Name : Henk Ellerman Time : 10.30-13.00 (Paradiso Hall) Subject: The Metaphor Machine Date : Saturday 20 January 1996 |
| The Power Of Naming Introduction by Rosi Braidotti to the session 'The metaphor Machine'. Metaphors are sought and found for the Internet and other technologies of communication. A list of all the metaphors would contain more than 300. There are differences between them, but what they all have in common is their spatial character. They share a visual fundament, and as such represent a masculine perspective on, say, the Internet. The choice for visual metaphors is omnipresent, but is not necessary. It is a restriction on the class of possible metaphors that easily leads to restrictions on the uses one may envisage for the communication technologies designated by these metaphors. This masculine spatial perspective also paves the way for the use of the internet for the reproduction of the very same structures of centralised control that already dominate real life. It is the power of the One, that traditionally oppresses plurality: the voices of the many. It goes without saying that the traditional roles of woman will then also be reproduced by the use of these technologies. A feminist perspective on the Internet and the like clearly requires other metaphors. A recourse to senses other than the visual one is needed to prevent the reproduction of real world structures in the new one. New hierarchies of the senses have to be introduced. The acoustical sense is a prime candidate and could lead to metaphors that are temporal. Cyberspace might then be seen as an acoustical if not musical phenomenon that allows people to take the role of active desiring beings. A new political ontology may result, making the internet more germane to woman. In any case, everyone introducing a metaphor should be aware that using a metaphor is a manifestation of the power of naming. Naming a new technology partly makes a technology. Naming is a therefore a political power. To develop the powers of naming we may need artistic experimentation of the powers of the names and be sure to make them into an instrument for the liberation of women. We also need a keen awareness of the too often implicit connotations of too easily applied metaphors. Art and political action are among the instruments to fight against the encapsulation of the new communications technologies in the masculine powerstructure.
Henk Ellerman |
