[artinfo] The Dispersive Anatomies special issue of Leonardo

[Alan Sondheim]

The Dispersive Anatomies special issue of Leonardo is up!

http://www.leonardo.info/LEA/DispersiveAnatomies/DispersiveAnatomies.html

Do take a look at this - it has a stunning group of artists, 
theorists, thinkers of all sorts - we're quite proud of it. Due to 
editorial changes at MIT, it's been two years in the making, but it's 
a worthwhile wait!

Guest Editors: Sandy Baldwin, Alan Sondheim and Mez Breeze

A fundamental shift in the way we view the world is underway: the
abandonment of discrete objects, and objecthood itself. The world is now
plural, and the distinction between real and virtual is becoming
increasingly blurred, with troubling consequences within the geopolitical
register. This shift is related to a cultural change that emphasizes
digital deconstruction over analog construction: a photograph for example
can be accessed and transformed, pixel by pixel, cities can be taken apart
by gerrymandering or eminent domain, and our social networks are replete
with names and images that problematize friendship, sexuality, and culture
itself. One issue that emerges here: Are we networking or are we
networked? Are we networks ourselves?

Dispersion has two vectors: the breakup or breakdown of coherent objects;
and the subsequent attempt to corral, curtail, or recuperate from this
breakdown. How do we deal with networks that are constantly coalescing and
disappearing? Where are we in the midst of this? In an era of pre-emptive
culture, is guerilla warfare to be accompanied by guerilla culture as the
order of the day?