Desiring-Machines
Jef Safi, Life is a story told by an idiot, full of noise and emotional disturbance but devoid of meaning (2017) © Courtesy of the artist.
Call for Artists
Open submission: 1 June – 15 October 2023
Concept by Digital Curator: Dr Işıl Ezgi Çelik
Everything is a machine. Every machine is connected to another machine. Machines are driving other machines, machines are being driven by other machines. Every machine is a disruption in the flow and is a flow itself. The human body is a machine. Desire is a machine. Desire is a productive machine oriented towards production. Machines convert one thing into another thing by processing the substances. Desire produces reality in Desiring-Machines. There is no such thing as lack now, only a process that produces one within the other and couples the machines together.
Though, we believe desire is to lack something and the object of the desire is unattainable. It is what you lose the moment you find it. Desire does not exist to be satisfied, but only to keep desire going. You are missing out on something, every instant, even when you are reading me now. Are others enjoying it more? Now you are how you look; to be better you have to look better. But it is not enough. You need to look better and you need to look like you enjoy more than others. You need to enjoy as much as you can enjoy, and then you have to enjoy more. And it won’t be enough. You need to be seen. You need to be seen more. You need to be seen constantly. But it won’t be enough.
This feeling of lacking objects and experiences reproduced each instant, again and again, is not existential. It is what market-machine tells us to seek perpetually. This is how an economic system controlling the movement and flow of capital and desire is afloat. The capitalist-machine oppresses, reforms and re-orients the subject’s desire. Now you are the customer, you are the product; everything is to be bought and sold non-stop. You are your market value.
But what is it that you desire? Is that your desire? Are you free to desire? Is it you who desires? Deleuze-Guattarian thinking of desire in terms of productivity and creativity against the idea of desire as an unsatisfiable lack is revolutionary. It shakes the core of and alters our given socio-political landscape. You are Desiring-Machines. You are revolutionary. And this exhibition invites you, the Desiring-Machines, to seek an answer to the question: What is it that YOU desire?
Curator’s words
Dr Işıl Ezgi Çelik | 28 May 2023
The concept of the “Desiring-Machine” comes from the philosophical work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, particularly in their book “Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia.”
According to Deleuze and Guattari, desire is not simply a psychological or individual phenomenon, but rather a social and productive force that operates through the Desiring-Machine. The Desiring-Machine is a theoretical construct that represents the complex interplay of desire, power, and social organisation.
In their view, desire is not a lack or a need to be fulfilled, but a positive and productive force that constantly seeks to create and produce. The Desiring-Machine is a network or assemblage of desire, incorporating various elements such as bodies, objects, social structures, and discourses. It is an immanent and productive system that operates through flows and connections.
The Desiring-Machine is characterized by its capacity for deterritorialization and reterritorialization. De-territorialisation refers to the breaking down of established social and psychological structures, while re-territorialisation involves the creation of new forms and structures. These processes are driven by the intensities and flows of desire.
Desire, as expressed through the Desiring-Machine, is not confined to specific objects or aims. It is a multiplicity that operates through connections and relationships, constantly seeking new expressions and intensities. The desiring machine is not limited to individual subjects but extends to social and collective formations as well.
Deleuze and Guattari argue that the desiring machine is repressed and constrained by various social and psychological mechanisms, such as the Oedipal complex and capitalist modes of production. These mechanisms aim to channel desire into predetermined forms and limit its potential for creativity and transformation.
The concept of the desiring machine is part of Deleuze and Guattari’s broader critique of traditional psychoanalysis and social structures. They propose alternative modes of subjectivity and social organization that embrace the productive and liberating potential of desire. By understanding desire as a Desiring-Machine, they seek to challenge and subvert established power structures and open up new possibilities for the individual and the collective agency.
About You
You are self-identified women and non-binary digital artists working in New Media and XR.
Your work is no older than 2021 and has not been submitted to other concurrent competitions – the art world does not like repetitions.
If requested, you will mint your work as NFTs and Agora Digital Art will support you during this process.
Selection
Ten international New Media artists will be selected to join this group show in VR and physically exhibited in London, UK.
Jury
Digital Curator: Dr Işıl Ezgi Çelik
Founder and Digital Producer: MiMi L.
T&C
This call is open to all self-identified women and non-binary digital artists.
Entirely free to submit.
No remuneration or fees will be paid by Agora to the artists participating in the group show.
Artworks: any New Media Art.
Timeline
Submission opens: 1 June 2023
Deadline to apply: 15 October 2023 at 12:00 (noon) GMT
Exhibition in VR: 1 November 2023 – 31 March 2024 – possibility part of thewrong biennale
Exhibition physical: maybe physical for 1 week in London, UK
VR Exhibition
Desiring-Machines will be submitted to thewrong biennale, which starts on 1 November 2023 and until 31 March 2024.
The VR exhibition will be held in Mozilla Hubs.
Tech specs
- 3D models glb (if don’t know how to make a GLB with blender, an FBX is fine) – max 10,000 faces = 10k poly (x5 would be already 50k)
- 3D models texture: Base Colour, Normal, Ambient Occlusion, Roughness, Metallic, Emissive texture maps. Use a maximum of 2048×2048 pixel dimensions for each texture map
- Images in JPG or PN: max 2 Mb
- GIF: 5 Mb max
- max: 1 video link from Youtube. If requested the Video file in mp4, max 200 Mb, 1280×720 in 4000kbps
Physical exhibition
We do our utmost to organise an in-person exhibition in London, UK.