application/pdf
2036-461X
21369
9
en
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cinéma & Cie. Film and Media Studies Journal
Oliver Grau (ed.), Mediaarthistories, Mit, Cambridge, Ma-London 2007
Text.Serial.Journal
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie
7
Selected by
2007-10-01
2023-10-09
2007-10-01
2024-02-14
Cinéma & Cie
Malte Hagener
2007/10/01
2036-461X
9
en
Oliver Grau (ed.), Mediaarthistories, Mit, Cambridge, Ma-London 2007
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie/article/download/21369/18975
7
                                                                                    SELECTED BY


  SELECTED BY: MALTE HAGENER                      sector of projected and filmic installations:
                                                  Beyond Cinema. The Art of Projection, 1963-
  OLIVER GRAU (ED.), MEDIAARTHISTORIES,           2005 at the Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin (2006-
  MIT, CAMBRIDGE, MA-LONDON 2007                  07), X-Screen. Filmische Installationen und
                                                  Aktionen der 60er und 70er Jahre at the
                                                 Museum Moderner Kunst Vienna (2003-04) and
   Gérard Genette and others have taught us that Into the Light: The Projected Image in American
  titles of books, like paratexts in general, create, Art 1964-1977 at the Whitney Museum New
  control and organise the zone of negotiation York (2001-02). MediaArtHistories seems to be
  between the work and its prospective reader. in line with these attempts to historicise and val-
     The title on the cover of MediaArtHistories date a certain tradition formerly ignored for its
  is set against a suave and visually suggestive ephemerality and limited to interstitial institu-
  background with hints of pixelated imagery tions. However, it may be the case that Grau's
  and biological forms. The order of terms in the anthology merely approaches traditional art his-
  title signals that the book has two central con- tory polemically because the discipline is often
  cerns: media art and art history, with "art" considered the most conservative branch of the
  standing, triumphantly, yet uneasily, in the cen- humanities.
  tre. Moreover, it seems significant that the edi- Indeed, while reading the collection I got the
  tor, Oliver Grau, did not employ the currently strong impression that despite the outspoken
  fashionable term "archaeology", but instead institutional trajectory, most contributions did
  retained the more traditional label "history" not strictly follow the path established by the
  This decision may be attributed to Grau's introduction. A quick look at the authors suf-
  desire to refer to his own discipline, the estab- fices to explain the book's diverse intellectual
  lished field of art history. However, the title is milieu. There are proponents of new media
  not as cautious as it may seem, for the use of (Lev Manovich), sound studies (Douglas
  the plural "histories" signifies that history (in Kahn), media archaeology (Erkki Huhtamo),
  good poststructuralist fashion) can never be film studies (Sean Cubitt), visual culture
  singular and unified. Indeed, the editor's intro- (W.J.T. Mitchell) and the intersection of scien-
  duction proposes to elevate media art to an tific history with art (Barbara Stafford). The
  accepted position in the canon of art history: articles themselves contain a similar hetero-
   «The goal is to open up art history to include geneity of approaches and topics. We find a
  media art from recent decades and contempo-discussion of contemporary Japanese video art
  rary art forms» (p. 1). (Machiko Kusahara) next to a genealogical
      Grau claims that his project is motivated in examination of an early 134 Century Arabic
    part by the institutional neglect of media art. I treatise on mechanical devices that teases out
3 have to admit that my personal impression of the some proto-cybernetic as well as religious con-
| field is very different. Whether looking at the notations (Gunalan Nadarajan), a consideration
  most influential international galleries and of the 19th Century phantasmagoria (Oliver
  museums, attending blockbuster shows such as Grau) and a discussion of practical questions of
  the Kassel Documenta or the Venice Biennale, curating, exhibiting and archiving media art
  considering the catalogues of the major publish- (Christiane Paul).
  ing houses, leafing through current magazines or Therefore, we are confronted with a janus-
  attending conferences - media art, at least to me, faced book: on the one hand, the introduction
  appears ubiquitous. There are even large-scale and several of the pieces present the antholo.
  historiographic retrospectives held in estab-gy's clear and outspoken institutional project,
  lished institutions. For example, three recent and on the other, there exists a relatively wide-
  representatives come to mind from the small ranging cast of characters from which the read.
                                                                                             17.3
   CINÉMA & CIE, no. 9, Fall 2007
 MALTE HAGENER


 er may select those she finds the most
                                    art reward-
                                        history, a newly emerging Bildwisse
 ing. While concepts like virtual reality or con-(visual studies) or is instead aimed at a more
 vergence were hailed as central topics in the   heterogeneous crowd that takes an interest in
 1990s, today's key terms seem to be interactiv- the mediated mature of contemporary art, cul
ity, immersion, and projection. In addition, ture and science. Finally, a symptomatic read.
although art is central to many of the contribu-ing of MediaArtHistories produces important
tions, there are also exceptions to this rule. A questions: how will the university deal with the
fascinating case study is Timothy Lenoir's          convergence of (mass) media, (life) science,
account of constructing a collaborative history (technological) history, cultural studies, poli-
of science (the case study focuses on bioinfor- tics and many other fields into a mediatised
matics) where new media is used «for purpos-audiovisual culture? What expertise and know.
es of documentation and critical debate suitable edge (and therefore claim to influence) can be
to the creation of socially responsible scientific mustered by disciplines as diverse as media
knowledge» (p. 357). What this text has to do studies, art history, film and television studies,
with others that concentrate on media art in the philosophy, cultural studies, and the history of
narrower sense of the word, however, remains science? Grau's anthology deserves credit for
somewhat vague. It seems that the book is not introducing concerns that might be at the centre
quite sure whether it is addressing a reformed of (institutional) debates for years to come.
