MACHAAN

Really interesting quote from a Vanity Fair write-up of the ‘New Aesthetic’ – a British  ‘Art Movement-but-its-ridiculous-to-call-anything-that-these-days’. The idea is quite pertinent given the headlines these days. Its core artistic symbol is the unmanned robotic Drone.

“We always think that, as Orwell said, Fascism cannot succeed in Britain because it would be laughed at. I think that what terrifies us about some of the technological implications is that a machine can’t be laughed at. You can’t satirize Google. That’s what spawns new expressions like some of James’s work. It is a very particularly British reaction to the new American century of technology”: technology is something Americans do to us.

What the New Aesthetic is —

“It’s just me, looking at this stuff, and going, ‘Have you seen this [the new networked society and technologies]? Have you actually seen it? Have you really paid attention and thought this stuff through? Because I’m trying to, and it’s amazing!’” — James Bridle