Jonathan Kemp and Martin Howse, contributors to The Crystal World exhibition, recently reviewed on Metamute, sift through some organic, inorganic and literary materials related to the project
TheKnowledge borrows its name from the learning and examination performed by London Cab drivers to test their navigation skills of the streets of London. The city’s topography – its neighbourhoods, street names, and short cuts – is internalised by endlessly driving around the city during an arduous training period, at the end of which ‘the knowledge’ is understood to be etched indelibly in their memory.
As the financial crisis fastens its grip ever tighter around the means of human and natural survival, the age of the algorithm has hit full stride. This phase-shift has been a long time coming of course, and was undoubtedly as much a cause of the crisis as its effect, with self-propelling algorithmic power replacing human labour and judgement and creating event fields far below the threshold of human perception and responsiveness.
