Proxy Politics: Power and Subversion in a Networked Age

The proxy, decoy or surrogate is today often used to designate a computer server acting as an intermediary for requests from clients. Originating in the Latin procurator—an agent representing others in a court of law—proxies are now emblematic of a post-democratic political age, one increasingly populated by bot militias, puppet states, and communication relays. The proxy works as a dialectical figure that is woven into the fabric of networks, where action and stance seem to be masked,
calculated, and remote-controlled. This poignant new publication investigates proxy-politics on both a micro and a macro level, exploring proxies and networks as objects. What is the relation between the molecular and the planetary? How do we fathom the computational regime? While being a manifestation of the networked age, thinking like a proxy offers loopholes and strategies for survival within it. The book features essays by Hito Steyerl, Tom McCarthy, Kodwo Eshun, Goldin+Senneby, Brian Holmes, Nick Houde, Jonathan Jung, Laura Katzauer, Boaz Levin, Mikk Madisson, Doreen Mende, Sondra Perry, Oleksiy Radynski, Robert Rapoport, thricedotted, Vera
Tollmann, and Miloš Trakilovic.