“Angels and parasites: Transductions between art and social thinking.” Francisco Tirado.

Apparently, art and social thought operate in different arenas, using contradictory approaches in their logic. It is a widely accepted cliché to state that each of the two areas has found its own rationality and means of expression for conceptualising reality. Nevertheless, there is a long history of relationship and contact between them. There are examples of literature that has inspired social thinkers, or social thinkers who have expressed their concerns through art. This relationship, however, has always been problematic and conflictual. Social thought has tended not to place art on an equal level in its approaches to it; the analyses it attempts have tended to sociologize artistic expression and artists. There is, in fact, a long tradition of reflection within social thought that calls itself “sociology of art.” However, in recent decades, certain exceptions have arisen which break away from this subsumptive relationship. The work of philosopher Michel Serres could be seen as a paradigmatic example. He proposes a dialectical play between art and social thought where the former is a source of inspiration and discursive support for the latter, and vice versa. This allows both fields to become a seamless fabric, where the only thing that counts is being able to offer a profound explanation for the reality which defines the present. A good example of this exercise is Serres’ work on the myth of angels or the figure of the parasite, using art (painting and sculpture). While angels represent a human being who has become a messenger, continuously moving information from one end of the planet to the other and weaving a new globality through circulation, parasites provide keys for understanding what type of elements determine the logic of any relationship and its contemporary processes of transformation and becoming. The myth of angels and the figure of the parasite thus provide the keys for an analysis and understanding of our current ontology. In Michel Serres’ thinking, angels and parasites are figures that allow transductions to take place between art and social thought; and transduction is also presented as a logic which situates each of the two fields in a single level of co-functioning, with no need to order them hierarchically or to translate the logic of one field into the other’s.

Francisco Tirado is a Professor of Social Psychology at the Universidad Autònoma, Barcelona, and a founding member of GESCIT (Group for Social Studies in Science and Technology). His research focuses on three main areas: a) social studies of science and technology; b) power relations and political actions in new socio-technical contexts; and c) biopolitics and medicine. Published works include: Francisco Tirado: Los objetos y el acontecimiento. Teoría de la socialidad mínima. Barcelona: Amentia Editorial; Franciso Tirado y Miquel Domènech (Eds.): Lo social y lo virtual. Nuevas formas de control y transformación social. Barcelona. Published by UOC. Ana Gálvez y Francisco Tirado: Sociabilidad en pantalla. Barcelona. Published by UOC.