Theory_series http://www.v2.nl In this series, we commission individual authors to write a cultural-theoretical book on current developments in electronic interactive art and digital media. The books are written in an accessible manner so as to be readable by a broader group than just the experts. daily 1 2009-03-31T10:06:15Z The Sympathy of Things http://www.v2.nl/publishing/the-sympathy-of-things "The Sympathy of Things: Ruskin and the Ecology of Design," the new publication by Lars Spuybroek is now available in V2_'s webshop.


"We have to find our way back to beauty," writes Lars Spuybroek in the introduction to The Sympathy of Things. In this book Spuybroek argues that we must "undo" the twentieth century – the age in which the sublime turned from an art category into a technical reality. This leads him to the aesthetical insights of the nineteenth-century English art critic John Ruskin, from which he distils pointers for our time.

In The Sympathy of Things, the old romantic notion of sympathy, a core concept in Ruskin’s aesthetics, is re-evaluated as the driving force of the aesthetic experience. For Ruskin, beauty always comprises variation, imperfection and fragility, three concepts that wholly disappeared from our mindsets during the twentieth century.

Spuybroek addresses the five central dual themes of Ruskin in turn: the Gothic and work, ornament and matter, sympathy and abstraction, the picturesque and time, ecology and design. He wrests each of these themes from the Victorian era and compares them with the related ideas of later aestheticians and philosophers like William James and Bruno Latour.

Lars Spuybroek is Professor of Architectural Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He is the author of NOX: Machining Architecture (2004), The Architecture of Continuity (2008), Research & Design: The Architecture of Variation (2009) and Research & Design: Textile Tectonics (2011).

Watch the stream of the presentation by Lars Spuybroek on The Sympathy of Things at the Architectural Association, London. Date: 29.11.2011 http://www.aaschool.ac.uk 

 

"We are living through a change in paradigm, in the age of the flexible machine, where the concepts of matter, spirituality and design are under re-negotiation and we need such fearless thought to jolt complacency. If Spuybroek, like Ruskin, does not shake your design and aesthetic concepts, you haven’t understood him."

Charles Jencks on The Sympathy of Things

"The Sympathy of Things is a stirring call to action; an amazing reconstruction of the ideas of the Victorian sage
John Ruskin; and, above all, a visionary look at the inner life of things. Lars Spuybroek makes the case that aesthetics is first philosophy, and proposes a radical new aesthetics for the digital age."

Steven Shaviro on The Sympathy of Things

 

The Sympathy of Things has been made possible with the aid of The Netherlands Architecture Fund. 

 

Contents

Preface

The Digital Nature of Gothic

     Ruskin: The Nature of Gothic

     Craft and Code

     I believe in Things

The Matter of Ornament

     Ruskin: The Wall Veil and Earth Veil

     An Abstract Materialism

     Tesselation Ornament and Ribbon Ornament

     Some Hints on Pattern-designing

Abstraction and Sympathy

     The Mosaic of Experience

     The Fabric of Sympathy

     Lipps’ Sympathy, Worringer’s Empathy

     The Veil is the Anti-Eidos

The Radical Picturesque

     Forms and Forces

     Ruskin: The Parasitical Sublime

     Sublime Things

     The Technological Wild

The Ecology of Design

     Ruskin: Beauty is the End

     A Veil of Strange Intermediate Being

 

]]> No publisher Joris van Ballegooijen This information is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. 2011 V2_publishing architecture book webshop book 2011-06-21T12:30:00Z Page From Image to Interaction http://www.v2.nl/publishing/from-image-to-interaction In "From Image to Interaction," Arjen Mulder traces evolutionary lines in the fine art of the past five hundred years that have led directly to the interactive art of today.

 

 

In this book Arjen Mulder investigates the origins of modern art from Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo to Kandinsky, Mondrian and Paul Klee, whom he regards not only as great artists but above all as great media theorists. In the process, he discovers how the models these illustrious predecessors built are still actively being used in the fields of contemporary art known as electronic art, video art, machine art, digital art, media art, and even “the art formerly known as media art.” Step by step, Mulder develops a surprising perspective on the genealogy of art from 1910 to 2010 and the role and value of visual culture and design in the present. He analyzes the feelings and experiences evoked by painting, photography, digital media and the interactive arts in a previously unseen manner. In compact, clear style, he works out a theory of art not as an expression of the worldview of its time but as a discoverer and researcher of it.

Arjen Mulder’s previous books include the acclaimed Understanding Media Theory: Language, Image, Sound, Behavior (2004), used at numerous colleges and universities, as well as essay collections in Dutch such as Het fotografisch genoegen ("Photographic Pleasure," 2000) and De vrouw voor wie Cesare Pavese zelfmoord pleegde ("The Woman Cesare Pavese Committed Suicide for," 2005), which critics have praised for its originality. He teaches media theory at the Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design (MaHKU) in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

 
Introduction From Image to Interaction (PDF) by Arjen Mulder.
 
 
]]> No publisher Joris van Ballegooijen This information is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. 2010 V2_ Publishing art history book media art webshop book 2010-12-13T15:10:00Z Page Van beeld naar interactie http://www.v2.nl/publishing/van-beeld-naar-interactie In "Van beeld naar interactie" volgt Arjen Mulder ontwikkelingslijnen uit de beeldende kunsten van de afgelopen vijfhonderd jaar die rechtstreeks naar de interactieve kunst van dit moment voeren.

 

Arjen Mulder onderzoekt de oorsprong van de moderne kunst vanaf Leonardo da Vinci en Michelangelo tot Kandinsky, Mondriaan en Paul Klee, die hij niet alleen beschouwt als grote kunstenaars maar meer nog als grote mediatheoretici. Al doende ontdekt hij hoe de modellen die deze illustere voorgangers ontwikkelden nog altijd actief worden gebruikt in de eigentijdse kunsten die bekend staan onder namen als elektronische kunst, videokunst, machinekunst, digitale kunst, mediakunst en zelfs 'the art formerly known as media art'. Stap voor stap ontwikkelt hij in het boek een verrassend perspectief, niet alleen op de genealogie van de kunsten tussen 1910 en 2010, maar ook op de rol en waarde van de beeldcultuur en van design in onze tijd. Op niet eerder vertoonde wijze analyseert Mulder de gevoelens en ervaringen die worden opgeroepen met behulp van schilderkunst, fotografie, digitale media en de interactieve kunsten. In een compacte en heldere stijl ontwikkelt Mulder een visie op kunst, niet als uiting van het wereldbeeld van haar tijd, maar als ontdekker en onderzoeker daarvan. 

Arjen Mulder publiceerde eerder de veelgeprezen en op vele HBO's en universiteiten gebruikte uitgave Over mediatheorie: taal beeld, geluid, gedrag (2004), naast essaybundels als Het fotografisch genoegen (2000) en De vrouw voor wie Cesare Pavese zelfmoord pleegde (2005), waarvan de originaliteit door de critici geroemd werd. Hij doceert mediatheorie aan de MaHKU te Utrecht.

 
Introductie From Image to Interaction (.pdf Engelse editie) by Arjen Mulder.
 
 
]]> No publisher Joris van Ballegooijen This information is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. 2010 V2_ Publishing art history book media art webshop book 2010-12-14T09:25:00Z Page The Architecture of Continuity http://www.v2.nl/publishing/the-architecture-of-continuity Lars Spuybroek's first fully theoretical account of his innovative work.

 

"That buildings are made of elements doesn't mean that architecture should be based on elementarism; on the contrary, we should strive for an architecture of continuity that fuses tectonics with textile, abstraction with empathy, and matter with expressivity."

This is the crux of the argument Lars Spuybroek makes in this book, the first fully theoretical account of his innovative work. The state of contemporary architecture is the product of a 150-year battle between the Polytechnique and Beaux-Arts schools of design, which has forced us into a stalemate between the radically opposed positions of high-tech and sculpturism. Spuybroek aims to do no less than mend this rift through rethinking technology as an extension of our feeling senses, materiality as the realm of activity and agency, and structure as the result of genesis.

Building on Gottfried Semper's materialist theory of architecture, he takes us from a philosophy of technology to a surprisingly historical argumentation that constantly revives the words of John Ruskin, William Hogarth and Wilhelm Worringer. Alongside a number of essays, the book contains extensive conversations in which we witness him refining and sharpening his arguments ("We will see a merging of Art Nouveau and Bauhaus, where empathy has been liberated from manual labor and machines have been liberated from uniform repetition"). In a period of theoretical tranquility in architecture, this book takes a refreshing turn back to the basics, one in which tools, methodology and architectural aesthetics are recalibrated.

Lars Spuybroek is Professor and Thomas W. Ventulett III Distinguished Chair in Architectural Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He is also the principal of NOX, an architecture and art studio in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. His previous books are The Weight of the Image (NAi Publishers, 2000) and NOX: Machining Architecture (Thames & Hudson, 2004).

 

"This Spuybroek guy is the cat's pyjamas of parametric architecture. I read his Continuity book and it was like being hit over the head with a Gothic column."

Bruce Sterling



Contents

Foreword by Detlef Mertins

Introduction: Experience, Tectonics and Continuity

Motor Geometry

Substance and Accident

The Motorization of Reality

The Primacy of Experience

The Soft Machine of Vision

Africa Comes First

The Structure of Vagueness

Sensograms at Work

The Lives That Are Hidden

Machining Architecture

The Architecture of Continuity

Textile Tectonics

The Aesthetics of Variation

Steel and Freedom


Acknowledgments
References

The Architecture of Continuity is made possible by the Netherlands Architecture Fund (Stimuleringsfonds voor Architectuur). www.archfonds.nl and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfornds. www.prinsbernhardcultuurfornds.nl

 

 

]]> No publisher Joris van Ballegooijen book webshop book 2009-03-12T15:35:00Z Page Over mediatheorie http://www.v2.nl/publishing/over-mediatheorie Arjen Mulder maakt de mediatheorie inzichtelijk door alle belangrijke begrippen van de mediatheorie te bespreken op grond van concrete voorbeelden en ervaringen.

 

In Over mediatehorie wordt beschreven hoe onze communicatiemiddelen bepalen wat en wie we zijn, hoe we ons gedragen, waarover we wel en niet nadenken, hoe we onze gevoelens ontplooien of laten inperken, en wie we wel of juist niet kunnen bereiken. 

De mediatheorie biedt een verklaring voor praktisch alles wat er in onze wereld door mensen wordt gedacht, gedaan en ervaren. Dit explosieve gedachtegoed is in de afgelopen vijftig jaar ontwikkeld door allerlei auteurs van over de hele wereld, maar een synthese van hun ideeën bestond tot nu toe niet.

Over mediatheorie biedt zo'n synthese. Arjen Mulder vat het werk van eerdere auteurs samen, maar maakt de mediatheorie inzichtelijk door alle belangrijke begrippen, benaderingen en aandachtspunten van de mediatheorie te bespreken op grond van concrete voorbeelden en ervaringen. Dat houdt het boek toegankelijk - ook als het over complexe onderwerpen gaat als de geschiedenis van het taalgebruik, de werkwijze van de kunst of de onbewuste manier waarop we ons laten beïnvloeden door de media van de informatiemaatschappij.

Soms hilarisch, vaak fascinerend en altijd hoogst informatief, is Over mediatheorie een boek dat niet alleen bedoeld is voor studenten en kunstenaars, maar voor een ieder die belangstelling heeft voor onze tijd.

Arjen Mulder doceert mediatheorie op onder meer de Film en Televisieacademie in Breda en het HISK te Antwerpen.

 

Inhoud

Vooraf
Mediatheorie, de nieuwe wetenschap

Algemene mediatheorie: 

- Inleiding 

- Communicaties 

- Hermediatie 

Historische Mediatheorie:

- Inleiding 

- Gesproken taal 

- Geschreven taal

- Gedrukte taal 

- Getypte taal 

Praktische mediatheorie:

- Inleiding 

- Situaties en 'de media' 

- Analoge lichamen, digitaal bewustzijn 

- Het virtuele object van interactieve kunst  

- Van media- naar softwaretheorie 

Noten

Literatuur 

]]> No publisher Sofia Bustorff book webshop book 2009-03-24T15:05:00Z Page My First Recession http://www.v2.nl/publishing/my-first-recession Geert Lovink maps the transition of critical Internet culture from the mid-1990s craze to the dot-com crash, the subsequent meltdown of the global financial markets, and 9/11.

 

 

In My First Recession, Geert Lovink maps the transition of critical Internet culture from the mid-1990s Internet craze to the dot-com crash, the subsequent meltdown of the global financial markets, and 9/11. In his discussion of the dot-com boom and bust cycle, he lays out the challenges faced by critical Internet culture today.

In a series of case studies, Loovink meticulously describes the ambivalent attitude that artists and activists take as they veer back and forth between euphoria and skepticism. As part of this process, Lovink examines the internal dynamics of virtual communities through an analysis of the use of moderation and "collaborative filtering" on mailing lists and weblogs. He also confronts the practical and theoretical problems that appear as artists join the growing number of new media educational programs. Delving into the unexplored gold mines of list archives and blogs, Lovink reveals a world that is largely unknown to both the general public and the Internet visionaries.

Geert Lovink is an Amsterdam based media theorist and Internet critic, a cofounder of numerous online projects such as Nettime and Fibreculture, and the author of Dark Fiber (2002), Uncanny Networks (2002) and Zero Comments (2008).


Contents


Introduction
Currents in Critical Internet Culture

Post-Speculative Internet Theory
Three Positions: Dreyfus, Castells, Lessig

Anatomy of Dotcom Mania
Overview of Recent Literature

Deep Europe and the Kosovo Conflict
A History of the V2_East/Syndicate Network

Principles of Streaming Sovereignty
A History of the Xchange Network

The Battle over New-Media Art Education
Experiences and Models

Oekonux and the Free-Software Model
From Linux to the GPL Society

Defining Open Publishing
Of Lists and Weblogs

Conclusion
Boundaries of Critical Internet Culture

Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments

]]> No publisher Joris van Ballegooijen book webshop book 2009-03-12T15:25:00Z Page Understanding Media Theory http://www.v2.nl/publishing/understanding-media-theory Arjen Mulder makes media theory understandable by discussing all the concepts, approaches and areas of interest through concrete examples and experiences.

Sold out

Issued: 2004

ISBN: 90-5662-388-5

Dimensions: 23 x 16 cm

Pages: 217

Type: Paperback

Language: English

Price: € 21.00

By Arjen Mulder

Understanding Media Theory describes the ways in which our means of communication determine what and who we are, how we behave, what we do and do not think about, how our feelings develop and are limited, and who we can and cannot reach. 

It offers an explanation for practically everything we think, do and experience in the world. This explosive body of thought has been developed by various authors around the world over the past fifty years, but there has been no synthesis of their ideas until now.

Understanding Media Theory provides one. Rather than summarizing the work of previous authors, Arjen Mulder makes media theory understandable by discussing all its important concepts, approaches and areas of interest through concrete examples and experiences. The book therefore remains clear and accessible, even when addressing complex subjects such as the history of the use of language, artistic methods, and the unconscious ways in which we allow ourselves to be influenced by media in the information society.


Contents

Preface

Media Theory: The New Science

General Media Theory:

- Introduction

- Communication

- Remediation

Historical Media Theory:

- Introduction

- Spoken Language

- Written Language

- Printed Language

- Typed language

Practical Media Theory:

- Introduction

- Situations and "The Media"

- Analog and Digital Consciousness

- The Virtual Object of Interactive Art

- From Media to Software Theory

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgment

 



]]> No publisher Joris van Ballegooijen book 2009-03-17T09:55:00Z Page