Virilio and the Media

In books such as The Aesthetics of Disappearance, War and Cinema, The Lost Dimension, and The Vision Machine, Paul Virilio has fundamentally changed how we think about contemporary media culture. Virilio's examinations of the connections between perception, logistics, the city, and new media technologies comprise some of the most powerful texts within his hypermodern philosophy.

Virilio and the Media presents an introduction to Virilio's important media related ideas, from polar inertia and the accident to the landscape of events, cities of panic, and the instrumental image loop of television. John Armitage positions Virilio's essential media texts in their theoretical contexts whilst outlining their substantial influence on recent cultural thinking. Consequently, Armitage renders Virilio's media texts accessible, priming his readers to create individual critical evaluations of Virilio's writings. The book closes with an annotated and user-friendly Guide to Further Reading and a non-technical Glossary of Virilio's significant concepts.

Virilio's texts on the media are vital for everyone concerned with contemporary media culture, and Virilio and the Media offers a comprehensive and up to date introduction to the ever expanding range of his critical media and cultural works.

Auteur
John Armitage is professor of media at Northumbria University.

Contenu

Acknowledgments viii

Introduction 1

1 The Aesthetics of Disappearance 24

2 Cinema, War, and the Logistics of Perception 47

3 New Media: Vision, Inertia, and the Mobile Phone 71

4 City of Panic: The Instrumental Image Loop of Television and Media Events 95

5 The Work of the Critic of the Art of Technology: The Museum of Accidents 117

Conclusion 140

Guide to Further Reading 150

Glossary 158

References 164

Index 172