DELEUZE GUATTARI a thousand plateaus - capitalism and schizophrenia

A Thousand Plateaus is a 1980 book by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and psychoanalyst Félix Guattari. It is the second volume of Capitalism and Schizophrenia, and the successor to Anti-Oedipus (1972).

I only read the chapter, Year Zero: Faciality. From what I can gather they invented the terms faciality and deterritorialization. In this chapter Faciality was discussed as the symbolic nature of the face and its ability to define zones, areas to bounce off and other areas of shadows, white wall or black holes. They suggested we can interpret anything as having facial likeness. It works unconsciously. Faces as lanscapes. Choices guided by faces. They discussed dismantling a face could possibly make us go mad but could help us get out of our subjective point of view.

Quite philosophical and hard to follow at times but there are some interesting concepts within the chapter that provoke deeper thought and perhaps understanding of why I am attracted to and make anthropomorphic art. I like the idea of dismantling the face and in turn opening up different perspective, be it conscious or unconscious. I see some connections here with Freud’s Totem and Taboo.

The white wall, black hole concept intrigues me and I see that seeing faces in everything as one of initial and primal instincts.

On searching for an image in google for Faciality, I was attracted to this one. I immediately see a face, the big black shape as two eyes. On investigating a bit further, it is actually a still from a video by an artist called Dick Whyte. His images at first seem quite abstracted but on longer viewing, the slow moving, blurred black and white forms does remind me of some monstrous face. It also gives me confidence that animation or moving images do not have to be complex or fast moving to produce and anthropomorphic effect.

He states:

Silent abstract/poetic video reworking of the first ever television broadcast made by John Logie Baird in the 1930s, using 78rpm discs.

Part of a series of film adaptations of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's "Capitalism and Schizophrenia" I am currently working on: wayfarergallery.net/artdick/tag/capitalism-and-schizophrenia-the-movie/

Vimeo Movie