monochrom is an art-technology-philosophy group having its seat in Vienna and Zeta Draconis. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science, context hacking and political activism. Our mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom has existed in this (and almost every other) form since 1993.
Paul Cliteur asks: if an atheist is someone who doesn’t believe in God, which God don’t they believe in? What is atheism? Although much used in contemporary language, not many people specify what they mean by the word. ‘Atheism’ has this in common with ‘religion’, at least. Everyone reading William James’ (1842-1910) seminal 1902 book … Read more
On May 20th, J. Craig Venter and his team at J.C Venter Institute announced the creation of a cell controlled by a synthetic genome in a paper published in SCIENCE. As science historian George Dyson points out, “from the point of view of technology, a code generated within a digital computer is now self-replicating as … Read more
monochrom: we mean it. (Disclaimer: Even those who don’t believe the hype need media to communicate that they don’t believe the hype.) Link
One more piece from our archives. Link
In March 2007, Disney announced early preparation for a new animated production, The Frog Princess. Maddy (as in: Mammy), in true “American fairy tale” tradition, would be a Black chambermaid slaving away in the New Orleans pit of a spoilt, White débutante, only to be rescued ultimately by a voodoo priestess fairy godmother who helps … Read more
Throughout my pregnancy I’ve been pondering the question of consciousness – not mine, that of my fetus. Is she aware of her environment? Does she have a sense of identity? Can she think, or dream? And if she was born tomorrow, what could she know about the world around her? […] By the end of … Read more
Johannes Grenzfurthner will give a talk at SIGINT 2010: “GUERRILLA.COM: How to mess with media, the market and life itself”. “The term guerrilla communication refers to unconventional forms of communication and/or intervention in more conventional processes of communication. Communication guerilla is a specific style of political action drawing from a watchful view of the paradoxes … Read more
Johannes Grenzfurthner will give a talk at SIGINT 2010: “Reach Out and Touch Face: A rant about failing”. Science and Technology Studies (especially Langdon Winner and Bruno Latour) have convincingly demonstrated that the widespread inability to understand technological artifacts as fabricated entities, as social and cultural phenomena, derives from the fact that in retrospect only … Read more
Frank Apunkt Schneider will give a talk at SIGINT 2010: “The Medium is the Messiah. On the implicit ideology of media activism” In the media age nearly all forms of political interventionism show an inevitable tendency to become media activism. This is to say that the activists’ focus has shifted from what could be considered … Read more
The Wizard of Oz as economic fable? Here is a piece on the economic interpretation of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 vision, brought to the masses through the 1939 Judy Garland film, and brought to the world’s understanding in 1964 by high school teacher Henry Littlefield: “The Tin Woodman represents the industrial worker, the Scarecrow is … Read more