My notes for the reading group with shadow of camera (Sony DSC T-700)
Last week I attended the monthly SenseLab reading group, where we were reading Guattari’s The Three Ecologies. As my copy of the book was still in transit (I fear it’s been lost in the post), I read a .pdf version from my computer screen which wasn’t ideal. There was just a small group of people, ten or so, and we all introduced ourselves as the composition is ever-changing. Erin asked us to try to do it in a way which we might not normally do, which made for an amusing opening to the session. It was interesting to see how the group would switch between French and English for discussion, and for the versions of the book read (plenty of time was spent trying to compare page numbers).
Erin had noticed an interesting parallel with Guattari’s idea of the individual as a terminal, and William James’ notion of the ‘terminus’: not as an end, but a force that activates a beginning. Here is the particular section of the text that we were looking at – it’s a really wonderful passage:
Rather than speak of the ‘subject’, we should perhaps speak of components of subiectfication, each working more or less on its own. This would lead us, necessarily, to re-examine the relation between concepts of the individual and subjectivity, and, above all, to make a clear distinction between the two. Vectors of subjectification do not necessarily pass through the individual, which in reality appears to be something like a ‘terminal’ (TE: 36)
Guattari’s use of another term, gentleness, stood out for me (and others) and I remember circling the word when he used it in both Chaosmosis and The Three Ecologies because it contrasts with his rather heroic style of writing:
It seems to me essential to organize new micropolitical and microsocial practices, new solidarities, a new gentleness, together with new aesthetic and new analytic practices (TE: 51)
It was suggested that gentleness might relate to questions of value (rather than evaluation) and with the techniques of creating an alternate political articulation. One way that the SenseLab is thinking about this is in terms of generosity and Erin explained that they try to produce generous events. Other issues that we tried to talk/think through included the ‘habitable’, potential (as something which is not necessarily positive), phantasms and react-ability… Plenty to mull over.
This post is tagged guattari, james, reading, SenseLab, subjectivity