Timing Is Everything

Virno's use of the theories of phronesis and kairos (from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics) in relation to the joke can be linked to what we have discussed about knowing what appropriation to use and when to use it. Just like any good joke ... timing is everything!



Phronesis is described as "practical know-how" (Virno p87) - part of that phronesis is knowing what's out there to appropriate.

"Succeeding the painter, the plagiarist no longer bears within him passions, humours, feelings, impressions, but rather this immense encyclopedia from which he draws." (Sherrie Levine p81 - Appropriation)

Kairos, or the perception of it, is the proper moment for performing an action. This of course would be the timing of the delivery of a joke, or knowing when to appropriate.

Below is an excerpt from the my band's presentation on Appropriation:

Detournement is a key feature of appropriation, not necessarily because of what it does, but the importance of the philosophy behind it. Debord and Wolman don't feel that detournement in itself is important as a theory, but because it is connected with many key ideas and constructions of what they call the "pre-situationist transition" it therefore should be practiced and enriched (p39). Debord and Wolman are positioning the world in terms of pre- and post-situationist movement, but what we take from this is that the subjects used in detournement are constantly refreshing themselves and take on new meanings whether we appropriate them or not; it is in reading the subjects correctly that detournement can make the most impact. Being able to catch a subject at the right time and in the right situation, as well as interpreting it properly, is what makes detournement work.

"Detournement's dependence "on memory implies that one must determine one's public before devising a detournement [...] The idea of pure absolute expression is dead." (Debord & Wolman - p35)

In our case we must consider our audience (the electrate person who is internet savvy), and consider the techniques/privileges that our medium allows.

In the examples of phronesis and kairos we can develop an intertext between Virno, Dean, and the Appropriation readings - one that outlines for us a way to understand how the joke as innovative action can be connected to our acts of appropriation as innovative action.