Matteo Pasquinelli, Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers / Institute of Network Cultures, December 2008).
ISBN 9789056626631 © 2008, the author
Paperback, 240 pp., ill. (b/w), 14×21 cm.
About the book
After a decade of digital fetishism, the spectres of the financial and energy crisis have also affected new media culture and brought into question the autonomy of networks. Yet activism and the art world still celebrate Creative Commons and the ‘creative cities’ as the new ideals for the Internet generation. Unmasking the animal spirits of the commons, Matteo Pasquinelli identifies the key social conflicts and business models at work behind the rhetoric of Free Culture. The corporate parasite infiltrating file-sharing networks, the hydra of gentrification in ‘creative cities’ such as Berlin and the bicephalous nature of the Internet with its pornographic underworld are three untold dimensions of contemporary ‘politics of the common’. Against the latent puritanism of authors like Baudrillard and Zizek, constantly quoted by both artists and activists, Animal Spirits draws a conceptual ‘book of beasts’. In a world system shaped by a turbulent stock market, Pasquinelli unleashes a politically incorrect grammar for the coming generation of the new commons.
Downloads
- Download Introduction [PDF]
- Download Table of contents [PDF]
- Download the whole Book [PDF]
Order
- To order a copy: www.naipublishers.nl
- To request a review copy, please contact me
- Available also on Amazon (.com, .uk, .de, .jp, etc.) and online bookstores.
Book presentations
- Amsterdam, 20 January 2009 @ De Waag, Theatrum Anatomicum. With: Sebastian Olma, Merijn Oudenampsen, Geert Lovink.
- Torino, 1 April, 2009 @ Share Campus, DAMS University. With: Bruce Sterling, Luca Barbeni.
Reviews
- Gigi Roggero, “Oltre ogni speranza negli spiriti animali del capitalismo digitale”, review of Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons, Il Manifesto, 4 Feb 2009 [in Italian].
- Jussi Parikka, review of Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons, Leonardo reviews, 1 May 2009.
- Luciana Parisi, “Uncommon Bestiary”, review of Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons, Mute, 19 May 2009.
- Jason Read, “I am an Animal, You’re an Animal Too: Matteo Pasquinelli’s Animal Spirits”, Unemployed Negativity, 1 Jun 2009.
- Arie Altena, review of Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons, Metropolis n. 3, June/July 2009 [in Dutch].
- Paolo Pedercini, review of Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons, Neural magazine, 3 Aug 2009 [in English and Italian].
- Willem van Weelden, review of Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons, in: J. Seijdel and L. Melis (eds), Open #18 – 2030: War Zone Amsterdam, Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2009.
- Marco Baravalle, ‘La figura del parassita’, presentation of Animal Spirits on Radio Sherwood (Venezia), 11 March 2010 [audio, in Italian].
Coverage
- Ballardian. ”Animal Spirits: A Ballardian Bestiary”, December 2011 [excerpts from the book + visuals].
- Springerin 1/2010. Brian Holmes, “Written in the Stars: Global Finance, Precarious Destinies”, Springerin 1/2010 [in English and German].
- Libération, 2 March 2010. Marie Lechner, “Nous n’exploitons pas le réseau, c’est le réseau qui nous exploite” [in French].
- Die Tageszeitung, 9 April 2010. Meike Laaff, “Der Freibeuter Bekehrung” [in German].
- Bookforum, 12 June 2009. “The richest person in your town”.
Reading groups
- Berlin. There is nothing less passive than the act of fleeing, The Public School seminar, 4-18 July 2010.
- Berlin. Radical Theory Berlin at Tempest library, 4 November 2010.
- Berge. B-Open study circle, May 2011.
- Stockholm. Hemliga Trädgården, 20 June 2011.
Disclaimer
Not to be mistaken for a latecomer ; ) with a mediocre cover such as: George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller, Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism (Princeton University Press, March 2009).