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Medium Hot: Images in The Age of Heat
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF THE IMAGE IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?
Hito Steyerl is one of the most celebrated artists of our time. Her work, both as an artist and a writer, has consistently challenged the political boundaries between art and technology. In this new collection of groundbreaking essays, she explores how AI, the use of large language models and the algorithmic creation of imagery transform our understanding of the world. She argues that such practices cannot be divorced from the economic and political conditions of the times.
Medium Hot is a collection of scintillating meditations on the limits of art and technol the essential handbook for the present conjuncture. The pieces here probe the manufacture and distribution of images in the age of AI and climate change. She asks whether art can be made not only by machines but for machines. She argues against the production of images that heat up the planet, disfranchise workers and fuel the arms trade, and questions whether such creations can even be called art.
In an era of such rapid change, Steyerl does vital work investigating whether machine learning will infiltrate every aspect of our lives and what that means for the future.
Hito Steyerl is one of the most celebrated artists of our time. Her work, both as an artist and a writer, has consistently challenged the political boundaries between art and technology. In this new collection of groundbreaking essays, she explores how AI, the use of large language models and the algorithmic creation of imagery transform our understanding of the world. She argues that such practices cannot be divorced from the economic and political conditions of the times.
Medium Hot is a collection of scintillating meditations on the limits of art and technol the essential handbook for the present conjuncture. The pieces here probe the manufacture and distribution of images in the age of AI and climate change. She asks whether art can be made not only by machines but for machines. She argues against the production of images that heat up the planet, disfranchise workers and fuel the arms trade, and questions whether such creations can even be called art.
In an era of such rapid change, Steyerl does vital work investigating whether machine learning will infiltrate every aspect of our lives and what that means for the future.
198 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 20, 2025
19 people are currently reading
337 people want to read
About the author
Hito Steyerl
40 books281 followersHito Steyerl (sometimes spelled Štajerl) is a German filmmaker, visual artist, and author in the field of essayist documentary video. Her principal topics of interest are media, technology, and the global circulation of images. Steyerl holds a Ph.D in Philosophy from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She is currently a professor of New Media Art at the Berlin University of the Arts.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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November 17, 2025I sometimes wonder what it’s all meant, all this effort over the years, all these books I’ve read, thoughts I’ve thunk, I mean it may not need to coalesce ever but it’s an understandable yearning, I think, for some evidence of wisdom earned.
So one proof of that effort might be making a book like this accessible. The mere fact that I can understand what she’s saying won’t pay off my student loans, but it is delicious to make sense of a project like this, and it would be totally inscrutable had I not spent the last 25 years reading all the time.
So one proof of that effort might be making a book like this accessible. The mere fact that I can understand what she’s saying won’t pay off my student loans, but it is delicious to make sense of a project like this, and it would be totally inscrutable had I not spent the last 25 years reading all the time.
November 5, 2025
Me convertí en una atenta lectora de Hito Steyerl. En Medium Hot logra un buen balance entre lo técnico, lo especulativo, el humor ácido, y el arte. Para mí, sus libros son actuales, fáciles de abordar y necesarios.
Este libro toma como aspecto central de qué manera el auge de la inteligencia artificial, los datos y los sistemas automatizados están reconfigurando no solo la producción cultural, sino también el trabajo y hasta la noción de sentido común. Las imágenes ya no representan: extraen, dañan, acumulan y se autocompletan. Para ella, en este contexto el arte funciona como laboratorio, pantalla de humo y campo de batalla. Todo al mismo tiempo.
Uno de los puntos más fuertes está en el capítulo final, una suerte de fábula sobre futuros posibles del mundo del arte, que combina sátira, ciencia ficción, tests de la revista Cosmopolitan y una fuerte crítica institucional. Es un cierre brillante con una tremenda potencia conceptual.
Creo que este libro logra ser muchas cosas a la vez: ensayo político, manifiesto cultural, diario. Es para aprender, subrayar y aprender mucho. Ideal para intentar entender nuestro presente digital y algorítmico.
Este libro toma como aspecto central de qué manera el auge de la inteligencia artificial, los datos y los sistemas automatizados están reconfigurando no solo la producción cultural, sino también el trabajo y hasta la noción de sentido común. Las imágenes ya no representan: extraen, dañan, acumulan y se autocompletan. Para ella, en este contexto el arte funciona como laboratorio, pantalla de humo y campo de batalla. Todo al mismo tiempo.
Uno de los puntos más fuertes está en el capítulo final, una suerte de fábula sobre futuros posibles del mundo del arte, que combina sátira, ciencia ficción, tests de la revista Cosmopolitan y una fuerte crítica institucional. Es un cierre brillante con una tremenda potencia conceptual.
Creo que este libro logra ser muchas cosas a la vez: ensayo político, manifiesto cultural, diario. Es para aprender, subrayar y aprender mucho. Ideal para intentar entender nuestro presente digital y algorítmico.
July 26, 2025
Jeg har i løbet af de sidste par måneder forsøgt aktivt at forholde mig til, hvad såkalt GAI’s indtog på verdensscenen betyder for vores kommunikation, vores videnskabelse og ikke mindst for kunst og billeddannelse…. Det har ført til øjeblikke af skiftevis fuldstændig afmagt og apati (tekst-er-dødt-følelser), vrede, forvirring og afsky…
Hito Steyerl forsøger som en af de første at sætte, jeg har læst at sige noget reelt intelligent om fremkomsten af GAI. Om overgangen fra kausalitetsbetonet Newtoniask fotodannelse til det propabilitetstermodynamiske shitshow, der er AI-generede billeder… om overgangen til det gennemsnitlige, om den infrastruktur af mikroarbejdere i det globale syd (og ikke mindst i konfliktzoner, hvor elregningen ikke skal betales) som kapløbet mod AI-entropi baserer sig på.., om forbindelsen mellem det hybris-prometheus neo-fascistiske fundament som tech-giganterne bygger på og den fortsatte opvarmning af kloden.
Det gør den tyske verdenskunstner klogt. Bogen leverer et foreløbigt omend ufærdigt bud på et sprog, som vi kan benytte til at tale tale om GAI uden bare at gentage OpenAI’s egne reklamefloskler om en superfed post-arbejde (men ekstremt ulige) fremtid, hvor du aldrig overbooker din kalender!
Hito Steyerl forsøger som en af de første at sætte, jeg har læst at sige noget reelt intelligent om fremkomsten af GAI. Om overgangen fra kausalitetsbetonet Newtoniask fotodannelse til det propabilitetstermodynamiske shitshow, der er AI-generede billeder… om overgangen til det gennemsnitlige, om den infrastruktur af mikroarbejdere i det globale syd (og ikke mindst i konfliktzoner, hvor elregningen ikke skal betales) som kapløbet mod AI-entropi baserer sig på.., om forbindelsen mellem det hybris-prometheus neo-fascistiske fundament som tech-giganterne bygger på og den fortsatte opvarmning af kloden.
Det gør den tyske verdenskunstner klogt. Bogen leverer et foreløbigt omend ufærdigt bud på et sprog, som vi kan benytte til at tale tale om GAI uden bare at gentage OpenAI’s egne reklamefloskler om en superfed post-arbejde (men ekstremt ulige) fremtid, hvor du aldrig overbooker din kalender!
November 30, 2025
“Las organizaciones mediáticas más poderosas del siglo XXI serán térmicas. La circulación de imágenes, sonidos, videos y textos dependerá de un régimen masivo de calentamiento y enfriamiento. Los datos y las redes, al igual que las personas que estos conectan, serán cada vez más frágiles.
Si hay demasiado calor o demasiado frío, las plataformas colapsarán. Las infraestructuras digitales -centros de datos, intercambios de red y cables de fibra óptica- drenarán la energía del planeta para crear un entorno térmico estable, no para las personas, sino para la información.”
el mundo adaptándose a la IA, el basilisco de Roko, los intereses militares detrás de todo esto… Ahora más que nunca la inteligencia artificial está más presente que nunca (quién no conoce a alguien que utilice ChatGPT, por ejemplo); Hito Steyerl nos plantea varios escenarios relacionados con la misma, dejando varias preguntas y reflexiones muy interesantes sobre cuál es el rumbo de estos propósitos en la cultura, el arte y las guerras.
Si hay demasiado calor o demasiado frío, las plataformas colapsarán. Las infraestructuras digitales -centros de datos, intercambios de red y cables de fibra óptica- drenarán la energía del planeta para crear un entorno térmico estable, no para las personas, sino para la información.”
el mundo adaptándose a la IA, el basilisco de Roko, los intereses militares detrás de todo esto… Ahora más que nunca la inteligencia artificial está más presente que nunca (quién no conoce a alguien que utilice ChatGPT, por ejemplo); Hito Steyerl nos plantea varios escenarios relacionados con la misma, dejando varias preguntas y reflexiones muy interesantes sobre cuál es el rumbo de estos propósitos en la cultura, el arte y las guerras.
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October 31, 2025Reading this in 2025, the essays themselves still seem for the most part pertinent (and sometimes prescient), though some of the sample images no longer represent the capabilities of generative AI image diffusion models. (I skipped the final essay, which was an extensive conversation with an LLM, as well as the Blockchain chapter.)
I appreciated Steyerl's focus on labor and impacts of the technology, as well as the more philosophical explorations. Some of the essays felt a bit disjointed, jumping around unexpectedly -- she's making a lot of cross-connections so some work better than others.
I liked the idea of "data populism" as encoded social bias (in Mean Images). That her prompt of "protest" produced images with the focus on riot police was not surprising, but revealing.
I appreciated Steyerl's focus on labor and impacts of the technology, as well as the more philosophical explorations. Some of the essays felt a bit disjointed, jumping around unexpectedly -- she's making a lot of cross-connections so some work better than others.
I liked the idea of "data populism" as encoded social bias (in Mean Images). That her prompt of "protest" produced images with the focus on riot police was not surprising, but revealing.
July 26, 2025
The other day I thought “huh, haven’t heard anything about Hito in a while” and wouldn’t you know it, she just published a new book.
A welcome collection of essays that bring Steyerl back into an immediate relevance (as the essays in Wretched of the Screen and Duty Free Art have understandably become somewhat dated already). If you are looking for some compelling, and at times peculiar, insights into life among AI, this is worth checking out.
A welcome collection of essays that bring Steyerl back into an immediate relevance (as the essays in Wretched of the Screen and Duty Free Art have understandably become somewhat dated already). If you are looking for some compelling, and at times peculiar, insights into life among AI, this is worth checking out.
October 29, 2025
Stopped reading when I saw in the footnotes that the author – and the editors at Verso, apparently – genuinely believe "AI" is synonymous with linear regression. Embarrassing.
December 5, 2025
Coocoo crazy bananas. My brain: 💥
(I would’ve give more stars but it was a tad too heavy on big words for this dyslexic)
(I would’ve give more stars but it was a tad too heavy on big words for this dyslexic)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews