Beyond his/her art work is just silence, with the art work being “deterritorialized” from the art world, with the art work serving as the final statement beyond the communicative and enclosing/“territorializing” function of “art world language.” The art work fosters no communication but brings about a silence, and this silence is a result of complete ignorance towards the art work, because the art world has replaced art work as the artist's therapeutic object, with the artist's safety as top concern over his/her creativity and productivity.

True rebellion in the art world today would be focused on experimenting with the timing of the display of the art work: if the work is displayed “prematurely,” before an artist's “problematic years” or even"creative years," then its value will be lower in monetary terms, but the art work will also be very relevant as an object indicating the condition of the artist's life, and so premature display would produce communication about the artist through the discussion of his/her art work. This would go against having the art work stand as an end-point beyond which there is only an unproductive and awed silence on the part of the art world.