The Active Form of Security: Technology and the Material-aesthetic Script

How are socially and politically controversial security practices materially-technologically scripted into our lives in ever-deeper ways? This essayproposes that acts of aesthetic design are at the heart of that process andare being deployed by technology corporations to “smooth” the diffusionof security practices, discourses, and politics across global space. Tosubstantiate that claim, we make three moves. First, we propose anunderstanding of the “script” that returns to the roots of the concept intheater and the arts. That understanding stresses that our material-technological enmeshing is governed strongly by aesthetic and affectivefactors that operate through forms of resonance (rather that reason). Inconsequence—we argue—much of the power of technology conglomer-ates is linked to their capacity to harness these aesthetico-affectiveresonances. Second, we demonstrate this through a case study focusedon the material-aesthetic design activities of Google, teasing out howit deploys aesthetic practices to extend its sociopolitical power. Third, we speculatively conclude by introducing the architect Keller Easterling’sconcept of “active form” to show how conceptualizing scripts in aestheticterms also provides insights into how security practices are diffusedacross global contexts, irrelevant contextual sociopolitical differences,and seemingly without any limit.