In Alien Agency; Chris Salter tells three stories of art in the making. Salter examines three works in which the materials of art -- the "stuff of the world" -- behave and perform in ways beyond the creators intent; becoming unknown; surprising; alien. Studying these works -- all three deeply embroiled in and enabled by science and technology -- allows him to focus on practice through the experiential and affective elements of creation. Drawing on extensive ethnographic observation and on his own experience as an artist; Salter investigates how researcher-creators organize the conditions for these experimental; performative assemblages -- assemblages that sidestep dichotomies between subjects and objects; human and nonhuman; mind and body; knowing and experiencing.Salter reports on the sound artists Bruce Odland and Sam Auinger (O+A) and their efforts to capture and then project unnoticed urban sounds; tracks the multi-year project TEMA (Tissue Engineered Muscle Actuators) at the art research lab SymbioticA and its construction of a hybrid "semi-living" machine from specially grown mouse muscle cells; and describes a research-creation project (which he himself initiated) that uses light; vibration; sound; smell; and other sensory stimuli to enable audiences to experience other cultures "ways of sensing." Combining theory; diary; history; and ethnography; Salter also explores a broader question: How do new things emerge into the world and what do they do?
#3135904 in eBooks 2015-02-24 2015-02-24File Name: B00UG85L4Q
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Requiem for the Old Public FunctionaryBy Kevin M. DerbyFor a major American writer to focus on a major American political figure is not unique. Gore Vidal offered us some interesting looks at Burr; Lincoln; Wilson; Harding and FDR in his various works of historical fiction. Caleb Carr presents a fun Teddy Roosevelt in "The Alienist". In "Buchanan Dying" and "Memoirs of the Ford Administration;" John Updike offers an excellent portrait of the enigmatic James Buchanan whose administration presided over the shattering of the Union. While part of Updikes focus on an obscure president remains an homage to their native state of Pennsylvania; "Buchanan Dying" also retains an interesting; and important; political message.Updikes historical research is solid. His excellent afterword goes through the Buchanan Papers that were edited by James R. Moore as well as the standard biographies and histories of the coming of the Civil War. From Kenneth Stampp to Avery Craven to Allan Nevins to Roy Franklin Nichols; Updike is familiar with the leading works of the impending crisis. This reflects well as he incorporates real figures and conversations along with fictional conversations.The familiar pattern of events unfolds in Buchanans mind. The death of Anne Coleman; the tense relationships with Jackson and Polk; Buchanans ambitions and his tortured path to the presidency; the Dred Scott decision; the feud with Stephen Douglas over Lecompton; the secession of the South; all this plays out in the dying Buchanans mind. Updike refers to this work as a "play meant to be read" and it probably would not be well adapted on the stage yet it is worth reading. While Buchanan remains a passive character (much like Rabbit?); Updike is fair to his historical memory. The secondary characters; from stern Jeremiah Black to the impish Harriet Lane to the slick John Slidell; remain impressive; realistic and stick to the historical record. The reader or the viewer does need some background with the era or some scenes make no sense; as when Buchanan and Douglas exchange words and bring up how conservative Democrats William Rives and Nathaniel Tallmadge were run out of the pary in the late 1830s.One theme which lingers in the play is that men in power often do the best they can despite themselves. In an age when protesters demanded how many kids LBJ killed that day; when Bill Clinton was hounded for his personal life as well as for taking part in numerous conspiracy theories; when George W. Bush is constantly accused of abominations; this play serves as a reminder that failed political leadership is more often the product of incompetence as opposed to evil intentions (the character of John Floyd seems to be the best reminder of that).Updike shows a Buchanan who was more devoted to the Union than the South and the North would have thought possible. Updikes Buchanan recognizes that the way he handled the secession crisis gave Lincoln a gift. Clearly Updike does not see Buchanans administration as a failed presidency and; with the exception of Philip Kleins biography; presents the best modern day case for Buchanan. While the produced play would be too obscure and pedantic for viewers; the play in book form remains an excellent look into the mind and thought of a capable if often legalistic man confronted with forces far behind his power to control or grasp.
