Performativity and Computer Art: Towards a DIY Society

The presentation analyzes the figure of the prosumer from the visual studies perspective, mixing the speech act theory and the new media theory. The aim is to assess whether the distinction between producers and consumers, strategies and tactics of Michel de Certeau is still useful on the global information culture of the 21st century’s graphic interfaces of Scott Lash.

With this purpose it distinguishes between two types of speech acts: software top-down performativity and bottom-up performativity of language games and forms of life. These types are applied to the discourse analysis of slogans taken from “open” and collaborative economy websites. The former are engaged in the production of intangible goods and the second in the production of tangible goods. The analysis show how the two types of performativity transform textual analysis of literary and film studies on a methodology capable of investigating material actions, human and not human. The conclusion describes the emergence of new conventions for non-fiction narratives of power and control pointing to a “DIY society”.