ABSTRACT

Islands imaginaries are imaginaries of exception, in the dual sense that islands are seen as places like no others (exceptional territories) as well as sites of exceptions to known orders of things (territories of exceptions). In Singapore, these two modalities of exception play a key role in Smart Nation, a program launched by the government in 2014 which shapes the island as an exceptional place for technology-oriented experiments meant for business development. We call this type of experimental practice tech business experimentalism. We investigate how the Smart Nation innovation program, conceived of as an example of tech business experimentalism, defines Singapore as an exceptional territory and a territory of exceptions. By studying how turning the island into a test bed relies on a politics of exceptionality, we show that current analyses of experiments beyond the scientific laboratory have much to gain by examining two related aspects, namely the business orientation of experiments and the exceptions on which they are built. This approach allows us to discuss the transformation of Singapore's territory, the processes whereby certain inhabitants (and not others) are turned into experimental subjects, and the re-definition of policy action as an ability to carve out material and regulatory exceptions.

摘要

岛屿想象是例外的想象，在双重意义上，岛屿被视为独一无二的地方（特殊领土）以及已知事物秩序的例外场所（例外领土）。在新加坡，这两种例外模式在 Smart Nation 中发挥着关键作用，Smart Nation 是政府于 2014 年启动的一项计划，该计划将该岛塑造为一个以技术为导向的商业发展实验的特殊场所。我们称这种实验实践为技术商业实验主义. 我们调查了作为科技商业实验主义的一个例子的智能国家创新计划如何将新加坡定义为一个特殊的领土和一个例外的领土。通过研究如何将岛屿变成试验台依赖于例外政治，我们表明，通过检查两个相关方面，即实验的商业导向和它们所依据的例外，当前对科学实验室以外的实验的分析有很大的收获。建造。这种方法使我们能够讨论新加坡领土的转变、将某些居民（而非其他居民）转变为实验对象的过程，以及将政策行动重新定义为排除物质和监管例外的能力。