T
R
A
N
S
C
R
I
P
T
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
|
T R A N S C R I P T |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 |
|
|
A commodities use value has come to mean the semiotic value rather than the functional value to the consumer. Technological commodities and use values resemble the relationship between signifier and signified, since the meaning of goods, like the meaning of sign, is socially and sociologically produced, rather than being a natural production. It is precisely this semiotic dimension of use value that the Bureau is able to make visible, knowing that commodity fetishes hold their power only so long as they continue to hold their meaning for consumers. Since meaning produces value in consumer culture, the market place is where the drama of self-formation and presentation is played out. The bureaucracy of the Bureau further diffuses the agency of production into an institution. In institutions no one person is actually accountable. For instance, I am just the Engineer for the Bureau, and so I am only qualified to answer technical questions and provide technical support for bureau clients.
The Bureau has licensed several of the products I have shown and entered them into the market place. They provide pre-politicized packaging.
|
|
|
The BIT Phone
The BIT Phone is a voicemail system, a hopelessly complex hyper-architecture of menu choices. It was installed for MacWorld 96, its been shown in Montreal and Los Angeles. You get options like "Press Pound to Resolve Ambiguity;" "Press Star to Regret Your Choice." |