revolution of the present (empires)

trailer, 4:04

Synopsis
The film and online project brings together international philosophers, scientists and artists to give description and analysis to the contemporary moment as defined by computational tools and networks.

It states that networks are not new and have been forever with us in the evolution of our cities, trade, communications and sciences, in our relations as businesses and nation states, in the circulation of money, food, arms and our shared ecology.

Yet something has deeply changed in our experience of time, work, community, the global. Empires looks deeply to unravel how we speak to the realities of the individual and the notion of the public and public 'good' in this new world at the confluence of money, cities, computation, politics and science.

final cut, 84:07

Quotes on the 1st Cut
'It is great, and also scary'
Florian Cramer, media theorist

'This piece is truly timely. It addresses many of the issues and thinking that has emerged not only since the financial crash but more recently with the emergence of OWS.'
Kevin Farrington, film critic, curator


'A great collection of very important statements by contemporarythinkers! To paraphrase James Delbourgo , a grand civic artistic performance founded in Marc Lafia's insatiable curiosity of the modern, post
modern world and well the world in all it's temporalities and manifestations. Subjects all are connected, like atoms and molecules.
Simplistically said, you travel through discovery, understanding, then a form of coming to terms and a touch of existential optimism. It's rough around the edges, but its a good way to structure the
material. What a tour de force! An important work!' Magdalena Rangel, filmmaker, writer


Marc! I've just seen the first cut of the documentary and gosh! I feel so overwhelmed! I think it is an incredible collection of people and ideas, and it has left me inspired, intrigued and with goosebumps as I
realise what a wide body of knowledge has come together into a seamless, tense and productive dialogue in this film. I didn't realize it was 2 hrs 45 minutes long... If anything, I kept on hoping that
there would be more. I feel extremely privileged to be talking with, to and along such a brilliant array of people and look forward to the final cut.
I actually enjoyed the length of the film. To me it makes sense because there are so many interesting things being said - but more importantly, what you have done is what networks are supposed to do -
You have created a seamless narrative, that still manages to show the differences of the people talking in the film, and for me it produces a wonderful chilling effect - the kind you get when you have seen a
film that has enveloped you in its duration and has released you...
you come out, and realize that something has changed. I don't know how you are going to be able to shorten this - least of all, because we
all speak a lot! I hope that you will keep this longer film public, even when the final shorter version is out, because I know it will interest a lot of people to just hear the mashup of ideas which are coming together.
This is what we have needed - an account of the contemporary not just through the probabilities of the future but the possibilities of the past. It looks at the notion of the empire in so man.
Nishant Shah, new media theorist


An awesome project. I'm a big fan of Negri and Michael Hardt by reference as well. It's just a great piece and obviously so timely. so many interesting points but a few that are on my mind since watching are obviously the idea of the multitude and how technology/corporate networks mediate the classic idea that I think Spinoza used as a model for reconciling democratic ideals and sovereign powers. Of course I should know all these people by sight but i don't. I would kill for some L3's. I love Nishant Shah who talks about a collapsing of not only future possibility but current ideas of identification online. Manuel DeLanda and his materialism as opposed to phenomenology. great paradox there. privatization of sci research etc. if course the Dutch woman who can't talk about empathy in polite company. of course it all looks beautiful. intrigued and actually authentically confused by some of the b-roll but I'm sure that will shake out to some point of clarity. honestly I would like to see the full interviews. a six hour cut perhaps? congrats
Eric Morkovitz, filmmaker

Notes
Through varied formats the hybrid work seeks out to present a layered account of the multiplicity of speeds, systems and affects interwoven and intermeshed that define today's global politics and culture.

A note on the new clip (the one on the top):
From the beginning of this project I'd wanted to include groups using new technologies to consider new forms of participation, asking and questioning what is their promise, their reality. can they constitute new kinds of actions, create a new kind of public, a new social fabric, a new politics, new forms of assembly; this within a framework and perspective of history and theory. i had spent some time over the years at 16beaver and began a conversation with them and then occupywallstreet happened, presenting a very complex event testing all theoretical assumptions and bringing a living reality to the complex of questions with which the film was engaged.

in the next chapter we'll look at algorithms, and the logic of money in computation and how these instruments have in a sense a logic and end game of their own. whereas this first part (which will play out and be much longer) has a sense of a very human dimension, perhaps our instrumentation has its very own end game.

first cut, 2:45:05