Philosophical Conference Cycle Explores Techno-Aesthetic Objects

A new book from Éditions l'Harmattan, edited by Colette Tron, compiles a philosophical conference cycle on techno-aesthetic questions. Following Gilbert Simondon's logic in "Mode d'existence des objets techniques," Élie During introduces the "Prototype" as a quasi-art object between object and project, generating possibilities for plastic works by artists like John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, Panamarenko, and Sol LeWitt. Jean-Louis Déotte links the notion of "technical apparatus" (perspective, camera obscura, museum, photography, cinema) to Simondon and Walter Benjamin, as well as to 15th- and 16th-century disegno—graphic thought as both means and end of discovery. Marie-José Mondzain argues that the contemporary world, despite being called a "civilization of images," has fewer images in the sense of those connected to time, speech, and the body, citing the 2005 French banlieue riots as a return of the unshown. Bernard Stiegler and Alain Giffard attribute this crisis to cultural industry, neuro-marketing, and technology conditioning minds. Louis-José Lestocart counters that images, rich or poor, contain "hidden parts" of information, knowledge, and aesthetics.