Technology – Expression – Individuation

Our everyday understanding of technology is a pragmatic one, based on the simple assumption that technical existence is the result of human authorship. By contrast, the Mediterranean, the Alps, and the pigeons in the park are not manufactured objects. Accordingly, technology would be primarily an expression of human beings and only secondarily an expression of nature. Such an anthropocentric view may be suitable for everyday use, but it is inadequate because it obscures the primordial technical principle that underlies all form-taking events. But technology can also be understood in another way, as a problem of expression. Form-taking, as a process of expression, exhibits a technicality that we find not only in manufactured, technical objects but also in ›naturally‹ occurring structures and living beings. With this assumption, we can establish not only a connection between the philosophy of nature and the philosophy of technology but also a new perspective on human and non-human processes of individuation.

An event in the light of the recently published monograph by Katharina D. Martin »Technik als Problem des Ausdrucks, Über die naturphilosophischen Implikationen technikphilosophischer Theorien« (Bielefeld transcript, 2023) - Form-taking, as a process of expression, is a technical dimension inherent in nature – this is one thesis on the connection between the philosophy of nature and the philosophy of technology. Accordingly, the theories of technology of Kapp, Deleuze/Guattari and Simondon are particularly convincing because they treat technology as a problem of expression. Martin develops this idea by drawing on Lamarck, Schelling, Uexküll and Deleuze. In doing so, she not only succeeds in conveying the various discourses but also leads us to an ecological and topological way of thinking that is capable of grasping the problematic dimension of the technologization of our environment. https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-6763-9/technik-als-problem-des-ausdrucks/

CVs

Sjoerd van Tuinen is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam. After his PhD (Ghent 2009) on neo-monadological accounts of the production of subjectivity, he has had visiting affiliations with universities in London, Berlin, Vienna, New York, Princeton, and Lisbon. Van Tuinen has edited over two dozen books, special issues, and films, including »Deleuze and The Fold: A Critical Reader« (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), »Speculative Art Histories« (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), »The Politics of Debt« (Zero Books, 2020), and a series of theory books with V2_Institute for Unstable Media (Rotterdam/NAi Publishers). Recent monographs: »The Dialectic of Ressentiment: Pedagogy of a Concept (Routledge, 2023) and The Philosophy of Mannerism: From Aesthetics to Modal Metaphysics« (Bloomsbury, 2022). https://www.eur.nl/esphil/people/sjoerd-van-tuinen

Samo Tomšič is currently the Interim Professor of Philosophy at the HFBK Hamburg and a Research Associate at the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«. His research comprises political philosophy, epistemology, critical theory, and psychoanalytic theory. Before moving to Germany, he worked at the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Ljubljana) and at the Jan van Eyck Academy (Maastricht). Subsequently, he was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Institute for German Literature, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, a Visiting Lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, and a Visiting Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg. Selected publications: The Capitalist Unconscious: Marx and Lacan (Verso, 2015) and The Labour of Enjoyment (August Verlag, 2019).

Claudia Blümle is a Professor of History and Theory of Form at the Institute of Art and Visual History, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Principal Investigator at the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. From 2009 to 2014 she was Professor of Aesthetics and Art History at the Kunstakademie Münster. She is co-editor of the journal ›Regards Croisés, German-French Review-Journal on Art History and Aesthetics‹ and co-editor of the book series ›Bildwelten des Wissens. Kunsthistorisches Jahrbuch für Bildkritik‹. Selected publications: Blümle/Schäfer (eds.): »Struktur, Figur, Kontur. Abstraktion in Kunst und Lebenswissenschaften«, (Diaphanes, 2007), »Der Zeuge im Bild. Dieric Bouts und die Konstitution des modernen Rechtsraumes«, (Fink, 2011), »Schauspiele des Halbversteckten«, »Eine Bildgeschichte des gemalten Vorhangs«, (forthcoming Brill Fink, 2024).

Katharina D. Martin (Dr. phil.) is an independent researcher based in Rotterdam. She is interested in philosophy of nature, philosophy of technology and aesthetics, focusing on concepts such as expression, form, milieu, and body. Martin has given numerous lectures, published articles and is co-editor of the anthology »Innen - Aussen - Anders, Körper im Werk von Gilles Deleuze und Michel Foucault«, (Drews/Martin, transcript, 2017). From 2014 to 2019 she was an Associate Member of the Cluster of Excellence »Image Knowledge Gestaltung«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and from 2016 to 2020 she taught moving image theory at AKI Enschede (ArtEZ University of the Arts Arnhem). Recently published monograph: »Technik als Problem des Ausdrucks. Über die naturphilosophischen Implikationen technikphilosophischer Theorien« (transcript, 2023). https://www.kdmartin.eu