In den Ruinen der Repräsentation? Affekt, Agencement und das Okkurente

Abstract

In the Ruins of Representation? Affect, 'Agencement' and the Occurent The article examines the concept of affect from the perspective of Spinoza, Deleuze and Guattari, and Massumi. It defines affect in strict opposition to "feeling" and "emotion" as a prepersonal rather than as a-social phenomenon circulating among (human and non-human) bodies and creating "agencies" (dynamic heterogeneous connections or assemblages). Affect and desire are understood as productive forces delineating lines of flight in infinitesimal movements of affecting and being affected that undermine establishing representation "from within" and give birth to the emergence of potential transformations. The article focuses on what theories of affect offer a conception of "aesthetic politics" (Massumi 2010) within the field of interactive art in an age of biopolitical capitalism. It also highlights the possible connections with a critique of representation.