{"product_id":"carter-richard-a-war-machinpb","title":"Carter, Richard A.: War Machine","description":"\u003cp\u003epunctum books, paperback\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublication Date: May 26, 2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublisher Marketing: \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWar Machine\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis a speculative sounding of the myriad entanglements of technology, ecology, discourse, politics, and conflict shaping the contemporary environment. Taking the tools of geopolitical competition and control as its formal and conceptual basis—wargame simulations, artificial intelligence, weaponised drones, territorial enclosure, and extractivist economics—\u003cem\u003eWar Machine\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003epresents a series of digitally simulated conflicts over the most ecologically vulnerable areas of the Earth, using the data gathered to generate hybrid visual poems that stand in for the multitude of political, conceptual, and economic battles that are presently raging across the face of a profoundly endangered planet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA hybrid work of generative criticism and poetry,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWar Machine\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003edepicts the intensive complexities of the present moment through conducting an experimental textual performance, attempting to enfold and perform, rather than simply describe, challenging conjunctions of competing discourses and activities. The resulting stream of outputs and interpretive potentials preclude the ascendency of any “definitive” critical narrative, refusing any straightforward integration with existing canons of worldly diagnosis, but also illustrating opportunities for resistant play and critical-creative possibility within the uncertainty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe consciously unconventional gesture at the heart of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWar Machine\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis in attempt at modelling an adventurous, forward-facing approach, in both thought and practice, that refuses inaction when dealing with otherwise devastating scenarios. It is an approach that acknowledges head-on myriad worldly harms, seemingly insurmountable, while still contributing to the aesthetic, affective, and conceptual foundations from which alternative modes of knowing, being, and meaning are developed and justified.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Open Books: A Poem Emporium","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45195766366231,"sku":"9781685713218","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0004\/6497\/7956\/files\/1779774953-900.jpg?v=1780794337","url":"https:\/\/open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com\/products\/carter-richard-a-war-machinpb","provider":"Open Books: A Poem Emporium","version":"1.0","type":"link"}