Bernd Herzogenrath

Media Matter: The Materiality of Media, Matter as Medium - Thinking Media Bernd Herzogenrath

Brief Description: "What is a medium? If Nietzsche was right in claiming that "our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts," that media help us "think," and if different media allow for different ways of thinking, then the "body" of the respective medium in question, its materiality, shapes and influences the range and direction of how media make us think. Shouldn't we consequently speak of informed matter and of materialized information?Launching Bloomsbury's Thinking Media series, Media Matter introduces readers to the nascent field of media-philosophy by a focus on cinema, especially appropriate because cinema has already inspired a philosophically oriented approach to media theory. Contributors urge readers to re-adjust their ideas of Media Studies, by both extending the understanding of "medium" in such a way as to include a concept of materiality that also includes "non-human" transmitters (elements such as water, earth, fire, air) and by understanding media not only in the context of cultural or discursive systems or apparatuses, relays, transistors, hardware or "discourse networks," but more inclusively, in terms of a "media ecology."Beginning with more general essays on media and then focusing on particular themes (neuroplasticity, photography, sculpture and music), especially in relation to film, Herzogenrath and contributors redefine the concept of "medium" in order to think through media, rather than from it"--Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.; What is a medium? If Nietzsche was right in claiming that our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts, that media help us think, and if different media allow for different ways of thinking, then the body of the respective medium in question, its materiality, shapes and influences the range and direction of how media make us think. Shouldn't we consequently speak of informed matter and of materialized information?Launching Bloomsbury's Thinking Media series, Media Matter introduces readers to the nascent field of media-philosophy by a focus on cinema, especially appropriate because cinema has already inspired a philosophically oriented approach to media theory. Contributors urge readers to re-adjust their ideas of Media Studies, by both extending the understanding of medium in such a way as to include a concept of materiality that also includes non-human transmitters (elements such as water, earth, fire, air) and by understanding media not only in the context of cultural or discursive systems or apparatuses, relays, transistors, hardware or discourse networks, but more inclusively, in terms of a media ecology. Beginning with more general essays on media and then focusing on particular themes (neuroplasticity, photography, sculpture and music), especially in relation to film, Herzogenrath and contributors redefine the concept of medium in order to think through media, rather than from it--; Provided by publisher.; A materialist attempt to redefine the concept of medium by expanding it to include the elemental--; Provided by publisher. Biographical Note: Bernd Herzogenrath is Professor of American Studies at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. Table of Contents: Media Matter: An IntroductionBernd Herzogenrath (Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany) Theory-Matter Chapter 1: The Meta-Physics of Media"Walter Seitter (University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria)"Chapter 2: Media Matter: Materiality and Performativity in Media Theory"Katerina Krtilova (Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar, Germany)"Text-MatterChapter 3: Between Print Matter and Page Matter: The Codex Platform as Media Suppoort"Garrett Stewart (University of Iowa, USA)"Chapter 4: 'Local Color': Light in Faulkner "Hanjo Berressem (University of Cologne, France)"Film-Matter Chapter 5: Figure-Ground: Stills from the Films of Bill Morrison "Bill Morrison (Hypnotic Pictures)"Chapter 6: Matter that Images: Bill Morrison's "Decasia," "Bernd Herzogenrath (Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany)"Chapter 7: Moving Images as Ontographic Images"Lorenz Engell (Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar, Germany)"Chapter 8: Brain Matter and New Phrenologies; Challenging Brains with Melancholy and Vice Versa"Benjamin Betka (Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany)"Chapter 9: The "Media Boundary Objects Concept" Theorizing Film and Media "Florian Hoof (Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany)"Art-Matter Chapter 10: Borderline: Nauman's Balls and Acconci's Shoot"Eva Ehninger (University of Bern, Switzerland)"Chapter 11: The Romantic Readymade: Towards a Material Vitalism of Contemporary Art"Stephen Zepke (University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria)"""Sound-Matter Chapter 12: Revisiting the "Voice" in Media and as Medium: New "Materialist "Propositions"Milla Tiainen (University of Helsinki, Finland)"Chapter 13: Sonic Matter: The Material Cut-Ups of Christian Marclay"Sebastian Scherer (Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany)"Chapter 14: Media Disenchantments "Thomas Koner (Composer, Sound-Artist, Belgrade, Serbia, and Nice, France)""Publisher Marketing: What is a medium? If Nietzsche was right in claiming that "our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts," that media help us "think," and if different media allow for different ways of thinking, then the "body" of the respective medium in question, its materiality, shapes and influences the range and direction of how media make us think. Shouldn't we consequently speak of informed matter and of materialized information?Launching Bloomsbury's Thinking Media series, "Media Matter" introduces readers to the nascent field of media-philosophy. Contributors urge readers to re-adjust their ideas of Media Studies, by both extending the understanding of "medium" in such a way as to include a concept of materiality that also includes "non-human" transmitters (elements such as water, earth, fire, air) and by understanding media not only in the context of cultural or discursive systems or apparatuses, relays, transistors, hardware or "discourse networks," but more inclusively, in terms of a "media ecology."Beginning with more general essays on media and then focusing on particular themes (neuroplasticity, photography, sculpture and music), especially in relation to film, Herzogenrath and contributors redefine the concept of "medium" in order to think "through "media, rather than "about "them.

Contributor Bio:  Herzogenrath, Bernd Bernd Herzogenrath is Professor of American Studies at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. Contributor Bio:  Pisters, Patricia Patricia Pisters is Professor of Film Studies at the Department of Media Studies of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and director of the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis (ASCA). She is one of the founding editors of "Necsus: European Journal of Media Studies, "program director of the research group Neuroaesthetics and Neurocultures, and co-director of the research group Film and Philosophy. Publications include "The Matrix of Visual Culture "(2003); "Revisiting Normativity with Deleuze "(with Rosi Braidotti; 2012) and "The Neuro-Image "(2012). See for articles, her blog, and other information at www.patriciapisters.com.