Tag Archives: culture

Mark Changizi – “Cultural selection as the new blind watchmaker” at “I don’t know where I’m going but I want to be there”

Sjoerd Tuinema | 21 December 2011, 10:00 pm | 6 comments | tags: , , , , , , , , ,

In his presentation at MOTI’s “I don’t know where I’m going but I want to be there” theoretical neurobiologist Mark Changizi elaborated on the research method he applies to investigate the field of why it is that the human brain processes optical information like it does. Instead of…

What cultural policy in the era of globalization and electronic media?

Natalia Miszczak | 21 September 2011, 5:24 pm | 1 comment | tags: , , ,

Cultural revolution has already taken place. What has changed is not only participation in culture, but cultural environment itself, characterized by such slogans as “culture 2.0” or “culture of participation”. Changes in forms of participation in culture (following the development of new communication technologies) and the changes of civilization cause that in the near future, almost everyone will provide themselves…

Book review: Enfoldment and Infinity by Laura U. Marks

Stijnie Thuijs | 21 September 2011, 5:23 pm | 1 comment | tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What are the parallels and relations between Islamic art and New Media art? That is the main question Laura U. Marks poses in her book ‘Enfoldment and Infinity. An Islamic Genealogy of New Media Art’. The title of her book is just as alluring and bold as her topic. During the first two chapters her motivation of the…

Book review: ‘Designing Culture: the technological imagination at work’ by Anne Balsamo

Philip Breek | 19 September 2011, 12:00 pm | tags: , , , , , , , ,

In this book, ‘Designing culture: the technological imagination at work’, Anne Balsamo, Professor of interactive media at the University of Southern California, calls for a new approach to technological innovation arguing that culture must be taken into account when it comes to participating in any form of technological development and innovation. The ‘technological imagination’…

Book Review: What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly

Christopher Mead | 18 September 2011, 4:57 pm | 2 comments | tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Space: the final frontier – to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

This may be the answer Kelly was looking for when he set out to answer his own question, the title of his book and thesis.  Let’s not get carried away here – I have chosen the above quote in all seriousness.  The infamous Star Trek phrase…

Book review: “Proud to be Flesh” – Mute Magazine Anthology of cultural politics after the net

Sander Jansma | 19 September 2010, 5:36 pm | tags: , , , , ,

Proud to be Flesh is an Anthology of Mute Magazine, and consists of a big amount of articles from the magazine’s archives dating from 1994 till 2009. Tho it is an anthology, it’s not written to be a “best off”, but more to give an as broad as possible overview of contemporary culture and politics.

Book review of The Aotearoa Digital Arts Reader

Thomas Fonville | 14 September 2009, 11:00 am | tags: , , ,

Art comes in a lot of different divisions. Mostly related to a culture, often a critique of an era. The fact that this reader focuses on culture is immediately noticeable from the title. Carrying “Aotearoa” in the title, which is the Maori word for New Zealand, defines a work like The Aotearoa Digital Arts Reader as a true culture based…

Review of Inherent Vice: Bootleg Histories of Videotape and Copyright – Lucas Hilderbrand

Marc Stumpel | 13 September 2009, 8:12 pm | tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

In his latest book: Inherent Vice: Bootleg Histories of Videotape (2009) Lucas Hilderbrand explores the analog past of video nostalgically, and shows its importance and relevance to (new) media studies. Hilderbrand mainly focuses on the aesthetic, cultural and legal impact of the analog videotape era to create a refreshing view of the analog past’s heritage to the digital age.

The…

Twitter and the Aphoristic Society

| 14 October 2008, 11:11 am | tags: , , , , , ,

Twitter has been denounced by some as a useless waste of time. However, the short and snappy, “aphoristic” communication tool may also be a symptom of how people like to communicate today. The author argues that we are probably seeing a culture of more communication in less time, where people communicate “aphoristically”, i.e. try to communicate a lot in as little words as possible.

PICNIC 08 – All Media

Annewil Neervens | 25 September 2008, 10:01 pm | 2 comments | tags: , , ,

Today’s themes in the E-Art Dome, presented by Virtueel Platform, are ecology, online life/social networking and mobility. The second presentation of the day is All Media, by Mieke Gerritzen and Koert van Mensvoort, which definitely fits those descriptions. Koert van Mensvoort starts off his presentation with a video of a bird making incredible sounds, some sounding not unlike a car alarm. He stresses that this video ‘is not media art, it’s an actual bird’. Next, is ‘the biggest visual power show’, an intellectual show that’s posed as a visionary statement, where the next nature is presented. Meaning that nature is increasingly controlled by man. Van Mensvoort calls this ‘a culturally emerged nature.’