Blue Monday: Stories of Absurd Realities and Natural Philosophies

Blue Monday Stories of Absurd Realities and Natural Philosophies AUDC Robert Sumrell & Kazys Varnelis

Blue Monday Peripheral Vision by Reinhold Martin ��

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REALITY LEMMINGS INTRODUCTION

16 20

ABSTRACTION MY DEAR BERLIN WALL ETHER One Wilshire

30 40

ETHICS VOLUNTARY SLAVERY THE STIMULUS PROGRESSION

Muzak

50 60

LOVE MIKE SWARM INTELLIGENCE QuartZSite, Arizona

70 80

Epilogue

90

Acknowledgements

95

Credits

100

Peripheral Vision Reinhold Martin

It is often said that the age of grand narratives is over. In their place are only little stories, or maybe anthologies-collections of little stories. So it is probably not an accident that this book begins with the ( knowingly dubious) announcement of the end of the novel. Or more precisely, this book of little stories that are apparently about architecture and urbanism begins by announc­ ing the "end" of fiction as a model of reality, of which the novel is a classic example. What are we to make of such an announcement? Right or wrong, what does a literary form like the novel have to do with architecture in the first place? Well, there is a sense here that we are in a kind of contemporary twilight zone, where the old cliche of truth being stranger than fiction no longer captures the reality of the world with which architecture and urbanism are confronted. In this collection of not-sa-modest little stories by Robert Sumrell and Kazys Varnelis of the formerly-Los Ange­ les based Architecture Urbanism Design Collaborative ( AUDC), what we might call architecture's reality principle-its presumed instrumentality, but also its ongoing capitulation to all sorts of perceived realities, especially of the "late capitalist" variety-is

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temporarily suspended. In its place are true stories whose subject matter reads like an update of Borges's famous Chinese ency­ clopedia: lemmings, a woman who married the Berlin wall, Los Angeles's biggest black box, a record collector named Clarence, Muzak, a headless chicken, and Quartzsite, Arizona. Such a list might lead us to conclude that we are confronted here with a mere diversion, an entertaining interlude to distract us as we take a break from the important business of (say) designing buildings and cities. But surely you remember that someone famous once said that architecture is best perceived in a state of distraction. And surely this peripheral vision of yesterday's

aper,u applies not only

f/dneur, but also to

to the

today's surfer,

riding the currents of the big city (or in the case of Quartzsite, the temporary town). Right? Well, yes and no, since the surfer and the

f/dneur are not exactly

analogous. For the

f/dneur,

distrac­

tion is everything. While for the surfer it is-in the extreme cir­ cumstances of which L. A.'s beaches might not be the best exam­ ple-death. Or to put it another way, the book you are holding in your hands is not about going with the flow. It is about a kind of resistance, the resistance of "reality" itself. Nor would the metaphor of "sampling" quite capture the extraordinarily productive strategy mapped out by this book. Since the temporary suspension of architecture's reality principle means that there is not necessarily a self-evident archive of pre-

Peripheral Vision

existent facts-objects, texts, techniques, etc.-to sample and remix. Instead, it might be better to think of

Blue Monday as what

its title pretty much says it is: a collection. But it is not exactly a collection of historical anecdotes, of entertaining little stories with no unifying theme. It is, I think, more like a record collec­ tion, the logic of which is hinted at by the cover song, released by New Order in 1983. And if this collection of little stories, little histories, is more like a collection of 12" singles and LPs both grand and obscure, Clarence the record collector holds the key to the whole project. I don't want to give everything away here at the beginning, but suffice it to say that Clarence has a thing for records of all kinds. He is so helpless when confronted with the fast-fading logic of vinyl (what Friedrich Kittler once described as the Real of all me­ dia technologies), that he more or less buries himself in it. Sum­ rell and Varnelis describe collections like Clarence's as aspiring to "an impossibly complete and perfect scale model of the world," a characterization that applies equally well to

Blue Monday. And

of course we are speaking here of both the song and the book­ for the perverse (though possibly apocryphal) history of the best-selling 12" single ever is that it lost money, due to the ambi­ tions of its graphic design to simulate a now-obsolete medium of simulation, the floppy disk. You can see where we are going here: from the piles of vinyl in Clarence's kitchen, to the vinyl of

" Blue Monday," to the faux-vinyl, magnetic "floppy" driving me­ dia technologies that were still new at the time that Joy Division morphed into New Order. In a sense all of these imprints are, precisely, recordings. As is

Blue Monday, a book that records their becoming-obsolete and in the process, their becoming all-consuming and all-powerful. But if you believe that what we have here is a kind of record collection, the question remains: records (or recordings) of what? This brings us back to the beginning, where we noted Varnelis and Sumrell's announcement of the end of fiction as recorded in the novel. Seen from this perspective, the little stories collected here are both real and imaginary at once. That is, they record objects and events that can still be called historical facts. But they do so in a way that puts their reality-value (as distinct from their truth-value) in doubt. In other words, the historical realities recorded here are made to seem imaginary, made up, like some kind of weird architectural project. Who, after all, could have designed the ridiculous urban and mass cultural logistics of a place like Quartzsite (if we can even call it a "place," an architectural term that seems as obsolete as vinylJ? In a similar vein, the believability of the story that records the adven­ tures of Mike the headless chicken rests not so much on the biolog­ ical oddity of its subject, but on the intimacy with which his owner identified with Mike according to the emotional protocols of the mass media. Call it an allegory of biopolitics, or the politics of life.

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There is a way, however, that the subject matter of AUDC's stories still seems to skirt around the subj ect matter named in the firm's uppercase acronym: Architecture and Urbanism. Or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe these stories are too close to architecture for us to recognize it. After all, reading them we find ourselves literally inside the wiring, or trapped in the elevator. And maybe the resolution is also too high, the focus too precise. Something like this is implied by the sheer beauty of the photographs. Who but architects would bother to photograph a tangle of wires in such a way as to seem to reveal its darkest urban secrets? More than merely forensic, like the jacket design of New Order's " Blue Monday," the many photographs illustrat­ ing

Blue Monday are artful, which is not the same thing as calling

them works of art since their job is not to solicit affect, but only its possibility. Just as the New Wave of New Order converted what the authors describe as the authentic emotions of Punk into a kind of scripted consumable, these photographs merely point toward an emotional involvement with their subject while also pointing toward the horizon of its impossibility. Consider, again, Quartzsite. It scarcely needs to be said that its presentation here owes much to the collections of rocks as­ sembled by the longtime rock collector Robert Smithson in his Site/Non-Site series. But if the artfulness of AU DC's photos seems to "clean up" the rough-and-ready matter-of-factness of

Smithson's documentary style or even (dare we say) to aestheti­ cize its anti-aesthetic, we should not be misled so easily. Re­ translated back into architecture, we might instead observe that Quartzsite, presented here as a temporary, pseudo-nomadic mar­ ket for very heavy, useless objects (stones), gives new meaning to the "strictly architectural" term "local stone." Hardly a thing that anchors this "city" to some metaphysically earthbound "place," lo­ cal stone is precisely the thing that circulates and, in an allegory of globalization, thereby puts this place-Quartzsite, Arizona­ on the map, in circulation. Both real and imaginary, then, the stories collected in

Monday are also, like

Blue

Quartzsite's rocks, strictly useless.

They will not tell you how to design a building or lay out a city. But they will help you understand what buildings and cities are, in reality. Yes, reality, as in reality TV, a phenomenon whose ac­ tuality is measured in the fantasies that it services, for real. For it seems these days that not enough architects watch enough TV or listen to enough music or read enough stories. Maybe they are too busy with the serious business of designing buildings and cities. Whatever the reason, their diligence in attending to the harsh "realities" of clients and construction seems, all too often, to leave precious little time to understand how these realities are manufactured. That job, it seems, is left for thinkers with time on their hands like AUDe. Which is another way of returning to

Peripheral Vision

where we began, for if this collection of little stories seems frivo­ lously to record the exchange of useless rocks and the perambu­ lations of undead chickens, it is because behind and between its episodes there is, in reality, a big story. Borrowing from others, Varnelis and Sumrell give this big sto­ ry big names like " Empire" or "late capitalism." Whether or not you accept the nuanced premises that come with these names, you have to admit that the state of affairs they point to is-dare we say it again-far more "real" than the real world of clients and construction. Or better, it is what makes those realities real in the first place. So architecture remains a protagonist in the big story written between the lines of

Blue Monday.

If Quartzsite, Arizona models the city-as-such as a collec­ tion of useless objects, a kind of rock collection, seemingly inert buildings like L. A.'s One Wilshire, modeled and photographed with loving care by AUDe, turn out to be very special rocks in­ deed. Like the Muzak that once played in elevators and office landscapes from L. A. to New York, One Wilshire is background. "Perhaps the worst building SaM ever designed" (according to the authors), we discover that it harbors the secrets of the in­ formation age, material evidence of our becoming-virtual. This is a crucial point and an important contribution that resonates throughout this book: there is nothing immaterial about virtu­ ality. Instead, virtuality is to be understood as another order

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of materiality, made of cables and connections routed through buildings like this one, but also through every building in both the background and foreground of our collective imagination. It is similarly bracing, in this age of Disney concert halls, to learn that the cliche of architecture as frozen music, recently renewed in downtown L. A., has in the latter part of the twen­ tieth century been accompanied by the "Stimulus Progression," or the aural management of psychic life materialized in Muzak. Again, these are real things, real theories, and real practices that confirm the importance, for architecture and urbanism, of what you don't quite see, or what you hear only in the background or see only at the periphery of your otherwise too-well-trained vi­ sion. So too is there something poignant in the realization that the dynamism of the elevator, once thought to be the very engine driving delirious New York, had already dissolved by mid-century into the anaesthetic haze of "elevator music." Poignant, not be­ cause it seems to capture in microcosm the postwar neutraliza­ tion of modern architecture's mechanical intensity, but because it signals another kind of intensity that architecture and urban­ ism have only barely begun to grasp. The intensity in question is that of the intensely banal. It is this intensity that drives the post-urban city, as systematically as the graph of carefully managed environmental stimuli that is the organizing (and organizational) logic of Muzak. AUDC's self-

Peripheral Vision

declared role models, the Italian group Archizoom, attempted to diagram their own version of the ruthlessly, relentlessly banal in "negative utopias" of the late 1960s like No -Stop-City. For Archizoom this intense banality was literally horizontal­ modulated networks stretching into seeming infinite expanses of what was, essentially, a combination of post-industrial labor and post-industrial leisure. But there was something a little too pure, a little too modern about Archizoom's vision of postmoder­ nity as a fluorescent-lit supermarket. Or so it seems when we are confronted with the careful randomness of AUDC's inventory. For it is, I think, not only that (as the authors suggest) Quartzsite, Arizona may be a (mobile) home for the Multitude. It is also that such places offer new sites for Architecture and Urbanism to re­ think their own histories. This kind of rethinking will involve, inevitably and necessarily, a rethinking of modernism's collective project, seemingly canned and packaged for distribution to indi­ vidual consumers on the imaginary shelves of Archizoom's imagi­ nary supermarket, with Muzak playing in the background. But if it is to be effective, such a rethinking must occur from within as much as from without-from within the discipline's center as much as from its peripheries. Or better yet, it must conjure a state of affairs in which center and periphery trade places or even cancel each other out.

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If you are already thinking "yes-after all, that's the logic of the network model that seems to lie behind all of AU DC's work," you may be right. But there remains the possibility that a truly peripheral vision would not merely replace one center with many centers, or with the dissolution of centrality as such. Nor, for that matter, would it merely replace the monumental verticality of the skyscraper with the horizontal banality of the supermar­ ket. What is hinted at here is, instead, a kind of revolution, where the circularity that defines real, imaginary objects and proc­ esses such as those collected in

Blue Monday, is understood as an

end in itself-a model of the world and a map of the battlefield. Think of it like this: the periphery is a product of the center, and Quartzsite is a product of the global city. So to go there is also to go here, to the elevator core of Empire's headquarters. What you will find in such places is not the eccentric, socio -technological or mass cultural residue of Architecture and Urbanism properly understood as the subject of university curricula and professional practices. No, what you will find is something like the operating system of the System itself. Go there with this book as your guide, and you'll see.

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INTRODUCTION

A U D C formed I n J anuary 2001 as a n Informal research u n i t at the Southern California I nstitute of Architecture where Robert S u m r e l l was a graduate student and Kazys Varnells was teac h i n g and r u n n i n g the Program In Histo­ ry and Theory of Architecture and Cities In the polar w i lderness of conte m ­ porary life, l i ke l e m m i ngs, w e were driven b y a s i n g l e com p ulsion, t o under­ stand the predicament of the i nd i v i d u a l through architecture We found o u r t i m e w o r k i n g together, I n s t u d i o as w e l l a s I n courses w e taught, I m m ensely productive and-with Robert's graduation upon us-created AUDC to c o n t i n ­ ue o u r collaboration T h e s e w e r e the last, h e a d y days of the C l i nton a d m i nis­ trat i o n - I t was hard to I m a g i n e that Bush could conceivably do any harm-a d e l i rious period of optimism, perhaps the last time that America will ever be that opti m i st i c again Our naive first thought was that we would compete w i t h Rem Koolhaas's A M O, operat i n g as a consultancy or desi gn practice We c a l l e d ourselves Architecture U r b a n i s m Design Colla borative IAUDC], a name we Intended to have as few connotations as possible ' I n d O i n g thiS, we sought to use A U D C as a n ' I d e o l o g i c a l tool to enter territories w h e r e architecture h a s n e v e r e n ­ tered" to appropriate Koolhaas's o w n description o f A M O ' like A M O , w e were encouraged by the l i m itless b o u n d s achieved b y the dot-com I ndustry Surely we could do as w e l l But the h a n d w r i t i n g was on the wall Pets com had al ready collapsed, NASDAQ was on ItS way down from ItS a i l - t i m e h i g h , 1 To come clean about our name, w e should explain that w e spent a n inordinate amount of time looking at names of rock bands We decided that the most perfect name was AC!DC, but since that was already taken, we merely turned the second letter go degrees counterclockwise and removed the decorative slash This was our first and last formal move 2

See Samira Chandwani, 'Koolhaas Speaks on Global Style: The Cornell Daily Sun, April 26, 2005, httpUwww cornellsun com/vnews/displan!A RTho05/04h 6!t.26ddebcc1992

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and A M O 's web site for Prada re m a i n e d shuttered W i t h i n months, the dot­ com b u b ble b u rst A half-year later, the

g/ll attacks

l a i d low o u r rema i n i n g

o p t i m i s m about t h e poss i b i lity o f such a consultancy So what to dol We q U i c k l y dropped the get-ri c h - q u i c k scheme of e m u ­ l a t i n g A M O We kept l i t t l e from that post-critical t i m e, save for t h e Idea that m e a n i n g less acronyms were best Given that architecture today IS genera l l y t h o u g h t o f a s I ncapable o f representation, w e felt It appropriate that our name s h o u l d also reflect t h i s cond i t i o n and c o m m u n icate not h i n g Hence, today A U D C means only A U D C B e i n g an archaic remnant o f the craft era, architecture IS b y necessIty slow So even as the dot-com boom I m ploded, architecture wound up I n ­ fected b y ItS worst I m pulses Buoyed b y profligate eco n o m i c p o l i c i es I n ­ tended t o prop up t h e teetering global economy, t h e most affluent genera­ tion In history, the Boomers ( , n E u rope, the 6 8 'ers l , turned ItS m i ghty I n vest­ ment power from stocks to b U i ldi ngs, thereby feed i n g a frenzy of construc­ tion that would be greatly accelerated by Insane l e n d i n g p o l i c i e s such as t h e five year Interest-only adjusta b l e rate mortgage Leveraged beyond b e l i e f, ar­ chitecture Itself became less and less real u n t i l It f i n a l ly became as s p e c u l a ­ t i v e as a n Investment I n dog s o c k p u p pets d u r i n g l a t e 2000 F o r a generation of architects, this means that the crucial gestational period as they develop their practices IS now a last-ditch rush toward whatever they can pass off as "new" new materials, new forms, new practices, new eyeglasses, new shoes " M ake It new" has become a mantra a g a i n , some seventy years after Ezra Pound first put the Idea to p a p e r, only t h i s generation forgets that Pound ever said It a n d seems c o m p u lsively u n a b l e to make anyt h i n g new H a v i n g learned o u r lesson once w i t h the dot-com era and, watc h i n g In amazement as architecture Increasingly became Irreal, we could only seek ways out a n d turned to m a p p i n g o u r cond i t i o n We devised a practice that would not produce b U i ldi ngs-after a l l , who needs any more of them I-but

feality - Introducton

rather would undertake speculative research to reveal the contemporary con­ d i t i o n To be sure, AUDC never set out to make b U i ld i n gs Even I n o u r brief gUise as a consultancy, our mission statement was and re m a i n s to t h i s day, 'AU D C constructs realities not obJ ects " But n e i t h e r d i d we Intend to re p l i ­ cate t h e solipsistic 'critical architecture" o f t h e 1 98 0s a n d ' 9 90S, those e m p ­ t y s q u i g g l e s accompanied b y even more e m pty words For I n o u r eyes, t h e bi ggest legacy o f critical architecture was t o pave t h e way for t h e leverag­ I n g of architecture today It IS no accident that the architects associated with that t i m e are now a m o n g our most successfull For as J ean Baudri l l a rd has taught us, the fragmentation of the s i g n IS one with the logiC of c o n ­ temporary c a p i t a l Freeing b U i l d i n gs o f t h e i r u s e va l u e and of any pretense to m e a n l n g-a task deconstructlvlsm began and supermodernlsm complet­ ed-allows them to float freely, eXist i n g I n the realm of exchange value on ly, an Ideal pretext for a b U i l d i n g boom based on l i t t l e more than fantasy 4 Af­ ter a l l , only w h e n m e a n i n g a n d respons i b i lity had b e e n thoroughly evacuated from architecture could D a n l e i li beskind seriously propose a l,l76 foot t a l l replacement f o r the World Trade C e n t e r towers I nstead, then, we set out to use the tools of architecture and research to pry open e n t ryways Into new territories More than a n y t h i n g , we thought, we could bUild on the unique ways of t h i n k i n g I n herent I n architecture as a form of speculative research For models, we turned to the arch itettura radicale of Archlzoom and Superstudlo These groups I ntervened at a mo­ ment structurally p a r a l l e l to o u r own J ust as our time comes at t h e e n d of post-Fordlsm and at the dawn of a new period of economic criSIS, envlron-

3 Anthony Vidler observes the late boom in deconstructivist architecture in 'Deconstruction Boom Anthony Vidler On Oeconstructivist Architecture In 2003: ArtForum, December 2003, 33 4 Jean Baudrillard, For A Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign iSt Louis Telos Press, 1981), 156 See also Hal Foster, Recodings (Seattle Bay Press, 1985), 6 On supermodern ism, see Hans Ibelings, Supermodern ism (Rotterdam NAi, Publishers, 1998)

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mental collapse, a n d global antagonism to t h e U nited States, the late 1 960s were the last years of Fordlsm, with the Vietnam war s t i l i a thorn-not yet a spear-In the US's side a n d the O P E C energy criSIS st i l i to come T h e n , l i ke today, many of the l e a d i n g practitioners I n architecture and design were fa­ tally e n t h ra l l e d by the poss i b i lity of form as a generator of affect, of b e i n g a b l e t o a p p e a l t o a broader p u b l i c b y wea r i n g the m a n t l e o f h i p cons u m e r­ Ism 5 Arch itettura radicale stood agai nst t h i s p o s i t i o n w h i l e offe r i n g a way of practi c i n g that went beyond e i t h e r ' g o i n g w i t h the flow' o r a d o p t i n g t h e em pty postures o f a c a d e m i c s I nstead, arch itettura radicale was fo u n d ed on the p r i n c i p l e of s u p e rarc h ltecture, ' t h e architecture of s u p e rproduc­ tlon, of superco n s u m p t l o n, of s u p e r l n d uc e m e n t to c o n s u m p t i on, of the s u ­ perma rket, o f S u p e r m a n, o f s u p e r- h l g h -test gasol i n e " I n t h e words o f A n ­ drea BranZl, t h e founder o f Archlzoom, ' S u p e rarchltecture accepts the l o g i C o f prod u c t i o n a n d consu m pt i o n and makes a n effort t o demystify It " T h i s Integration o f production and c o n s u m p t i o n I nto a c r i t i q ue o f t h e s a m e sys­ tem, the p u r s u i t not of resistance or autonomy b u t rather of exacerbation and overload was arch itettura radica le's s e m i n a l I n novation, d e p l oyed re­ peatedly In s u b s e q u e n t projects such as the C o n t i n u o u s M o n u m e n t or N o ­ Stop-City F o r Archlzoom and S u p e rs t u d l o architecture IS a n act o f analysIs, not merely a project of formal d e l i r i u m o r self- l e g i t i m ati n g theory 6 T h i S was a t i m e of I m mense opportunity for the 6 8 e rs, b u t I t was also a period of closure for architecture Fatally associated with Fordlst big b U S I ­ n e s s and b i g government, m o d e r n i s m acco m p a n i e d them I n t h e i r collapse Coupled with thiS, leftist critiques of p l a n n i n g and technology, most nota5 Andrea Branzi, The Hot House (Cambridge The MIT Press, 1984), 49-55 On hip consumerism, see Thomas Frank, The Conquest of Cool. Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism (Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1997) 6 Quoted in Branzi, The Hot House, 54

feality - Introducton

bly Manfredo Tafurl's pronouncement that architecture was dead, took the w i n d out of the s a l l s of new practices BranZi understood t h i s moment, how­ ever not as p u nctual and f i n a l , b u t as a t i m e of renewal In a later Interview, he recalls "all the most vital aspects of modern c u l t u re run directly toward that vOid, to regenerate themselves I n another di mension, to free themselves of their disc i p l i n a ry chains W h e n I look at a canvas by M a r k Rothko, I see a picture disso l v i n g Into a s i n g l e color When I read J oyce's U lysses, I see Writ­ Ing d i s a p p e a r i n g I nto thought When I listen to J ohn Cage, I hear m usIc dissI ­ p a t i n g I nto nOise A l l that IS part of me But architecture has never confront­ ed the theme of m a n a g i n g ItS own death w h i l e s t i l i remai n i n g a l i ve, as all the other twentieth-century disci p l i nes have T h i s IS why It has lagged b e h i n d " like Archlzoom, AUDC's i nvestigations have a l ways been at t h i s vital p e r i p h ­ ery o f architecture, a t the moments w h e n , exacerbated t o brea k i n g p O i n t , It may cease to be 7 D U r i n g a t i m e of "post-Criticism: and " g o i n g with the flow: t h i s f l i rta­ tion with architecture's a n n i h i lation may seem thoroughly unacceptable But as Freud pOints out, the drive of each organism IS towards s t i l l ness and u l t i ­ mately death A s organisms c o m e t o b e i n g from a p l e n u m o f I n a n i mate mat­ ter, he hypothesIZes, they possess a drive to return to this u n d i fferentiated state, the death drive or pleasure p r i n c i p l e If, however, the organism experi ­ ences "the I n f l u x of fresh a m o u nts of s t i m u l us" through a traumatic m o m e n t s u c h as a u n i o n w i t h another, It can be Irritated e n o u g h to go on l i v i n g or, If the st i m u lus IS strong e n o u g h , reproduce In architecture's m o r b i d fear of re­ flection and criticism and I n ItS over-Identification with a post-Fordlst c u l t u re now n e a r i n g collapse u n d e r threat from a new networked society, we sense a m o m e nt as dangerous-and as pregnant-for architecture as that of the Andrea Branzi interviewed in Fran�ois Burkhardt and Cristina Morozzi, Andrea Branzi (Paris Editions Dis Voir, 1997), 49-50 For a sustained analysis of Archizoom, see also Kazys Varnelis, 'Programming after Program Archizoom's No Stop City: Praxis 8, Spring 2006, 82-90 7

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late 1 960s and early 1 970S I n t h i s S p i rit, then, we give t h i s project as a gift to architecture, a c h a l l e nge and a sti m u l us to a field that urgently needs to refresh Itself

8

T h i S IS not to say that we do not find I n f l uences I n o u r own t i m e O n the cont rary, we draw great I n s p i ration from the w o r k of y o u n g groups l i ke Anarchltektur I n Berlin, Valdas OZarinskas and Aida �eponyte I n V i l n i us, or LewIs Tsurumakl LewIs a n d Baxi

/

M a r t i n I n N e w York a s w e l l a s by

two Los Angeles Institutions the M useum of J urassIc Technology and the Center for Land Use I nterpretation Together, these collectives demonstrat­ ed to us t h e c o n t i n u e d value of work i n g collaboratlvely and the poss i b i l i t i e s f o r speculative forms o f research I n particu lar, the latter t w o Institutions made It possible for us to think of the territory previously called art as fertile ground, recently e m p t i e d by a d i e t of bankrupt formalism and specIous pseu­ do-critique (would you prefer a dissected shark In formaldehyde or a crucifix I n a vat of u r i n e today, Si r/) O n the su rface, both the M useum of J urassIc Technology and the Center for Land Use I nterpretation could be considered art practices They receive f u n d i n g from sources trad i t i o n a l l y associated with g i v i n g to the arts such as the L E F Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the Lannan Foundation I nd i v i d u a l s work i n g at these Institutions often, a l ­ t h o u g h not always, have been educated I n t h e arts such a s photography o r c i n e m a Art critiCS frequently praise t h e work of both a n d m u s e u m c u rators have I ncl uded the M useum and the Center In shows And yet, n e i t h e r orga­ nIZation c l a i m s status as an art practice I nstead, both are organIZed around curatorial practices The M useum IS a cabl net-of-curlos,t,es-I,ke collection, a

S

Sigmund Freud, trans James Strachey, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, (New York live right Pub Corp , 1961), 52 For a lengthier discussion of the pleasure principle, especially with regard to Giorgio Agamben's theories of form and content, see also Kazys Varnelis, 'Prada and the Pleasure Principle,· Log 6, September 2005

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c o m p i lation that, accord i n g to Its m ission statement IS 'a speCIalIZed repos­ Itory of relics and artifacts from the Lower J urassIc, with an e m p hasIs o n those that d e monstrate unusual or CUriOUS technological q u a l i t i e s " These range from a show of artworks executed on the head of pins to a n e x h i b It on a bat t h a t can f l y t h r o u g h l e a d b y v i b r a t i n g from the extreme ultravIo­ let Into the X-Ray range to a collection of collections from Los Angeles mo­ bile home parks T h roughout, a nagging uncertainty about what IS real and what IS fake haunts the VISitor For ItS part, accord i n g to ItS mission state­ ment, the Center for Land Use I nterpretation IS devoted to 'exp l o r i n g , ex­ a m i n i n g , and understa n d i n g land and landscape Issues The Center e m p loys a variety of methods to p u rsue ItS m i ss i o n - e n gag i n g In research, classifi­ cation, extrapolation, and e x h i b i t i o n " Recent e x h i b i t s have explored the re­ m a i n s of s u b m e rged towns In America, l i ve footage of l i vestock, and sOil I n t h e margins of Los Angeles

9

Curatlon reflects a d o m i n a n t condition of network c u l t u re as the pro­ cesses of g l o b a l IZation, urbanIZation ( and dis-urbanIZation ) and the hege­ m o n l Z a t l o n of the world under late capital have closed the last frontiers and, consequently, the new IS played out, novelty IS now created through aggre­ gation and c o m m entary D i gital technology aids greatly I n thiS, m a k i n g remix­ Ing part of everyday life for many I n d i viduals Lev Manovlch observes that

9 In the interest of historical accuracy, we should note that Kazys Varnelis undertook a five year long research project for the Center for Land Use Interpretation on the Owens River Valley and our work on Ether took form first as an exhibit on One Wilshire by Varnelis at the Center in 2002. Moreover, Steve Rowell, who helped us on occasion as a friendly interloper, is one of the directors of CLUI. On the Museum of Jurassic Technology see The Museum of Jurassic Technology (Primi Decem Anni, Jubilee Catalogue) (West Covina, Ca Trustees of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Information, 2001) and Lawrence Wechsler, Mr. Wilson's Cabinet Of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology (New York Pantheon, 1995) The Center's work has been gathered in Matt Coolidge and Sarah Simons, Overlook: Exploring the Internal Fringes of America with the Center for Land Use Interpretation (New York MetropoliS Books, 2006) and the best critical text thus far is Sarah Kanouse, 'Touring the Archive, Archiving the Tour Image, Text and Experience with the Center for Land Use Interpretation: Art JournaL Summer 2005, 78-87

28

the "emergence of m u l t i p l e and Interli nked paths w h i c h encourage media o b ­ Jects t o easily travel between web sites, record i n g and display deVices, hard drives, and people changes t h i n gs R e m , xa b , l ,ty becomes practically a b U i lt-In feature of the d i gital networked media u n i verse In a n u t s h e l l , what may be more I m portant than the i ntroduction of a video IPod, a cons u m e r HD cam­ era, F l lCkr, or yet another eXiting new deVice or service IS how easy It IS for media objects to travel between a l l these deVices and services-which now a l l become J ust tem porary stations I n media's Brow n i a n motlon " w Bit p l ayers I n t h i s c u l t u re of curatlon a n d aggregation, w e assembled a group of p e c u l i a r and compel l i n g conditions and turned to i nvestigating them To be sure, we could have s i m p ly documented these conditions, but we chose not to do that I nstead we draw the reader's attention to a recent statement by Bruno Latour '' ' T h i n gs' are controversial asse m b lages of e n t a n ­ gled Issues, and n o t s i m p ly objects s i t t i n g a p a r t f r o m our p o l i t i c a l passions The e n t a n g l e m ents of t h i n gs and p o l i t i c s engage actiVists, artists, p o l i t i c i ans, and I n t e l l ectuals To asse m b l e t h i s p a r l i a m e nt, rhetoric IS not e n o u g h and nor IS eloquence, It requires the use of all the technologies-espeCIally Informa­ tion technology-and the pOSS i b i lity for the arts to re-present anew what are the common stakes " " In that Spirit, we felt o b l i ged to respond with a l l the tools ava i l a b l e t o u s draWings, models, n e w m e d i a , p h otograp hy, histori­ cal research, a n d new media In so dOing so, we affirm t h e value of architec­ ture as a way of k n O W i n g and a means of research To be cl ear, It IS not ar­ c h i tecture's task to e x p l a i n these conditions through Interventions We do not seek a return to a semiotics of b U i l d i n g J ust as the set IS essential to any f i l m , however, It IS pOSSible to use architecture-models and drawlngs­ as part of a process of speculative research 1 0 Lev Manovich, 'Remix and Remixability: Rhizome-Rare Mailing list http!!rh izome o rQ!thread rhiz7thread =19303&pa2e =1 11 Bruno Latour, htto!!rhizomeorQ!printlh608z

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So too, we have let the different sites for our work-articles, p u b l i c i n ­ stallations a n d e x h i b i ts, l e c t u res, videos and the Web I m pact the way we work Of these, the Web merits p a r t i c u l a r m e n t i o n for It has not just been a site to dep loy our work on, It has been a venue to work I n I n 2004, we d e ­ p l oyed W , k , software on o u r site t o a l l o w us t o w o r k collaboratlvely o n - l i n e I nvented b y Ward C u n n i n gham I n ' 9 95, a W l k I W l k,Web, or W l k l , for short, IS a c o m m u n a l , hypertext repository of knowledge on the web ' W l k l wlk( means fast In H a w a I I a n E m p l o Y i n g a s i m p l ified subset of H T M L and markup w i t h i n the web browser Itself, a w,k, page I S much faster to develop than most web pages M o reover, w , k , s are editable by m u l t i p l e I n d i vi d u a l s and generally actively encourage anyone who VISitS t h e m to contribute C u n n i n g ­ ham's p roject, t h e Portland Pattern Repository, I n s p i red b y architect Christo­ pher Alexander's Idea of a pattern language for desi g n i n g b U i ld i n gs and Cit­ Ies, gathered Information on design patterns, recurring solutions to problems I n object-oriented design progra m m i n g T h e most w e l l - k nown w,k, IS W l k l p e ­ d,a o r g , perhaps the largest collaborative w o r k I n h u m a n h i story, consisting of more than 3,3 8 0 , 0 0 0 articles, I n c l u d i n g more t h a n 9 8 5 , 0 0 0 In the E n g l lsh­ language version (as a n exa m p l e of network c u l t ure, It bears m e n t i o n i n g that W,k,ped,a editorial polICY IS f i r m l y against any Idea of creating new under­ sta n d i n g or creating definitive positions, but I nstead c l i n gs f i r m ly to the I d e ­ al o f a 'neutral pOint o f view" f o r a l l articles) U S i n g M e d l a w l k l software, the same software that runs the W l k l pedla, a l be i t heavily modified for o u r p u r­ poses w i t h support from t h e I nstitute for M ulti media literacy a n d the A n ­ nenberg Center for Com m u n ication, w e wrote the b u l k o f these texts o n l i n e W e I n it i a l ly hoped t o o p e n u p the w , k , s o t h a t others, even unknown others, could contrib ute, but even t h o u g h we gave access to I t to a n u m ber of i nd i v i d uals, we found that they didn't contribute (the s u m total of t h ree months of I np u t was one period mark added to a sentence) and that u n l i ke W l k l pedla, o u r own project thrived on a distinct pOl nt-of-vlew that was

JO

e m e r g i n g out of o u r collaboration The virtue of the w , k , as a collaborative tool remains, however, as It I S a useful means of b re a k i n g down the Idea of sole authorship, w h i c h IS i ncreasingly a n artifact of the past We are m u c h more I n terested I n the hybrid, subjectless process of w r i t i n g t h a t emerges through the w,k, More and more texts-vi rtually a l l sCientific and e n g i neer­ I n g p a p e rs, as well as many of the great recent works In the h u ma n i t i es such as A Thousand Plateaus or Empi re-are written by entities that are great­ er than the sum of t h e i r authors M o reover, w , k , s I nh e rently tend toward n o n - l i n e a r navigational structures, s o m e t h i n g we took advantage of In cre­ ating a navigational structure for the site But we also found that narratives are a t i m e -tested method of tel l i n g stories that people naturally gravitate to To t h i s end, the last three months of w r i t i n g took place on Wrltely com, a Web-based word processor that allows real-time, networked collaboration on more traditional documents As we looked at t h e various conditions we encountered, we realIZed that they were I l l ustrative of broader themes In contemporary c u l t ure a dissipa­ tion of the subject, the proliferation of object c u l t u re, the rise of the d i gital, the Dadaist nature of the contemporary economy, a n d the fictionalIZation of the world But as K e l l e r Easterl i n g pOints out, t h i s IS dangerous territory Ar­ chitecture has a fatal attraction to monist explanations T h e master narra­ tives of Deleuze and Cuattarl's Thousand Plateaus and Hardt and N e g r i 's Empire are as a p p ea l i n g to architects as the relentless geometry of screen­ based a n i mation programs B U i l d e rs by nature, architects tend to weave t h e ­ o r i e s together I n t o I m p ro b a b l e g r a n d narratives As I n t h e autonomy theory of the early ' 970s, theory, In t h i s gUise, IS generally a means of self- l e g i t i m a ­ t i o n , a n elaborate affirmation o f whatever form IS b e i n g extruded t h a t day "

1 2 Keller Easterling, Enduring Innocence. Global Architecture and its Political Masquerades (Cambridge The MIT Press, 2005), 8-10

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Easterling's warn i n g caution IS needed, but t h e n how to negotiate the territory of contemporary p h i losophy? We are certainly attracted to Deleuze and Guattarl's organIZational logics and Hardt and N e g r i 's tales of E m p i re as well as to B a u d r i l l a rd's theories of totalIZed cons u m pt i o n of the s i g n and the system of objects, Zlzek's fictionalIZation of the real, and j ameson's d i ssec­ tion of late c a p i t a l i s m These are fascinating explanatory frameworks, but, scandalously, they don't add u p To weave a coherent whole out of them would be sheer madness So how to proceed? D U r i n g our research Into the evolution of art, SCience, and p h i losophy we found that these fields were once m u c h more I n t i mately related than they had been In the last century PrIOr to the E n l i ghtenment and the deve l o p ­ m e n t o f the sCientific method, sCience was d o m i nated b y natural p h i l osophy, a method of studYing nature and the physical universe t h ro u g h observation rather than through experimentation Virtually a l l contemporary forms of SCI ­ ence developed out of natural p h i l osop hy, b u t u n l ike more modern sCientists, natural p h i l osophers l i ke G a i l l e o felt no need to test t h e i r Ideas In a practical way On the contra ry, they derived p h i losophical conclusions from I n d i v i d u al observations o f t h e world Taken together, these d i d n ' t necessarily a d d up But the lack of metanarratlve for natural p h i l osophy IS not a n obstacle for us, Instead It IS a strength, encoura g i n g further i nvestigation I nstead of sati­ a t i n g desire Natural p h i losophy flourished from the twelfth to the seventeenth c e n ­ t U r i e s and w i t h It d i d "cabinets of CUriosities: s o m e t i m e s e n t i r e rooms, somet i m e s q U i te l i terally ela borate cabi nets, f i l l e d w i t h strange and won­ drous t h i n gs These first m u s e u m s collected see m i n gly disparate objects of fasci nation I n a specific architectural setting, assi g n i n g to each Item a place I n a larger network of meaning created by the room as a whole In the cab­ Inet each object would be a macrocosm of the larger world, I l l ustrating the wonder of ItS divine artifice Together however, t h e i r aff i n i t i e s would become

32

apparent and a syncretic vIsion of the u n ity of a l l t h i n g s would emerge, as the words Athanaslus K i rc h e r Inscribed on the cei l i n g of h i s m us e u m s u g ­ gested 'Whosoever perceives the c h a i n that b i nds the world b e l o w to the world above will know the mysteries of nature and achieve m i racles " For the natural p h i l os o p h e r, the c a b i net of CUriosities possessed a reflexive q u a l ity It was both a n exhibition and a source of wonder, a system t h e natural p h i los­ opher b U i l t to Instruct others but also to coax h i mself Into further t h o u g h t '3 like o u r Web site ( h ttp//www audc org) or a n A U D C Installation, t h i s b o o k IS a cabi net o f CUriOsities, consisting of a series of conditions that AUDC observes I n order to speculate on them I n the m a n n e r of natural p h i ­ losophy, extrapolating not theories t o a p p ly t o architecture b u t rather p h i ­ losophies t o e x p l a i n t h e world T h e result IS neither t h e relativist p l u ra l i sm nor a s i n g l e monist p h i l osophy, but rather a set of m u l t i p l e p h i losophies that a l m ost add up, b u t being sltuatlonally derived, don't qUite What follows then, IS a book of non-fiction fables, c o l l e c t i n g three sto­ ries-Ether, the Sti m u l us Progression, and Swarm I nt e l l i gence-that touch on o u r dally l i ves a l o n g with t h ree brief Interludes-My Dear B e r l i n Wall, Vol u n ­ tary Slavery, a n d M i ke-to I l l ustrate t h e ways that p e o p l e relate t o each oth­ er and to the world around t h e m The three Interludes are hopeless causes, each a story of damaged love for an object a Swedish woman's marriage to the Berlin Wall, a collector's obsessive deSire for hiS records, and a farm ­ er's devotion to a headless c h i cken T h e three l o n g e r stories explore O n e W i l s h i re, the place where t h e Internet becomes phYSical w h i l e w e become media, M uzak, the soundtrack to dally life as well as an I n v I s i b l e reshaper of Cities, and Quartzsite, ArIZona, an I nstant city based o n the exchange of

1 3 Patrick Mauries, Cabinets of Curiosities (New York Thames and Hudson, 2002), 25-26 Some further sources on cabinets of curiosities are Lorraine Daston and Katherine Park, Wonders and the Order of Nature (Cambridge The MIT Press, 1998) and Giorgio Agamben, 'The Cabinet of Wonder" in The Man Without Content (Stanford Stanford University Press, 1999), 28-39

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rocks These three are I n t i mately connected to architecture yet rem a i n out­ side of It-a banal office b U i ld i n g , a kitschy soundtrack, a brutally anti-aes­ thetic patch of desert filled with motorhomes Architecture IS u n necessary to t h e m and to make standard architectural responses In t h e m would be a b ­ surd B u t that IS precisely what draws u s these stories-each o n e IS a self­ sufficient utopia that threatens to take over the world U S i n g research a n d speculation, w e s e e k the organIZational l o g i c s t h a t motivate t h e m , a s w e l l as the dlsorganlZatlonal factors that doom t h e m Their total conditions-the Vir­ tual world of the I nternet, the a i l - pervasive nature of M uzak, and the threat of e p h e m e ra l i ty and arbitrariness that Quartzsite levels at the contemporary city-exemplify the outcropplngs of E m p i re that re m a i n h i d d e n In p l a i n s i g h t A l t h o u g h - w i t h the exception of the I n t e r l u d e on the B e r l i n Wall-these con­ d i t i o n s are found I n the U nited States, we c l a i m no priority for that save for Antonio Negri and M ichael Hardt's suggestion that If E m p i re had a d o m i n a n t country, It would be t h e U nited States '4 T h e r e IS not h i n g particularly A m e r i ­ c a n about o u r stories, to the contrary, t h e y a l l h a v e global I m p lications But we don't set out to J ustify o u r paroc h i a l ism, rather we beg the reader to ex­ cuse us We found most of the objects of study I n B l u e Monday near Los Angeles, o u r first base Now that A U D C has moved to the Northeastern sea­ board and spawned the AUDC Network Architecture Laboratory at Col u m ­ b i a U n i versity's Graduate School o f Architecture, Preservation, a n d P l a n n i n g, o u r focus w i l l shift accordi ngly T h i s book, then, marks the c o m p l e t i o n of the first phase of A U D Cs work In the end, our hope for t h i s book IS that It w i l l arouse In our readers t h e s a m e sense o f wonder and amazement t h a t h a s c o m p e l l e d us on o u r own l e m m i n g - l i ke quest to i nvestigate these s u bjects, thereby encoura g i n g t h e m to consider f u r t h e r t h e w o r l d of E m p i re

1 4 Antonio Hardt and Michael Negri, Empire (Boston Harvard University Press, 2000), xiii-xiv

34

ETHER: One Wi lshire

I f the B e r l i n Wall symbolIZed the d i v I s i o n of t h e world by the superpowers d U r i n g the Cold War, the Bomb guaranteed that d i v I s i o n By p r o m i s i n g mas­ sive n u c l e a r retaliation If the Soviet U n i o n were to Invade E u rope, the U n ited States e n s u red that the continent and world re mai ned divided Beyond Its brute firepower, the Bomb possessed the s i n g u l a r a b i l ity to erase a n enemy While b u r n i n g had been a c o m m o n means of disposi n g of h u m a n s since prehistory, va p o r I Z i n g t h e m so that noth i n g would be left b e ­ h i n d was u n precedented A t H i roshima, f o r the first t i m e , p e o p l e were trans­ formed Into pure ene rgy, leav i n g b e h i n d only an occasional shadow record i n g the force o f t h e blast After the B o m b , matter's permanence w o u l d no l o n ­ g e r be assured The Bomb spawned ItS own hysterical logic of acc u m u lation and V i r t u ­ ality N uclear weapons b e c a m e e v e r b i gger and e v e r m o r e n u m e rous I n or­ der to assure not J ust destruction, but complete overk i l l Ove r k i l l evolved I nto M ut u a l ly Assured Destruction ( M A D ) , a guarantee that the s u r p l u s of n u c l e ­ ar exchange w o u l d thoroughly destroy b o t h s i d e s B y the ' 97os, It was r u ­ mored t h a t the Soviet U ni o n h a d dep loyed a cobalt-salted b o m b I n E a s t Ber­ l i n , a doomsday weapon whose location was purely sym b o l i C as ItS Intense radioactivity would have e x t i n g u ished life on Earth I f detonated In contrast, American sCientists developed the neutron bomb, an e n h a nced radiation d e ­ v i c e t h a t w o u l d produce massive short-term radioactivity w h i l e m i ni m IZ i n g blast damage a n d fallout, preserving more objects w h i l e k i l l i n g more people T h e massive b U i l d u p of the Bomb, easily the most expensive underta k i n g I n h u m a n history, was a proliferation o f objects precisely at the t i m e w h e n they were beco m i n g obsolete I n the Virtual world, the Cold W a r became hot over and over a g a i n through software games In t h e computers both sides developed to wage s i m u lations of nuclear battles In the c o m p u t e r, the d e ­ structive potential o f the warheads w o u l d be endlessly tested, adjusted, a n d retested M i l i taries c a m e t o rely on t h e results o f these tests a s not J ust

Abstract.,n - Ether, One Wilshire

"scenario p l a ns" but as victories a n d defeats themselves I n O rw e l l i a n fash­ Ion, however, defeat was victory a n n i h i lation I n the computer gave generals grounds to argue for further weapons development P l a u s i b l e truths regard­ Ing the strength of the enemy became more v a l u a b l e than actual f i g u res Thus, both the " B o m b e r Cap' and the " M Issile C a p " were convenient fictions, agreed upon by the Soviet and American m i l itary to make the former appear more threate n i n g and to help the latter gain support for more weaponry ' T h e Cold War e n s u red the shift from the material world to the virtual Even t h o u g h the Soviet Union o u t p roduced It I n the end, the U nited States won because It u n d e rstood that the nature of production changed from physical objects to a virtual system of networks If the dawn of t h e bour­ geoIs era IS marked by the deve l o p m e n t of the metropolis and the prolifer­ ation of objects, our own period begins With the emergence of the postur­ ban realm a n d the eco n o m i c d o m i nance of I m material production Today the physical IS secondary to systems of computation a n d c o m m u nication U n d e r t h reat of t h e Bomb, the concentrated, vertical city of congestion gave way to the d i s p e rsed, hOrIZontal decongested field D U r i n g the Second World War, the A l l i e d air offensive ground the NaZI war mach i ne to a halt by h i t t i n g concentrated centers of production U nderstanding that the U n it­ ed States was v u l nera b l e to s i m i l a r attack, after the first Soviet ato m i c b o m b test I n ' 9 49 and t h e e n t r y o f t h e U nited States I n t o the Korean W a r I n ' 9 50, defense ana lysts at the National Security Resources Board began to advo­ cate the dispersal of new I n d ustries By removing I n d ustry, and later m a n ­ agement, from the Ci ty, p l a n ners h o p e d t h a t target z o n e s would be m i n i ­ mIZed T h e nation, I n t h e i r words, would be " p rotected I n space " U r b a n i ty as the product of concentrated structures and physical connections was re­ placed by an urbanity constituted through a system of d i s p e rsed virtual l i nks 1 On the Cold War, see Martin Wal ker, The Cold War. A History (New York Henry Holt and Comp:my, 19941

so

A NETWORKED SOCIETY To facilitate t h i s u r b a n dispersal, President D W i g h t D Eisenhower spear­ headed the Federal-Aid H i ghway Act of 1 956 to ensure the construction of the world's first transcontinental h i ghway system Eisenhower was alarmed by the congested nature of eXist i n g roads and felt that they were a hazard, w i t h 'appal l i n g i nadequacies to meet t h e d e m a n d s of catastrophe or de­ fense, should a n atomic war come " After the Act, h i ghway deSigners would studiously avoid city centers or other areas that could be targets of n u c l e ar attack ' I n proposing the Act t o Congress, Eisenhower a r g u e d t h a t I t was Ame rica's destiny to be a networked society

Our unity as a nation IS sustained by free communication of thought and by easy transportation of people and goods The ceaseless flow of Information throughout the republic IS matched by Individual and commercial movement over a vast system of Interconnected highways crisscrossing the country and JOining at our national borders with friendly neighbors to the north and south Together, the united forces of our communication and transportation systems are dynamiC elements In the very name we bear-United States Without them, we would be a mere alliance of many separate parts 3

Cal l i n g for 4' , 0 0 0 m i les of h i ghway to be constructed across the U n ited States In order to I nterconnect all of ItS major cities and I n d ustrial areas and to establish better l i nks with strategic pOints In Canada and MeXICO, the Act would be the largest b U i l d i n g p roject ever undertaken and would assure the transformation of the U n ited States to a d i s p e rsed post urban field

2

Peter Galison, 'War Against the Cmter: Grey Room 04, Summe- 2001, 6-33

3 Dwight D EiSEnhower, in Fred L Israel and J F Watts, eds , Presidential Documents: The Speeches, Proclamations and Policies That Have Shaped the Nation from Washington to Clinton (New York Routledge, 2000), 2g8-300

Abstract.,n - Ether, One Wilshire

C o n c e n t r a t e d c o r e s d o m i n a t e d n ot o n l y t h e p hy s i c a l b u t a l s o t h e te l e ­ c o m m u n i c a t i o n a l re a l m . D i s p e r s a l o f t h e l a t t e r w o u l d p r ove m o re d i ffi c u l t . F r o m t h e sta r t of t h e B e l l syste m i n t h e l a te n i n e te e n t h c e n t u ry, i n d i v i d u a l te l e p h o n e s h av e b e e n c o n n e c t e d t o e xc h a n g e s a t a n e i g h b o r h o o d " C o m ­ p a ny O ffi ce " ( to t h i s d ay, t h e d i sta n c e fro m t h e Co m p a ny O ffice d e te r m i n e s t h e m a x i m u m s p e e d of a D S L c o n n e c t i o n ) . I n t u r n t h e s e e x c h a n g e s l i n k t o a s w i tc h i n g s ta t i o n i n t h e city c e n t e r, w h e r e t h e g r e a t e s t c o n ce n t r a t i o n of p h o n e s ca n be fou n d . Ce ntra l s w i tc h i n g sta t i o n s in d i s p a ra t e c i t i e s w o u l d b e l i n ke d by l o ng d i sta n c e l i n e s t h a t b e g i n n i n g i n t h e 1 9 1 0 S , w e r e m u l t i p l e x e d , t h a t i s , a b l e t o t ra n s m i t m u l t i p l e s i m u l ta n e o u s m e s s a g e s ove r a s i n g l e ca b l e ­ t e c h n o l o gy f i r s t d ev e l o p e d b y G e n e ra l G e o rge O w e n S q u i e r, t h e n C h i e f S i g n a l O ffi ce r of t h e A r my's S i g n a l C o r p s a n d t h e fu t u re fo u n d e r o f t h e M u z a k C o r­ p orati o n . Aft e r Wo r l d Wa r I I , r i s i n g d e m a n d fo r b a n d w i d t h a n d a m o u n t i n g fe a r of t h e h a v o c n u c l e a r wa r w o u l d w r e a k on c o n t i n u o u s w i re c o n n e c t i o n s l e d t e l e ­ c o m m u n i c a t i o n e n g i n e e r s t o d e v e l o p m i c rowave t r a n s m i s s i o n fo r l o n g d i s ­ ta n c e s . I n 1 9 47, t h e fi r s t m i c r owave l i n e w a s d e p l oye d b e t w e e n t h e h e a d ­ q u a r t e r s of AT &T 's L o n g L i n e s D e p a r t m e n t a t 3 2 Ave n u e of t h e A m e r i c a s a n d t h e Bowd o i n S q u a r e b u i l d i n g of t h e N e w E n g l a n d Te l e p h o n e a n d Te l e ­ g ra p h t h ro u g h seve n i n t e r m e d i a t e l y s p a c e d r e l a y stati o n s . T h e e x p e r i m e n t w a s a s u cc e s s a n d d u r i n g t h e 1 9 5 0 S a n d e a r l y 1 9 6 0 s , AT&T m ov e d to m i c r o -

52

wave towers for a large part of Its Long li nes network Ado p t i n g the motto "Co m m u nications IS the foundation of democracy: AT&T saw Long li nes as a crucial defense m e c h a n i s m I n the Cold War F l a g p o l e s adorned each i nsta l ­ lation, b u t t h i s was not mere b l uster Long li nes i nstallations were hardened against nuclear blasts with some even b U i l t underground M i crowave horns were covered with protective shields to prevent fallout from contaminatIng electronics w i t h i n and shielded In copper against electromagnetic p u lses targeted to disrupt electronic com m u n i cations In 1 9 62, AT&T launched Tel­ star, the world's first commercial com m u n ications satellite, w h i c h they hoped would permit connections between any two pOints on the earth at any t i m e and f u r t h e r I nc rease com m u n ications surviva b i l i ty after a t o m i c war I ro n i c a l ­ ly, Telstar would fall early due to radiation from Starfish P r i m e , a h i g h a l t i ­ t u d e n u c l e a r test conducted b y the U nited States A r m y the day before Tel ­ star's l a u n c h Soon after, Paul Baran, a researcher a t the RAND corporation, a Cold War t h i n k tank, formulated a key plan to realIZe a networked model of com­ m u n ication that could survive nuclear attack Baran feared that the h i ghly centralIZed model of c o m m u n i cations used by both c I v i l i a n and m i l itary tele­ phone systems was vul nerable O n e good h i t on a city center would ensure that com m u n ications would be destroyed I n ItS place, Baran developed a system of distributed c o m m u n ications I n w h i c h each p O i n t functions a s a node, t h e network's c o m m o n functions diS­ persed e q u a l l y a m o n g the nodes DeSigned not for present efficiency but for future surviva b i l ity even after heavy damage d U r i n g nuclear war, Baran's sys­ tem breaks messages down Into d i screte u n its or "packets" and routes them on redundant paths to their destinations With expected transmission errors a fact of life In a post-Apocalyptic enVironment, hiS system a l l ow damaged portions of a message-I nstead of the whole t h i ng-to be resent Fol l O W i n g the m o d e l of urban decentralIZation, nodes would be located I n the country-

Abstract.,n - Ether, One Wilshire

side, avoi d i n g v u l n e ra b l e city centers I n everyday operation, Baran's 'packet sW itch i n g" system has the advantage of a l l o w i n g I n d i vi d u a l sections of mes­ sages to be rerouted or even retransmitted when necessary and, as comput­ ers tend to com m u n i cate to each other In short bursts, takes advantage of slowdowns and gaps I n c o m m u nication to o p t i m I Z e the load on the l i nes

4

Baran's distributed network was meant to preserve hierarchy, not u n d o It H I S goal w a s to m a i ntain the centralIZed, top-down c h a i n of c o m m a n d s o t h a t the o t h e r alternative - g i v i n g I n d i vi d ual commanders I n the field a u t hor­ Ity over n u c l e a r weapons-would not be necessary A v i c t i m of P O l i tiCS, Ba­ ran's network was never b U i l t as he envIsioned It, but hiS baSIC Idea of the distributed network and packet sWitc h i n g would be Incorporated Into ARPA­ N E T, the first successful Inter-city data com m u n ications network Established after the l a u n c h of S p u t n i k to recapture US sCientific su­ peri ority, the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency

( DARPA )

funded sCience and e n g i n e e r i n g programs In u n i versities t h r o u g h ­

out the count ry, s p u r r i n g on the d e v e l o p m e n t o f h i g h technology t h r o u g h p rojects s u c h as the O r i o n nuclear powered rocket T o b U i l d c o m m u n ity and overcome Isolation between the fifteen offices of the I nformation Process­ I n g Techniques Office, the program funded ARPA N E T to l i n k together re­ searchers w o r k i n g w i t h computers ARPAN E T 's p l a n ners hoped that com m u ­ nity would e m e rge through t h e experience o f work i n g together Informally with shared resources Developed to make remote t i m e- s h a r i n g of resources work more smoothly, e m a i l soon became the network's p r i m ary use A l t h o u g h A R P A N E T fostered a more distributed c u l t ure, encoura g i n g I n ­ formal, botto m - u p m a n a g e m e n t a n d i nterventions Into t h e net, t h e model of distributed c o m m u n i cations could not be f u l ly I m p le m e nted A R P A N E T It­ self was distri b uted, but It was deSigned as an abstract layer, not as a sepa-

4 Paul Baran, 'On Distributed Communications Networks: IEEE Transactions on Communication Systems, (S-12, 1964

54

.......,"'" _ £....,. Ct.. """,�"

-?�

rate physical network b u i l t from the ground up I nstead, it used existing l o n g distance te lephone l i nes leased from the A m e r i c a n Telephone a n d Telegraph Company [AT&T] that, i n accordance with the centralized model created a century earlier, joined switc h i n g stations in city cores Had a nuclear war tak­ en place, A R PA N E T would have been destroyed i m mediately Moreover, ARPA N E T e m p h asized the use of I nterface Message Proces­ sors [I M Ps ] , m i n i - computer interfaces a l l o w i n g locally-based hosts to inter­ face with the network As there was generally only one I M P per ci ty, the ef­ fect was that if A R PA N E T as a whole was distributed, at the local level i t was h i gh ly centralized Failure o f a n I M P n o t o n l y meant that local hosts would fai l to reach remote machines, it e n s u red they could not commun icate with each other By t h e m i d -1970S, research-oriented networks such as ARPA N E T a n d the National Science Foundation's NSFNet proliferated Eventually these d i verse networks would be l i n ked by a si ngle network of networks d u bbed the I nter-

56

",..�-- .. , . " ,",,

""",

��

net N S F N et's rapid growth d U r i n g the 1970S made I t the d o m i n a n t entity I n t h e early I nternet T h e N S F I m p l e m e nted com m u n ications between regional networks through a " backbone" leased on lines from AT&T and offered c e n ­ tral h u bs I n e a c h c i t y to w h i c h l o c a l users would connect T h e result w a s the final undoing of the distributed model

5

With t h e priVatIZation of t h e I nternet I n the ' 9 9 0S, network topology has continued to centralIZe Driven by profit, the need to b U i l d rapid ly, and shackled by t h e difficulties of negotiations for new r i g hts-of-way, telecom­ m u n i cations carriers follow eXist i n g systems of netwo r k i n g established by telephony I nterconnections are between major nodes located In city cores W i t h i n cities, f i b e r optiCS can be l a i d down more Inexpensively a n d h i g h er capacity, short-distance networks c a n be b U i l t relatively easily If, follow­ Ing AT&T's breakup, there has been a proliferation of l o n g - d i stance carriers carrying both data a n d vOice traffic, these stili access the local central office for distri b u t i o n H i g h -speed private backbones operated by c o m p a n i e s such as Level 3, G l o b a l Crossi ng, AT&T, or MCI now compete to offer connectivity around the world, b u t as data travels from pOint to pOint, I t i nevitably pass­ es from network to network through a handful of p e e r i n g pOints, i ntercon­ nection sites between networks that are, a g a i n , located In city cores T h i s further concentrates the network, p r i v i l eges the b i gger p l ayers, and i nc reas­ es the divide between a d i gital h u b In the city core and t h e d i gital desert be­ yond

5 Janet Aooate, Inventing the Internet (Cambridge The MIT Press, 1999)

58

THE PALACE OF ETHER In Empire, Antonio N e gri and M ichael Hardt describe the new world order created by the global spread of capital and co m m u n i cations technology, a transnational order that has emerged to s u p p l a n t the b i polar era of the Cold War and the s u p e rpowers With national gove rnments w i t h e r i n g away u n ­ d e r t h e deterritorl a l l Z l n g a n d l i quefYing forces o f capitalism, N e g r i a n d Hardt c l a i m that a new sovereignty IS e m e r g i n g like Baran's Ideal system, this dif­ fuse network of E m p i re s u p p lants the old I m perial model of center and p e ­ r i p h e ry, rep l a c i n g It w i t h a placeless network o f flows and h i erarchies E m p i re IS not ruled by one country, one people, or one place I nstead ItS force e m a n ates from the global planetary network Itself I m perial sovere ignty functions through three tiers that serve as checks a n d balances on each oth­ er while exte n d i n g Its power to a l l realms monarchy, aristocracy, and democ­ racy These forms of sovereignty correspond to the B o m b ( U S m i l itary s u p e ­ riority and n u c l e a r supremacy L M o n e y ( the eco n o m i c w e a l t h of the

c7L

and

Ether ( the realm of t h e media, c u l t u re, and the global teleco m m u n lcatlonal network ) A l t h o u g h these tiers are placeless-any m o m e n tary fixities are q U i c k ly destabilIZed by the detemtorl a l l Z l n g nature of E m p i re Itself-Hardt and N e g ri suggest that 'new Pomes' a p pear to control them Washington D C for the Bomb, New York for Money, a n d Los Angeles for Ether 6 Ether IS the most historically advanced of these three forms of power An anesthetic, Ether separates the m i n d from the body, and reduces the d o m i nance of physical sensation w h i l e m a i nta i n i n g the consciousness of the patient U n d e r the s p e l l of ItS I n f l uence, the most I n t i mate and cherished of a l l physical space, that of the body Itself, can be assaulted at w i l l Los Angeles IS the center o f production f o r E t h e r Hol lywood, a s both a mythic place and a mode of production, IS the telematlc I n h a l e r for the

6 Hardt and Negri, Empire, 347

Abstract.,n - Ether, One Wilshire

60

rest of t h e wo r l d , a s p o n ge so w i t h Eth e r t h a t i t c a n a n a e s t h e t i z e t h e e n t i re w o r l d . N o w t h a t we have Los A n ge l e s , we n o l o n ge r n e e d o t h e r c i t i e s . D e ­ s i g n e d a s a g i a n t stage s e t, L o s A n ge l e s i s a lways ready fo r b r o a d c a s t . A s a g e n e r i c b a c k g ro u n d , i t c a n be e x p o rted to a n y l o c a ti o n . I f Eth e r were t o have a p a l a c e , i t w o u l d have t o b e t h e 3 9 -story O n e W i l sh i re towe r i n d ow n town L o s A n g e l e s . C o n st r u c te d a t t h e a p o gee o f m o d e r n i sm b y S k i d m o re, O w i n gs, a n d M e r r i l l , O n e W i l sh i re u n e q u i vo c a l ly d e ­ c l a re s t h a t fo r m fo l l ows fu n c ti o n . P e r h a ps t h e w o r s t b U i l d i n g S O M ever d e ­ s i g n e d , exc u s a b l e o n ly a s a p r o d u c t o f t h e p rov i n c i a l S a n Fra n c i sc o o ffi ce, O n e W i l s h i re a p p e a r s to fo l l ow o n l y two g U i d i n g p r i n c i p l e s . Fi rst, in o r d e r t o c r e a te a v i s u a l i d e n t i ty, O n e W i l s h i r e i s d e s i g n e d a s a skysc r a p e r. S e c o n d , O n e W i l s h i re's w i n d o w a re a s a r e m a x i m i ze d to p r ov i d e l i g h t a n d v i ews fo r t h e o c c u p a n t s . T h ro u g h o u t t h e d e s i g n , e x p ressi o n of a n y fo r m , i n c l u d i n g t h e e x p ress i o n o f str u c t u re, i s e l i m i n a ted a s s u p e rfl u o u s . O n e W i l s h i re is a p u re m o d e r n i st b U i l d i n g . I t s n e u tra l g r i d l a c ks sy m b o l i c co n t e n t, m a k i n g i t a tower w i t h o u t q u a l i ti e s . O n e W i l s h i re e m b o d i es t h e d e s i re o f t h e b o u r ge o i s m e t ro p o l i s t o a p ­ p e a r a t a l l c o s t . Awkwa rd i n p r o p o r ti o n , a n d o ff- a x i s w i t h rega rd t o W i l s h i re b o u l ev a r d , i t s o n ly fea t u re i s h e i g h t, i n cessa n t l y a ffi r m i n g t h e va l u e of t h e l a n d b e n e a t h i t . B u t t h i s sy m b o l i c a ffi r m a t i o n a l so h e l p e d e n s u re t h e b u i l d -

Abstraction - Ether One W i l s h i r e

l n g's obsolescence I n h i s 1971 essay " T h e F l u i d Metropolis: Andrea BranZI observes that "the sky l i n e becomes a d i a g ram of the natural a c c u m u lation which has taken place of capital Itself " Under late c a p i t a l i s m , he sug gests, capital f i n a l ly d o m i nates "the e m pty space In w h i c h [,t] expanded d U r i n g ItS growth period " When "no reality eXists any longer outside of the system: the skyscraper's representation of accumulation becomes obsolete BranZi concludes that the horizontal factory and the supermarket-In which the C I r­ culation of Information IS made o p t i m u m and h i e rarchies disap pear-would replace the tower as the foundational typologies for the f l u i d metropolis 7 Since t h e n , Branzl's prophecy has b e e n f u l f i l l e d Com m u n i cation replac­ es acc u m u l a t i o n T h e i ncreasingly horizontal corporation, organIZed a l o n g Taylorlst a n d cybernetic p r i n c i p l e s of com m u n icational effi c i e n cy, constructs low, spread i n g b U i l d i n g s for ItS offices In the s u b u rbs Damaged by the de­ centra l I Z i n g p o l i c i es of Cold War u r b a n i s m and i ncreasingly threatened by the spraw l i n g s u b u rbs, the congested vertical urban core b e g a n to e m pty In the 1 970S One W i l s h i re's once b e n e f i c i a l vertical s i g n i fication of "office b U i l d i n g " and "va l u a b l e real estate" b e g a n to get In the way of ItS own eco­ n o m i c susta l na b i lity By the m l d -1 9 8 0s, the re g i m e of horlzontallty was f i r m ­ l y I n place a n d O n e W i l s h i re was obsolete Eventual ly, however, a new opportunity presented Itself and O n e W i l s h i re's h e i g ht returned t o I t S advantage W i t h the deregulation o f t h e teleco m m u n ications I n d ustry, l o n g distance carrier M C I , w h i c h had I t S own nationwide m icrowave network, requi red a tall structure on w h i c h to I n stall m icrowave antennas I n close proximity t o t h e AT&T (formerly SBC, P r i ­ or t o that PacBell, before that AT&T) central sWitc h i n g station a t 4 0 0 South Grand Street downtown Although as a condition of deregulation, c o m p e t i n g l o n g distance carriers a r e , by law, allowed access to the l i nes at the central 7

Archizoom Associates, 'No-Stop City Residential Parkings Climatic Universal Sistem: Domus 496, March 1971, 49-55

62

sW itch i n g station, AT&T does not have to provide them with space for t h e i r e q u i p ment O n ly three thousand feet from the central sWitc h i n g station a n d a t the t i m e one o f the tallest b U i l d i n g s downtown, O n e W i l s h i re was Ideal for Mel S e e i n g a friendly environment close to the central sWitc h i n g station, other l o n g - d i stance carriers, I nternet service providers, and netwo r k i n g c o m ­ p a n i e s began to I n s t a l l t h e i r e q u i p ment at One W i l s h i re Soon, however, carriers turned to f i b e r optiC technology, glass I l ght­ bearing strands that can carry m u l t i p l e data streams s i m ultaneously As f i ­ ber technology h a s become the p r i m ary m e a n s o f carrying teleco m m u n ica­ tions traffic, the m i c rowave towers on top have d W i n d led In I m portance­ they are now used by Vemon for connection to ItS cell phone network With One W i l s h i re's proxi mity to the coast and cable l a n d i n g stations In the S a n ­ ta Barbara and Ventura areas, a good portion of transpacific traffic from the Americas-and even E u rope-flows through O n e W i l sh i re As a consequence, One W i l s h i re IS not only a sta g i n g ground for carriers connect i n g to the local system, It IS a key peer-to-peer connection pOint In the fourth floor Meet M e Room, telecom providers are allowed to run I nterconnects d i rectly b e ­ tween each other w i t h o u t charge B y creating d i rect connections between each other's l i nes In the structure, telecom providers aVOid charges I m posed by l i nk i n g through a t h i rd-party h u b The result IS a dramatic cost savings for the companies, a l l o w i n g One W i l s h i re's management to charge $ 250 per square foot per month I n t h e Meet M e Room, the h i ghest per-square-foot rent on t h e North American continent Because space I n O n e W i l s h i re IS at such a p r e m i u m , c o m p a n i es r u n con­ d U i t to adjacent structures Over a dozen nearby b U i l d i n g s have been con­ verted to such telecom hotels, provi d i n g bases to telephone and I nternet c o m p a n i e s see k i n g locations near the fountain of data at One W i l s h i re T h i s centralIZation of Information defies predictions that the I nternet a n d new technologies w i l l undo cities But n e i t h e r does It lead to a revival of dow n -

Abstract.,n - Ether, One Wilshire

town i n classical terms The b U i l d i ngs around One W i l s h i re are valuable a g a i n , but la rgely u n i n h a b ited Ironical ly, if one of the reasons f o r the downfall o f the A m e r i c a n downtown is the slowdown i n transportation and w e a r on i n ­ frastructure created b y congestion, t h e empti ness o f t h e streets i n Los A n ­ geles's telecom d i strict ensures t h a t t h i s w i l l never a g a i n be a problem for this neigh borhood One W i lshire sta nds as a continuous demonstration of the phases of the metropolis and the current state of the postmetropolitan rea l m One W i lshire proves that the new functions of the city do not need a shape of their own but rather are repelled by that poss i b i l ity Physical form is secondary today The transformation that One W i lshire undergoes from its construction i n 1 9 6 6 t o the present parallels the transition from material rea l i ty t o v i rtual re-

64

ality, from Cold War to Empire. With the full development of the postmetro­ politan realm and the corresponding global saturation of material production, we enter the world of immaterial culture The virtual is generally perceived as a drive against the spatial or phys­ ical world. Nevertheless, as One Wilshire demonstrates, the virtual world requires an infrastructure that exists in the physical and spatial world Though Ether is formless, it has to be created. Its production requires an enormous amount of physical hardware and consistent expertise Because of this, Ether is produced in places such as Hollywood studios, locations where highly skilled technicians can meet and collect around cameras and computers. Massive telecommunicational hubs like One Wilshire and their radial networks make the virtual world possible, and firmly ground it into

"',",,'on _ ....., """ "'",.... -7<::-

the concrete cityscape O nce t h i s raw data of Ether IS created, I t has to be stored and organIZed through stable control centers These control cen­ ters, f i l l ed with row after row of servers, g e n e rate a n enormous a m o u nt of heat a n d require vast cool i n g systems w i t h m u l t i p l e back-up power u n i ts I n order to function without Interruption Constant m o n i to r i n g of these sys­ tems IS vital as Interruptions affect t h e e n t i re system O nce the data has been collected, It has to be d i s t r i b uted outside of the b U i l d i n g F i b e r o p tiC c a b l e , currently t h e most effective way o f t r a n s m i t t i n g large q u a n t i t i es of data out of the b U i l d i n g I nto the rest of t h e world, IS expensive to lay and requires a s i g n ificant negotiations to secure r i g h ts-of-way Most t e l e ­ com m u n i cation c o m p a n i e s cannot afford a l l of t h e s e Investments I n d i v i d u ­ a l l y and s o p o o l t h e i r resources at a s i n g l e location prov i d i n g connectivity close to the transmission source T h ro u g h O n e W i l s h i re, v i r t u a l ly all of the global market leaders share a physical I nvestment on the West coast Being ' p l u g ged I n " IS their l iteral need, not J ust an abstract notion Because One W i l s h i re IS tied to t h i s physical location, It u n d e r m i n e s the concept of an autonomous v i r t u a l i ty, revea l i n g I nstead t h e s i m u ltaneous I m portance and abandonment of the physical world N o matter how b a n a l , O n e W i l s h i re I S t h e product of modernism and t h ro u g h ItS curta i n w a l l g r i d , partakes In t h e movement's b l a n ket promise to d e l i ver d e m ocracy t h r o u g h techno logy, vIsi b i l ity, and n e u t ra l i ­ t y Founded on v i s u a l spectacles such a s test i m o ny, t h e Senate, t h e P a r l i a ­ ment, the I n a u g u ration o a t h , t h e P l e d g e of A l l e g i ance, and the State o f the U n i o n a d d ress, d e m o c racy t a k e s p l ace I n p u b l iC, I n the street, I n t h e agora, a n d I n the newspaper I n contrast, the clandestine, the shady, a n d the back-room d e a l a r e the realm o f corrupt p o l i t i c i a n s and the theater for cynical reason Advocates of modern architecture proclaimed that a c u l t u re of b r I C k pre­ vented dem ocracy from f u n c t i o n i n g and proposed translucent or transpar-

66

ent glass as a means by w h i c h to produce p o l i t i cal transparency I n his 1 91 4 book Glasarchitektur theorist Paul Scheerbart declared "Colored glass d e ­ stroys hatred" w h i l e I n h i S 1 9 26-27 c o m p e t i t i o n entry for t h e Palace o f the League of Nations, Bauhaus d i rector H a n nes Meyer proposed a neutral and transparent glass grid with exposed stairwells to prevent t h e making of co­ vert deals 8 D U r i n g the Cold War, Western governments, eager to demon­ strate their a l legiance to dem ocracy, adopted I nternational Style modern­ Ism to s i g nify democratic action, even If that s i g n ification diSSi m u lated what really happened In the grid T h e reco g n i t i o n of t h e dark qualities of modern democracy-the reve lation of the Pentagon papers, widespread domestic surve i l l a nce, N i xon's D i rty Tricks and Watergate-acco m p a n i e d the collapse of modernism In the 1 970S

9

I f O n e W i l s h i re promises transparency through ItS glass fa,ade, t h e same IS often said of the glass f i b e r optiC network that fills I t Proponents of the so-called " C a l ifornian Ideology" -largely based In the Bay Area, not In Los Angeles-suggest that the convergence of media, c o m p u t i n g , and telecom­ m u n i cations will result I n a new world of electronic transparency with near perfect knowledge, spirited debate outside the media machi ne, and partic­ Ipatory dem ocracy of a l i bertarian bent for everyone

w

But J ust as t h e fa­

,ades of I nternational Style modernism d i S S i m u lated I n v I s i b l e d e a l i n g s w i t h ­ I n , the f i b e r o p t i C net's presence does n o t reveal w h a t passes t h ro u g h It T h e priVatIZation o f the I nternet and g l o b a l com m u nications networks have made them u n k nowable T h e flow of teleco m m unications today IS classified prop-

S

On the gjass fa�ade, see Janet Ward, Weimar Surfaces. Urban Visual Culture in 19205 Germany (Berkeley University of California Press, 2001), 41-91

9

On the adoption of modern architecture Cy the United States government, see Lois Craig, The Federal Presence (Cambridge, Mass MIT Press, 1978) 1 0 Richard Barb-oak and Andy Cameron, 'The Californian Ideology: Mute (3) Available httpUwww.alamut.com/subl/ideoloQiesloessimism/cal ifldeo I.html

Abstract.,n - Ether, One Wilshire

erty, a question of corporate Inte l l i gence T h e recent attempt by geographers to create an Atlas of Cyberspace concluded that the priVatIZation of the I n ­ ternet a n d modern teleco m m unications have made the d o m i n a n t forms of contemporary space fundamentally un m a p p a b l e T h i s corresponds to Fredric J ameson's thesIs that since late capitalism IS total and lacks any exterior, It IS I m possible for t h e s u bject to u n d e rstand h i s or her position I n t h e system We can make cognitive m a p s - I ndeed, J ameson sug gests, that IS o u r task­ but they m ust be I ncom p l ete and I m perfect T h e promise of a world of clar­ Ity and transparency IS undone by the reality that modern teleco m m u n i c a ­ tions constitute a w e b t h a t refuses to b e c o m e v I s i b l e Yet a g a i n the modern tries for the transparent through technology, yet again It falls " O u rs I S an u n m a p p a b le, unknowable world that disappears I nto a mys­ terious global network of capital a n d connections So It IS at O n e W i l s h i re I n Septe m b e r 2 0 0 1 , C R C -West, an operating partner of the Carlyle Croup, acq u i red the b U i l d i n g from the Paramount Croup, a real estate Investment firm owned by Otto Versand, a H a m b u rg-based concern speCI a l I Z i n g I n retail c l o t h i n g , mall order catalogues, and the I nternet Paramount Croup owned the structure for some 2 5 years, but One W i l s h i re's new owner IS more a p ­ propriate for the Palace o f E t h e r T h e Carlyle Croup IS n a m e d after New York City'S Carlyle Hotel, the b U i l d i n g where the firm was established, w h i c h I n turn was named after Thomas Carlyle, t h e Scottish essaYist a n d historian I n h i s 1 8 3 2 Sartor Resartus, Carlyle created a new k i n d o f book that blended fact and fiction, speculation and history, essay and satire while confro n t i n g the question o f t r u t h I n a r a p i d l y I n d ustri a l I Z i n g society t h a t w a s l o s i n g I t S rel i gious f a i t h F i n d i n g only contempt for h u m a n i ty, Carlyle's narrator p o n ­ ders the 'Everlasting N o " of refusal, passes through the 'Center of I ndl ffer11 Fredric Jameson, 'Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism: New Left Review 146 (July/August 1984) 53-92 and Robin Kitchin and Martin Dodge, Atlas of Cyberspace (London Pearson, 2001)

68

ence," and eventually embraces the 'Everlasting Yea " In later writings, Carlyle attacked laissez-faire capitalism for its destruction of communal values and promotion of individualism as well as what he called the ' d ismal science" of economics Indicting aristocracy as deadening and democracy as nonsense, Carlyle called for heroic leadership instead, but his reputation would be tar­ nished after his notorious essay of 1849, an 'An Occasional Discourse on the Nigger Question," in which he defended slavery as a means of keeping lazy people busy at work During the twentieth century, fascist leaders would ad­ mire Carlyle Adolf Hitler is reputed to have read Carlyle's biography of Fred­ erick the Great during his last days in t h e Berlin Bunker For its part, the Carlyle Group is a private global investment firm spe­ cializing in buyouts of assets in real estate and defense Founded to take advantage of a tax loophole in w h i c h Alaskan Eskimos could sell losses at a discount to corporations that, i n turn, would claim t h e full loss as a cred-

Aktr;octon

_


/�

It on t h e i r taxes-a process that often I nvolved exaggerating t h e losses of the E s k i m os- i n t h e early 1 9 90S the Carlyle Group turned ItS i n i t i a l w i n n i n gs Into a q u I C k fortune by b U Y i n g up defense contractors whose stock was l a i d l o w by defense c u t b a c k s I n t h e aftermath of the fa l l of the Berl i n W a l l F o u n d e d I n the c a p i t a l o f M oney, owners of the p a l a c e of Ether, the Carlyle Group IS based I n t h e c a p i t a l of t h e B o m b U n l ike most e q u i ty firms Carlyle locates ItS headquarters In Washi ngton DC I nstead of N e w York, more precisely on Pennsylva n i a Avenue, h a l f way between t h e White House and the C a p i tol b U i l d i n g T h ro u g h o u t ItS two decades of eXistence, Carlyle has excelled at e x p l o i t i n g ItS re l a t i o n s h i p s w i t h t h e gove r n ment, l e a d i n g The New Republic magaZ i n e to d u b the firm " t h e Access C a p i t a l i sts " T h e l ist of perso n n e l who have worked for, or advised, Carlyle I nc l u d e s l u m i n a ries from US a d m i n istrations past and present such as former Secretary of State J i m Baker, former Secretary of Defense Frank C a r l u c c I , former White House budget d i rector R i c hard D a r m a n , former FCC c h a i rm a n W i l l i a m K e n n a rd, for­ m e r SEC c h a i r m a n A r t h u r LeVitt, form e r President George H W Bush as w e l l as International f i g u res such as former British P r i m e M i nister J o h n M a ­ J or, form e r P h i l i p p i nes President F i d e i Ramos, a n d f i n a n C i e r George Soros As the attacks of the m o r n i n g of Septe m b e r 1 1 , 2 0 0 1 unfolded, the Car­ lyle Group was h o l d i n g ItS a n n u a l i nternational Investor conference at the Ritz-Carlton hotel In Washington CarluccI, Baker, and Bush attended the m e e t i n g , as did a n u m b e r of the Group's key fore i g n I n vestors, i nc l u d i n g Shaflq b i n Laden, Osama b i n Laden's estranged half-brother, there t o re p ­ resent h i S fa m i ly With t h e revelation that Osama b i n Laden was b e h i n d the attacks, the bin Laden fa m i ly l i q u idated ItS stake to quell the growing p u b ­ l i C perception o f a conflict o f I nterest regarding t h e i r Investment I n a key d e ­ fense contractor t h a t w o u l d profit from the chase for t h e i r relation " 1 2 Dan Briody The Iron Triangle. Inside The Secret World of the Carlyle Group (New York John Wiley and Sons, 2003)

70

How, precise ly, O n e W i l s h i re fits I nto the Carlyle Croup's strategy IS not clear, but three possible strategies seem l i kely F i rst, If O n e W i l s h i re's I m por­ tance IS due to ItS role as a key p e e r i n g pOint, telecoms u S i n g It as a base for t h e i r Los Angeles sWitches s t i l i need access to AT&Ts local l i nes A l t h o u g h AT&T I S a competitor to t h e s e carriers, I t has also previously been an a l ly o f the Carlyle g r o u p , p O i n t i n g to a synergistic r e l a t i o n s h i p Second, Carlyle IS a d ­ ept at profit from ItS access to the federal gove r n m e n t With telecom m u n i ­ cations b i l l s b e i n g ra p i d l y re-wrltten I n t h e U n ited States Congress, t h e group IS strate g i c a l ly positioned to benefit T h i rd, the h u ge amount of fore i g n and domestic traffic f l o w i n g through O n e W i l s h i re offers a s i g n a l opportunity for the American government, w h i c h was recently revealed to be Insta l l i n g elec­ tronic eavesdrop p i n g e q u i p m e n t at teleco m m u n i cations faci l i t i e s without search warrants 1 3 Los Angeles IS the capital of Ether b u t the rh,zomat,c t e n d r i l s of Ether extend across the world, d o m i na t i n g It with ItS s i l e n t outposts like One W i l s h i re, carrier hotels, telecom hotels, data hotels, carrier neutral colloca­ tion facilities, exchanges, a n d sW i t c h i n g stations are generally found In the densest part of a city or ItS f i n a n C I a l district In Los Angeles, Ether IS con­ centrated I n one area and largely even I n one b U i l d i n g By contrast, In New York, Ether IS dispersed there are some half dozen b U i l d i n gs devoted largely to teleco m m unications I n Manhattan For exa m ple, 32 Avenue of the A m e r i ­ c a s IS t Y P i c a l o f a b U i l d i n g design f o r teleco m m unications that h a s recently been retrofitted as a collocation facility Designed by R a l p h Walker and b U i l t I n 1 932, 3 2 Avenue o f t h e Americas once housed AT&T's offices a n d e q u i p ­ m e n t for transatlantic com m u n i cations, b u t h a s recently b e e n remodeled by Tyco I nternational to serve as the New York TelExchange Center Tenants are encouraged to take advantage of Tyco's transatlantic f i b e r optiC network, 1 3 Eric lichtblau and James Risen, 'Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials REport: The New York Times, December 24, 2005, 1

Abstract.,n - Ether, One Wilshire

w h i c h t e r m i nates here A n o t h e r m o d e l can be seen at t h e AT&T Long L i n e s B u i l d i n g at 3 3 T h o m a s Street, d e s i g n e d b y J o h n Carl Wa r n e c ke &. A s s o c iates and b u i l t i n 1 974 Clad i n p i n k Swe d i s h granite, the Long Lines B u i l d i n g was b u i lt t o resist n u c l e a r b last and fa l l o u t and t o o p erate s e lf-suffi c i ently for two weeks after attack Each f l o o r i s 6 m eters i n h e i g ht, prov i d i n g room for AT&T's e q u i p m ent U n l i ke O n e W i l s h ire or 32 Ave n u e of t h e A m e r i c a s , t h i s fa c i l ity i s o n ly f o r AT&T, t h e la rgest t e l e co m m u n i c a t i o n s c o m pany i n t h e U n it­ ed States

72

IM MATERIAL CULTURE For the most part, O n e W i l s h i re IS an ugly and ordinary b U i ld i n g, a k i n to the now classIc postmodernlst retirement h o m e designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, GUild House In desi g n i n g G U i l d House, the architects decided to avoid the m o n u mental and Instead b U i l d a structure more a p ­ propriate t o the b a n a l demands o f modern l i f e Cut-rate detai l i n g and low­ cost prefabricated elements made G U i l d House a stark rem i nder that mod­ ernism won ItS battle not because of Ideology but because I t was cheaper to b U i l d than neoclassIcism Projects by the firm that followed t h i s method­ ology would be condemned as 'ugly and ordinary" by Skidmore O W i n gs and M e r r i l l 's lead deSigner Gordon Bunshaft In response Venturi and Brown ad­ opted Bunshaft's term of deriSion as a virtue Choos i n g to strike pree m p ­ tively against t h e I I I -suited s l g nage that c l i ents i nevitably p u t atop modern­ ISt b U i ldi ngs, Venturi and Scott Brown added their own sign to announce the structure's name a second-rate panel that simply states ' G u i l d House" above the entrance At the top of the b U i l d i n g the architects also mounted a non­ functioning, gold anodIZed antenna to denote t h e b U i l d i ng's c o m m o n room and s i g n ify that the elderly watch a lot of TV Seen by both critiCS a n d oc­ cupants as a cynical J oke at the expense of the I n h a b i tants, t h i s useless a n ­ t e n n a w a s later removed T h e loss o f the antenna was not, however, a fatal blow Venturi and Scott Brown observed that the a b i l ity to remove or replace slgnage at w i l l gave flexi bi lity to structures Upon ret u r n i n g from a research trip to Las Vegas, the architects cOined the term 'the decorated shed" to re­ fer to a modernist u n i versal space coupled w i t h a s i g n Developed by Ventu­ ri and Scott Brown specifically to address the needs of a democratic I n for­ mation society, In the decorated shed both function a n d m e a n i n g could be changed at w i l l A l t h o u g h G U i l d House IS h e l d by many to be a key b U i l d i n g I n t h e evolution o f post modernism, t h e Ideas o f t h e decorated shed a n d ugly and ordinary architecture proved too controversial for even the most avant-

Abstract.,n - Ether, One Wilshire

garde architects and Venturi a n d Scott Brown were virtually ostraCIZed from the profession '4 like G U i l d House, O n e W i l s h i re IS s i m p ly a neutral s h e l l l a c k i n g any aes­ thetic gestures There IS no reason to t h i n k that Bunshaft wouldn't have called O n e W i l s h i re 'ugly a n d ordinary" as w e l l It was constructed at a l most the same t i m e as G U i l d House and shares many of ItS features U nl i ke the AT&T Long lines b U i l d i n g , w h i c h Venturi and Scott Brown would have clas­ sified as a duck for possessing a form ,nd,ssoc,able from ItS function, O n e W i l s h i re IS a decorated s h e d It h a s ItS o w n second-rate s i g n b a n a l modern­ ISt lette r i n g across ItS fa,ade a n n o u nces 'One W i l s h i re" to the rest of the city A l t h o u g h the antennas at One W i l s h i re o r i g i n a l ly had a p u rpose, they are now J ust as superfluous as the ornament once crow n i n g G U i l d House, empty symbols of a retired modern technology But One W i l s h i re goes a step further than the decorated shed ItS slgnage IS obsolete from the start I t w i l l never need t o be removed T h e b U i l d i ng's real address h a s never been O n e W i l s h i re, but rather 624 South Grand An u n b ridgeable gap between sig­ n i f i e r a n d s i g n i fied, between form and function, opens u p at O n e W i l s h i re The fact that t h i s architecturally merltless structure I S also the most va l u a b l e real estate I n N o r t h America only confirms t h a t the role o f the b U i l d i n g as a producer of effect or m e a n i n g IS obsolete Where G U i l d House was a home for the elderly, O ne W i l s h i re IS the home In which we dwe l l telematlcally J ust as the elderly watched televIsion I n G U i l d House a s a way o f c h e c k i n g o u t of t h e weariness of l i fe, w e check Into the global space of teleco m m u n i cations In order to escape the dead world of objects I n both cases, however, the d e S i re IS to leave b e h i n d t h i s world of material goods for somet h i n g more p u re, to escape o u r respons i b i lity to o b ­ Jects b y s u b m i t t i n g t o somet h i n g greater Managers o f progressive n u rs i n g 1 4 Rot€rt Vmturi, Denise Scott Brown, and SteVEn IZEnour, 'Ugly and Ordinary Architecture, o r the Deco­ rated Shed: in Learning from Las Vegas, revised edition (Cambridge The MIT Press, 1977), 87-163

74

homes today understand that this is part of our l i ves, often req u i r i n g that residents d ivest themselves of both financial and physical assets in order to better fac i l itate their care The objects produced d u r i n g the 1 970S and 1 9 8 0 s were l a rgely throw­ away novelty goods and fashions and are transitional objects on the way to­

ward immaterial cult ure Real things give t hemselves up t oo easi ly, t h ey are quickly known and classified Like potential lovers, once they are purchased, objects become dead to o u r desires, lifeless pieces of junk They are items for a fractured marketplace, without group needs or identities Comm u n i ­ cation technology h a s a l s o changed way people interact, creating a form of culture devoid of material references Cell phone conversations, M P3 players, and the Internet all offer a n alternative to consumer goods The teleco m m u ­ nicational rea l m promises t h a t the spi rit can f i n a l l y p a r t from flesh and ex-

Abstraction - Ether O n e Wilshire

ist f u l ly i n a wo r l d of e l e c t ro n i c i m a g e s . T h e s e i m a ges a re s e d u c t ive b e c a u s e , c i rc u l a t i n g e n d l e s s l y i n a n e t h e re a l w o r l d , t h ey c a n not b e p os s e ss e d . We c a n fa nta s i ze a b o u t h a v i n g s u c h i m a ge s t o n o e n d w i t h o u t eve r fee l i n g t h e d i s­ a p p o i n t i n g r e s p o ns i b i l i ty of o w n e r s h i p . Befo r e late c a p i t a l i s m , o bj e cts h a d m e a n i n g b e c a u s e t h ey we re n e c e s ­ s a ry b u t s c a r c e . I n o u r aff l u e nt s o c i ety, h oweve r, o bj e c t s a re overa b u n d a nt , b e c o m i n g m e re ly co m p o n e n t s w i t h i n a syst e m of e xc h a n ge w i t h o u t a ny c l e a r use -va l u e t o d e te r m i n e t h e i r p r i c e . T h e v e ry b a s i s o f l a t e c a p it a l i s m p re s u p ­ poses t h e d e l i n k i n g o f c u r re n c i e s from t h e g o l d st a n d a rd o r a ny ot h e r g u a r­ a nt o r of va l u e . To d a y m o n ey p ro l iferates w i l d ly e v e n as it m e a n s n ot h i n g . T h e re is n o l o n g e r a c l e a r l o g i c to t h e syst e m o f c a p i t a l . T h e d ot-com b o o m , b e a n i e b a b i e s , a n d vast ly i nf l a t e d re a l e s tate va l u e s a re a l l b a s e d o n m a ss d e l u s i o n . Va l u e itse lf d o e s n ot c o m e o u t of a ny d e e p e r t r u t h b u t is c o n ­ st r u c t e d b y te m p o ra ry n o t i o n s a n d m a ss d e l u s i o n s . W i t h i n i m m a t e r i a l c u l t u re , c o n s u m e r g o o d s l o s e t h e i r na t u r a l m e a n i n g a n d b e c o m e fu l l y a b stra c t e d a s e m pty fo r m s , r e a d y t o b e f i l l e d w i t h a va ­ r i ety of m e a n i n g s t h a t we a p p ly to t h e m d e p e n d i n g o n co ntext. I m m a te r i a l c u l t u re m a ke s p o s s i b l e a syst e m o f c o n s u m p t i o n b ey o n d c y n i c a l r e a s o n i n w h i c h eve n t h e m ost s i n i st e r o r fo u l o bj e cts c a n b e d e s i ra b l e . A l l o bj e c t s a re now w i l d s i g n s , fre e -f l o a t i n g s i g n i f i e rs u n a b l e t o re p re s e nt a ny t h i n g

76

specific t h e m s e l ves, part of the m e c h a n i s m of CIrculation, w h i c h has b e ­ c o m e a goal I n and o f Itself M oney, a s H a l Foster observes, p u rportedly t h e guarantor o f value, IS the u l t i mate w i l d s i g n C o l d IS locked away at Fort Knox, too heavy to move I nstead, the value of currency IS tied m e rely to abstraction and desire With noth i n g underwri t i n g It except D e m d e a n dif­ ferance, the economy IS sustained only because of the c o n t i n ued I n e v i ta b i l ­ Ity o f C I rc u l a t i o n I n t h e network

'5

T h i S IS a defensive measure for capital, so that massive r u n - u ps In m a r­ kets a n d u n p recedented collapses can occur without any real consequence The i ncreasing role of teleco m m unications and computers I n everyday life does not do away with objects Far from It, I n I m material c u l t u re physical objects p ro l i ferate endlessly As the logic of our d a l ly lives becomes more and more removed from the d i rect consequences of our actions, objects are marketed and sold for t h e i r sym b o l i c values alone A teapot by P h l i l i p e Starck costs more t h a n a re g u l a r teapot because o f I t S styling, even t h o u g h It doesn't really w o r k But the sty l i n g doesn't really matter e i t her, only the name of Starck as a marker of value Physical objects carry eco n o m i c value only at moments of exchange the m o m e n t they become so desira b l e that you want to p u rchase them and the m o m e n t that you can no longer tolerate t h e i r presence and want to get rid of t h e m W e s t i l i feel the n e e d to o w n objects, e v e n If the gratitude o f owner­ s h i p I S f l e e t i n g The o n - a g a i n a n d off-again emotions we have about o u r o b ­ jects confuse us, leav i n g u s bewildered and lost Physical objects w i l l a l ways u l t i mately repel us because they cannot satisfy o u r desire for self-negation, our desire to lose ourselves In their world So I t IS that our love for objects IS routinely replaced by a deep hate T h e dream of I m material c u l t u re IS re1 5 Hal Foster, 'Wild Signs The Breakup of the Sign in Seventies Art: in John Tagg, ed The Cultural Poli­ tics of'Postmodernism', (Binghamton Department of Art and Art History, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1989), 69-86

Abstract.,n - Ether, One Wilshire

venge on the world of objects, but It re m a i ns only a dream We se l l our pos­ sessions relentlessly on eBay but s t i l i they accumulate, contri b u t i n g noth i n g t o o u r l i ves Every day more debt, more t h i n gs, less jay We w i l l never find a release from the need to own Even If we can't sus­ tain the gratitude of ownership, we purchase goods to validate our I d e n t i ­ ty and diversity as I nd i v i d u a l s eXist i n g outside of t h i s m e d i a w e b But more than that, In s u b m i t t i n g ourselves as w i l l i n g slaves to our world of useless objects, we hope to become as disposable to t h e m as they are to us today I f, u n l i ke Berliner-Maue r, we cannot J O i n t h e i r world, we dream of a new equality b e i n g as ethereal and m e a n i n gless to them as they are to us We pray for dispensation, to leave t h i s material world a n d dissipate I n Ether And yet, as conflicted b e i n gs, we also hope that one day o u r objects w i l l Invest In us the same a n i mistic b e l i efs with which we Invest them T h i s IS not o u r ni ghtmare, It IS the achievement o f an Utopian dream, presence without pur­ pose or responsi b i l i ty a slacker response of a m b ivalence and h e l p l e ssness But In the transition from material to I m material c u l t u re not only have none of the physical e l e m ents of society changed, It IS now clear they w i l l never need t o be changed a g a i n j ust a s fiction disappears I nto reality, so too, the new has been absorbed Into present Over a decade ago, R i d ley Scott stated that If he h a d t o shoot B l a d e R u n n e r again, he would s i m ­ ply p O i n t the camera down a street I n Los Angeles, perhaps I n front o f O n e W i l s h i re O n e o f the most advanced sCience fiction stories o f o u r day-the Matrix t r i l o g y - p rojects a future superficially Identical to the present day I f t h e present IS I n d is t i n g u i s h a b l e from t h e f u t u re, Wa l l paper* MagaZine, the Eames La Chaise, the newest models of the Mazda M l ata, Cooper M i ni, Ca­ mara, Ford CTS, and Ford T h u nd e r b i rd demonstrate that the past only comes to perfection In the present Retrofitted, O n e W i l s h i re IS far greater than anyt h i n g I t ever was

78

j ust as O n e W i l s h i re was recycled Into a citadel for I m material c u l t ure, a l l we can do IS recycle old t h i n gs I n phases to make them newly desirable commodities a g a i n S u p p ly a n d demand e m e rge out of what IS already lYing around T h e metropolis IS complete O nly o u r relationship to t h e e l e ments of the world around us IS freed of permanence a n d keeps m o v i n g A l t h o u g h noth i n g h a s a u n i versal m e a n i n g or a last i n g v a l u e , objects sti l i convey provIsional m e a n i n gs and attain tem porary values created o n the fly, often for very short durations For a month a Beanie Baby IS worth $ 1 , 0 0 0 The next m o n t h It IS worth $3 a g a i n T h i s doesn't m e a n that anyt h i n g goes Objects can sti l i only function w i t h i n a system like tech stocks, the em pty promise of objects IS precisely what allows t h e m to rem a i n vital There IS no longer a fixed natural state of Identity or b e i n g A l l that IS left IS desire a n d the craving for ItS I m possible satisfaction Value IS now a commodity In and of Itself, regularly sought out and con­ sumed All objects and all people are m e m bers of a giant stock exchange, not I n vestors on the floor, but rather f l I C k e r i n g n u mbers r u n n i n g across a b a n n e r, some r i S i n g , some f a i l i n g , always movi ng u p and down I nd i v i d u als l o n g to b e c o m e v i r t u a l and escape I nto Ether I t IS t h r o u g h t h i s physIcal apparatus that Hol lywood stars, celebrities, and cri m i na l s obta i n anoth­ er body, a media l i fe N e i t h e r sacred nor l i v i n g , this media life I S pure I mage, more consistent and d e p e n d a b l e than physical life Itself It IS the dream we a l l share that we m i g ht become objects, or better yet, lose o u r corporeality to become pure I m ages Few objects demonstrate the drive to become media as does the 12" s i n ­ gle " B l u e Monday " The New Wave band New O r d e r began as j oy D,v,s,on, a British Punk group that starkly em bodied the post-lndustrlal a l i enation of late 1 970S M a nchester and whose history c u l m inated I n the s U I c i d e of ItS lead s i n g e r I a n Curtis on the eve of their first North American tour R I s i n g from the ashes o f j oy D,v,s,on, New O r d e r e m b raced synthesIZer technology

Abstract.,n - Ether, One Wilshire

(generally considered soulless by t h e P u n ks) and rejected the c l a m o r of P u n k for the beat o f the dance floor I n " Bl u e M o n d ay: the b a n d achieved p h e ­ nomenal m e d i a success, creating the most p o p u l a r s i n g l e o f a l l t i m e But I n t h e i r deSire t o become more d i g i t a l - a n d hence more I m material-than actu­ ally possible at the ti me, N e w Order retained gra p h i c d e S i g n e r Neville Bro­ dy to make a die cut cover that would rese m b l e the sleeve of a large floppy disk T h e unique look won critical acc l a i m , b u t according to legend the most p o p u l a r 1 2 " of all t i m e cost the band 20 cents for every copy sold, r U i n i n g t h e m f i n a n C I a l ly b u t assuring t h e i r place I n the re g i m e o f m e d i a M e d i a life p r o m i s e s eternal eXistence, cleansed of unscripted character flaws and accldents-a guaranteed legacy that defies a g i n g and death by a l ­ ready a p p e a r i n g dead on arrival T h e Idols o f m i l l i ons v i a magaZines, f i l m , and televIsion a r e d i s e m b o d i e d , lifeless forms w i t h o u t content or m e a n i n g But the terrifYing t r u t h I S that, a l t h o u g h a media I m age m a y last forever, l i ke M i chael J ackson, ItS host IS prone to destruction and degradation Data It­ self IS not free of physicality When It IS red u p l icated or backed up to file and stored via a remote host I t suffers the same l i m i tations as the physical world It can be erased, lost, and compromised The constant frustration of CDs, DVDs, and hard drives IS that they diSi ntegrate Up to 20% of the I n ­ formation carefully collected on J et Pro p u lsion Laboratory computers dur­ Ing N ASA's 1 976 V i k i n g mission to Mars has been lost The average web page lasts only a h u ndred days, the tYPical life span of a flea on a dog Even If data Isn't lost, the a b i l ity to read It soon disappears Photos of the Amazon BaSin taken by satellites I n the 1970S are critical to understanding long-term trends I n deforestation but are trapped forever on I n d e c i p h e ra b l e magnetIC tapes This resistance by the physical aspect of v i r t u a l i ty to ItS I m material perfection, IS what keeps us p l u g ged In I t I S the crash of data, l i ke a n earth­ quake or t s u n a m i force that re m i nds us of the I m p l i cations of our own l i m i ­ tations a n d momentarily returns p u rpose a n d value t o o u r l i ves

80

That the dot-com a n d telecom busts occurred I n the first year of the new m i l l e n n i u m IS no accident Those who participated and I n vested In these busts did not do so without reason l i ke the followers of the Heaven's Gate c u l t and those who hoped that the year 2 0 0 0, or better yet, a K u b rlCk-esque

2001, would mark the end of all thi ngs, they were J ust desperate to b e l ieve that the end was near The process of Investing In Pets com was a matter of g i v i n g oneself up Borrowi n g on m a r g i n to I nvest not only the e n t i rety of one's pension In Akamal or Worldcom b u t to generate a life-crush i n g debt as a byproduct as well IS voluntary slavery The p u n d i ts were mistaken

It was not that we a l l hoped to take o u r

profits a n d get out o f the b o o m before It failed, I t was t h a t w e wanted to be part of Its failure a n d to feel Its destruction like t h e Bomb, the greatest d i s a p p o i n t m e n t of the dot-com crash of 2 0 0 0 was Its fa i l u re to b r i n g about Its greatest promise the end of all t h i n gs Today mem bers of the architectural post-avant-garde m a i ntain that ar­ chitecture should do not h i n g more than e m body the flows of capital I n ­ stead o f enslaving Itself t o capital, a s I t does now, and Instead o f fulfi l l i n g t h e master-slave d i a l e c t i c t o become capital's master, a s It a l ways wished to be under modernism, architecture now decides to end t h e game a n d achieve oneness with capital , 6 But I f a c h i e v i n g a state of oneness with capital IS architecture's fanta­ sy, what better place for this to h a p p e n than at One W i l s h i re? To become capital, architecture must first become Ether Architecture, l i ke all other o b ­ Jects, w i l l lose ItS Intri nSIC va l u e and enter I n t o a p u re system o f exchange Through symbol l i b raries and the magic of the dxf I m port command, It has become possi b l e for architectural p l a n s to reproduce at w i l l The restrooms from Frank G e h ry's signature b U i l d i n g , the G u gg e n h e i m M useum at B I I 1 6 Rem Koolhaas i n Rem Koolhaas: Conversations With Students, Architecture a t Rice University;

30 (New York Princeton Architectural Press, 1996), 64

Abstract.,n - Ether, One Wilshire

baa, can be copied onto a flash drive by a n Intern to endlessly re-appear I n schools o f architecture worldwide, t h e i r first role I n life Irrelevant a n d for­ gotten I n t h i s l i g ht, the prevalence of the computation-i ntensive blob In the academy I S revealed as the product of fear, a desperate attempt to reintro­ duce the hand and slow down architectural production J ust at the m o m e n t t h a t as It threatens to proliferate w i l d ly, beco m i n g p u re E t h e r O n e W i l s h i re has no s u c h f e a r Created before the d a w n of comput­ er-aided design, I t transcends architecture as p u re diagram a n d pure Idea E n d l e ssly repeatable, t h e re I S no l i m i t to ItS potent reach I t IS the architec­ tural realIZation of H e g e l 's S P i rit Itself One W i l s h i re IS an architecture of pure self-negation, s i m u ltaneously real and virtual, v I s i b l e and unseen O n e W i l s h i re IS an u n i m portant b U i l d i n g without a n y physical presence or a b i l i ­ t y t o s i g n ify I t S function Yet It I S crucial O n e W i l s h i re IS t h e u n real expos­ I n g and m a k i n g real of the unreal One W i l s h i re IS the palace for the e m p i re of Ether

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THE STIMULUS PROG RE

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: MUZAK

I n h i s Economic a n d Philosophical Manuscripts of 1 844, Karl Marx writes, 'The form i n g of the five senses IS a labor of the e n t i re history of the world down to the present " T h e great loser of t h i s h i story has been aurallty After s i g h t came to the fore I n that great visual age, the E n l i g h t e n m ent, au­ rallty's golden age was lost to us forever That h i story I S s i l e n t Not u n t i l Ed­ Ison's i nvention of the phonograph In 1877 do we know, w i t h certai nty, what sounds o u r ancestors heard

1

I n pre-I ndustrial societies, m usIc ordered the day, provi d i n g a continuous cond i t i o n i n g of t h e e n v i r o n m e n t l i ke a n i m a l s I n the w i l d , I n d iv i d u a l s sang e i t h e r i nd i v i d u a l ly or I n groups When In groups, s i n g i n g was a l ways a collec­ tive act Even w h e n one or more particularly talented s i n gers led the tune, everyone In the group contributed to t h e performance, e i t h e r as a s i n ger of the narrative, a m e m b e r of t h e chorus, or by s u p p o r t i n g the rhythm The rhythm of songs was key to work, coord i na t i n g workers' muscles for the repetitive tasks of the day Songs marked t h e cyclical time of day a n d pro­ vided the sensation of t i m e passing Songs commented on the work pro­ cess, everyday life, or re l i gious themes, thereby esta b l i s h i n g a shared bond between co-workers even I n the most difficult of situations Songs sung to­ gether at the workplace, at home, and In worship established sol i d bonds I n com m u n ities by prov i d i n g shared experiences and m a r k i n g the memory of other shared experiences M USIC was both a c o m m u n a l activity and, I n m e ­ mori a l I Z i n g events, the b e g i n n i n g o f h i story-w r i t i n g If everyday l i fe was structured b y an acoustic rhythm, t h e repetition of songs was a constant producer of difference Each time a song was sung, It was original, adapted to the CIrcu mstances of the moment Until the I ndustrial Rev­ olution, all sounds were unique Whether they were produced for mUSIC, as by­ products of human actions, or natural I n origin, sounds could not be replicated

1 Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1 844 (New York International, 1968), 140-141

Ethts TheStimulus Progression, Muzak

T h e everyday acoustic environment was not, however, a merely t e m p o ­ r a l activity I t w a s a l s o s p a t i a l , m a r k i n g out a territory through sound M USIC warded off a hostile nature by asserting the presence of h u mans against the sounds of the wild But some sounds could not be t a m e d Anthropologists t h e o r I Z e that loud sounds, especially those I n the lowest acoustic registers, I n s p i re feel­ Ings of awe a n d dread T h u nder, the ocean, storms, waterfalls, a n d volca­ noes terrified p r i m i tive peoples, m a k i n g t h e m sense that Cod w o u l d soon p u n ish t h e m

Priests and r u l e rs w o u l d use c h u rch bel ls, gongs, and the p i p e

organ t o s i m ulate these l o u d , low-frequency sounds, thereby i nsti l l i n g t h e sensation t h a t C o d w a s present T h i s s o n i c Cod w a s often n o t o n l y i nVIS­ I b l e b u t also I n a u d i b le, produced by Infraso n i c p h e n o m e n a Cod's Infrason­ IC eXistence exp l a i ns why In J u d e a - C h ristian trad i t i o n his n a m e IS u n utter­ a b l e N O i se, J acques Atta l l writes, IS c a p a b l e of d i s r u p t i n g tissues, and car­ ries w i t h It the threat of death T h ro u g h h a r m o ny, nOise can be s u b l imated By re l e a s i n g dissonance, m usIc functions l i ke r i t u a l sacrifice, repro d u c i n g the terror o f m urderous v i o l e nce, t h e reby d e m o n strat i n g h o w Cod c o u l d re­ d i rect destructive forces for m a n k i nd's good and, In dissol v i n g the I n d i v i d u ­ al I n a greater w h o l e, aff i r m s society ' T h e I n d ustrial Revolution brought radical change to the acoustic l a n d ­ scape of everyday l i fe M a c h i n e s on the factory floor produced loud sounds without regard to aesthetics or h u m a n comfort Nor did these new Industri­ al sounds stop at the factory walls some factories were loud e n o u g h to be heard beyond the gates, w h i l e trains a n d later a u t o m o b i l es generated sounds that permeated the city W i t h machi nes now the d o m i n a nt producers of sound, power shifted from the c h u rch to capital and the background against w h i c h everyday life was lived changed from nature to I ndustry Workers had 2

Jacques Attali, Noise: The Political Economy of Music (Minneapolis University of Minnesota Press, 1985), 26-31

106

l i tt l e c o n t r o l over t h e se s o u n d s ; t h ey were, i n g e n e r a l n o t p a rt i c i pato ry, n o t p l e a s a nt, a n d a ffo rd e d l i t t l e v a r i a t i o n . S i n g i n g was i n crea s i n gly d i ff i c u l t i n t h i s new e nv i ro n m e n t . I n d u s t r i a l m a c h i n e ry c r e a t e d a new rhyt h m to l i fe . T h e s t r u c t u re of wo rk i n t h i s new s i t u a t i o n was a l s o h os t i l e to s o n g . T h e n i n e ­ t e e n t h c e n t u ry fa cto ry boss a n d t h e twe n t i e t h c e n t u ry m a n a g e r re p l aced t h e s o n g- l e a d e r i n t h e fi e l d b u t i nstead of worki n g i n c o n c e rt w i t h t h e i r fe l l ows t h ey o r d e re d t h e m a ro u n d , e x p e ct i n g n o re s p o n s e except o b e d i e n c e . I n t h e factory s o n g s of d i ss a t i s fa c t i o n w e re n o t o n ly e m o t i o n a l re l eases, b u t co u l d i n cite revo l t a s we l l . S o n gs co m m e n t i n g o n work co u l d n o t be p e r m i tted, a n d factory own e rs b a n n e d t h e m . M a ny co m p a n i e s p e rceived e m p l oye e- prod u ce d m u s i c a s a d i st ra c t i o n fro m d a n ge ro u s w o r k w i t h t h e e x p e n sive new m a ch i n ­ e ry. H e n ry Ford's e m p l oyees worked i n s i l e nce 3

3

See Mark M Smith, ed

Hearing H istory. A Reader

(Athens University of Georgia Press, 2004)

Ethics - The S t i m u l u s Progression Muzak

�

As c a p i t a l i s m rep l a c i n g sacred and courtly soci ety, musIc became auton­ omous from the sacred In addition to sprea d i n g m a c h i n e sounds through­ out the City, I n d ustri a l I Z a t i o n also a l lowed the bourgeoIsie to amass capital, thereby threate n i n g t h e c u l t ural exclusIvity of the aristocracy As the newly rich I n d ustrialists looked to express their hi gher c u l t u ral sta n d i n g , they a p p roPriated courtly musIc for their own enterta i n m e nt M USIC was tied to p u b l i c architecture a n d to the metropolis It IS no accident that Garnier's Opera IS the centerpiece of Haussmann's Paris T h e musical performance IS the center of SOCial life I n t h e City of li ght, the place to see and be seen If the m i x i n g pool of the O p e ra's staircase demonstrated a Utopian near-equal­ Ity-only the E m p e ror Viewed the scene from above-the performance rei n ­ forced h i e rarchy a s the sea t i n g Itself dem onstrated SOCial status T h e nature of performance changed as well The rowdy collective a u d i e nces of the past were rete rritorlallZed I n d i vi d u a l s contemplated the performance In silence, but then u n ited at the end to give their collective verdict through a p p lause At home, the p , a no took u p residence I n the bourgeoIs household An i nstru­ ment of u n W i e l dy sIZe and shape and great expense, It verified the owner's status In society In the city especially only a well -off person could afford to give such space to musIc Thomas Edison developed t h e first phonograph In 1 8 n harnessing sound to play It back from a rotati n g cyl i nder The p a c k a g i n g of Edison's cyl­ Inders led consumers to c a l l the new m e d i u m 'canned musIc: I n d icat i n g the new status of m usIc as a commodity A decade later, E m i l e Berliner I nvented the gramophone, w h i c h played back sound from a revo l V i n g diSC Cons u m ­ e r s could, for t h e first t i m e, p u rchase and control t h e i r a u d i o progra m m i n g a s previously only t h e aristocracy could do Fans could listen t o t h e i r favorite songs repeatedly The weary worker could relax at home and listen to songs on demand, without expend i n g effort

108

I n the Recording Angel, Evan Eisenberg e x p l a i n s that the gra m o p h o n e and the p h o n o g r a p h objectified musIc red u c i n g It to an accom p a n i m e nt t o a piece of furniture and d O i n g away with the n e e d f o r a p u b l i c architectural space for enjoyment of musIc I nstead of liste n i n g to m usIc played by per­ formers I n a n opera house, p h i l ha r m o n i c hall, church, or p u b, from that p O i n t on people l i s t e n e d to objects such as record p l ayers, and radios M o reover, the development of the mass-produced record made It possible for I n d i v i d u ­ als to c o l l e c t m usIc as a n object, somet h i n g to a d m i re on a s h e l f as m u c h a s audibly T h e experience of l i st e n i n g to recorded m u s I c I S a d i s t i n c t experience from prod u c i n g musIc or gOi ng to a concert The ease of plaYing I t back and the lack of a performer a l lows the listener to perceive the m u s I c through dis­ traction, not through active contemplation Leaving the room or c o u g h i n g l o u d l y w h i l e m u s I c IS p l a Y i n g from a record IS generally n o t considered rude as It would be I n a live performance liste n i n g to musIc I n one's own home undid the old experience of c o m m u n a l m u s i c a l a p p reCIation, the mass dis­ t r i b u t i o n of a s i n g le, recorded piece allowed dispersed com m u nities to form around a single performance's a p p reCIation regardless of ItS o r i g i n a l time or location The appearance of mass-produced musIc at the turn of the century came at a m o m e n t when l e i s u re t i m e was e x p a n d i n g , thereby posing new p r o b l e m s for the recently I nvented profession of the m a n a g e r For I f the factory and office d e m a nded new levels of attention from the worker, they also created new hei ghts of monotony Both the workday and t h e work­ week shortened so that e m p l oyees could have t i m e to recover from t h e i r d u l l l a b o rs, but l e i s u re t i m e h a d I t S o w n dangers the w o r k i n g class could fa l l prey either to desta b i l I Z i n g mass-oriented political forces or to drink and u n r u ly i nd i vi d u a l behavior Welfare orga n I Z a t i o n s such as the Y M CA sprang up to help workers while corporations created organIZed activities such as

Ethts - The Stimulus Progression, Muzak

sports a n d a d u l t education To teach workers last i n g values a n d make the workplace more tolerable, some corporations established programs In w h i c h workers e i t h e r listened t o or produced a p p roved m usIc A t Frank Ll oyd Wright's L a r k i n A d m i n istration B U i l d i n g I n Buffalo, a p i p e organ a n d repro­ d u c i n g p , a n o were I n s t a l l e d so that m u s I c i a ns could play for the e m p loyees H e n ry Ford h i red the Detroit Symphony to play for h i s e m p loyees several t i m es a year D e p a r t m e n t stores h e l d m o r n i n g s l n g-alongs I n order to I n s t i l l politeness I n t h e i r workers A l l t h i s took t i m e out from leisure a n d al lowed a condi t i o n i n g of the workers' lives 4

THE WIRED WIRELESS MASS MEDIUM The i nvention of radio at the b e g i n n i n g of the twentieth century further transformed the I n d i vi d u a l 's relationship to the collective by prov i d i n g a sys­ tem for Instantaneous comm unication across great distances D U r i n g the

' 9 2 0S, commercial radio broadcasts s p read across the a i r, d e l i ve r i n g re g u lar, d e p e n d a b l e media experiences that large n u m b e rs of I n d i vi d uals could share s i m u l taneously, even w h i l e apart Once p u rchased, radios assembled these I n d i vi d u a l s Into a mass audience regardless of t h e i r l i t e racy or social status, creating the first true mass m e d i a T h ro u g h the addition of the t u n i n g d i a l , radio listeners gained the effortless experience o f s u r f i n g f o r i nformation across different c h a n n e ls liste n i n g to the radio was less a private experi­ ence enjoyed by a n autonomous I n d i vi d u a l and more a series of I n d i vi d u a l or s m a l l group experiences I n w h i c h people saw themselves as part of a reg i o n ­ a l l y d i s p e rsed body m a d e u p o f content producers, transmi tters, radio s i g ­ nals, receivers, and o t h e r listeners whom t h e y never meet personally Radio, however, sti l i faced many real l i m itations I t required large and ex4 On the emergence of the phonograph see Eisenberg, The Recording Angel and Jonathan Sterne, The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction (Durham Duke University Press, 2003)

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pensive s i g n a l towers, ItS relatively weak transmissions were easily i nterrupt­ ed by local terrain and would often degrade In poor weather conditions, ItS s i g n a l s would drop off due to distance In 1 91 1 , General George Owen S q u I ­ er, t h e n C h i e f S i g n a l Officer o f the US A r m y S i g n a l Corps, discovered a s o l u ­ t i o n t o these problems, I d e n t i f Y i n g a n effective means o f a u d i o transmission over electrical power l i nes uSing the signal m u lt i p l e x i n g he developed to car­ ry m u l t i p l e c h a n n e l s over one w i re In contrast to w i reless radio, transm i t t i n g m u s I c t h r o u g h the system S q u i e r n a m e d "wi red wi reless" e n s u red h i g her s i g ­ nal q u a l ity regardless o f atmospheric or s o l a r conditions Weary o f the priva­ tIZation that had marred the early development of the telephone I n d ustry, S q u i e r patented h i s d i scovery I n the name of the American p u b l i C, m a k i n g the technology ava i l a b l e for free use and deve l o p m e n t across the nation E n g i neers adapted the new technology to create the fi rst countrywide com m u nications network, allowi n g the simultaneous del ivery of programs through utility l i nes to remote radio transmitting stations Squier, however, was not satisfied with the commercial structure of radio, In which programs were funded by Intrusive commercials He envIsioned a new network supported by a toll that would make unnecessary the commercials and program Interruptions that sponsored, and for Squier, corrupted radio Squier a p p roached the North American Com pany, then the nation's largest utility company, to transmit musIc over their l i nes North American responded positively and formed Wired Radio, Incorporated To avoid problems with broadcast rights to mUSIC, North Ameri­ can p u rchased Breltkopf Publ ications, I nc , a European music- p u b l i s h i n g house, and renamed It Associated MUSIC P u b l i shers In ' 934, North American formed the M uzak Corporation to transmit m u ­ S I C d i rectly t o homes I n Cleveland M uzak's name was derived from a merger of the word " m usIc" with "Kodak: a h i g hly technological and reputable c o m ­ p a n y S q u i e r died l a t e r that year, never to s e e the success of h i s Invention

Ethts - The Stimulus Progression, Muzak

Success was not, I n any case, I m mediate T h e project I n Cleveland fe l l v i c t i m t o technological troubles a n d t h e development of supe rheterodyne CIrCUits, vac u u m tubes, and v o l u m e controls gave radios a tec h n o l o g i ­ c a l boost w h i l e the o n g o i n g Depression encouraged consumers to stICk w i t h a o n e - t i m e r a d i o p u rchase over the expense of a long-term lease F o r t h e i r part, radio c o m p a n i e s opposed the I d e a o f M uz a k c o m p e t i n g for t h e i r listen­ ers In 1 93 8 , the Federal Com m u n ications C o m m i ssion severely restricted M u ­ zak's market I n radio's favor b y forb i d d i n g t h e company from u S i n g electrical power l i nes for broadcast d i rectly I nto the home Although Squier's I n v e n ­ tions of w i r e d wireless and S i g n a l m u lt i p l e x i n g would l a t e r be widely adopted by c a b l e televIsion broadcasters, M uzak would I n it i a l ly be restricted to com­ mercial venues Far from l i m i t i n g the c o m p a ny, forc i n g M uzak to target commercial ve n ­ ues I nstead offered It a clearer m ission that would give It an advantage over radio In commercial set t i n g s Recorded musIc IS sold w i t h l i m ited rights of use, generally not I nc l u d i n g p u b l i c performance licenses for plaYi ng record­ ed m e d i a In p u b l i c were a key source of Income for the yo u n g record I n d us­ try, but created new difficulties I n tra c k i n g the n u m b e r a n d locations of ItS playback In 1 91 4, the American Society of Composers, Artists, a n d P u b l i s h ­ e r s ( ASCAP ) was founded, s e r v i n g a s a m e m b e r-owned organIZation t o fight for fai r compensation w h e n recorded work was p u b l icly performed T h e first successful lawsuit p u rsued by ASCAP, against Shanley's Restaurant In New York C ity, was heard by the U n ited States S u p reme Court J ustice O l iver Wendell Holmes e x p l a i n e d h i s J u d g m e n t In favor of ASCAP by saying 'If m u ­ S I C d i d not pay, It would be given u p Whether It pays or not, t h e p u rpose of e m p loYi n g It IS profit and that IS e n o u g h " By ' 9 20, the a d m i n istration of musIc rights had become a major b U S I ­ n e s s W h i l e r a d i o stations c o u l d l i cense progra m m i n g f o r personal p e rfor­ mance, they could not track where m u s I c was b e i n g played and take respon-

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s i b i l ity for its licensing The wi red wireless subscription service, however, was ideal for this task Because every M uzak receiver could be u n i q uely identi­ fied, it was easy for Muzak to track who was using their service and what the service was being used for M uzak is the perfect commodity If, as Guy Debord s u g gests, the specta­ cle is capital accumu lated to the degree that i t becomes i m a ge, M u zak took this a step further, making v i s i b i l ity a t h i n g of the past M uzak reformed i n New Yo rk City to cater to the hotel and restaurant market, playing in venues l i ke the Chambord, the Stork C l u b , and the Waldorf Astoria Audio would be sent to clubs through leased telephone l i nes rat h er t h a n electric l i nes Speakers would be h i d d e n amongst large plants, there­ by making the music seem to come out of nowhere and lend i n g it the name "potted palm" music W ith the d i s a p pearance of any visible means of sound

Ethics

T h e Stimulus Progression Muzak

prod u c t i o n , M u z a k exce e d e d t h e g ra m o p h o n e 's c a p a c i ty to m a ke s o u n d a u ­ to n o m o u s . I n d e l iv e r i n g p r o g ra m m i n g t o t h e w o r k p l a ce, M u z a k s o o t h e d t h e m i n ds of e m p l oyees, e n h a n c i n g t h e i r p ro d u ct i v i ty w h i l e e l i m i n a t i n g t h e d i s­ tra c t i o n s c a u s e d by co m m e r c i a l s , scri pted p rogra m s , a n d o t h e r v e r b a l c o n ­ tent. S e n d i n g m u s i c to t h e w o r k p l a ce was i n ke e p i n g w i t h t h e v i s i o n t h a t S q u i e r h a d l eft f o r t h e c o m p a ny. As C h i ef S i g n a l O ffi cer of t h e Army S i gn a l C o rps, S q u i e r u s e d m u s i c to i n crease t h e p r o d u ct i v i ty of h i s s e c r e t a ri e s . Afterwards, he i nvestigated ways t h a t m u s i c co u l d re c a p t u re t h e b e n e ­ f i t s of p re - i n d ustri a l s o n g , i n o rd e r to s o o t h e t h e n e rves of e m p l oyees w h i l e i n crea s i n g t h e i r o u t p u t . T h e i d e a of u s i n g m u s i c to i m p rove a n e n v i ro n m e nt was n o t u n c o m m o n by t h e 1 93 0 S , w h e n d e n t i sts e m p l oyed m u s i c to a u g m e n t o r even re p l ace a n e s t h e t i c . M u z a k s o o n p roved e ffective i n l o c a t i o n s beyo n d t h e office o r fa cto-

ry floor As skyscrapers reached ever t a l l e r I n North American cities, b U i l d i n g owners e m p l oyed M uzak t o c a l m anxIous elevator riders, q U i c k l y e a r n i n g ItS programs the name 'elevator musIc " New research I n t h e 1 93 0 S provided a rationale for M uz a k 's effects N a m e d after a study at the Hawthorne Plant of the Western E l e c t r i c C o m ­ p a n y I n C i cero, I l l inoIs, the Hawthorne Effect provided a rationale f o r h u m a n relations I n the workplace The study concluded t h a t I n d i vi d u a l s would be more productive when they knew they were b e i n g studied or paid attention to, regardless of the experimental m a n i p u lation e m p l oyed T h e workplace, It turned out, was first and foremost a social system made up of i nterdepen­ dent parts Accord i n g to t h i s theory workers would be more I n f l uenced by social demands from i nside and outside the workplace, by t h e i r need for rec­ o g n i t i o n , secu rity, and a sense of b e l o n g i n g , than by the physical environ­ ment surro u n d i n g t h e m B e i n g the object of a study made workers feel I n ­ volved a n d I m portant T h e Hawthorne Effect argued for attention a n d sur­ vei l lance Instead of architectural or social reforms At t h i s t i m e M uzak unreflectlvely m i m icked radio, with a hotel orchestra sound developed by Ben Selvln, a prolific band leader who had recorded 1 , 0 0 0 records b y 1 9 2 4 a n d whose M o u l i n Rouge Orchestra h a d extensive experi ­ ence on the a i r N a m e d vice-president for record i n g and progra m m i n g at the corporation I n ' 934, Selvln set u p M uz a k as a radio station, with d i s t i n c t pro­ grams featUring types of m usIc such as marches for breakfast and pipe or­ gans for l u n c h S e l v l n preferred a q U i et and restrained sound with few brass Instruments and an e m p hasIs on stri ngs To prevent the musIc from l u l l i n g workers t o sleep, S e l v l n chose p o p u l a r songs fam i l i a r t o everyone, thereby kee p i n g workers' attention M uzak provided a gesture to the workers-de­ p l oY i n g the Hawthorne Effect-a constant rem i nder that the boss was t h i n k­ I n g of t h e m

Ethts - The Stimulus Progression, Muzak

W i t h i n the workplace, M uzak d i s t i n g u ished between four basIc condi­ tions- p u b l i c areas, offices, l i ght I n d ustrial settings, a n d heavy I n d ustrial set­ t i n gs-each of w h i c h they addressed w i t h a different m u s I c program I n I n ­ dustrial settings, where loud nOises make traditional background m u s I c hard to hear, M uzak turned to sounds with a greater penetration, favoring percus­ sion Instruments and m e l o d i e s with more distinct t i m b res Even If the fac­ tory was loud, the difference In pitch made the musIc a u d i b l e Studies pro­ duced by M uzak showed that I t reduced absenteeism In the workplace by 88 per cent D u r i n g the Second World War, the m i l itary sponsored sCientific research and stim ulated m a n a g e m e n t t e c h n i q u e s to I m p rove productivity, u n d e r t a k i n g extensive research I nto the p l a Y i n g o f m usIc I n office a n d factory e n v i r o n ­ ments T h e s e s t u d i e s , often undertaken by e m p loyees of M uzak and ItS com­ petitors, concluded that s i l e nce d u r i n g repetitive tasks led to boredom w h i l e t a l k i n g was too distracting M USIC, on the other h a n d , d i d not draw the eye's attention away from work, rather It a l leviated fatigue a r i s i n g from monoto­ nous actions The general conclusion of these studies s u g gested that m usIc affects the body physiological ly, s t i m u l a t i n g breat h i n g , metabolism, m us c u l a r ene rgy, pulse, blood pressure, and Internal secretions T h i s fit neatly with the J ames­ Lange theory developed Independently by W i l l i a m J ames and Carl Lange The J ames-Lange theory states that the h u m a n nervous system creates auto­ matic changes with regard to experiences I n the world O nly once one feels a rise In heart rate, an I ncrease In perspiration, dryness of the mouth, a n d s o on does o n e experience emotion B y affecting the body physiologically, background m u s I c could keep workers' nervous systems calm and thereby g i v i n g them greater emotional sta b i l ity d u r i n g the d i f f i c u l t days of the war Starting d u r i n g the 'Baptism by Fire" of the British d u r i n g ' 9 40, the BBCs ' M usIc W h i l e You Work" program broadcast m usIc made by two live

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bands to factories to soothe workers return i n g to work a fter n i gh ts of bom­ bardment, thereby d i s tra c t i n g them from d we l l i n g on their pred i c a m e n t . The success was noted i n B r i ta i n a n d the U n i ted States. Soon after, m usic was made m a n d a tory for a l l British war workers. By war's end some 5 m i l l i o n British workers l i stened t o " M usic W h i l e You Wor k . " By 1 9 43 , s o m e 6 m i l l i o n American workers l i s tened to m usic i n the factory. After the war, corpora tions continued to be i n terested i n u s i n g music to i m p rove prod u c t i v i ty. At M u z a k , company researchers who had been i nvolved in wa rti m e research came to the conclusion that i n addition to the va gue i n ­ crease i n prod u c t i v i ty that m usic i n t h e wo rkplace generated through the H a w thorne Effect, the J a m e s - L a n ge theory suggested that music could more d e l i berately a ffec t the c h a n g i n g attention levels of workers thro u g h o u t the day to m a i n ta i n a steady level of pro d u c t i v i ty.

Ethics

The Stimulus Progression Muzak

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While Taylorist work practices streamlined industrial manufacturing and office work, they also made these J obs even more monotonous With­ out direct supervision, the fatigue and boredom brought about by repetitive tasks could quickly undo the very advances that these new practices hoped to provide Muzak researchers concluded that varying the tempo of music played to workers throughout the workday was one way of fighting fatigue For this they turned to another fundamental observation of modern in­ dustrial psychology, the Yerkes-Dodson Law, formulated by Robert M Yer­ kes and J ohn 0 Dodson in 1908 According to the Yerkes-Dodson Law, opti­ mal performance is attained with a median level of arousal Too much arous­ al distracts the worker while too little leads to inertia The sources of arousal in the office environment can take many forms, and include negative stimuli

l i ke stress and anxiety as well as pleasure and comfort or even, as the Haw­ thorne Effect proved, the act of sCientific m o n i to r i n g Itself T h e key Isn't each m o m e n t of arousal Itself, but the flow from one m o m e nt to the next, and the variation of arousal types M u z a k researchers concluded that since complex work IS more engaging, I t requires less distraction from background musIc w h i l e s i m p l e work, b e i n g less arous i n g , requires more complex m u s I c Whatever the workplace environment, M uzak s e t out t o m a i nt a i n a m e ­ d i a n level o f arousal Researchers observed natural levels o f arousal rise a n d f a l l throughout the day a s w e l l a s over fifteen m i nute cyclical periods I n re­ sponse, M uzak arranged programs accord i n g to a 'Sti m u l us Progression: varying musical energy levels over fifte e n - m i nute segments followed by e i ­ t h e r t h i rty-second or fifte e n - m i nute l o n g periods o f s i l e nce, d e p e n d i n g on the subscri b e r's d e S i re T h e l e n g t h of the Sti m u l us Progression enhanced productivity by creating distinctly d e l i m ited breaks I n work activity The Sti m ul u s Progression Itself was based on M uzak's analysIs of ItS songs for their emotional content and energy levels Factoring I n tempo, type of mUSIC, Instruments e m p l oyed, a n d the sIZe of orchestra, M uzak de­ termined a sti m u l us value for each song By the ' 950S, M uzak would mod­ ulate ItS level of s t i m u l u s d u r i n g the day to offset decreases In worker ef­ fiCiency d u r i n g m i d - m o r n i n g and m i d-afternoon s l u m p s The order of the Sti m ul us Progression was crucial studies showed that played backwards, It would put listeners to sleep T h e Sti m ul u s Progression was based on the human heartbeat, a n average of 72 beats per m i n ute at rest PlaYi ng m u s I c faster sti m u lated listeners, but constantly d O i n g so would make them nervous T h us, the S t i m u l u s Progres­ sion started below 72 b p m , risi ng d u r i n g the course of the program That the Sti m ul us Progression addressed the heartbeat at rest i ndicates that Muzak focused not so m u c h on the factory, where workers might exert themselves but on the office, where workers would be sedentary

Ethts - The Stimulus Progression, Muzak

Programmed for round-the-clock Shifts, M uzak was a n endless C I rcad i ­ an cycle I n w h i c h a l l sounds, I n c l u d i n g silence, were given space Eventual ly, M uz a k developed additional programs for use In homes, hospitals, urban e n ­ vironments, government facilities, and outer space W i t h Its o m n i p resence, M uz a k could order our lives temporally 5

'MUZAK FILLS THE DEADLY SILENCES' M uz a k developed d u r i n g the era of Art Deco architecture and ' J azzy" deSign like Art Deco, M uzak was meant to i ns p i re office workers to move a l o n g to the Increasingly fast pace of the modern corporation J ust as d e S i g n and ar­ chitecture evolved trom Art Ueco to the I nternational "tyle, M uzak moved to the Sti m ul us Progression The stre a m l i ned geometry of Art Deco deSign attempted to mask the re­ petitive nature of office work with a representation of the speed and t e m ­ po of m o d e r n musIc But A r t D e c o fa i l e d to k e e p I t S promise fixed I n a r c h i ­ tectural form, I t could only represent c h a n g e , and w a s n o t I t s e l f capable o f c h a n g i n g o v e r t i m e As workers grew accustomed to A r t Deco, t h e y grew

5 On the history of Muzak, see Jane Hulting, Muzak: A Study in Sonic Ideology, M A Thesis in Commu­ nication, Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 1988 and, in particular, Jerri Ann Husch, Music of the Workplace: A Study of Muzak Culture, Dissertation. University of Massachusetts, 1984 SteP"len H Barnes, M uzak, the Hidden Messages in Music:A Social Psychology of Culture, (Lewiston, NY, USA E Mellen Press, 1988) adds little to the Husch work, but is still of interest Also useful are two pOPJlar texts, Anthony Haden-Guest The Paradise Program; Travels through Muzak, Hilton, Coca-Cola, Texaco, Walt Disney, and Other World Empires, (New York, W Morrow, 1973) and Joseph Lanza, Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-Listening, and Other Moodsong, (New York S1, Martin's Press, 1994) The-e is no room here to discuss Squier's career prior to Muzak, but it is fas­ cinating reading nonetheless Squier developed military research, multiplexy, and was the second passenger in an airplane For that see Paul Wilson Clark, Major George Owen Squier: Military Scientist, Ph D dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 1974 Doron K Antrim, 'Music in Industry" The Musical Quarterly, vol 29, no 3 (July 1943), 275-290 provides a first-hand account of the use of music in wartime manufacturing

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bored of It, associate Its forms with the overheated exuberance of the 1 920S and the desperate salesmansh i p of the Creat Depression As I nternational Style modern architecture s p read In the postwar era, M uzak spread with It M uz a k punctuated activity on the floors of the J ohnson Wax Company b U i ld i n g, Lever House, the Seagram b U i ld i n g, the Chase M a n hattan bank b U i l d i n g , the Pan Am b U i l d i n g , the Sears Tower, the A p o l l o XI command mod­ u l e a n d countless other modernist structures M u z a k IS the h i d d e n e l e m e n t I n every E z r a Stoller photograph of a modernist office I n t e r i o r B y ' 9 50, s o m e

50 m i l l i o n p e o p l e heard M uzak every year M uz a k made modernism palatable sonlcally The new, hermetically sealed office b U i l d i n g s that the glass curtain wall and postwar air condi t i o n i n g sys­ tem permitted were capable of b l o c k i n g out distracting sounds from outside, but without these sounds, two new conditions emerged In some areas, of­ fice m a c h i nes, b U i l d i n g control systems, and fellow e m p loyees became more distracting w h i l e In others, you s i m p ly had too much q U iet m a k i n g the a r t i f i ­ CIal l a c k of environmental s o u n d uncomfortably n o t i c e a b l e Broadcast i n g M u ­ zak ensured a superi or, controlled background cond i t i o n M uz a k 's s l o g a n d U r i n g t h i s p e r i o d w a s ' M uzak f i l l s t h e deadly silences ' But M uzak Isn't J ust I n v I s i b l e to the eyes, I n the company's own words, M u ­ zak ' I S meant t o b e heard, b u t not listened to " A i m ed a t a s u b l i m i na l level, the I m m aterial gestures of the S t i m u l u s Progression were neither ornamental nor representational, but rather physiological Workers did not t h i n k about M uzak, they were programmed by It As soon as M uzak received any re­ quests for songs, they I m m ediately removed them from the l i b rary like the Fordlst worker, M u z a k that drew attention to Itself was deemed u n success­ ful and d i s m i ssed

Ethts - The Stimulus Progression, Muzak

By f i l l i n g the deadly s i l e n ces, M uz a k supported modernism and made the I m p e rsonality of the Fordlst m a n a g e m e n t system more palata b l e In bridg­ Ing melody ( , nd , v , d u a l ,ty ) a n d monotony ( t h e abstract f i e l d ) , M uzak provided a n e l e m e n t of accommodation against a background of abstraction, act­ I n g as a p a l l iative for both the modern office and for modern architecture I nteractions between i nd i v i d u a l s that would otherwise have been uncomfort­ able, such as disci p l i nary reprimands, terminations, and general office tension could a l l be a l leviated by Its soot h i n g background tones Composed almost exclusively of love songs stripped of t h e i r lyrics, the Sti m ul us Progression provided a gentle state of erotic arousal throughout the day Desire, u n i o n , a n d disappointment could a l l be felt collectively, a l b e ­ It subconsci ously, thereby a d d i n g color t o the day and b l u n t i n g t h e I m pact of such emotions w h e n real life erupted I n the workplace J a m e s Keenen, Ph D , the C h a i r m a n of M uzak's Board of SCientific AdvIsors concluded that ' M uzak promotes the s h a r i n g of meaning because I t mass,f,es symbolism I n which not few b u t all can participate " M uzak provided the same sym b o l i c experi­ ence as p r e - I n d ustrial song did, but t h i s s h a r i n g of m e a n i n g h a p p e ned below the threshold of consciousness Whereas In the 1930S M uz a k was essentially the same as p o p u l a r m u s I c and radio, b y the ' 9 40S It h a d g o n e I t S o w n way, creating a different level o f attention and I t S o w n m e d i u m M uzak h a d p i o n e e red the u s e o f l o n g play­ I n g 33 1 13 rpm records In order to create more seamless soundscapes for ItS functional musIc In contrast, RCA ViCtor'S ' 9 49 Introduction of the s m a l l er and less expensive 4 5 rpm diSC format allowed p o p u l a r h i t s a n d youth-ori­ ented rock musIc to be taken a l m ost anywhere and listened to over a n d over S m a l l h a n d - h e l d personal record players are some of the most I m portant cons u m e r objects of the twentieth centu ry, h e l p i n g to forge radically new com m u n ities a m o n g young adults based on cons u m ption and consumer I d e n ­ tity, rather than w o r k I t s e l f After a p e r i o d of eco n o m i c a n d technological

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growth from the first two world wars, a s u r p l u s of Income a l l owed teenagers u n p recedented freedom from fa m i l i a l restraints and societal mores Person­ al record players encouraged liste n i n g In private, offering media consumption free from supervIsion As the first purely cons u m e r market, youth c u l t u re re­ l i e d heavily on the purchas i n g a n d playback of m u s I c to express Itself and create Identity Young listeners would take apart songs, transc r i b i n g lYrics and musIc and plaYi ng the songs themselves The res u l t i n g rock and roll m u ­ S I C o f t h e 1 950S was t h e most dramatic s i n g u l a r youth c u l t u re movement I n hi story, c u t t i n g across class a n d even c h i p p i n g away a t racial divIsions But l i ke the prewar modernism of the avant-garde, rock a n d roll was the subject of constant, engaged attention In contrast, M uzak corresponded to postwar corporate modernism and was apprehended through distraction W h i l e rock became Increasingly abrasive and strove for shock value, M uzak desired not to be heard U n l i ke rock, popular w i t h yo u n g p e o p l e but hated by t h e i r elders, by the early 1 950S M uzak consciously e l i m inated genres com ­ monly perceived as objectionable Theodor W Adorno may w e l l have outlined the program for postwar M uz a k In his 1 93 8 'On the Fetish-Character In M USIC and the RegreSSion of liste n i n g " w h e n he stated that since contemporary musIc IS 'perceived pure­ ly as background: It no longer has anyt h i n g to do with taste 'To l i ke I t IS al­ most the same as to recognIZe It " In a world of completely I d e n t i c a l choices, reco g n i t i o n Itself has become I m possible Preference, Adorno s u g gests, ' d e ­ p e n d s merely on b i o g r a p h i cal deta i l s or on the situation I n w h i c h t h i n gs are heard ' Adorno contends that active liste n i n g IS at odds with contem porary m u s I c as It would reveal the b a n a l ity of ItS arrangement I nstead, of atte n ­ tion, Adorno s u g gests, contemporary m u s I c IS based on m i ndless repetition of certain material and performers 6 7 Theodor A Adorno, 'On the Fetish-Character in Music and the Regression of listening: Essays on Music (Berkeley University of California Press, 2002), 288-317

Ethts The Stimulus Progression, Muzak

Like air-conditioning and flucrescent lighting, Muzak ftourished as an acclimatization technology for the extreme environment of the skyscraper. Soon, however, it undid its host structure. Muzak made vast, horizontal inte­ rior spaces, previously usable only for warehouses, habitable by covering up the noise that would build up in large floorplates. The lower costs of build­ ing these nev.r, flat structures in less expensive suburban locations and the grOloVing efficiency of the same data communication technJogies that Muzak itself emplqed soon made tall buildings obsJete The development of cybernetic theories after the war transformed man­ agement structures and made the office Aoor a source fcr innOliation and positive change. Having learned from the Hawthcrne Effect, managers no looger acted as OIIerseers trying to keep employees fran wasting time and becoming distracted fran their tasks and instead encouraged emplqees to take on greater responsibility for themselves a n d their OIoVn positions within the ccrporation. In order for emplqees to share information and expertise, �ocial interaction became crucial and open environments replaced closed of­ fices and executive floors Large interiors facilitated greater freedom of com-

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m u n l catlon I n particu lar, the open p l a n s and hOrizontal methods of orga n i ­ zation developed b y proponents o f B u ro Landschaft became a major aspect of both late modern architecture and m a n a g e m e n t strategy O p e n p l a ns e l i m i nated w a l l s completely or replaced them with partitions to a l l ow for greater flexi b i l ity I n progra m m e a n d I n c reased i nteraction a m o n g e m p loyees T h i s o p e n ness, however, a l s o e n a b l e s the u n i m peded mculatlon of u n p l easant background nOise as well, I n c l u d i n g the distracting sounds of office m a c h i nes, ventilation systems, coworkers, and exterior traffic M u zak masked these background sounds, h e l p i n g e m p loyees and customers fo­ cus on messages and sounds that matter w h i l e a d d i n g a layer of sensory e n ­ gagement t o an otherwise b l a n k architecture The hOrlZontallty of the open plan IS the very basIs of contemporary so­ ciety It e n a b l e s f l u i d structures that can more effectively respond to c h a n g ­ I n g situations I n t h i s c o n d i t i o n , M uz a k 's a b i l i ty t o structure a n environ­ ment I n v I s i b ly offers a model for control In h i s 'PoStScript on t h e Societies of Control; G i l les Deleuze traces the transition from a society of disc i p l i n e t o a society o f control A s both Bata i l l e and Foucault p O i n t out, architecture was the I nstrument for d i s c i p l i n e and order throughout the e i g hteenth and ni neteenth centuries DeVices for creating enclosure and a l lo w i n g for the s u ­ pervIsion o f m a n y workers b y a few managers, b U i ld i n g s structured society By the m i dd l e of the twentieth ce n t u ry, however, this model no longer h e l d power I n p l a c e of the 'molds' m a d e by e n c l os u res, D e l e u z e sug gests t h a t w e a r e d o m i nated b y s u b t l e modulations N o l o n g e r d r i v e n b y fear, work IS now based on IdentifY i n g w i t h , and e n t e r i n g , the flow The Sti m ul u s Progression ensured the success of m o d u l a t i o n In the workplace 7

6 Deleuze, 'Postscript on the Societies of Control: 3 -7

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M uz a k now faces I n d i viduals with a changed sensorium T h e constant flow of changes across society has made us less responsive to any particular change Over ti me, our sensorium has grown m o re able to tolerate the shock of the new Once s h o c k i n g , both skyscrapers and sprawl have become every­ day T h i s condition IS also eVidenced by changes In our relationship to m u ­ S I C W h i l e E l v I s was radical I n t h e ' 9 50S, he IS background today T h e speed by w h i c h we assimilate newness I n m usical c u l t u re has I nc reased greatly over the last twenty years Played over and over, 'God Save the Queen" and ' l i ke A V i r g i n " have become tunes we h u m a l o n g w i t h absent-ml ndedly, t h e i r rad i ­ cal message s u b l i mated These p o p u l a r hits work t h e same way that M uz a k 's e a r l i e r Instrumentals did, a c t i n g as a st i m u la t i n g but b l a n k texture w i t h i n the empty spaces of work and consu m p t i o n When present, emotion becomes s u b l i mated I n t o affect t h a t c a n be turned on and off at w i l l Violently rejecting the h i p p i e ethic of free love and peace to the world, P u n k rock was the last musical or cultural movement that presented a n alternative emotion By the late '970s, New Wave had finished with emotion altogether, partly because new a m p l ification technology made It no longer necessary as a means of reac h i n g audiences (,t IS no accident that the Cars were the loudest band of t h e i r day) Thus J ohn Lennon's 1 970 Plastic Ona Band was a raw wound, Informed by Arthur Yanov's Primal Scream Ther­ apy In ItS quest to break through the veneer of rationalism that Fordlsm cre­ ated through the aural expression of acc u m u l ated pain In contrast, Tears for Fears' 1 9 8 3 the Hurting addressed the same theme via the Inflection less l i nes of a synthepop dance song 'Shout, shout/Let It a l l out/These are the t h i n gs I can do without/Come on/I'm t a l k i n g to you/So come on " Ten years later, the commercial acceptance of Kurt Coba l n pOints out how today a l l resistance, sadness, and p a i n can be experienced as affect With N i rvana, alienation was no longer a matter of struggle but rather could be accepted as a mood or I n ­ tensity Even prIOr t o Cobaln's death I n ' 9 9 4, M uzak, w h i c h was based I n Se-

Ethts - The Stimulus Progression, Muzak

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attle d u ri n g the decade of the "Seattle Sound," had created an i nstrumental version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Cobai n's i n heritance, " Emo Rock," reduces emotion to a genre. No l onger does music have to be as inflecti o n l ess as New Wave. Now i t can m i m e emotion, comforting us with the knowledge that i t is j ust a mood to plug i n and out of at will throughout the course of our day. Always ahead of the c u rve, M u z a k aband oned the Sti m u l u s Progression i n favor of " A u d i o Architecture" in the 1 98 0 s . At this p o i nt, the a mo u nt of sti m u l a t i o n received in the daily environment far exceeded any a b i l i ty of the engi neers at M uz a k to m o d u late such forces Oversti m u l ated , i n d i v i d u a l s can no l o nger be affected by i n creases in data a l o n e . In response, M uz a k 's pro­ gram mers d o n 't style themselves as engi neers or scientists. I nstead they har­ ness this excess of data to beco me "A u d i o Architects," a term that i nd icates that they construct envi ronments, and that M u z a k i s as m u c h art as science.

128

T h e sensorial overload of contemporary c u l t u re means that even o r i g i n a l s o n g s a r e no l o n g e r distracting Today most of M uzak's c h a n n e l s broadcast origi nals, not reorchestrated versions The result IS that M uz a k 's a u d i o pro­ gra m m i n g has become even more i nv I s i b l e If the m u s I c IS audi ble, ItS source IS no l o n g e r discern i b l e T h e c u l t u re i ndustries have m a d e It possible for even the most w i l d a n d subversive content t o be consumed b y everyone W i t h repeated a i rp l ay, song lYrics lose their m e a n i n g, t u r n i n g all musIc I nto a background of moods w i t h ­ o u t e m o t i o n a l d e p t h Today, I n a radically segmented d e m o g r a p h i c market, M uzak's customers can choose from a variety of programs that I nc l ude a l l forms of m USIC, p I C k i n g t h e c h a n n e l s a n d moods most a p p ropriate t o t h e i r a u d i ence's needs a n d c a n request custom selections designed t o enhance t h e i r unique brand personality For the post-Ford 1St marketplace, M uzak addresses ItS a u d i ence's e m o ­ t i o n s , creating moods rather t h a n see k i n g to m a n i p ulate attention M u z a k e m p loys the t e c h n i q u e of "At m o s p h e rics' to create a d i s t i n c t a m b i e nt a u d i o e n v i r o n m e n t f o r a p a r t i c u l a r retail e n v i r o n m e n t T h r o u g h a careful c h o i c e o f mUSIC, together with a p p ropriate selections of colors, furnit ure, and accesso­ ries, a store can conjure the I m a ge of an entire lifestyle I nside a store, M uzak's cozy, ordered atmospherics offer a contrast to the chaos outside and stim ulate the consumer's desire to p u rchase DIs­ oriented by nOise, the proliferation of signs, and the e m p t i ness a n d hustle that occurs w i t h i n the vastness of e i t h e r the m a l l or the contemporary Ci ty, the I n d i vi d u a l enters a store seek i n g solace a n d emotional comfort w i t h i n a clearly ordered set of goods and experiences Atmospherics also solve an earlier pro b l e m that M uz a k faced I n stores and restaurants D i rected at transient occupants of a space, the old p u b ­ l i c area M uzak c h a n n e l had a shorter progra m m i n g cycle, thereby Irritat i n g workers who h a d t o be I n the space for the entire day and felt relentlessly

Ethts The Stimulus Progression, Muzak

sped u p I n contrast, Atmospherics a i m at a culture that u n i tes workers a n d shoppers I n a total c o m m u n ity W i t h i n the workplace, M uzak not o n l y h e l p s st i m u late e m p l oyees s o t h a t t h e y produce more, Atmospherics form a cor­ porate c u l t u re that supports group hegemony and shared c u l t u ral referenc­ es a m o n g radically different i nd i v i d u a l s With M uzak, t h e u l t i mate product of the retail or corporate space becomes consumers and workers themselves The transition from the S t i m u l u s Progression to Atmospherics echoes the shift from Fordlsm to post-Ford Ism The Sti m u l us Progression was a m a n i fes­ tation of the Fordlst plan It was temporal, l i near, and directed at the i nd i v i d ­ ual, who w o u l d u s e It t o f i n e - t u n e his or h e r o w n self T h e Sti m u l us Progres­ sion was pri mari ly, a l t h o u g h not exclusively, about production In contrast, Atmospherics are spatial, n o n l i near, and self-contained Atmospherics replace the Sti m ul us Progression with Q u a n t u m Modulation, w h i c h does not vary I n Intensity or mood O n t h e contrary, u n d e r Q u a n t u m M o d u lation, songs are n u m erically Indexed accord i n g to criteria such as tempo, color ( l i ght or dark) rhythm, popularity and so on to ensure that the same Intensity can be m a i n ­ tained even as t h e m u s I c appears t o have changed Atmospherics address I n d i vi d u a l s as they traverse different a m b i a nces throughout t h e i r everyday lives U n l i ke t h e relatively s i m p l e goals of the Sti m ul us Progression, Atmo­ spherics propose that work I S a form of c o n s u m p t i o n and that cons u m pt i o n IS a form of work

8

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More information on the recent history of Muzak can C€ found in Jonathan Sterne, 'Sounds like the Mall of America Programmed Music and the Architectonics of Commercial Sp3ce: Ethnomusicology, vol 41, no 1 (Winter, 1997), 22-50, in David Owen, 'The Soundtrack of Your life Muzak in the Realm of Retail Theater: the New Yorker, April 10, 2006, 66-71 as well as on the corporation's web site, http!!www muzakcom

130

THE HUMAN CHAMELEON

Fordist modernism understood that inserting the individual into a larger, overarching plan-be it for a city or a corporation-would appear to give a logical rationale to the process of mass industrialization while providing a theological relief from the uncertainties of modernity, creating a sort of Hawthorne Effect in the public realm If initially the plan forced individuals to look inward and discipline themselves, the need for constant adJust­ ment and better gUidance led Fordist modernism to more explicitly gUide in­ dividuals from outside Through the Stimulus Progression, Muzak was an ear­ ly form of such human programming. Turning to the background condition instead of plans is a more contemporary approach that does away with the need to gUide individuals directly

Fo r t h e c o n te m p o ra ry w o r l d , t h e p l a n , w h i c h a d d resses t h e i n d i v i d u a l a s a n i n d i v i d u a l , i s t o o d i re c t . We d o n o t m e a n t o s u ggest t h a t A l t h usser's i d e a t h a t i d e o logy i n terpe l l a t e s t h e i n d i v i d u a l was w r o n g , o n l y t h a t i n d i v i d u a l s a re i n c re a s i n gly d i sso l v i n g a n d t h a t i n terpe l l a t i o n i s t h e l a s t t h i n g t h a t p ow­ e r n e e d s . On the c o n t ra ry, both p l a n a n d i d e o l o gy a re o bs o l e t e . I n stead, t h e ba ckgro u n d co n d i t i o n d o e s a w a y w i t h t h e n e e d to g u i d e i n d i v i d u a ls d i re ctly. B a ckgro u n d co n d i t i o n s a re passively effective, they s i m ply offer i n d i v i d u a l s t h e s e d u ctive fre e d o m t o j o i n i n a n d b e c o m e a p a r t of s o m eth i n g gre a t e r i n ­ stead of a c t i vely d e m a n d i n g a l l e g i a n ce . I n " M i m i cry a n d Lege n d a ry Psych asth e n i a , " R o g e r C a i l l o i s o b s e rves h o w t h e p rocess of m i m i cry a m o n g s t a n i m a l s a n d i n sects i s n o t so m u c h a d e fe n ­ sive m e a s u re a s a n ove rw h e l m i n g d ri v e . T h e Phyl l i a , fo r exa m p l e , l o o ks l i ke a l e a f so m u c h t h a t it is p ro n e to e a t i n g i ts own ki n d . B u t m i m i cry is n o t n e c­ e s s a ry fo r m a ny i n sects, w h o have o t h e r d e f e n s e s or a re i n e d i b l e . I n s t e a d ,

C a i l i o i s observes a n " i nstinct of ren u nciation" that leads creatures to a re­ duced form of eXistence In w h i c h they lose t h e i r d i s t i n c t i o n from the world and give up consciousness and fee l i n g C a i l i o i s concludes that In our world space IS far more c o m p l e x the s u bject IS u n d e r m i n e d w i t h i n these spaces from the start

9

With the Sti m ulus Progression abandoned for Atmospherics, and the p l a n replaced b y the background, the I n d i vi d u a l becomes a h u m a n chameleon, lacking either strong sense of self or a g U i d i n g plan, but I n stead constantly look i n g outward for social cues, see k i n g an a p p ropriate background condition to settle upon so as to comfortably lose distinction from the world Today, difference Itself has attained ItS own level of banality and accep­ tance Ever since Marlo Thomas and Steve j obs, the media m a c h i n e r i t u a l i s t i ­ cally admonishes us to " B e Yourself" a n d " T h i n k Different" to t h e p O i n t t h a t we c a n n o t u n d e rstand what IS g e n u i n e difference and what I S contrived f o r the s a k e o f a p p e a rance Such difference f o r ItS own s a k e IS a k i n to I nternet porn an endless proliferation of I mages, each meant to arouse and t i t i l late more than the others A l t h o u g h In the early twentieth century the I n d i vi d u a l st i l i feared relflcatlon, or b e i n g turned I n t o a t h i n g by the Fordlst system, the human c h a m e l e o n finds that IdentifYi ng with the system of objects or I m ­ ages I S easy The h u m a n c h a m e l e o n seeks cues from t h i n gs a s well a s from other b e i n gs If not a M l es c h a i r or K a r i m Rashid, then perhaps s o m e t h i n g from P i e r 1 I m ports or Pottery Barn w i l l do Unable to f i n d progress or d i rection, the human chameleon follows Freud's Pleasure P r i n c i p le, see k i n g to b l e n d In to ItS surro u n d i n g s but, when that gets to be too m u c h , breaks w i t h them and seeks out a new environ­ ment to Identify with T h i s can happen at various scales We can choose our citIZenship, o u r re l i gion, our career, our sexual practices, even o u r gender We

9

Roger Callais, 'Mimicry and Legendary Psychasthenia" October 31 (Winter, 1984), 16-32

Ethts The Stimulus Progression, Muzak

can Identify w i t h o u r diverse friends, fam i ly m e m bers, ad models, televIsion actors, serial k i l lers, porn stars, cartoon characters such as D l l bert, and I n ­ ternet avatars at w i l l We find pleasure I n the process of Identification as we see others w i t h the same desires we have We are less and less distinct I n d i ­ viduals a n d more a n d more surfers on a wave o f mass subJectlvltles h e l d by many people a l l at once I n order to function w i t h i n the contemporary Ci ty, we have a l l become h u m a n c h a m e l e o n s without a sense of home Beyond merely m o v i n g from place to place, we move from self to self accord i n g to the social conditions we f i n d ourselves I n A s t h e most v I s i b l e products of society that literally shaped o u r environ­ ment, b U i ld i n gs have always provided social cues Architecture creates group relationships by articulating moods and m i l i e us w i t h i n the u b i quitous horl­ zontallty of the contemporary urban realm In the conti nuous construction of posturbanlty, architecture now takes on the same role that M uzak p l ayed w i t h i n the office block It adds color to o u r l i ves S o m e t i m e s It IS fast, some­ t i m e s I t IS slow O n rare, special occaSions, It I S engaging, more often It IS banal and background Architectural gestures that s i g n a l ' I n d i v i d u a l i ty: such as those of Art Deco, postmodernlsm, or deconstructlvlsm require difference or shock-value In order to be effective None of these gestures can be sus­ tained I n d e f i n i tely Instead, i nd i v i d u a l works of architecture now become ex­ a m p l e s of Atmospherics a relationship between emotional forms whereby a sense of movement, from effect to effect, IS generated for the m ultitude to experience S t i m u l u s Progression IS replaced by Q u a n t u m M o d u l a t i o n We no longer change to create growth a n d make progress, b u t to make one day progress differently than the others T h e variation of sti m u l i w i t h i n the b U i l t environment h e l p s u s t o rem a i n engaged w i t h t h e world b y adj u s t i n g t o con­ stant change

134

Architecture first fully reali zes its pote ntial w i t h the m i rror glass curta i n w a l l b u i l d i n g , developed i n t h e 1 970S T h e reflections o f t h e structure's sur­ rou n d i n gs in the surface create a fa�ade of infi nite va riation w h i l e the d i s a p ­ pearance o f clearly defined wi ndow openings replaces the bourgeois notion of the i ndividual with a l i m itless free space organized solely by a grid Trans­ p a rency i s replaced not w i t h opacity but w i t h the perpetual f l u x of the world itself Just as M u zak ordered the background condition of the late modern of­ fice b u i l d i n g , it now makes poss i b l e the contemporary condition i n which the city becomes a background condition, renderi n g the d e l i r ious ve rtical expres­ siveness of the skyscra per obsolete Today conte mporary c u l t u re can a bsorb any content while postu rbanity can absorb any a mount of difference Just as the hori zonta l office b U i l d i n g made obsolete the skyscraper, new teleco m m u -

Ethics

TheStimulus Progression Muzak

nications technology-cell phones, email, and instant messaging-have made the horizontal world of office landscape obsolete Physical boundaries no longer impede communication and open space no longer enables it Instead, office plans merely become infill, endlessly adapting to real es­ tate footprints Previously a marker of difference and visibil ity, architecture is now a background condition But architecture does not merely go away, it is transformed instead as every gesture and emotion produced through ar­ chitectural form becomes a variation along a Stimulus Progression deployed throughout the city. Minimalism, the Blob, and the Spanish Revival seamless­ Iy coexist in the city without qualities In the absence of real public spaces and collective icons, empty visual markers are developed t o signify the presence of culture within a city. A tacit agreement has been reached between developers and urban planners

c u t t i n g edge concert h a l l s and m useums, M c M a nslons, historic distriCts, and l i m itless sprawl co-exist merrily I n the contemporary city

W

This urban condi­

tion makes possible the necessary I l l usion that I n d ividuation and autonomy rem a i n options even as society continues to move toward I m material c u l t ure I n 1 977 J acques Attall wrote ' N o orga n I Z i n g society can eXist without struct u r i n g differences at ItS core N o market economy can develop without erasing those differences I n mass-production T h e self-destruction of cap ' ­ talism lies I n t h i s contradiction, I n the fact that musIc leads a deafe n i n g life an I nstru m e n t of differentiation, It has become a locus of repetition " Twen­ ty years later, we are deep In the 'criSIS of proliferation" he predicted As the lessons of i ndustrial psychology and M uzak s u g gest, even m e a n i n g l ess change and variation make us feel l i ke someone or s o m e t h i n g IS respo n d i n g t o us, f i l l i n g the deadly s i l e nce o f the city w i t h a form o f sim ulated i nterac­ tion likewise, contemporary architecture creates a catalogue of prefi g u red affective conditions that a l l ow for variation w h i l e accepting that mass dif­ ference IS a fundamental requirement for l i V i n g with total universalIZation Deleuze's Idea of difference I n repetition now becomes the prime operat i n g p r i n c i p l e for capital "

1 0 Kazys Varnelis, 'Cathedrals of the Culture Industry,· Forum Annual, Novemt€r 2004, 35-40 11 Attali, 5 1 2 Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, (New York Columbia University Press, 1994)

I n Empire, M i chael Hardt and Antonio N e g ri describe how the w i t h e r i n g of the nation -state and the rise of I m material l a b o r produce a new form of I m ­ perial sovereig nty, a network power s o complete a n d total that I t lacks any exterior For t h e i r l a n d m a rk sequel, Mu ltitude, they Identify a counter-force a r i s i n g w i t h i n E m p i re, a networked swarm that c o m m u n icates and self-or­ ganIZes w i t h o u t l o s i n g ItS sense of difference or deve l o p i n g I nto h i erarchical forms of rule The 'm ultitude: as they call It, has no center or readily I d e n t i ­ f i a b l e organIZation, but IS by no m e a n s anarchic, possess i n g a s w a r m i nt e l l i ­ gence m u c h as groups o f I nsects or birds do M ultitude IS the product of a transformation I n Industrial production from the fixed structures and h i e rarchies of Fordlsm to the flexi b l e structures and distrib uted networks of late capitalism Hardt and Negri suggest that u n l i ke the Fordlst mass, w h i c h IS defined by sameness, the m u l t i t u d e never ceases to lose ItS I nherent d i fference Each agent u n d e rstands Itself not as part of the mass, but as a n i nd i v i d u a l cooperating with others through centerless networks Against the dictatorship of E m p i re, Hardt and N e gri b e l i eve t h e m u ltitude can achieve I m manence a n d , I n s o d O i n g, f i n d the m e a n s t o self­ govern and self-organIZe Hardt and N e g r i 'S notion of swarm I n t e l l i gence I S Indebted to the new sCience of emergent systems, w h i c h proposes to e x p l a i n how a large n u m ber of I nd e p e n d e n t agents, each subsc r i b i n g to s i m p l e rules, can produce com­ plex structures such as the stock market, c e l l s I n a body, ant colonies, fractal geometries, cities, b e e h i ves, or o p e n source software As each agent Inter­ acts w i t h others, c o m m o n goals e m e rge and larger structures form, many of w h i c h are well beyond the a b i lity of each i nd i v i d u a l agent to understand U n l ike a g ro u p i n g of Insects or geometric structures, the m u ltitude IS composed of I n d iv i d u a l s who can use technologies to com m u nicate To be sure, as Hardt and Negri p O i n t out, the m ultitude IS made possible by con­ temporary technologies of com m u n ications Teleco m m u n i cations tech nolo-

Lo,e Swarm Intelligence, Ql1drtzsite, Arizona

gles a l l ow us to m a i nt a i n close relationships w i t h people far away and w i t h I n d i vi d u a l s we have never met before No l o n g e r tied to others u n l i ke o u r­ selves but I n close physical proxi m i ty, we can easily establish and m a i ntain ties that cross physical and territorial boundaries, carrying on conversations with Isolated i nd i v i d u a l s both near and far ' T h i s does not mean that face-to-face Interaction IS obsolete O n the contrary, as geographer Ronald F A b l e r writes I n h i s seminal article for Bell Telephone MagaZine, 'What Makes Cities I m portant: 'the production, ex­ change and distribution of Information IS critical to the function of the mod­ ern metropolis

cities are com m u n ications syste ms " U n l ike the city of old,

w h i c h produced the homogeneous c i t I Z e n out of disparate I m m i grants, the contemporary city leads I n d iv i d u a l s to c u l t i vate difference But difference can't be c u l t i vated In Isolation To feel authentic, difference m ust e m e rge with t h e s u p port of others w h o share In that difference The result IS a pro­ liferation of cl usters, groups of people c u l t i v a t i n g the same differences and eccentriCities, generally eXist i n g I n d i screte, localIZed spaces but bound to­ gether by global networks In turn, these clusters are made u p of overlap­ p i n g m l c roco m m u n l tles, groups dedicated to specific activities and often ex­ treme lifestyles such as Star Trek fandom, Laca n l a n psychoanalysIs, m a c h l n ­ I m a production, K u n d a l l n l yoga o f the 3 H O school, modern architecture, t h e lifestyle, N o l i m i t Texas H o l d ' E m Poker, or b i rd watc h i n g Dense u r b a n ar­ eas offer the poss i b i lity for I n d i vi d u a l s to others In the same or related m l ­ cro-co m m u n l t l e s 3 1 Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Multitude:War and Democracy in the Age of Empire (New York Penguin Press, 2004) 2 Ronald Abler, 'What Makes Cities Important: Bell Telephone Magazine 49, no 2 (March-April), 1970, '5

3 Michael J. Weiss, The Clustered World: How We Live, What We Buy, and What it All Means About Who We Are (New York little, Brown, and Company, 1999) and Stevm Johnson, 'Friends 2005 Hooking Up: Discover vol 26, no 9, September 2005, 22

154

But t h i s IS the posturban era a n d J ust as there IS no exterior to E m p i re, so too no place IS left outside of the u r b a n cond i t i o n If the 1 950S and 1 9 6 0s were the great decades of s u b u rban growth, w h e n I n h a b itants I n both the U n i ted States and E u rope fled the city for the s u b urbs, the last decade has been marked by the rapid expansion of the exurban realm As s u b urbs have themselves been colonIZed by cafes, alternative m u s I c stores, and art m u s e ­ u m s , the c i t y h a s been I nvaded b y s h o p p i n g m a l l s as well as b i g b o x stores such as H o m e Depot Rural ways of life have, at l o n g last, vanished A g r i ­ c u l t u re h a s e i t h e r become thoroughly I ndustrialIZed or a b o u t i q u e I ndustry, doctorate - h o l d i n g farmers h a n d - p ress i n g extra v i r g i n olive 011 or hand­ r u b b i n g Waygu cattle to create a n Arcadia without h u n g e r or tOi l, a peasant world that never eXisted With the rural gone, exurbia IS free to recolo­ nIZe the land, t a k i n g a work i n g landscape and m a k i n g It a landscape of visual cons u m pt i o n E x u r b i a u n d o e s the traditional f a m i l i a l ties o f p e o p l e to the land, replac­ I n g t h e m w i t h a new k i n d of homogeneity based on the urban p h e n o m e n o n o f cl ustering and m icro-co m m u n i t i e s F o r those people so tied to t h e i r l i f e ­ styles and m i cro-co m m u n i t i e s t h a t t h e y I d e n t i f y thoroughly w i t h t h e m , exur­ bia offers Utopia N e o - h l p p les, land speed record fanatics, K l a n s m e n , m i l l i o n ­ aire s k i e rs, back-country snowboarders, organic cattle ranchers, yachters, re­ cluse b i l l i onai res, golfers, d i rt b i kers, woodworkers, amateur gold m i ners, and sex addicts a l l can find exurban com m u nities to SUit t h e i r l i festyle and l i ve out t h e i r fantasies If the city IS characterIZed by c u l tivated d i versity, e x u r b i a acco m m o ­ dates cl usters s e e k i n g v o l u n tary homogeneity E x u r b a n ites generally avoid situations I n w h i c h they encounter i nd i v i d u a l s u n l ike themselves In exurbia, group Identity I S formed by a collective sameness rather t h a n group i nterac­ t i o n and com m u n i c a t i o n To be c l e a r, however, e x u r b a n ites often o n l y want to I m merse t h e m selves tem porarily Exurbia IS the realm of the retirement

Lo,e - Swarm Intelligence, Ql1drtzsite, Arizona

home, the second home, the time-share, and the bed and breakfast Exur­ bia is a stopover to dwell in for a few days, a few weeks, or a few decades Nor is exurbia isolated Just like everywhere else, exurban areas are net­ worked together, forming virtual clusters of similar communities throughout the world But as exurban areas develop over time, their insular nature allows for a new kind of diversity Adjacent neighborhoods develop and coexist which are radically different creating almost self-contained worlds where interaction is hardly necessary or likely among neighbors

4

In search of an urban form for the multitude, an emergent urbanism, we turn to exurbia For even as much has been made of medieval towns and villages as examples of emergence, these are far from our present-day reality and the medieval villagers are far from the multitude

4 David Brooks, "Take a Ride to Exurb�" The New York Times, Noverroer 9, 2004, Section A 23

THE CAPITAL FOR THE M U LTITUDE If there were a capital for the m u ltitude-and by defi n i t i o n t h e re can be no such t h i n g - I t would be Q u a rtzsite, Arizona D U r i n g the scorc h i n g desert sum mer, Quartzsite IS a sleepy town of 3,397 I n h a b itants, but every year be­ tween October and March, a new breed of nomad descends upon the town as h u ndreds of thousands of campers b r i n g t h e i r motorhomes to Quartzsite These 'snowbi rds: generally retirees from colder c l i mates, settle I n one of the more than seventy motorhome parks In the area or In the outlYi ng des­ ert a d m i n istered by the Bureau of Land M a nagement ( B L M ) T h e BLM and local l a w enforcement agencies estimate t h a t a total o f 1 5 m i l l ion people-some recent reports suggest I n excess of 2 m i l l ion-spend t i m e In the Quartzsite area between October and March, a mass m i gration that temporarily forms one of the fifteen largest cities In the U n ited States If a l l of these residents I n h a b i ted Quartzsite at once, the result would be a more p o p u l o us urbanIZed area than Dallas, San j ose, or San D i e go, possibly even b i gger than Phoenix or P h i la d e l p h ia, America's fifth largest city Quartzsite IS the I d for Los Angeles and all generic, hOrIZontal cities of the contemporary era These ' u r b a n sprawl" cities, such as Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston are products of m o b i l ity, transitory architecture, and relatively l i t t l e p l a n n i n g And yet even t h o u g h architects and p l a n ners hate such cities, these k i nd of com m u n ities re m a i n popular w i t h people But I f Quartzsite IS sprawl, I t IS s u p e r-dense sprawl Quartzsite makes a radical break with the surro u n d i n g e m pti ness A l t h o u g h It rejects vertical denSity and permanence, Quartzsite achieves a remarkable hOrIZontal d e n ­ sity as motorhome I S parked next to motorhome Even t h e largest class o f motorhomes IS hardly m o r e than 3 0 square meters I n s I Z e With motorhome parked next to motorhome, often to access common Infrastructure such as water or power, the 9 4 0 square k i l ometers of QuartZite are filled w i t h campers W i t h the majority of Quartzsite's c a m p grounds w i t h i n town b o u n d -

Lo,e - Swarm Intelligence, Ql1drtzsite, Arizona

aries, a rough estimate-ass u m i n g 1 m i l l i o n I n h a b itants at Its peak-would suggest that Quartzsite has some 1 0, 0 0 0 I n h a b i tants per square k i l o m eter, roughly the same as the density of New York City Since statistics at Quartz­ site are hard to come by, even I f we conservatively halved that n u m ber or, even more cautiously, q u a rtered It, Quartzsite would be far denser than At­ lanta with ItS 1 , 1 2 1 residents per square k i lometer Notwithsta n d i n g ItS literal creation by gas-powered vehicles, Quartzsite IS also relatively ecologically sound Motorhome dwellers have to live I n t i g ht spaces a n d cut down on waste as a result and, unless they are d i rectly con­ nected to water and power, have to be profoundly conservative about t h e i r use o f these scarce resources A s a result, Quartzsite IS a b l e t o subsist on a m i n i m u m of I nfrastructure Quartzsite's history reveals how a city can form as an emergent system B e g u n as a s i m p l e m i n e rai show for desert rock hounds and p e o p l e passing through the region via h i g hway, I t has grown Into an I nstant C ity, a n Interna­ tional travel destination that forms every winter with virtually no top-down planning Quartzsite's early h i story IS marked b y a series o f false starts and brief settlements centered on short-lived stagecoach l i nes and m i nes In 1 8 56, Charles Tyson b U i l t Fort Tyson, a private stro n g h o l d at a watering hole, for protection against Native Americans Some nine miles west of the current lo­ cation of Q u a rtzsite, Tyson's Wells, as the new town came to be known, be­ came a stagecoach station Of the area I n 1 874, Martha S u m m e rhayes, au­ thor of the 1 9 0 8 book Vanished Arizona. Recollections of the Army Life by a New E n g l a n d Woman would write, ' I t reeks of every t h i n g unclean, morally and physically 'S

5 Martha Summerhayes, Vanished Arizona: Recollections ofthe Army Life by a New England Woman (lincoln University of Nebraska Press, 1979), 134

158

E a r ly Quartzsite is best known for i t s l i n k to a fa i l ed m i l itary experi ment the U n i t e d Sta tes Camel Corps The M exican-American War of 1 8 46-48 m a d e c l e a r to m i l itary leaders t h a t s e c u r i n g t h e r o u g h terra i n o f t h e S o u t hwest a g a i n s t Native Americans o r the M e x i c a n gove r n m ent both of whom were u n ha p py with the grow i n g power of the U S i n t hat region, wou l d n ot b e easy. T h e maj or ity o f American c a u s a l i t i es i n t h e war i n t h o s e d i stant l a n d s f e l l v i c t i m n o t t o en emy fire b u t t o t h e h a r s h con d i t i o n s , p r o v i n g j u st how i n h o s p ita b l e that region i s to t r a d i t i on a l cava lry and i nfa ntry Convinced t h ey had found a s o l u t i on , Second L i eutenant G eorge H . Crossman, a veteran of t h e S e m i n o l e Wars a n d Major H enry C Wayne, a q ua rtermast er, ga i n e d t h e s u p p o r t of S ecretary of War J efferson Davis a n d p e r s u a d ed C o n g r e s s t o a l l ocate $30,000 to create t h e C a m e l M i l i tary C o r p s i n 1 8 5 5 L i ke m a n y s u c h i d ea s , t h i s seemed sens i b l e at t h e t i m e Both A r a ­ b i a a n d t h e American S ou t hwest a r e s i m i l a r c l i m a t o l o g i c a l l y O bv i o u s ly, d r o m -

Love

Swarm Intelligence Quartzsite, Arizona

edarles are well sUited to the arid environment and, even If I t IS hardly p l a u ­ s i b l e t h a t Crossman, Wayne, or DavIs w o u l d have known thiS, g i a n t prehis­ toriC camels once roamed the cont i ne n t More l i kely, Crossman and DavIs had heard of p l a ns to bring camels to the M Ojave desert as pack a n i mals and might even have received word that the a n i m a l s were being brought to Aus­ tra l i a by settlers to h e l p colonIZe the O utback In what would be the first operational test of material In the field by the US Army, I n a ug u r a t i n g the tradition of operational m i l itary research later taken up by General George Owen S q u i e r, the Corps was charged w i t h determ i n i n g the capab i l i ties of the a n i m a ls for the possible formation of a camel caval ry, for deployment In ar­ t i l l e ry units, and for use as pack a n i m a ls Two years later, the Army I m ported seventy-seven North African c a m ­ els a n d a SYrian c a m e l d r i v e r named HadJ I A l l Based at C a m p Verde, ArIZona, some two h u ndred m i l e s from Quartzsite, the Corps was charged w i t h esta b l i s h i n g m a l l a n d s u p p ly routes westward to California a n d eastward t o Texas A l t h o u g h the c a m e l s thrived I n conditions t h a t would fe l l a n y horse, the experiment was not w i t h o u t ItS problems The a n i m a l s did not adapt well to the rocky terrain They scared other pack a n i m a ls such as horses and b u rros Soldiers found them foul s m e l l i n g and bad tempered and c o m ­ p l a i n e d t h a t the c a m e l s s p a t at t h e m Neverthel ess, the n e w Secretary of War, J o h n F l oyd, was I m p ressed and asked Congress for a further 1 , 0 0 0 a n ­ I m a ls B u t tensions between t h e North a n d South were r i s i n g a n d t h e Con­ gress couldn't be bothered with the distant lands of the Southwest More­ over, u p o n being appoi nted C o m m a n d e r of the Texas Army, Major General David E TWiggs, somet i m e s known as ' T h e Horse" ( b ut also as ' O l d Davy" or 'the Bengal Tiger") was hOrrified to d i scover the Camel Corps In hiS charge and successfully l o b b i ed Congress to be rid of the beasts Perhaps It IS J ust as w e l l TWiggs would soon surrender h i S c o m m a n d and, with It, the Texas Army to the Confederacy

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I nstead of serv i n g the Confederacy, I n 1 8 63 the C a m e l Corps was sold off at auction Most would wind u p I n private hands, but some would be re­ leased Into the desert where they became feral HadJ I All, now known as ''HI J olly" remained b e h i n d a l t h o u g h whether t h i S was to p u rsue t h e A m e r i ­ c a n dream or s i m p ly because he was marooned f a r from home IS u n c l e a r Af­ ter a t i m e r u n n i n g a camel -borne freight b u s i n ess, H I J o l l y, who was actually half-Creek and also known by the n a m e P h i l i p Tedro, married a Tucson wom­ an and moved to the Tyson's We l l s where he worked as a m i ne r until he died I n ' 9 02, reportedly expiring with h i s arm around one of his camels d U r i n g a sandstorm I n memory of h i s serVice, the gove rnment of ArIZona b U i l t a s m a l l pyra m i d t o p p e d by a m e t a l camel to mark h i s graveslte I n the 1 930S Feral camels would be seen roa m i n g the desert u n t i l the early 1 9 00S 6 For a half century after H I J olly's death, the p o p u l a t i o n of Quartzsite re­ m a i n e d s m a l l , with only about 50 people l i v i n g In the outpost town on a per­ manent basIs By the ' 950S, however, snowbirds began s p e n d i n g the relative­ ly m i l d winter months I n the area, and by the 1 9 60s the seasonal p o p u l a t i o n could s w e l l to 1 , 5 0 0 Many of t h e s e wi nter travelers returned year-after-year and some settled permanently As the com m u n i ty slowly grew, busi nessmen and CIVIC boosters formed the Quartzsite I m provement ASSOCIation and cre­ ated a gem and m i n e rai show to encourage more winter travelers to come

6 A serviceable history of Quartzsite can be found in Barbara A Weightman, 'The Poor Person's Palm Springs Quartzsite, Arizona: Donald G. Janelle, ed. Geographical Snapshot of North America (New York GUilford Press, 1992), On the camel corps, see Odie B Faulk, The u.s. Camel Corps: an Army Experiment (New York Oxford University Press, 1976), 346-349

Lo,e Swarm Intelligence, Ql1drtzsite, Arizona

THE BI LBAO EFFECT WITHOUT BUILDINGS Contemporary urban p l a n ners talk of the " B i l bao-effect: suggest i n g that works of c u t t i n g-edge architecture can drive tOUrists to c i t i e s s i m p ly through t h e i r remarkable appearance, s i g n ifYi n g that a city IS cool, creative, and de­ s i g n -aware Quartzsite IS l i ke the Bi lbao effect, except there are no b U i l d i n gs I nstead there are motorhomes I n retrospect, the development of t h i s self­ sufficient beast, c a p a b l e of h a u l i n g a fa m i ly and e n o u g h food and water to sustain It l o n g distances seems a l most i nevitable M o b i lity has always been a deter m i n i n g aspect of American life In hiS 1 8 9 6 essay " T h e S i g n ificance of the Frontier I n American H i story: FrederICk J ackson Turner, the founder of American Studies, observed that u n t i l h i S day U n i ted States history h a d b e e n the product o f westward expansion T h e presence o f the frontier w a s not J ust a geopolitical factor O n the contra ry, Turner s u g gested that It made Americans fundamentally different from E u ­ ropeans No matter how rapidly c i t i e s on t h e Atlantic coast expanded, he ar­ gued, Americans could f i n d a "pere n n i a l re b i r t h " on the frontier, "the m e e t i n g pOint between savagery and c I v i l IZation " Turner wrote p o e t i c a l l y o f the I m ­ portance of that t h i n l i n e between c I v i l IZation and nature t o the country

The wilderness masters the colonist It finds him a European In dress, Industries, tools, modes of travel, and thought It takes from him the railroad car and puts him In the birch canoe It strips off the garments of CIVilization and arrays him In the hunting shirt and the moccasin. It puts him In the log cabin of the Chero­ kee and the IroqUOIS and runs an Indian palisade around him Before long he has gone to planting Indian corn and plowing with a sharp stick; he shouts the war cry and takes the scalp In orthodox Indian fashion

162

A l t h o u g h the settler eventually transformed t h e frontier, he too had been transformed But, Turner concluded, accord i n g to the U n i ted States Census b u reau, the frontier had f i n a l ly been closed I n the 1 8 8 0 s An epochal shift I n the American psyche would follow 7 Without the frontier, Americans would have to turn elsewhere President Teddy Roosevelt urged the country to look for a frontier overseas and b e ­ g a n a century-long project o f e m p i re b U i l d i n g

8

A s the continent w a s tamed

and wild game began to disappear from the American diet, a new regard for wilderness and w i l d l i fe emerged A n i m a l I magery proliferated even as w i l d ­ life w a s domesticated T h e fearsome grizzly bear, commonly perceived as a t h reat to settlers, was replaced I n the p u b l i c I m a gi n a t i o n by the cute teddy bear, named for Roosevelt after the great sportsman refused to k i l l an old Injured bear that h i s attendants had lassoed Roosevelt, a n advocate of 'the strenuous l i fe: was also I nstrumental I n expand i n g the N a t i o n a l Park System, set t i n g aSide by-passed land to rem a i n w i l d e rness In p e r p e t u i ty, s i m u la t i n g the frontier a n d thereby a l low i n g A m e r i c a n s to renew themselves as they had before But If the frontier was a place of production, the perpetual w i l ­ derness of t h e national park IS a place o f cons u m ption N o t h i n g c a n be pro­ duced there except the renewal of Americans through recreation

9

With t h e development of the motor car and the N a t i o n a l Park System, city dwellers flocked to the countryside for recreation After H e nry Ford b U i l t t h e Model T , h i S 'car for t h e great m ulti tude: large n u m bers o f i nd i v i d u als f l e d the c i t y on a re g u l a r baSIS I n search o f t h e newly domesticated ' n a ­ ture: n o w freed of grizzly bears, native Americans, and o t h e r threats to ur7 Frederick Jackson Turner, The Frontier in American History (New York Henry Holt and Company, 19531, 1-4 S

Neil Smith, American Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization (Berkeley University of California Press, 2003), 230

9

Reuel Denney, The Astonished Muse (New Brunswick, New Jersey, Transaction Publishers, 1989), Ixi

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Swarm Intelhgenc� QUartZSIte, Ar,zona

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ban people Ford h i mself believed that t h i s would be the Model T's p r i n C I p l e use, e n a b l i n g fam i l i es t o enJoy the b l e s s i n g o f hours o f pleasure I n Cod's great open space Auto c a m p i n g grew rapidly after World War I By 1 9 22, the New York Times estimated that of 10 8 m i l l i o n cars, S m i l l i o n were I n use for c a m p i n g Soon "auto-tents" and trailers designed to fit the Model T would be ava i l a b l e At fi rst, campers would s i m p ly park I n e m pty fields or by the side of the road, b u t t h i s led to confrontations with angry rural towns­ folk, who saw t h e i r l i ves u n d e r threat not only from the d e c l i n i n g profita b i l ­ Ity o f a g r i c u l t u re b u t also from these nascent exurbanites w h o they feared would one day colonIZe the countryside I n response, c a m p grounds or "tra i l e r parks" sprang up t o provide campers w i t h clearly defined places t o stay w h i l e on t h e road A l t h o u g h campers sought nature a n d escape from a fixed com ­ m u n i ty, they also e njoyed s h a r i n g t h i s experience with t h e i r brethren U n l ike the metropolis, tra i l e r parks were places of relative homogeneity-campers were generally middle class w h i tes-so campers were a b l e to tolerate l i v i n g I n remarkably close q u a rters D U r i n g t h e D e p ression and Second World War, however, c a m p e r trailers acq u i red a stigma, c o m i n g to be used as temporary shelters to be I n habited w h i l e t h e i r I n habitants worked transient J obs By the affluent era of the ' 9 50S, however, Americans once a g a i n desired to travel the country I n self-sufficient " l a n d yachts: untethered by hotels, I n ns, or motor courts but the old campers were i ncreasingly u n s u i t a b l e Not only did they have the u n p leasant connotation of transient h o u s i n g to over­ come, as the sIZes of homes grew In s u b urbia, e a r l i e r campers seemed s m a l l and cra m p e d T h e sol ut i o n w a s to Integrate the a u t o m o b i l e and the t r a i l er, c r e a t i n g the c o n t i n u o u s u n i t n o w k n o w n as t h e "motorhome" or "Rec­ reational Ve h i c l e " T h i s new k i n d of ve h i c l e was generally m uc h larger t h a n the campers o f old and would p e r m i t o t h e r activities to take p l a c e w h i l e t h e u n i t was b e i n g driven M o reover, I n d O i n g away w i t h the a u t o m o b i l e or truck h a u l i n g the c a m per, the motorhome IS clearly a vehicle that cannot be e m -

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p l oyed fo r t rad i t i o n a l fo r m s of w o r k . Yo u c a n n o t d r i ve yo u r m o to r h o m e to a w o r k p l a ce : it e x i s t s p u re l y fo r a l i fe s t y l e of l e i s u re a n d c o ns u m pt i o n . O u t f i t­ ted w i t h t h e l a te s t h i g h tec h n o l o gy ga d ge t s s u c h as te levi s i o n s , ta pe p l aye rs, a n d w a s h i n g m a c h i n e s , the m o t o r h o m e echoed the s u b u r b a n l i fe sty l e . lO W i t h t h e exce pti o n of a p e r i o d d u ri n g t h e e n e rgy c r i s i s of t h e 1 9 7 0 s , m o ­ to r h o m e s h a v e c o n t i n u e d to r i s e i n p o p u l a r i ty eve r si nce . To day o n e i n t e n A m e r i c a n ve h i c l e - ow n i n g h o u s e h o l d s o w n s a n R V . B u t ow n i n g a m o t o r h o m e i s a s i g n i fi c a n t co m m i t m e n t d e m a n d i n g t i m e , re s o u rce s , d e te r m i n a t i o n , a n d t h e w i l l i n g n e ss to j o i n a co m m u n i ty. P ro p e r m a i nte na nce req u i res s p e c i a l ­ i ze d s k i l l a n d a d evot i o n to o n e's ve h i c l e . K n ow i n g w h e re t o p a r k o n e's m o ­ to r h o m e , t h e b e s t c a m p g ro u n d s , m o to r h o m e - fr i e n d ly tow n s , a n d s o o n l e a d s m o to r h o m e d w e l l e rs to befr i e n d e a c h ot h e r, fo r m i n g a n i nfo r m a l co n t i n e nt­ w i d e netwo r k . M o to r h o m e dw e l l e rs ofte n ga t h e r t o ge t h e r in ra l l i e s . T h e b i g­ gest s u c h ga t h e r i n g is at Q u a rtzs i t e . S i nce t h e 1 9 6 0 s , Q u a r t z s i te h a s g ro w n t h ro u g h w o rd - of- m o u t h i n t h e v a s t n e t wo r k of m o t o r h o m e d w e l l e rs . M a ny i nv i te fr i e n d s to c a m p w i t h t h e m o r a t t e n d c l u b s t h a t t h ey a re m e m b e r s of. O t h e rs , not s o we l l - c o n n e c t e d , c o m e to Q u a r t z s i t e to s e e w h a t t h e fuss i s a b o u t . A t Q u a rt z s i te 's b i ggest a t t ra c t i o n , t h e " M a i n Eve n t " ma rke t p l ace a n d s h o w g ro u n d , a n e w m o n u m e n t to H i J o l l y a n d h i s c a m e l h a s b e e n b u i l t o u t 10 Roger B . White, tion Press, 2000).

Home on the Road . The Motor Home i n America

L o v e - Swa r m I ntel l i ge n c e Q u a rtzsite, A r i z o n a

(Washi ngton: Smithsonian I nstitu­

of a u to m o b i l e r i m s a n d mufflers, a n n o u n C i n g the f u l f i l l ment of t h e centu ry a n d a h a l f o l d v I s i o n of self-suffICient desert n o m a d s roa m i n g the West R i d i n g In t h e r r mec h a n I C a l Camels, these snowbirds r i t u a l ly re-enact not o n l y the process of settling the frontier, b u t a l s o t h e i r o w n experience o f s e t t l i n g the s u b u r b s , c h o o s i n g a v a c a n t spot t o I n h a b i t n e x t to others J u s t l i ke t h e m ­ selves, thereby rec a p t u r i n g the treasured a n o nymity a n d s a m e n e s s of t h a t era S i n c e everyone I S I n a c a m p e r , everyone I S e q u a l Pasts a r e u n i m portant a n d Incomes matter l i t t l e As I n t h e postwar s u b u r b , architecture I S a l l e n to Quartzsite There are different models of motorhome a n d even s o m e f u n ­ damental differences I n motorhome typology-the f u l l -fledged l a n d yacht, the persistent trailer, the converted van, the retrofitted b u s - a n d some u n i t s m a y c o s t $ 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 w h i l e o t h e r s c o s t $ 5, 0 0 0 Nevertheless, a m o t o r h o m e I S a motorhome, a premanufactured u n i t that I S n o t that d i s s i m i l a r f r o m o t h -

168

er u n i t s of Its k i n d I nd i v i d u a l expression IS kept to a Protestant m i n i m u m Add a flag, some plastic c h a i rs, even a mat of green Astroturf, b u t your m o ­ torhome IS sti l i J ust about t h e same a s everyone else's a n d you are, more of­ ten t h a n not, five or ten feet away from your nei ghbor T h e move away from object to c o m m u nication that occurred alongside the shift from city to suburb IS echoed by the social structure designed Into campers and motorhomes U n l i ke residential architecture, motorhomes are mass produced cons u m e r goods More a l i ke than M c M anslons, motorhomes are products with l i m ited consumer options But u n l i ke automotive design, motorhome design largely eschews fashion or dramatic change Each year's models vary from those of years past only by reco m b i n i n g the same vo­ cabulary of optional parts and confi g u rations I n different ways S i g n ificant change I n form or p u r p ose IS rare In addition, the Interior of a motorhome IS generally fixed, fitted With b U i l t - I n f u r n i s h i n g s and e q u i p m e n t Sold as a fac­ tory Interior, t h e motorhome resists Interior decoration and material accu­ m u lation, In part due to weight l i m i tations that such ve h i c l e s have The m o ­ torhome becomes a capsule f o r l i v i n g I n a society o f networks where c h a n g ­ I n g y o u r location I S m o r e I m portant than nest i n g I n h a b i t i n g a motorhome means e m b ra c i n g l i fe I n I m material c u l t u re The most respected and a d m i red type of motorhome owner IS the ' f u l l -t i m e r: w h o has cast off t h e i r fixed house permanently In order to dwell nomadlcally In d O i n g so, the f u l l -t i m e r h a s t o s e l l virtually a l l o f h i S or her worldly posseSSions, abandon i n g material goods In the end, the motorhome acts as a kind of a n i m a l Itself, a modern­ day camel, ItS occupants form i n g ItS soul A l t h o u g h the motorhome m i g h t appear to be an u l t i mate manifestation of American , n d , v, d u a l , s m , J ust l i ke the tra i l e r campers of the early twentieth centu ry, motorhome owners generally see themselves as part of a com m u n i ­ t y After a l l, Quartzsite IS t h e largest g a t h e r i n g o f motorhome owners I n the nation, assembled p u rely by the deSire to collect together But t h i s IS s t i l i a

Lo,e Swarm Intelligence, Ql1drtzsite, Arizona

particularly contemporary Idea of com m u n i ty The seventy-odd campsites I n Quartzsite are generally privately owned a n d charge a moderate d a l l y fee for usage In the private campsite, the motorhome owner does not participate I n any governance, choos i n g to let the "gated c o m m unity" take care of that A sIZea b l e percentage of travelers opt out of these areas, " boondoc k l n g " on BLM l a n d where It IS possible to stay for free for u p to two weeks C a m p e rs frequently form s m a l l com m u n ities on B L M land on the baSIS of motorhome brand, extended family ties, or group mem bers h i p " B i rds of a Feather" groups, as they are known, emerge out of common Interests K n a p p e rs ( , n ­ d i v i d u a l s s k i l l ed I n st r i k i n g pieces o f f l i n t w i t h other pieces o f f l i nt t o make p r i m i t ive tools and ornaments!, HAM radio buffs, C h ristians, computer fans, disney lovers, s i n g les, diabetics, f u l l -t i m e rs, social n u d i sts, pet lovers, a n d the Rainbow c h i l d re n (attracted t o the freedom o f Quartzsite as they wan­ der the country re-creating the h i p p i e l i festyle of t h e early 1 970S) a l l seek the company of others l i ke themselves at Quartzsite In thiS, they reproduce the c l u stered d e m o g ra p h i cs of posturban America where groups of remarkably specific I n h a b i tants are congea l i n g I nto d i screte com m u nities I f cities can be treated as com m u n ications systems, t h e n they also re­ s e m b l e office e n v i ro n m ents I nformed by Norbert W i e n e r's theory of cyber­ netics, d u r i n g the 1 9 60s, bUSiness managers sought means to I m p rove the flow of Information In the office and to prOVide for greater f l e x i b i l ity Offic­ es, accord i n g to t h i s theory, are com m u n ications systems Managers turned to theories of Buro Landschaft or office landscape to replace traditional, r i g i d - w a i l offices with more fluid and c h a n g e a b l e workplaces Quartzsite IS an urban Buro Landschaft It stands I n stark contrast to traditional, grldded cities l i ke M a n hattan l i ke Buro Landschaft, Quartzsite IS fluid Quartzsite allows for d i V I S i o n s between groups to spontaneously occur, reconfigure at w i l l , a n d disappear when a p propriate If you don't l i ke your n e i g h b o r or you find that you'd rather be across town, you can J ust pack up your motorhome

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WELCOME TO THE HACIENDA like the world that Quartzsite IS a m icrocosm of, com m u n ity at Quartzsite IS based o n trade Sti m ulated by t h e model of t h e Quartzsite I m p rovement Association, nine major gem and m i nerai shows and more than fifteen g e n ­ e r a l s w a p m e e t i n g shows attract motorhome o w n e r s to t h e area M uch l i ke the y o u n g h i psters w h o p o p u late t h e fas h i o n a b l e districts of c i t i e s l i ke New York, San FrancIsco, and Los Angeles, cam pers at Quartzsite generally don't work except as f u l l t i m e consumers See m i n g ly I ncongruous J uxtapositions of ever more b I Z a rre goods appear throughout t h e markets fresh s h r i m p

Lo,e - Swarm Intelligence, Ql1drtzsite, Arizona

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Lo,e Swarm Intelligence, Ql1drtzsite, Arizona

cockta i l s h u ndreds of m i l e s from the ocean are ava i l a b l e next to cow sku l l s a n d fox furs d a n g l e near street l i ghts. Afr ican s c u l pt u re i s p o p u l a r, a d e m ­ onstration o f Quartzsite's r o l e i n a g l o b a l network o f n o m a d i c t r a d e . A l ­ though there may b e variation a m o n g the objects for sale, year after year the p resence of the ma rket itself d raws the m i g ratory res i d e n t s of Q u a rtz­ site back. Ritually a p p e a r i n g a n d d i sappearing with the seasons, the m a r­ ketplace staves off b a n a l ity a n d bored o m . B a rely advertised, it m a i nta i n s a n a u ra o f exc l u s i v ity. After wandering for a t i m e at a Quartz site show l i ke "the M a i n Event" or the "Tyson Wel l s S e l l -A - Ra m a , " one is g r i p ped by the rea l i zation that even t h e merchants don't a ren't there to m a ke a buck. As more than one s i g n a d vert i s i n g a vendor's need for a spouse makes clear, merchants are more interested in interac t i n g with p e o p l e . Some i n d i v i d u a l s , s u c h a s the m e m b e r s o f the H it- a n d - M i ss E n g i n e S h o w ( w h o restore a n d

174

d e m onstrate a p a r t i c u l a r k i n d of a n t i q u e stationary gas e n g i n e ) discard w i t h the Idea of m a k i n g m o n e y altoget h e r, sett i n g u p free e x h i b i t s I nstead The s h o p p i n g district at Quartzsite IS a c r i t i c a l node for i nteraction Closed to motorhome and automotive traffic, the s h o p p i n g districts serve as the p r i m ary conduits for the flow of people and i nformation As VISitorS arrive from aro u n d the world and m u l l over the va l u e of useless objects, they I nteract In random configurations, thereby shari n g knowledge and ex­ periences With over a m i l l i o n vIsitors a year, a l l of these s e e m i ngly random conversations carry an enormous a m o u n t of I nformation The Interactions re m a i n at a local level, however, and do not generally create any larger d i ­ rection or I m pact on t h e c o m m u nity beyond foster i n g I t S perpetual growth At Quartzsite, the markets teach us of a new way of life beyond any Idea of affluence or material desire

For the most part, the products sold

at Quartzsite's markets are bought and sold to facilitate social relationships, not because they are needed or to establish social status It's no surprise then, that the central pOint of Quartzsite's market economy IS the exchange of rocks Often obtained from the surro u n d i n g m o u n t a i ns d U r i n g l e i s u rely h i kes and h a V i n g had m i n i m a l l a b o r a p p l i e d to t h e i r retrieval and processing, Quartzsite's rocks CIrcumvent any notion of labor or scarcity In economy N o r are these rocks useful ( o r even practical) t o t h e wanderers o f the desert Ac­ cording to Marx, the social character of a producer's labor IS only expressed through the exchange of commodities

n

But there IS no labor to speak of

In b r i n g i n g these valueless rocks to sale I nstead of b e i n g a source of o p ­ preSSion, a s t h e y were I n M a rx's day, rocks become a source o f l i beration as they would have been u n d e r the never realIZed Utopian Ideal of C o m m u n i s m 'From e a c h accord i n g to hiS a b i l ities, to each accord i n g to h i S needs l "" 11 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist Manifesto (London, Verso, 1998), 52 1 2 Karl Marx, Tritique of the Gotha Programme· reprinted in The Marx-Engels Reader, ed Robert C Tucker (New York, W W Norton, 1972), 378-88

Lo,e Swarm Intelligence, Ql1drtzsite, Arizona

L i k e t h e atten d e e s t h e m s e l ve s , t h e stones of Quartzsite are c a p a b l e of extreme va r i a t i o n w h i l e rema i n i n g e s s e n t i a l l y interch a n ge a b l e . In w r i t i n g of ston e s , Roger C a i l l o i s has observed "a n obvious a c h i evement, yet one arrive d a t w it h o u t i n v e n t i o n , s k i l l , i n d ustry, o r a nyth i n g e l s e that w o u l d m a k e it a w o r k i n t h e h u m a n sense o f t h e w o r d , m u c h l e ss a w o r k o f a r t T h e work c o m e s later, a s d o e s a rt; but t h e far-off roots a n d h i d d e n m o d e l s of both l i e in t h e o b s c u r e yet i rr e s i s t i b l e s u g gestions in nature." C a i l l o i s notes that even w h e n stones a re cut and p o l ish e d , t h e w o r k involved only revea l s s o m e th i n g that h a d a l ways b e e n t h e r e . W i t h i n t h e s e stones, h e su ggests, we find images, "remarkable l i kenesses ... rega rded as w o n d e r s , a l m o st m i r a ­ c l e s . "lJ

13

Roger Caillois, The Writing of the Stones (Charlottesville U niversity of Virginia, 1985l.

176

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Even If they are not works of art, at Quartzsite stones are natural ready-mades, em pty of any I n t r i n S I C m e a n i n g , ready to be f i l l ed with a b ­ stract s i g n i fi c a t i o n that c a n be read, Rorsc hac h - l i ke, o u t o f t h e i r random forms Quartzsite becomes a g a l l ery for the p u rchase of these objects, W h i C h , l i ke works of art, provide m e d i t a t i o n s on uselessness like the a n ­ c i e n t festivals o f sacrifice, Quartzsite IS a place I n w h i c h t h e subject can disappear I nto t h e system of objects, thereby rej O i n i n g t h e plane of I m ­ manence T h e exchange o f stones I S a way for p e o p l e t o re m i n d each oth­ er that u l t i mately t h e i rs IS a world In which they are not h i n g, make n o t h i n g , and do n o t need to l a b o r As the c a p i t a l o f the m ulti tude, Quartzsite transgresses c a p i t a l i s m Itself to I ncorporate what were once considered obsolete forms of economy ItS market economy IS largely free of c a p i t a l i s m , dwel l i n g IS based on fe u d a l ­ Ism, and , n d , v,duals, j u s t a f f l u e n t e n o u g h to escape t h e necessity o f l a b o r, are free to p u rsue t h e i r desires, as If under C o m m u n i s m Markets emerge at Quartzsite I n order to facilitate social Interaction At Quartzsite, as I n the I m a gined Hacienda that the Situatlonists hoped to b U i l d, t h e concept of pro­ ductive work IS obsolete In place of l a b o r, m e a n i n gless exchange I S m a i n ­ t a i n e d a s a form o f social Interaction But Hardt and Negri would be the first to pOint out that there can be no one capital of the m u ltitude I t IS by d e f i n i t i o n everywhere So It IS with Quartzsite as w e l l Quartzsite IS o m n i p resent, the Id of a l l horizontal cities The recent real estate b u b b l e teaches us that houses have no m o re i nt r i n S I C w o r t h than stocks W e dwell I n m o b i l e homes s o l d f o r fantastic s u m s bear­ I n g no relation to t h e i r physical q u a l i t i es j ust as the dot com b u b ble u n load­ ed any m e a n i n g from the stock market, the housing b u b b l e has unloaded any m e a n i n g from architecture or place Quartzsite IS everywhere today, a tra n ­ sient posturbla absent o f any productive capacity, not so m u c h about mak­ Ing money as about enjoY i n g experiences together

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Ep i l o g u e At the onset of t h i s p roject, we promised that these stories wouldn't add up and, as a collection of extreme conditions, they don't As we sug gested In the Introduction, each of these Investigations pOSitS a natural p h i losop hy, an autonomous theoretical co n d i t i o n that sometimes appears to mesh with the others but often doesn't One day, against of all of our stated i ntentions, we observed a t h e m e e m e r g i n g , a c o m m o n concern w i t h the very p r o b l e m at the heart o f E m p i re (as well as of rel i gion, the State and other i nstitutions of power) o u r over­ w h e l m i n g desire to acquiesce and give ourselves up I nvariably, I g n o r i n g the a d m o n i s h m ents of N ietzsche, designers and theorists assume that power emanates from the top down, that the o p p ressed i nd i v i d u a l wants to be free, a n d that action from the botto m - u p IS the method for a c h i e v i n g t h i s But t h i s IS precisely the Inverse of w h a t we observe T h e s e stories o f h u m a n s relentlessly stri v i n g to be different only prove t h e i r desire f o r s a m e ­ n e s s So too, I n o u r relationships with objects, collectively we d o n ' t s o m u c h wish to be free-to escape the w o r l d o f objects a n d attachments-but t o I m m erse ourselves w i t h i n t h e m Do we really want freedom I I f we c a n dare to say 'maybe n o t " f o r a m o ­ ment, t h e n w h a t do our actions betray a b o u t o u r deslresl B l u e Monday does not offer solutions, Instead It sug gests that our mass drive to give o u r­ selves up IS not a passive action I nstead of con d e m n i n g this drive (as If we really wanted to or even could) t h i s book offers a collection of stories that just perhaps, h i n t at another possi b i l i ty, a first step self-awareness

Ac knowledgements Proj ects In this book were made possible with t h e s u pport o f the Graham Foundation

for Advanced Studies In Fine Arts ( Ether) as well as the I nstitute for M u ltimedia lit­

eracy and the Annenberg Center for Communication, University of Southern California

( Swarm

I ntelligence) Kazys also thanks the Annenberg Center for Communication for

the ' N etworked Publics' fellowship year that allowed him time to complete his share Many people have helped AU D C In Its five years of eXistence We apologize In ad­ vance to any that we have forgotten ACTAR has been a loyal ally throughout and we are delighted to be dOing this book with them 306ogo's Alex Briseno, Cabinet's Sina NaJafi, and Textfleld's Jonathan Maghen have been a privilege to publish with Alex Briseno at Pompeii A D , Katl RubinYI at Chapman College, Ted Kane at Polarlnertla com, Fritz Haeg and Fran�ols Perrin at Art Center College of Design, Mark McManus at the Mountain Bar, Kevin McGarry and Y u k l e Kamlya at Rhlzomeorg as well as Andrea Zittel and S h a u n Regen at High Desert Test Sites have graced us with the opportunity to exhibit our work Matt Coolidge and Sarah Simons not only made pos­ sible the pre-AUDC show on One Wilshire at the Center for Land Use Interpretation, they generously offered advice and moral support David and Diana Wilson at the Museum of J u rassIc Technology served as role models for us Many thanks to John Southern for lending a hand with the models of One Wilshire and the Installation at Chapman College show and to Steve Rowell for his aid In the Installation of both at Chapman and at the first High Desert Test Sites show Jason B u c h heit, Jennifer H u r d , Hlsako I c h l k l , a n d Jeffrey Kleeger helped with t h e M u z a k project when I t was stili In gestation at S C I _Arc T he support and example set by key SCI_Arc faculty, staff, and administration was critical to AU DC, most notably that of Tom Buresh, John Chase, Karl C h u , C hristophe Cornubert, Margaret Crawford, Nell Denarl, Hernan D laz-Alonso, Timothy D urfee, Arls Janlglan, Perry K u iper, Kevin McMahon, Gary Paige, Margl Reeve, lisa Russo, Bill Simonian, and Scott Wolfe Rosalie Genevro and Anne Rleselbach gave us the opportunity to present o u r work In New York while Vlkram Prakash made that possible In Seattle Criticism from Greg Goldin and Ryan Griffis has been Invalu­ able O u r list of friends and s u pporters who set examples and provided motivation, stimulation, and Input along the way Includes Steve Anderson, Kadambarl B a x l , J u lian Bleecker, Denise Bratton, Abbie C h u n g , Keller Easterling, Frank Escher, Elalna Ganim and Tim Ventimiglia, Jeffrey Inaba, Mark Jarzombek, Israel Kandamn, Derek lindner, Megan M c Eachern, Tara M c P herson, Marty Mc Kinney, Lev Manovlch, Geoff Mana u g h , William Menklng, Valdas Ozarlnskas, Scott Rigby, Nick Roberts, M a r k Shepard, Pau­ lette Singley, Stephanie Smith, Marc T u ters and Mimi Zeiger Nikki Burt and Esmeralda Ward merit extra special thanks for all of their help throughout the years, especially In the days leading up to the opening of the Wilshire Boulevard facility Special thanks to Reinhold Martin for the preface Above all, Kazys wishes to thank Jennifer, liam, VlltlS, and Daisy for their undYing patience during the lengthy gestation of this project and both of us thank our parents and families for making this possible

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