Quiroga, Sarlo and technical primitivism: a speculative approach

Authors

  • Laureano Ralon

Abstract

This article retrieves Horacio Quiroga’s technical primitivism as a kind of relationship with technology that transcends technophilic fascination and technophobic fatalism. We identify important resonances with a paradigmatic essay by Beatriz Sarlo, which recovers primitivism at the hype of globalization. Lastly, we seek to move beyond Sarlo and highlight the continued relevance of primitivism against a post-neoliberal background, through an analytic of the main theories about technics. Against the instrumental disposition of the “early adopters” of technological innovation, we claim that primitivism embodies a truly critical stance, founded upon an aesthetic contact with the reality of things.

Keywords:

Primitivismo técnico, realismo especulativo, Horacio Quiroga

Author Biography

Laureano Ralon

Licenciado y magíster en ciencias de la comunicación social (Simon Fraser University). Director del portal de difusión académica Figure/Ground Communication (www.figureground.org)