Authors:

 Brassett, Jamie

Title:

 CyberDesire

Keywords:

 Deleuze + Gattari, body modification, desiring machines, body without organs
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Abstract:

 If the quick answer to Deleuze+Guattari's question "How do you make yourself a Body without Organs?" is "get connected" (as I argued in 'emerging cyber subjects'), this paper seeks to map -with the aid of visual material-the points, couplings & lines of flight of such connections. It will examine various concepts announced by Deleuze+Guattari (as they write together & separately) insofar as they relate to the peculiarities of, & possibilities for, practices of Body Modification. In the end, the cartography drawn will map the flows constitutive of the Post Human.
It is my contention that the Body Modifier of today is paving the way (opening up the interface points) for the Cyborg of "tomorrow" (I put this in quotation marks because it could be argued -- as I note below -- that such an entity is already upon us; in fact, we could already be said to have become cyborgs). Furthermore, through these pierced points (for example) not only does increased desire flow (on the most material level, extra nerve endings are opened to the world through piercing), but the ordinary organised structures of the body are disrupted (as argued in my 'Become Cyborg' in Just Postmodernism ed. S.Earnshaw [Rodopi 1997]).
There is a point, then, at which the confluence of flesh & nerves, the metallic & the digital, will disrupt any easy distinction between inside & outside, subject & object, individual & culture. Whether this point has been & gone (as William Gibson has said) or whether it lies in the (not too distant) future (as Vernor Vinge has argued) seems a rather academic distinction. What we need to do, is to orientate ourselves with respect to the social, cultural, psychological, aesthetic...possibilities that such a confluence provides. Such possibilities I find thoroughly exciting & have already embarked on such personal bodily disruptions.
Brassett, Jamie. jamie@brassett.demon.co.uk Lecturer in Philosophy @ Central St Martins College of Art & Design http://human.ntu.ac.uk/frame/frame.html; PhD in Philosophy (Warwick 1992) and currently lecturing in London @ Central St Martins College of Art & Design, Camberwell College of Arts & University of Greenwich. Fields of interest are: Deleuze+Guattari, CyberTheory, Body Modification, Space, Subjectivity & Art. I am currently providing academic leadership for four MA courses (Central St. Martins & Greenwich) & a student of Capoeira. publications: 'add-ons & plug-ins' (with Illustrations) in Products R Us: From Obsession to Possession eds. Lorraine Gamman & Liz Farrelly (London: Booth-Clibborn Editions, forthcoming); 'emerging cyber subjects' in frAme ed. Simon Mills @ http://human.ntu.ac.uk/frame/frame.html; 'Extreme Sports for Extreme Cities' (with Illustrations) in Ottagono (March 1998) p.97; 'Become Cyborg' (with Illustrations) in Just Postmodernism ed. Steven Earnshaw (Amsterdam & Atlanta: Rodopi, 1997) pp.279-300; 'Space, Postmodernism and Cartographies' in Postmodern Surroundings ed. Steven Earnshaw (Amsterdam & Atlanta: Rodopi, 1994) pp.7-22; 'The Spaced-Out Subject: Bachelard and Perec' in Subjectivity and Literature from the Romantics to the Present Day, Creating the Self eds. Philip Shaw and Peter Stockwell (London: Pinter Publishers, 1991) pp.146-158; 'Kant Within the Limits of Judgement Alone' in Pli Special Issue: "Kant: The Trials of Judgement" (Spring 1991) pp.116-119; and Lorraine Gamman, 'The Art of Mutation' (with Illustrations) in make: anti-theory issue no.79 (March-May 1998) pp.9-11; and Sharon Bowes, 'Index' for Philosopher's Poets ed. David Wood (London: Routledge, 1991).