TORQUE #1 MIND.LANGUAGE. TECHNOLOGY

Edited by Nathan Jones and Sam Skinner

DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE BOOK NOW HERE: http://linkeditions.tumblr.com/torque1

Torque # 1 brings together a diverse collection of essays and artworks, many newly commissioned, that reflect upon the plasticity of the brain, the adaptability of technology and the malleability of language, and their twisting together through past, present and future cultures.

The contributors and their work each offer unique models of navigating this territory, making their own artefacts, writing their own scripts, forging critical space and examining the blind spots.

The book is the result of a wide range of cross-disciplinary conversations, taking place across symposia, online forums, live events and workshops, produced by the book’s editors: Nathan Jones and Sam Skinner.

Contributors: Lambros Malafouris . Emil Alzamora . Anna Munster . Benedict Drew . Esther Leslie . Cécile B Evans . Hannah Proctor . Nathan Jones . Stephen Fortune . Dennis Oppenheim . Lawrence Abu Hamdan . Holly Pester . Geoff Cox . Alex McLean . Kate Sicchio . Karl Heinz Jeron . Mez Breeze . Robert Sheppard . Chris Boyd . Imogen Stidworthy

Published by Link Editions: http://linkeditions.tumblr.com

My contribution A Voice Smears Across the Screen: Material Engagement with Form, Forms and Forming begins: 'To regard cognition as achieving independent existence outside the brain, inherent in things in general (or in form as a particularity) is not a mystical or magical formulation.' It also contains this poem 'about' (as in 'round about') material engagement: 

 

Trigger Warning

                                                
we’re at a love poem

that causes you to think

war with just about anyone 

it bristles with

implication as you touch

its forms you form it in acts

of forming not

tricks and triggers upon

the wall of cognition for the forms

know a thing or two and not one

might be good for you as

a voice slaps across the screen

                                                            (for my students)

Characteristically, I've re-written the poem since Nathan Jones asked me for a piece. Read more about my take on Material Engagement here. Read more about torque here.

“Torque activities and this publication bravely push our boundaries of cognition and thinking, through striking essays, tricky concepts, and beautiful, arresting imagery, " says Professor Mike Stubbs, Artistic Director, FACT, Liverpool.

This piece, along with others, on, of, or about poetics, appears in my 2024 Shearsman book The Necessity of Poetics. Details here: Pages: The Necessity of Poetics - out now! (robertsheppard.blogspot.com).