Information and Asignification

Authors

  • Gary Genosko

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7480/footprint.8.1.798

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed explication of the main tenets of Félix Guattari’s theorisation of asignifying semiotics in the context of the mixed semiotics that he developed in the 1970s and which extended throughout his career. This foundational work on the relationship between asignification and signifying semiologies, and the micropolitical necessity of escaping from meaning in the broadest sense encompassing individuation, double articulation, and limited subjectivation, is contextualised in terms of information theory, in the work of Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver, as well in terms of Roland Barthes’ semiology and suggestive extra-structural conception of signifiers without signifieds or obtuse meaning. Guattari’s favourite examples of asignifying technomaterial info-networks and mushrooms sprouting on manure are both discussed.

Author Biography

Gary Genosko

Gary Genosko is Professor of Communication at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Toronto, Canada. His most recents books include When Technocultures Collide: Innovation from Below and the Struggle for Autonomy, and Remodelling Communication: From WWII to the WWW. He has published extensively on Félix Guattari, with well-known titles including: Félix Guattari: A Critical Introduction, Félix Guattari: An Aberrant Introduction, The Guattari Reader, The Party Without Bosses: Félix Guattari and Lula da Silva, and Deleuze and Guattari: Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers.

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Published

2014-04-01

Issue

Issue # 14 | Spring 2014 | Asignifying Semiotics: Or How to Paint Pink on Pink

Section

Article

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