Algorithmic music can function as tactical media: temporary critical interventions in dominant technological and social systems

Chapter 33 applies Certeau’s tactical/strategic distinction and Deleuze’s micropolitics to algorithmic music. ‘Tactical’ media practices (after Certeau) operate without institutional base, seizing opportunities in the flowing temporalities of everyday life — contrasted with ‘strategic’ practices that have stable institutional positions. Glitch aesthetics, hardware hacking, and making computation’s inaudible signals audible (algorhythms) are framed as tactical interventions in dominant technological systems. The chapter argues these tactics are most effective as temporary, context-dependent critical acts — asking ‘to what extent are activities effective at any given moment,’ not whether they succeed in the long term.

Examples

Kim Cascone’s ‘aesthetics of failure’ as tactical intervention that was subsequently absorbed into mainstream electronic music production — demonstrating both the power and limits of tactical approaches.

Assessment

Explain Certeau’s tactical/strategic distinction and give one example from algorithmic music history that exemplifies a ‘tactical’ practice. What are the limits of tactical media as a form of political critique?