Critical play : alien contact

Abstract

I argue that the necessity of emancipating the Situationist International (SI) from the historical notion of it as the last movement of the avant-garde in order to take over the spirit of the SI. I claim that necessity of strategically announcing the concept of the Post- Situationist in order to interrupt existing perceptions of the SI. I propose "play" as a major direction in revitalizing the aesthetic sensibility of dehumanized citizens who live in the "spectacle", as defined as the Situationists, of capitalist society. I also propose to reinvent humanized daily life based on studying French philosopher Jacques Ranciere's aesthetical politics and Marxist theorist Guy Debord's theories on spectacle. Simultaneously, I investigate "critical play" as my central tactic in reconnecting social neurons among atomized citizens to re-energize human creativity, a core agent in progressing social development. Lastly, I demonstrate one of my research projects performed over the last two years in the program in Art, Culture, and Technology. In terms of critical play, I am seeking the potentiality of Post Situationist strategies.