Bobby Campbell gave a great thesis presentation this afternoon. This year the first crop of MFA grad students will graduate from our program. It has been unfortunate to not be able to attend each person’s talk, but at least I was able to attend this one.
Bobby discussed his images of body transformation and anatomy. He presented (as was characterized in the discussion afterwards) a departure from what could be called the cult of beauty to perhaps a cult of power or capacity. Bobby made explicit connections to genetics and nuclear power- as indicators of a general anxiousness about these new technologies whose effects are mostly unknown. The conversation turned towards this desire of people from a cult of (what I argue) functions rather than power or capacities. Along with these functions comes conflict in the form of the social structures to which these individuals belong. The social melodrama..the conflict that arises when the operations of a character or characters come into direct conflict with the values of society…the figure/ground relationship.
The way this could be visualized is a positive relationship between the number and kinds of functions that an object or person has (i.e. the kinds of things they do or perform- also a measure of complexity) and the interconnectedness or networked relationships the object or person has. This needs to be tested of course, but it certainly can be reasoned that as an individual gains functions they may come into conflict created by their other functions.
The reason this is interesting to me is because it may create some new possibilities for the formation of narrative structures. It doesn’t necessarily have to be narrative, but conflict is interesting and provides a basic narrative framework- thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Such is melodrama, but what accounts for function? How is function gained? Where do, when, and which functions create the conflict?
Work investigating gene function, conflict, and networks can provide information as can the work of Jessica Flack at the Santa Fe Institute for complexity which in many ways synthesizes genetical and social models of function and conflict.
