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Black gold. Liquid sunlight. Texas tea. Oil remains the ur-commodity of our global era, having been distilled from ancient algae and marine life to turn modernity's wheels. Wars are fought over it. Some communities are displaced by its extraction, so that others may reap its benefits. But despite its heated history, few will ever see oil on the ground. Shrouded within a(...)
Oil
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Black gold. Liquid sunlight. Texas tea. Oil remains the ur-commodity of our global era, having been distilled from ancient algae and marine life to turn modernity's wheels. Wars are fought over it. Some communities are displaced by its extraction, so that others may reap its benefits. But despite its heated history, few will ever see oil on the ground. Shrouded within a labyrinth of oil fields, pipelines, and manufacturies, it tends to be known only through its magical effects: the thrill of the road, the euphoria of flight, and the metamorphic allure of everything from vinyl records to celluloid film and synthetic clothing. Michael Tondre shows how hydrocarbon became today's pre-eminent power. How did oil come to structure selfhood and social relations? And to what extent is oil not only a commercial product but a cultural one-something shaped by widely imagined dreams and desires? Amid a warming world unleashed by fossil fuels, oil appears as a rich resource for thinking about histories of globalization and technology no less than the energetic underpinnings of literature, film, and art.
Critical Theory
Videotape: Object lessons
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Over the span of a single decade, VHS technology changed the relationship between privacy and entertainment, pried open the closed societies behind the Iron Curtain, and then sank back into oblivion. Its meteoric rise and fall encapsulated the dynamics of the '80s and foreshadowed the seismic cultural shifts to come after the Cold War. In the West, its advent deepened the(...)
September 2025
Videotape: Object lessons
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Over the span of a single decade, VHS technology changed the relationship between privacy and entertainment, pried open the closed societies behind the Iron Curtain, and then sank back into oblivion. Its meteoric rise and fall encapsulated the dynamics of the '80s and foreshadowed the seismic cultural shifts to come after the Cold War. In the West, its advent deepened the trends of the age: individualism, consumerism, the fragmentation of society, and the consolidation of corporate power in the entertainment industry and its victory over the regulatory powers of the state. In the East, it encouraged new forms of socialization and economic exchanges, while announcing the gradual crumbling of government control over the imagination of the people. By the mid-1990s, the VHS format was displaced by the DVD. The DVD would eventually give way to streaming. Yet the cultural legacy of the videotape continues to inform our relationship to technology, privacy, and to entertainment.
Imagine, observe, remember
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"When one looks into the darkness there is always something there."—W. B. Yeats, The Secret Rose When one looks into one’s own interior there is always mental imagery. "Imagine, observe, remember" looks at the looking we do with the mind’s eye, offering practical exercises for the development of this mysterious faculty. The book is also a memoir, a portrait of the artist(...)
Imagine, observe, remember
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"When one looks into the darkness there is always something there."—W. B. Yeats, The Secret Rose When one looks into one’s own interior there is always mental imagery. "Imagine, observe, remember" looks at the looking we do with the mind’s eye, offering practical exercises for the development of this mysterious faculty. The book is also a memoir, a portrait of the artist as he develops his craft from what is possibly his first drawing to his current status of seasoned practitioner. It is furthermore a series of meditations, observations, quotes, images and instructions that will constitute a valuable resource for artists, writers, teachers and any reader who agrees that the uncharted wilderness within is worthy of exploration.
Critical Theory
Petit traité de la joie
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Reçue sans qu’on la demande, nous devons nous approprier notre vie. L’amour que l’Homme heureux lui porte est le fruit d’un travail sur la façon dont il prend les choses – ou plutôt : sur la façon dont il apprend à moins prendre les choses pour les accueillir mieux. Avec ce livre, l’auteur nous accompagne dans ce travail. Il nous invite à consentir à la vie, à lui offrir(...)
Petit traité de la joie
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Reçue sans qu’on la demande, nous devons nous approprier notre vie. L’amour que l’Homme heureux lui porte est le fruit d’un travail sur la façon dont il prend les choses – ou plutôt : sur la façon dont il apprend à moins prendre les choses pour les accueillir mieux. Avec ce livre, l’auteur nous accompagne dans ce travail. Il nous invite à consentir à la vie, à lui offrir un oui à sa mesure – ample comme le sont nos peines, surabondant à la mesure de nos joies. Un oui qui révèlera ce que la vie est pour chacun : un présent.
Critical Theory
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This new book by Luc Boltanski and Arnaud Esquerre is a highly original analysis of the two key processes that shape the contemporary public sphere. On the one hand, there are the processes of news provision which select out a range of facts and events and bring them to the attention of a large number of people who have not, for the most part, experienced them directly.(...)
The making of public space: News, events, and opinions in the twenty-first century
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This new book by Luc Boltanski and Arnaud Esquerre is a highly original analysis of the two key processes that shape the contemporary public sphere. On the one hand, there are the processes of news provision which select out a range of facts and events and bring them to the attention of a large number of people who have not, for the most part, experienced them directly. On the other hand, there are processes of politicization which problematize the facts made known by news provision and treat them as issues that concern citizens and the state. Politicization is typically characterized by a diversity of interpretations which, in turn, gives rise to a proliferation of commentary, discussion, polemic and division.
Critical Theory
Quantum dreaming
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Exploring the reality of the dream and the dream of reality over many decades has led IONE to appreciate the quantum nature of dreams. Weaving science and dream traditions from around the world together with her own memories and the dreams of her friends and community members, ''Quantum Dreaming'' shows that as we start practising awareness, our consciousness also(...)
Quantum dreaming
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Exploring the reality of the dream and the dream of reality over many decades has led IONE to appreciate the quantum nature of dreams. Weaving science and dream traditions from around the world together with her own memories and the dreams of her friends and community members, ''Quantum Dreaming'' shows that as we start practising awareness, our consciousness also deepens. IONE and Pauline Oliveros’s shared vision of a harmonious, self-sustaining network of artists and dreamers led to the founding of the ''Deep Listening Institute''. ''Quantum Dreaming'' similarly seeks a radical shift in our collective consciousness, across all states of dreaming and waking.
Critical Theory
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Ce sont les formes avec lesquelles nous redessinons notre visage : chaque jour, peau contre peau sur notre corps, elles esquissent une vie dont elles incarnent un secret qui ne peut qu’être vécu. Les formes de la mode ne sont pas seulement des outils de connaissance du monde et de nous-mêmes. Ce sont aussi des amulettes qui nous servent à inventer et à expérimenter de(...)
La vie des formes: philosophie du réenchantement
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Ce sont les formes avec lesquelles nous redessinons notre visage : chaque jour, peau contre peau sur notre corps, elles esquissent une vie dont elles incarnent un secret qui ne peut qu’être vécu. Les formes de la mode ne sont pas seulement des outils de connaissance du monde et de nous-mêmes. Ce sont aussi des amulettes qui nous servent à inventer et à expérimenter de nouvelles libertés. Liberté de ressusciter des possibles. Liberté de construire des significations inédites. Liberté de choisir ce que nous voulons être.
Critical Theory
On Cosmogonic Eros
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Ludwig Klages' 1922 book, ''On Cosmogonic Eros'' ( ''Vom kosmogonischen Eros''), delves into the realms of mythology, the esotericism of ancient mystery cults, and the science of consciousness to construct a profound metaphysics of life. At its core, Klages presents Eros as an "Eros of distance," from which springs forth the essence of ecstasy and de-selfing. This(...)
On Cosmogonic Eros
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Ludwig Klages' 1922 book, ''On Cosmogonic Eros'' ( ''Vom kosmogonischen Eros''), delves into the realms of mythology, the esotericism of ancient mystery cults, and the science of consciousness to construct a profound metaphysics of life. At its core, Klages presents Eros as an "Eros of distance," from which springs forth the essence of ecstasy and de-selfing. This intriguing concept suggests that experiencing separation and distance can lead to extraordinary states of transcendent bliss and a dissolution of the self. Furthermore, Klages argues that this ecstatic experience serves as the foundation for the emergence of symbolism, the cult of the dead, ancestor worship, as well as the creation of original poetry and art. Klages' work offers a concise and engaging exploration of these key concepts, intertwining mythology, esoteric knowledge, and the study of consciousness to illuminate the enigmatic nature of life and the transformative power of Eros.
Critical Theory
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"Three economies of transcendence" offers a sharp critique of how transcendence underpins the symbolic, economic, and environmental crises of the modern world. Andrea Righi identifies three distinct “economies of transcendence” that sustain neoliberal systems of power. Termed the economy of rank, the economy of infinite valorization, and the phallic economy of time, these(...)
Three economies of transcendence
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"Three economies of transcendence" offers a sharp critique of how transcendence underpins the symbolic, economic, and environmental crises of the modern world. Andrea Righi identifies three distinct “economies of transcendence” that sustain neoliberal systems of power. Termed the economy of rank, the economy of infinite valorization, and the phallic economy of time, these economies perpetuate hierarchies, sacrifices, and ecological destruction. Through this framework, Righi not only diagnoses the crisis but also proposes an immanent model of economy that fosters solidarity and is expressly pro-social and ecologically responsible.
Critical Theory
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What is it to be Black in America? It is to be constantly given unsolicited advice on how to run your life by people of all stripes, cultures, races, and opinions, so that the message is, by its very design, inconsistent with itself. However, there is one common feature that unites them all, besides their arrogant insistence to respond to what no one has asked of them:(...)
The revolt eclipses whatever the world has to offer
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What is it to be Black in America? It is to be constantly given unsolicited advice on how to run your life by people of all stripes, cultures, races, and opinions, so that the message is, by its very design, inconsistent with itself. However, there is one common feature that unites them all, besides their arrogant insistence to respond to what no one has asked of them: you can be sure that not one of these philistines has read—let alone understood—a single line of Plato. It is with this guiding insight that the author seeks to think his own material existence and resolves that philosophy must implicate itself in the utter demise of the alienated and oppressive wasteland in which he has been thrown.
Critical Theory