Timothy Druckrey (ed.): Ars Electronica: Facing the Future: A Survey of Two Decades (1999)

“For the past two decades the Austrian-based Ars Electronica, Festival for Art, Technology, and Society has played a pivotal role in the development of electronic media. Linking artistic practice and critical theory, the annual festival and symposium bring together scientists, philosophers, sociologists, and artists in an ongoing discourse on the effects of digital media on creativity—and on culture itself.

Drawing on the resources of Ars Electronica’s publications and archives, this anthology collects the essential works that form the core of a contemporary art long dismissed as too technical or inaccessible. The book includes a critical introduction, full bibliography, and texts and artworks from the key figures in the field.

Among the many contributors are Robert Adrian, Roy Ascott, Jean Baudrillard, Heidi Grundmann, Donna Haraway, Kathy Huffman, Friedrich Kittler, Knowbotic Research, Myron Kruger, Laurent Migonneau, Sadie Plant, Florian Rötzer, Paul Sermon, Carl Sims, Christa Sommerer, Woody Vasulka, Paul Virilio, Peter Weibel, and Gene Youngblood.”

Publisher MIT Press, 1999
Electronic Culture: History, Theory, and Practice series, 1
ISBN 0262041766, 9780262041768
449 pages
via Ars Electronica

Reviews: Beryl Graham (Convergence, 2000), Rhizome (2000), Stephen Wilson (Leonardo, 2001), Yvonne Spielmann (Leonardo, 2001), Matthew Griffin (PAJ, 2002).

WorldCat

PDF, PDF (41 MB)

Anni Albers: On Weaving (1965–)

“In this book, Anni Albers develops the thoughts on the history and design of weaving which she put forward in her collection of essays On Designing, published in 1959. Although On Weaving is not meant to be a technical reference book, it conveys a fundamental understanding and appreciation of the craft, both to the textile expert and to the interested layman, and is written in uncomplicated language, illustrated with clear diagrams.

In chapter 5 Anni Albers says: ‘Though elaborations are usually thought to be an advance of stage of work, they are often an easy expansion from basic concepts. Intricacy and complexity are not, in my mind, high developments. Simplicity, rather, which is condensation, is the aim and the goal for which we should be heading. Simplicity is not simpleness but clarified vision–the reverse of the popular estimate.’

This methodically intellectual approach has been applied in the composition and writing of this book and has enabled the author with her expert knowledge to condense into a small space the very quintessence of designing woven fabrics and the many facets and intricacies of this craft. But at the same time Anni Albers is able to excite and inspire the reader’s imagination and unravel the romantic story of weaving.

The technical side, which includes tapestry and carpet weaving, weaves and their derivatives, cloth constructions and materials is extremely well documented with drawings and photographs. The artist-designer will find delight in the many illustrations of ancient and modern weaving.” (back cover)

First published by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown/CT, 1965
Reprint, Studio Vista, London, 1974
ISBN 0289370043
204 pages
via x

Review: Irene Emery (American Anthropologist, 1968).

WorldCat

PDF (1965/1974, 30 MB, no OCR)
HTML (New Expanded Edition, 2017, added on 2017-10-30)

Lotte H. Eisner: Fritz Lang (1976)

“Fritz Lang, almost alone among his fellow continental refugees, was able to make outstanding films in both his native Germany and his adopted Hollywood. The director of Metropolis and M and Dr. Mabuse came to America in 1934 and began a long and distinguished career that included such films as You Only Live Once, The Woman in the Window, Scarlet Street, Ministry of Fear, Rancho Notorious, and The Big Heat. He is a key figure in the history of film noir, bringing to the screen a fatalist’s vision of a menacing world of criminals, misfits, and helpless victims, and providing a distinctive visual look to every film he directed. This film-by-film study of Lang’s oeuvre by one of the great film historians combines personal insight—Eisner and Lang had a long standing friendship—with deep historical understanding of Lang’s roots in German culture and cinema. Both true modernists, Eisner and Lang are perfectly matched, as this book clearly demonstrates.” (back cover)

Publisher Secker and Warburg, London, 1976
Reprint, Da Capo Press, New York, 1986
ISBN 0306802716
416 pages
via dreyer

WorldCat

PDF (158 MB)