Friedrich Kittler

'Friedrich Kittler's Optical Media is not only, as its jacket-copy and introduction claim, its author's "best book for the uninitiated"; it is also one of his wittiest.'Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 'Kittler's lectures provide stimulating and provocative reading.'New Formations'Kittler's analysis is always rich and involving, describing a complex path of theoretical and factual relations.'http://www.neural.it/art/2010/12/friedrich_kittler_optical_medi.phtml"Neural'Optical Media is the most engaging and accessible of Friedrich Kittler's books. It starts out with a clear presentation of Kittler'smedia-theoretical premises and then offers a fascinating tour through the history of storing, manipulating and projecting light. Witty, insightful, provocative, at times outrageous but always stimulating, Optical Media is not only an overlooked back entrance into the study of visual media from the Renaissance to the present, it is also an equally helpful back entrance into Kittler's own theory.'Geoffrey Winthrop-Young'Kittler is the preeminent thinker of time-based media and what it means to edit the flow of time with technical means. Brilliant and remarkably original, he offers a kind of media analysis whose method is dialectically acute and philosophically deep. No one interested in what it means to live in a media-saturated age can neglecthis vital and controversial work.'John Durham Peters, The University of Iowa

• Preliminary Remarks1. Theoretical Presuppositions2. Technologies of the Fine Arts2.1 Camera Obscura and Linear Perspective2.1.1 Prehistory2.1.1.1 Greeks and Arabs2.1.2 Implementation2.1.2.1 Brunelleschi2.1.2.2 Alberti2.1.3 Impact2.1.3.1 Perspective and Letterpress2.1.3.2 The Self-Printing of Nature2.1.3.3 Europe’s Colonial Power2.2 Laterna Magica and the Age of the World Picture2.2.1 Magic Lanterns in Action2.2.2 Implementation2.2.3 Impact2.2.3.1 Propaganda2.2.3.2 Heidegger’s Age of the World Picture2.2.3.3 Jesuits and Optical Media2.3.3.4 Travelling People2.2.3.5 Jesuit Churches2.2.3.6 Jesuit Theatre2.3 Enlightenment and Image War2.3.1 Brockes2.3.2 Phenomenology from Lambert to Hegel2.3.3 Ghost Seer2.3.3.1 Schiller2.3.3.2 Hoffmann2.3.4 Romantic Poetry3. Optical Media3.1 Photography3.1.1 Prehistory3.1.2 Implementation3.1.2.1 Niépce and Daguerre3.1.2.2 Talbot3.1.3 Painting and Photography: A Battle for the Eyeballs3.2 Film3.2.1 Preludes3.2.2 Implementation3.2.2.1 Marey and Muybridge3.2.2 Silent Film3.2.3 Sound Film3.2.4 Colour Film3.3 Television4. Computer

Friedrich Kittler

'Friedrich Kittler's Optical Media is not only, as its jacket-copy and introduction claim, its author's "best book for the uninitiated"; it is also one of his wittiest.'Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 'Kittler's lectures provide stimulating and provocative reading.'New Formations'Kittler's analysis is always rich and involving, describing a complex path of theoretical and factual relations.'http://www.neural.it/art/2010/12/friedrich_kittler_optical_medi.phtml"Neural'Optical Media is the most engaging and accessible of Friedrich Kittler's books. It starts out with a clear presentation of Kittler'smedia-theoretical premises and then offers a fascinating tour through the history of storing, manipulating and projecting light. Witty, insightful, provocative, at times outrageous but always stimulating, Optical Media is not only an overlooked back entrance into the study of visual media from the Renaissance to the present, it is also an equally helpful back entrance into Kittler's own theory.'Geoffrey Winthrop-Young'Kittler is the preeminent thinker of time-based media and what it means to edit the flow of time with technical means. Brilliant and remarkably original, he offers a kind of media analysis whose method is dialectically acute and philosophically deep. No one interested in what it means to live in a media-saturated age can neglecthis vital and controversial work.'John Durham Peters, The University of Iowa

• Preliminary Remarks1. Theoretical Presuppositions2. Technologies of the Fine Arts2.1 Camera Obscura and Linear Perspective2.1.1 Prehistory2.1.1.1 Greeks and Arabs2.1.2 Implementation2.1.2.1 Brunelleschi2.1.2.2 Alberti2.1.3 Impact2.1.3.1 Perspective and Letterpress2.1.3.2 The Self-Printing of Nature2.1.3.3 Europe’s Colonial Power2.2 Laterna Magica and the Age of the World Picture2.2.1 Magic Lanterns in Action2.2.2 Implementation2.2.3 Impact2.2.3.1 Propaganda2.2.3.2 Heidegger’s Age of the World Picture2.2.3.3 Jesuits and Optical Media2.3.3.4 Travelling People2.2.3.5 Jesuit Churches2.2.3.6 Jesuit Theatre2.3 Enlightenment and Image War2.3.1 Brockes2.3.2 Phenomenology from Lambert to Hegel2.3.3 Ghost Seer2.3.3.1 Schiller2.3.3.2 Hoffmann2.3.4 Romantic Poetry3. Optical Media3.1 Photography3.1.1 Prehistory3.1.2 Implementation3.1.2.1 Niépce and Daguerre3.1.2.2 Talbot3.1.3 Painting and Photography: A Battle for the Eyeballs3.2 Film3.2.1 Preludes3.2.2 Implementation3.2.2.1 Marey and Muybridge3.2.2 Silent Film3.2.3 Sound Film3.2.4 Colour Film3.3 Television4. Computer

Friedrich Kittler

'Friedrich Kittler's Optical Media is not only, as its jacket-copy and introduction claim, its author's "best book for the uninitiated"; it is also one of his wittiest.'Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 'Kittler's lectures provide stimulating and provocative reading.'New Formations'Kittler's analysis is always rich and involving, describing a complex path of theoretical and factual relations.'http://www.neural.it/art/2010/12/friedrich_kittler_optical_medi.phtml"Neural'Optical Media is the most engaging and accessible of Friedrich Kittler's books. It starts out with a clear presentation of Kittler'smedia-theoretical premises and then offers a fascinating tour through the history of storing, manipulating and projecting light. Witty, insightful, provocative, at times outrageous but always stimulating, Optical Media is not only an overlooked back entrance into the study of visual media from the Renaissance to the present, it is also an equally helpful back entrance into Kittler's own theory.'Geoffrey Winthrop-Young'Kittler is the preeminent thinker of time-based media and what it means to edit the flow of time with technical means. Brilliant and remarkably original, he offers a kind of media analysis whose method is dialectically acute and philosophically deep. No one interested in what it means to live in a media-saturated age can neglecthis vital and controversial work.'John Durham Peters, The University of Iowa

• Preliminary Remarks1. Theoretical Presuppositions2. Technologies of the Fine Arts2.1 Camera Obscura and Linear Perspective2.1.1 Prehistory2.1.1.1 Greeks and Arabs2.1.2 Implementation2.1.2.1 Brunelleschi2.1.2.2 Alberti2.1.3 Impact2.1.3.1 Perspective and Letterpress2.1.3.2 The Self-Printing of Nature2.1.3.3 Europe’s Colonial Power2.2 Laterna Magica and the Age of the World Picture2.2.1 Magic Lanterns in Action2.2.2 Implementation2.2.3 Impact2.2.3.1 Propaganda2.2.3.2 Heidegger’s Age of the World Picture2.2.3.3 Jesuits and Optical Media2.3.3.4 Travelling People2.2.3.5 Jesuit Churches2.2.3.6 Jesuit Theatre2.3 Enlightenment and Image War2.3.1 Brockes2.3.2 Phenomenology from Lambert to Hegel2.3.3 Ghost Seer2.3.3.1 Schiller2.3.3.2 Hoffmann2.3.4 Romantic Poetry3. Optical Media3.1 Photography3.1.1 Prehistory3.1.2 Implementation3.1.2.1 Niépce and Daguerre3.1.2.2 Talbot3.1.3 Painting and Photography: A Battle for the Eyeballs3.2 Film3.2.1 Preludes3.2.2 Implementation3.2.2.1 Marey and Muybridge3.2.2 Silent Film3.2.3 Sound Film3.2.4 Colour Film3.3 Television4. Computer