Negotiating with the II && ! : reading codes and their symbolic structures of control

Abstract

This thesis investigates software as a textual and aesthetic object through research- based artistic practice and arts-based research. Its main particular interest is in how codes (computer codes, more specifically, but positioned in relation to other linguistic codes) exercise control. It engages Pierre Bourdieu's framework of language and symbolic power, Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model, and Wendy Chun's notion of programability, aiming to discuss how to read codes in ways that create possible semantic and pragmatic negotiations with their imperatives. This document draws a model of reading that accounts for the sociological distribution of authority contained in software. It accepts ambiguity in face of invisibility, examines what is the ontological proximity of the code with the performative effect it generates, and how shifts and manipulations of this relational axis may work to oppose or divert prescriptive command structures. The goal of the project is to reflect upon how art practice can provide different modes of reading codes that may prove themselves pertinent to a less passive engagement with this subtle layer of control of everyday life.