Friedrich kittlers media theory have already been examined and critically assessed many times. He begins by looking at european painting since the renaissance in order to discern the principles according. Memory capacity before optical and acoustic storage media, words and books strongly connected to. We focus on the algorithmic procedures and mathematical principles driving 3d computer graphics during the 1970s and we frame them in a discussion about the end of optical media and a reflection on the current situation in which images, commanded by technocodes, delineate and. Kittler optical media ebook download 4 aug anyhow, it took several years anyway before it came out in english friedrich kittlers optical media polity press, orig. This form of optical disc was a very early form of the dvd u. By jussi parikka winchester school of art, university of southampton. But does kittler claim that writing is more symbolic than photographs, gramophones, computers. The optical media, having changed western culturenot coincidentallysimul. Kittler never had a chair for media studies, but for.
His family fled with him to west germany in 1958, where from 1958 to 1963 he went to a natural sciences and modern languages gymnasium in lahr in the black forest, and thereafter, until 1972, he studied german studies, romance philology and philosophy at the albert ludwigs university of freiburg in freiburg im breisgau. In order to complicate the notion of a visual world universally constituted by light, this article undertakes an archaeology of light as a medium in china, where the discoveries of the polymath mo di. Kittlers theory shies away from the frankfurt school and hermeneutics of gadamer and habermas, the dominant literary scientific frameworks in germany of the 1970s and 80s. The role that programming plays in kittlers media theory is in no way somehow a.
The rationale for this, while never stated explicitly, is that optical media are those that create images that do not disappear in. As optical media puts it in one of those reductive dicta for which kittler is famous. Winthropyoung is a world expert writing in both english and german on the work of friedrich kittler and i expect this book to become the englishlanguage virgil for kittlers selva oscura. Kittler gramophone pdf gramophone, film, typewriter. Friedrich kittler a media anthropology without the man.
As removable media, optical discs superseded the earlier magnetic disk cartridges because they weigh less, have higher capacities and are not subject to head crashes or corruption from stray magnetic fields. This volume collects writings from all stages of the authors prolific career. Berlin lectures, 1999kittlers most sustained historical argument on the development of technical media before his late turn to antiquityshows kittler wary of the risk of falling under the spell of a cult of genius pioneers or inventors and so forgetting the quotidian aspects of the media industry once it is established. The entire question of referentiality had to be recast in light of these new media. Friedrich kittler is influential in the new approach to media theory that grew popular starting in the s, new media german. This major new book provides a concise history of optical media from renaissance linear perspective to late twentiethcentury computer graphics. Media studies, as kittler conceived it, meant reflecting on how books operate as films, poetry as computer science, and music as military equipment. Optical media available for download and read online in other formats. A short introduction to ideas in the first chapter of friedrich kittler s optical media. Between and he worked as ftiedrich assistant at the universitys deutsches seminar.
Friedrich kittler s lecture series provides a concise history of optical media from renaissance linear perspective to late twentiethcentury computer graphics. It is breezy, has an offthecuff tone, and is generally free of the distinctive, pithy, and forbidding prose style that is sometimes called kittlerdeutsch. Optical media, with an introduction by john durham. Optical media provides an accessible introduction to the media theory of kittler s middle period as it applies primar ily to the optical realm. It stores data digitally on a media device and uses a laser to read data from it. This evolutionary process gives us the possibility of dividing the history of communication media into two main blocks. It starts out with a clear presentation of kittlers mediatheoretical premises and then offers a fascinating tour through the history of storing, manipulating and projecting light. On friedrich kittlers conception of media userpage. Pdf download kittler and the media free ebooks pdf. Kittler friedrich optical media pdf martin heidegger mass media. Download one of the free kindle apps to start reading kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, and computer. Aesthetic properties are always only dependent variables of technological feasibility. Friedrich kittlers lecture series provides a concise history of optical media from renaissance linear perspective to late twentiethcentury computer graphics. Friedrich kittler was a literary scholar and a media theorist.
This course examines the history of communication technologies in their social and cultural contexts, with an emphasis on the development of. German idealism, the gothic novel, and optical media, stefan andriopoulos investigates the recurring and polyvalent references to the ghostly and phantasmagoric across a wide variety of media and discursive fields between 1750 and 1930. Optical media is the most engaging and accessible of friedrich kittlers books. His research focused on technical media technischen medien and cultural techniques kulturtechniken. It starts out with a clear presentation of kittler smediatheoretical premises and then offers a fascinating tour through the history of storing, manipulating and projecting light.
He begins by looking at european painting since the renaissance in order to discern the principles according to which modern optical perception was organised. As friedrich kittler has shown in optical media, there is a historical tendency to employ technical media as models or metaphors for imagining the human or the soul. Kittler optische medien pdf get this from a library. Kittler friedrich optical media pdf martin heidegger.
Kittler june 12, 1943 october 18, 2011 was a literary scholar and a media. Kittler friedrich optical media pdf free ebook download as pdf file. It starts out with a clear presentation of kittlersmediatheoretical premises and then offers a fascinating tour through the history of storing, manipulating and projecting light. Kittler june 12, october 18, was a literary scholar and a media theorist. Kittler and the media is informed, lucid, and entertaining. Optical media is the most engaging and accessible of friedrich kittler s books. Friedrich kittler the history of communication media in this article, friedrich kittler attempts to give a detailed but also brief account of the history of communication media, which he analyses in terms of, and compares to, information systems. Soon people will be connected to a communication channel which can be used for any kind of media. In the age of handwriting and of the printing press, all forms of writing are bound up in a symbolic universe which in its most basic. Friedrich kittler the history of communication media.
An early optical disc system existed in 1935, named lichttonorgel. This is one reason the lectures are on optical and not visual media. Optical media refers to any data storage device or equipment that uses optical data storage and retrieval techniques to read and write data. Kittler, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. As the media theorist friedrich kittler pointed out, photography enabled this new, modern culture of visuality, because it was the first medium to store visual data and to make it transmissible. Analog media and opticaltechnological media in particular kittler. Kittler also discusses the development of various mechanical devices, like. Kittler optical media ebook download 4 aug anyhow, it took several years anyway before it came out in english friedrich kittler s optical media polity press, orig. Friedrich kittler is one of the leading figures in german media theory today. Computer graphics and the end of optical media researchgate. The video is an accompaniment to discussions in media.
Pdf kittler and the media download full pdf book download. According to kittlers media history, optical media faced their end with the. A short introduction to ideas in the first chapter of friedrich kittlers optical media. Friedrich adolf kittler was born in 1943 in rochlitz in saxony. The term german media theory itself is quite unsuccesful as it suggest a too homonegeous and unified national media theoretical discourse. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext.
Get your kindle here, or download a free kindle reading app. For it seems to be precisely this exorbitant capacity that elevates the medium of the computer above all optical media in western history. Optical media provides an accessible introduction to the media theory of kittlers middle period as it applies primar ily to the optical realm. Kittler wrote media theory with heidegger, but also with pynchon. Kittler, quoted in geoffrey winthropyoung and michael wutz, introduction, in kittler, gramophone, film, typewriter, xiv. This media archaeology of early computer graphics tackles the relation between the imaginary and technical media. Kittlers media materialism is explored through four main influences. Optical media article about optical media by the free. Optical media may be friedrich kittlers best book for the uniniti ated. Communication media, see kittler, 1996 rather than the technologies of television pp.
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