Disintegrator 39. Dissociation (w/ McKenzie Wark)
15 snips
Dec 2, 2025 
In this engaging conversation, writer and theorist McKenzie Wark delves into her impactful concepts on information and embodiment. She shares insights from her influential works, challenging the traditional notions of theory and identity. Wark discusses the aesthetic of dissociation as a hallmark of our digital era, contrasting it with past industrial alienation. She explores the significance of autotextual writing, the revival of 90s rave culture, and critiques the superficial politicization of contemporary issues, all while embracing the complexities of the modern experience.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Theory As Lived, Conceptual Practice
- McKenzie Wark defines theory as a literary genre that forms concepts from situations tied to avant-garde and social movements.
- She practices 'autotextual' writing to merge gritty bodily detail, concept, and shared affect in the same sentence.
Annihilation As Embodiment Technique
- Reverse Cowgirl explores annihilation of subjectivity as a practice to exit overthinking and inhabit embodiment.
- Wark links dissociation, dysphoria, and practices (sex, drugs, dancing) as ways to return to a mammalian present.
Writing As A Controlled Dissociation
- Wark describes writing as a kind of dissociative state between hand, eye, and device, shaped by her move from typewriter to Macintosh.
- She avoids ethnographic note-taking at parties, preferring to remember a cue word and return to the state.
