The Book of Imaginary Media: Excavating the Dream of the Ultimate Communication Medium

by Eric Kluitenberg, Bruce Sterling

Have you ever wondered if one day Windows 2028 might just know what you're thinking and type it? In this collection of essays, a selection of today's top media and sci-fi theorists weigh in. The Book of Imaginary Media explores the persistent idea that technology may one day succeed where no human has, not only in space or in nature, but also in interpersonal communication. Building on insights from media archeology, Siegfried Zielinski, Bruce Sterling, Erkki Huhtamo and Timothy Druckrey spin a web of associations between the fantasy machines of Athanasius Kircher, the mania of stereoscopy and "dead" media. Edwin Carels and Zoe Beloff descend into the cinematographic caverns of spiritualism and the iconography of death, and renowned cartoonists including Ben Katchor depict their own visionary media fantasies. On the enclosd DVD, artist Peter Blegvad provides hilarious commentary in a son et lumiere version of his On Imaginary Media .

Genres: Theory

292 pages, Paperback

First published May 20, 2007

Reviews

[Koyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some well written essays on the subject, but suffers from a layout that makes reading it difficult. Alternating pages of white text on black background with black text on grey background gave me a headache and slowed down my reading speed. Regardless, it is a good addition to the growing body of texts covering media arts and technology.