The image cannot present itself without a certain force, without a certain amount of violence. The image must always remove, put aside, place another image behind itself, to come to light. The image of the Sun is, in this regard, …
My argument is that Baudrillard continuously said that “everything is simulation (or virtual)” rather than saying that “there is more and more simulation (or virtuality)” because the diagnosis of simulation, simulacra, virtuality, and hyperreality in contemporary culture is not the …
When Shoshana Zuboff published The Age of Surveillance Capitalism four years ago, I remember feeling skeptical and slightly guarded. You’re telling me the Harvard Business School hates Facebook now too? Okay, sure, welcome comrade…better late than never. Zuboff’s book is …
Note: Earlier versions of this paper were presented as two keynote addresses in 2018. First, at the 2nd International and Multidisciplinary Conference on Baudrillard Studies – ‘Applied Baudrillard’ – held in Oxford, England (September 5th to 7th). My opening keynote …
As in Joseph Vogl’s new book Capital and Ressentment, information is also a central concept for Jonathan Beller’s book World Computer. For Beller, the drastic increase of information implies the possibility of concluding a derivative contract on any phenomenon, which …
In den „kulturellen“ Räumen bieten sich die Repräsentanten derselben (alias Subjekte) heute als Profile oder Marken an, die selbst nicht nur an sich schon, sondern auch als derivative Exposition gegenüber ihren Rezipienten vermarktbar sind, nämlich ihrem Publikum, ihren Netzwerken, ihren …
Geld gleich Information? Zu den Neuen Büchern von Vogl und Beller (2)
Jonathan Beller’s new book, The World Computer, is on the intimate relation between information and power. Characterized by the author as “political in intention, speculative in execution, and concrete in its engagement” (70), the book touches on computers, photography, film, …
Shane Denson’s new book Discorrelated Images has captured my attention in recent weeks. It’s a fascinating investigation into the contemporary image, with an emphasis on cinema but spilling over into other forms of image-making. Denson has carved out a niche …