From Work to Text

Roland Barthes' essay 'From Work to Text' struck me in several ways. I really enjoyed its evaluation of the self in digital culture and where humans fit into the machinery systems of today. Barthes defines the self as "complicated and multiple," and I find that to be extremely relevant to the effects of the constantly flashing media stimuli that surround us. Barthes elaborates, saying that humans operate in "combinatory systems," meaning that everything is interdisciplinary and interconnected. Art occurs when you realize the combinatory nature of everything and the interplay potential. A wonderful example of this concept would be David Byrnes' experimental "Playing the Building" project. In this endeavor, Byrnes wired a dilapidated old building to an organ and "played" the various pipes, air shafts, and walls of the structure. The result can be seen in this video:



Another concept of this essay that piqued my interest was Barthes' idea that humans are something in between machine and organism. This reminds me of a film I recently saw, Metropolis, which was written by Thea von Harbou and directed by Fritz Lang in 1927. Far more ahead of its time than von Harbou and Lang could have possibly known, the plot examines a futuristic dystopia and the struggle between man and technology. Maria (played by Brigitte Helm), is at first the angelic voice of the working class, but is victimized because of her goodness and is turned into a machine.


The movie ends with the realization that humans must embrace not only the head (conscious thought) and the hands (the technology we create), but the heart between them as well. This is the essence of Barthes essay: we must interconnect the parts of our logical systems without losing humanity in between.