Critical Art Ensemble

The Introduction to the book of Digital Resistance explains the premise of “tactical media;” it is possibly a reconstructed and reconfigured form of avant-garde; participants, however, do not consider themselves artists or political activists in any traditional sense because to do so would limit their capabilities in social and knowledge systems, key components in their work. Before they were named, they focused on intervening in television, but because this was limited to only one media, they expanded to include other forms of media. Over time tactical media became more defined and structured; some were to some extent regretful because it placed boundaries on what they were doing while others appreciated the merging of many different fields whether as an activist, artist, or scientist because it acknowledged and valued each individual and group. The article explains that tactical media is a workable model that is shaped and reshaped; it challenges the government, displaying and critiquing its cover-ups and negativity, giving people a new way to understand and interact with the system that strives for power and self-interest.

Tactical media is ephemeral, leaving few material traces and a living memory. Though it can be secondarily represented through photographs and videos, tactical media is non-archival because it is an action that comes to an end. Sometimes monumental works can help solve the issue because they inscribe their imperatives within their spaces, but again I felt an example would enhance my understanding of how a monumental work could do so. Tactical media is a form of performance to be ephemeral and affects people during some sort of protest, and after the protest nothing is left but thoughts and feelings of what was.

The article needed examples that exemplified how tactical media was used though it was made clear what it was and why it was used. The conclusion implied that the text that followed would provide this but at least one clear example in the introduction could have made it more comprehensive. It was clear that tactical media was used to counteract the rising power of authoritarian culture and that in itself made me more interested and supportive of tactical media and its practitioners. I have a growing frustration with how we are ruled by money when money should be second to one’s internal state of being, one’s peace and happiness. Money causes unnecessary stresses because of our capitalist market but is somehow a necessary evil. I always wonder how and why it got this way and how it could ever be possible to decrease its importance in our lives, though I cannot even imagine what life could be like at that point. These thoughts make me more curious as to what tactical media practitioners may have done with regards to this troublesome issue. “For a brief time there was and continues to be a relief from capital’s tyranny of specialization that forces us to perform as if we are a fixed set of relationships and characteristics and to repress or strictly manager all other forms of desire and expression.”