Author Archives: Jeff Watson

@sitlab projects old and new at USC MEML

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Distant Early Warning

In 1969, Marshall McLuhan published Distant Early Warning, a playing card deck his estate describes as “a problem-solving device.” The deck was a part of the DEW Line Newsletter project (a “startling, shocking Early Warning System for our era of … Continue reading

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A specific level of the production of meaning that basically exists in every artwork

“To speak about the performative in relation to art is not about defining a new class of artworks. Rather, it involves outlining a specific level of the production of meaning that basically exists in every artwork, although it is not … Continue reading

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The goal of critical scholarship and artistic and scientific practices

“The goal of critical scholarship and artistic and scientific practices is to make media unstable. To turn not to solving problems, but to imagining new worlds exceeding the demands of war and consumption that kill signification, experience, and time itself.” … Continue reading

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Play does not only include the logics of the game

“Play does not only include the logics of the game – it also includes the values of the player. Her politics. Her body. Her social being. Play is a part of her expression, guided through rules, but still free, productive, … Continue reading

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Whatever space and time mean, place and occasion mean more

“Whatever space and time mean, place and occasion mean more. For space in our image is place, and time in our image is occasion.” – Aldo van Eyck, Place and Occasion

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Play implies interplay

“[Play,] whether in life or in a wheel, implies interplay. There must be give and take, or dialogue, as between two or more persons and groups.” – Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media

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You are in charge of your destiny

“A Pepsi commercial on MTV promoting the 1998 MTV music video awards emphasized the fact that the video of the year award would be selected by the viewers through Internet and phone calls live during the show; the commercial dramatized … Continue reading

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Hard working children

“All the snapping and posting of photos, liking, commenting, linking, and clicking is happening without any compensation for this sweat. No wonder Zukerberg’s personal net worth is 34 billion. Youtube is saturated with videos of young people — many in their teens — testing … Continue reading

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Turn off the options, and turn up the intimacy

“Although designers continue to dream of “transparency” – technologies that just do their job without making their presence felt – both creators and audiences actually like technologies with “personality.” A personality is something with which you can have a relationship. … Continue reading

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