Vilém Flusser: Into the Universe of Technical Images (1985–) [DE, HU, CZ, EN]

Poised between hope and despair for a humanity facing an urgent communication crisis, this work by Vilém Flusser forecasts either the first truly human, infinitely creative society in history or a society of unbearable, oppressive sameness, locked in a pattern it cannot change. First published in German in 1985 and now available in English for the first time, Into the Universe of Technical Images outlines the history of communication technology as a process of increasing abstraction.

Flusser charts how communication evolved from direct interaction with the world to mediation through various technologies. The invention of writing marked one significant shift; the invention of photography marked another, heralding the current age of the technical image. The automation of the processing of technical images carries both promise and threat: the promise of freeing humans to play and invent and the threat for networks of automation to proceed independently of humans.

Originally published in German as Ins Universum der technischen Bilder, European Photography, 1985

Czech edition: Do universa technických obrazů
Translated by Jiří Fiala
Publisher OSVU, 2002
ISBN 8023875698
162 pages

English edition
Translated by Nancy Ann Roth
Introduction by Mark Poster
Publisher University of Minnesota Press, 2011
Volume 32 of Electronic Mediations
ISBN 0816670218, 9780816670215
224 pages

Review (Bob Hanke, International Journal of Communication)

Translator (EN)
Publisher (EN)

Ins Universum der technischen Bilder (German, 1985, added on 2016-8-4)
A technikai képek univerzuma felé (Hungarian, trans. József Maleczki, 2001; revised trans. Dalma Török, 2011; HTML, added on 2014-2-14)
Do universa technických obrazů (Czech, Jiří Fiala, 2002, no OCR, added on 2013-4-1)
Into the Universe of Technical Images (English, trans. Nancy Ann Roth, 2011, updated on 2012-7-17)

Gregory Sholette: Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture (2011)

“Art is big business, with some artists able to command huge sums of money for their works, while the vast majority are ignored or dismissed by critics. This book shows that these marginalised artists, the ‘dark matter’ of the art world, are essential to the survival of the mainstream and that they frequently organize in opposition to it.

Gregory Sholette, a politically engaged artist, argues that imagination and creativity in the art world originate thrive in the non-commercial sector shut off from prestigious galleries and champagne receptions. This broader creative culture feeds the mainstream with new forms and styles that can be commodified and used to sustain the few artists admitted into the elite.

This dependency, and the advent of inexpensive communication, audio and video technology, has allowed this ‘dark matter’ of the alternative art world to increasingly subvert the mainstream and intervene politically as both new and old forms of non-capitalist, public art. This book is essential for anyone interested in interventionist art, collectivism, and the political economy of the art world.”

Publisher Pluto Press, London, 2011
Marxism and Culture series
ISBN 0745327524, 9780745327525
304 pages

Reviews: Nicholas Merzoeff (Afterimage, 2011), Larne Abse Gogarty (Art Monthly, 2011), Marc James Léger (Monthly Review, 2012), Stefan Szczelkun (Mute, 2012), Dave Beech (J Modern Craft, 2012), Bruce Barber (Reviews in Culture, 2012), Molly Hankwitz (Otherzine, 2013), Theo Reeves-Evison (review31, n.d.).

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PDF (updated on 2019-12-18)

Miklós Peternák, Éva Kozma (eds.): Bauhaus Lab, Film Workshop, Budapest (2010) [English/Hungarian]

Publication from the workshops and presentations dedicated to László Moholy-Nagy, held in 2009 in Budapest.

Publisher C3 Center for Culture and Communication, Budapest, 2010
ISBN 9789638879202
85 pages

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PDF (updated on 2012-8-3)