Author: Alan N. Shapiro

  • Georges Bataille and Epistemology

    Bataille’s Theory of Religion and The Accursed Share have been read by generations of Marxists, deconstructionists, and Baudrillard the man himself in economic terms. But, in the current situation of virtuality, it is most interesting to read these texts from an epistemological point of view.

  • Around the Town (a Sports Gambling story), part 1 of 4

    As they went inside Grand Central Station, Moe and Siggy saw hurried commuters moving with tunnel vision, not looking at the homeless. The bag ladies and street people would put a damper on one’s day. Past the panhandlers and cup rattlers, the squeegee people, and the Monte dealers, the determined nine-to-fivers kept moving.

  • The End of Homo Oeconomicus

    Da der Mensch ein lebendiges Wesen ist, müssen wir unser Konzept vom Menschen ändern, vom Homo Oeconomicus zu einer Idee des kreativen Menschen, wie der Physiker-Philosoph Hans-Peter Dürr sagt. Wie alle lebendigen Organismen verfügt auch der Mensch über eine Wachstumsfähighkeit.

  • Data and Baudrillard, by Franco La Polla

    This is a translation of one chapter of Franco La Polla’s book Star Trek: Foto di Gruppo con Astronave. La Polla is a distinguished Professor of the History of North American Culture at the University of Bologna. He has written and published three amazing books on Star Trek.

  • Dance and Digital/Virtual Technologies, by Jaana Parviainen

    Dwelling in the virtual sonic environment: Phenomenological analysis of dancers’ learning processes in working with the Embodied Generative Music interface. “We must admit that the sound, of itself, prompts rather a grasping movement, and visual perception the act of pointing.” (Merleau-Ponty)

  • From The Technological Herbarium, by Gianna Maria Gatti – Teleporting an Unknown State, by Eduardo Kac (translated by Alan N. Shapiro)

    Telepresenza, bio arte, arte transgenica: questi saranno i temi al centro del racconto di Eduardo Kac, l’artista che a partire dagli anni ‘80 è stato il pioniere delle nuove declinazioni artistiche del biologico ed è riconosciuto internazionalmente come fondatore della Transgenic Art.