Article:
Towards a Relational Materialism. A Reflection on Language, Relations and the Digital

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dc.creatorHui, Yuk
dc.date.accessioned2018-09-25T15:09:51Z
dc.date.available2018-09-25T15:09:51Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.description.abstractThis article takes off from what Lyotard calls ‘the immaterial’, demonstrated in the exhibition Les Immatériaux that he curated at the Centre Pompidou in 1985. It aims at outlining a concept of ‘relational materiality’. According to Lyotard, ‘the immaterial’ is not contrary to material: instead, it is a new industrial material brought about by telecommunication technologies, exemplified by Minitel computers, and serves as basis to describe the postmodern condition. Today this materiality is often referred to as ‘the digital’. In order to enter into a dialogue with Lytoard, and to render his notion of ‘immaterial materials’ contemporary, this article contrasts the concept of relational materiality with some current discourses on digital physics (Edward Fredkin, Gregory Chaitin) and digital textuality (Matthew Kirschenbaum). Against the conventional conception that relations are immaterial (neither being a res nor even having a real esse), and also contrary to a substantialist analysis of materiality, this article suggests that a relational materiality is made visible and explicit under digital conditions. It suggests a reconsideration of the ‘relational turn’ in the early 20th century and the concept of concretisation proposed by Gilbert Simondon. The article concludes by returning to Lyotard’s notion of materialism and his vision of a new metaphysics coming out of this ‘immaterial material’, and offers ‘relational materialism’ as a contemporary response.en
dc.identifier.doi10.25969/mediarep/766
dc.identifier.urihttp://digicults.org/files/2016/11/III.3-Hui_2015_Relational-Materialism.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://mediarep.org/handle/doc/3146
dc.languageeng
dc.publishertranscript
dc.publisher.placeBielefeld
dc.relation.isPartOfissn:2364-2114
dc.relation.ispartofseriesDigital Culture & Society
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
dc.subjectdigitaler Materialismusde
dc.subjectMetaphysikde
dc.subjectImmaterialitätde
dc.subjectdigital materialismen
dc.subjectmetaphysicsen
dc.subjectimmaterialityen
dc.subject.ddcddc:110
dc.subject.personJean-François Lyotard
dc.subject.personMatthew G. Kirschenbaum
dc.titleTowards a Relational Materialism. A Reflection on Language, Relations and the Digitalde
dc.typearticle
dc.type.statuspublishedVersion
dcterms.bibliographicCitationHui, Yuk (2015): Towards a Relational Materialism. A Reflection on Language, Relations and the Digital. In: Digital Culture & Society 1 (1), S. 131–147. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/766.
dspace.entity.typeArticleen
local.coverpage2021-05-29T02:30:16
local.identifier.firstpublishedhttp://digicults.org/files/2016/11/III.3-Hui_2015_Relational-Materialism.pdf
local.source.epage147
local.source.issue1
local.source.spage131
local.source.volume1
local.subject.gndhttps://d-nb.info/gnd/118575589
local.subject.gndhttps://d-nb.info/gnd/132553554
local.subject.wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q35277

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