JIMISON-DISSERTATION-2015

358 Pages·2015·7.73 MB·English

The Dilution of Avant-Garde Subcultural Boundaries in Network
Society

A Dissertation
Presented to
The Academic Faculty

by

David Jimison

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Digital Media

Georgia Institute of Technology

May 2015

Copyright © 2015 by David Jimison
The Dilution of Avant-Garde Subcultural Boundaries in Network
Society

Approved by:

Dr. Carl DiSalvo, Advisor Dr. Sarah Cook
School of Literature, Media, and Culture College of Art and Design
Georgia Institute of Technology University of Dundee

Dr. Ian Bogost Dr. Eugene Thacker
School of Literature, Media, and Culture School of Media Studies
Georgia Institute of Technology The New School

Dr. Janet Murray
School of Literature, Media, and Culture
Georgia Institute of Technology

Date Approved: January 9, 2015
Acknowledgements

As one who has spent my life as a practitioner, I found the transition to writing a
dissertation to be a very difficult challenge, one that I surmounted only by the
wonderful help and support of my mentors, colleagues, family and friends.

First, I would like to thank each member of my committee for their enduring
patience, and their passion for the subject matter. Dr. Carl DiSalvo, who
encouraged my return to the doctoral program, and who provided much needed
straight talk throughout my struggles to persist. Dr. Janet Murray, whose
brilliance and passion inspires renewed vigor, and who served as a wonderful
mentor to me throughout my decade at Georgia Tech. Dr. Eugene Thacker, who
helped launch my research and introduced me to so many delightful
philosophers. Dr. Ian Bogost, who managed to be both critical and encouraging,
and thus pushed my work into better theoretical grounding. Dr. Sarah Cook,
whose amazing knowledge of digital arts benefited my theoretical work, and who
has helped me realize the connection between my dissertation and my own
artistic practices.

I am also grateful for the wonderful help I received in writing and editing this
dissertation. Esther LeMair who worked jumped into tasks with a moments
notice, and copy edited the entire dissertation. The Georgia Tech
Communications Center provided enormous support to me, and I want to thank
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Karen Head who organized the support to meet weekly with me, even over the
summer, Dustin Hannum, who helped tackle chapters 2 and 3 over the summer,
and Becky Weaver who worked with me through the rest. Becky met tirelessly
with me, listened to my various problems both with writing and in general, and
was a phenomenal support throughout the process. It was such a pleasure to
learn and appreciate writing with such skilled persons.

Second, I want to acknowledge my collaborators and colleagues at Eyebeam,
where I was an artist, and at Fever and F#, the digital agencies I helped start. In
particular, I want to thank my past collaborators: David Boyhan, Jeff Crouse,
Jena Gagliano, Jacob Milam, Eric Olson, Joo Youn Paek, Julie Robinson, Stephen
Shearer, and Travis Thatcher. Without the communities and spaces of
collaboration, I believe (and argue in the following pages) that our creativity
stagnates.

Finally, I want to thank my friends and family. My parents, John and Mitzi, were
incredibly enthusiastic and supportive. My wife, Melissa, who took care of me in
between writing sessions, when I was practically catatonic, and who traveled
around the Americas trusting that I would one day finish my PhD. And finally,
my brothers, Steven, Peter, and Andrew, whose presence has kept me grounded.

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Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... III

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................... IX

LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... X

SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ XII

I. INTRODUCTION: THE DILUTION OF AVANT-GARDE SUBCULTURES ....... 1

II. THE HISTORY OF THE AVANT-GARDE AND SUBCULTURES .................... 13

Subcultures are a Cultural Phenomenon ............................................................ 25

The Five Traits of the Avant-Garde .................................................................... 51

First Trait - Against Primacy ........................................................................... 52

Second Trait - Provocation of the Public ....................................................... 62

Third Trait - Alienation & Elitism .................................................................. 69

Fourth Trait - Death, or Recuperation by the Mainstream ............................ 74

Fifth Trait - Scenes of the Avant-Garde .......................................................... 81

III. THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE AND NETWORK SOCIETY ........................ 99

Space, the Everyday, and Social Power Structures ........................................... 99

Spaces of Representation .................................................................................. 108

Network Society ................................................................................................ 114

Realized Abstractions .................................................................................... 120

Access ............................................................................................................. 122

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Absent Presence ............................................................................................. 125

Homogenization of Space .............................................................................. 128

IV. THE BOUNDARIES OF AVANT-GARDE SUBCULTURES .......................... 136

The Capital of Avant-Garde Subculture ........................................................... 139

The Boundaries of Avant-Garde Subcultures ................................................... 152

Slang .............................................................................................................. 155

Fashion .......................................................................................................... 159

Accumulation ................................................................................................. 163

Esoteric Knowledge ....................................................................................... 168

Physical Spaces .............................................................................................. 170

The Evolutions of Avant-Garde Subculture ..................................................... 187

The Recuperations of Avant-Garde Subculture ............................................... 194

V. FLUIDITY, RETROMANIA AND INTERNET SUBCULTURES .................... 206

Riding the Wave ................................................................................................ 211

Fluidity & Retromania ...................................................................................... 218

What of Hipsters? ............................................................................................ 226

Slang // Hashtags ........................................................................................... 233

Realized Abstraction ..................................................................................... 236

Access ............................................................................................................. 237

Absent Presence ............................................................................................ 238

Homogenization of Culture .......................................................................... 238

Summary ....................................................................................................... 239

Fashion // Health Goth ................................................................................... 240

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Realized Abstraction ..................................................................................... 244

Access ............................................................................................................ 244

Absent Presence ............................................................................................ 245

Homogenization of Culture .......................................................................... 245

Summary ....................................................................................................... 246

Accumulation // BandCamp ............................................................................. 247

Realized Abstraction ..................................................................................... 249

Access ............................................................................................................ 250

Absent Presence ............................................................................................. 251

Homogenization of Culture ........................................................................... 251

Summary ....................................................................................................... 252

Esoteric Knowledge // VICE INC ..................................................................... 253

Realized Abstraction ..................................................................................... 256

Access ............................................................................................................. 257

Absent Presence ............................................................................................. 257

Homogenization of Culture .......................................................................... 259

Summary ....................................................................................................... 259

Physical Space // Airbnb Pavillion ................................................................. 260

Realized Abstraction ...................................................................................... 261

Access ............................................................................................................ 262

Absent Presence ............................................................................................ 262

Homogenization of Culture .......................................................................... 263

Summary ....................................................................................................... 263

Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 265

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VI. NEW METHODOLOGIES AND SPATIAL PRACTICES ............................... 269

Tactical Media ................................................................................................... 271

Hijacking the News Media ................................................................................ 275

Open-Source and Copyleft ................................................................................ 279

Eyebeam ........................................................................................................... 283

Realized Abstraction ........................................................................................ 286

Access ............................................................................................................... 288

Absent Presence ............................................................................................... 290

Homogenization of Culture ............................................................................. 292

Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 294

BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 299

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List of Tables

Table 1 Cross Listing of Subcultural Boundary and Properties of Network Society
...................................................................................................................... 265

ix
List of Figures

Figure 1 Still from Paper Rad ................................................................................ 60

Figure 2 Louboutin Red Sole Designer Shoes ...................................................... 143

Figure 3 Replica Basquiat Shirt ............................................................................ 143

Figure 4 Cover of L'Hydropathe .......................................................................... 155

Figure 5 Outside of the 9:30 Club (1980s) ............................................................ 171

Figure 6 Outside Le Chat Noir (1890s) ................................................................ 172

Figure 7 Black Cat Bill showing off his collection of black cats ........................... 174

Figure 8 924 Gilman during the day (1990s) ...................................................... 181

Figure 9 Siouxie Sioux, early goth ........................................................................ 187

Figure 10 Rose McDowall evolves Sioux's style ................................................... 188

Figure 11 Stills from Bob Dylan's Victoria Secret Commercial ............................ 199

Figure 12 Album cover by Christopherson .......................................................... 203

Figure 13 Still from Christopherson's Scatology video ....................................... 203

Figure 14 Rihanna performance on Saturday Night Live ................................... 206

Figure 15 Google Analytics on mentions of Seapunk in news articles over time 209

Figure 16 LilInternet's tweet that started Seapunk ............................................. 224

Figure 17 Karen O wearing vintage RUN DMC shirt .......................................... 228

Figure 18 Genesis P-Orridge in hip hop styled jacket ......................................... 228

Figure 19 The Evolution of the Hipster from Lifestyle Magazine ....................... 230

Figure 20 Twitter conversation about Slimepunk .............................................. 234

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