Slavoj Zizek wearing a quotation of Bartleby the Scrivener

Table of contents

Explanation

Refusal is the purposeful avoidance or abstinence of a subject. In our case, it would mean being intentional about not using a technology. Some examples of refusal may be on the basis of ethics, that it is unethical to use a technology. Other examples use refusal to inspire creative opportunities. If technology is about optimization and efficiency, refusal asserts that there are new ideas that can only be revealed by taking the long way around.

Make sure we can see it.

When refusal is used as a creative act, the refusal must be visually evident in the final presentation. For this reason, documentation of a process (rather than an artifact of the process) is a popular choice, as it allows the viewer to see more context. Documentation of this sort should place an emphasis on the restrictions. For example, if the project was to refuse electric lighting by making a drawing in a dark room, we should see the lights turn off. Or we should hear the person fumble about in the darkness.

If the presentation is an artifact, there should be some evidence that something was refused. Continuing the same example, a drawing made in a dark room should be crude.

Refusal should provide a meaningful framing.

In all cases, the act of refusing should provide an interesting framing that allows the viewer to question the technology. The framing, “it would have been easier to use the technology” is boring. A refusal should reveal something meaningful. A better framing on the topic of ease and convenience might be….

• refusing this technology required physical exertion, and that redefined my relationship to the energy needed to use this technology
• using these tools instead of the technology required me to ask my grandmother for instructions, which created a cross-generational moment to perpetuate our shared culture
• not using the technology reduced my precision, which forced me to see the creative possibilities in shakiness and chance

Historically refusal has taken on different aesthetics.

There have been countless examples of refusal throughout history, and as such using it as a creative practice can evoke various aesthetic connotations. For example, prohibition (the American ban on alcohol in the 1920s) was a refusal that aesthetically registered as purity and cleanliness — despite the seedy underbelly it produced as a side-effect. Many cultures and religions preach sexual abstinence, which they regard piety and holiness. Holistic medicine takes on new age, earthy aesthetics. Refusal of mainstream corporatism lends itself to punk aesthetics. Use this transference to your advantage.

Case Studies

“First Things First 2000”