Die Geste des Streamens. Ein ironisch-kritischer Kommentar zu Vilém Flussers 106. Geburtstag
Conceived as an ironic homage to Vilém Flusser on the occasion of his 106th birthday, “The Gesture of Streaming” seeks to extend Flusser’s phenomenology of gestures into the digital platform age. By referring to his reflections on media nomadism, technical images and telematic society, the essay considers streaming as a predominant gesture of the twenty-first century.
The text argues that streaming fundamentally alters the relationship between users and media. Whereas previous media cultures were structured by ownership and material possession, digital platforms increasingly privilege temporary access and permanent availability. Music, films, and books are no longer collected and preserved but encountered within continuous streams of information. As a consequence, cultural consumption becomes detached from responsibility, care, and lasting commitment. The gesture of streaming is thus characterized by fluidity and the perpetual search for meaning within a society where all media seem to be disposable and accessible at once.
The essay further contends that this logic has transcended the realm of media and progressively shapes social relations themselves. Through dating-apps, individuals encounter one another as elements within a stream of profiles, images, and data. Humans stream each other in the way they stream media: infinite availability, replaceability, and continuous selection form their relationships. By transferring the logics of streaming from media to interpersonal encounters, the essay offers an insight into digital culture and reflects on the anthropological consequences of online-communication in the light of Flusser.