connecting intriguing theory and practice
what are the common themes in inspiration for my work?
mind map created in miro
recently, i have been indulging in a lot of research around social theory to inform my praxis and practice. while much of my focus has been on topics that i've engaged with prior, i wanted to dive more deeply to create a personal framework of expertise.
the topics i am currently surrounding myself with include ludology, marxism, playful design, nostalgia, cyberfeminism, absurdism, existentialism, and surrealism. all topics one may think have little in common. in a lot of my research, it has come to light to me that it is quite the contrary, and thus, the map above was born.
through reading mary flanagan's essay "locating play and politics: real world games & activism" this past semester, i have come rather enamored not just with the idea of pervasive games, immersion & physicality, and stretching the boundaries of the magic circle, but with an unexpected, briefly discussed portion of this article: situationist international and guy debord.
mark fisher is a rather hot name amongst gen z social theorists - for good reason. his expansion of hauntology resonates with the recent y2k-era (late 90s to early 2010s) nostalgia many 20-somethings are facing right now. finding mark fisher's involvement with sadie plant, who like mary flanagan conducts research on cyberfeminism and situationist international, was rather intriguing. from what i have found so far, sadie plant and mary flanagan have not had any direct collaboration, though.
like jean-paul sartre and his attempts to rectify marxist ideals with existentialist beliefs, i often find myself grappling with similar. can certain schools of thought coexist, or further, inform one another? many marxists believe existentialism is inherently incompatible with marxism. like sartre, i must disagree, and i think situationist international and their absurdist motifs may disagree as well. the lack of an ability to rectify the differences is an interesting line of thinking to consider given that marx was majorly influenced by hegel, whose dialectics have proven to be paramount to my readings of philosophy, at least.
what do you think of my connections? am i sensing patterns where patterns may not belong?
memento vivere,
kristen 💌