This would be a two or three session course in which we would read/discuss Vilém Flusser's "Towards a Philosophy of Photography" (http://www.amazon.com/Towards-Philosophy-Photography-Vilem-Flusser/dp/18...). The first session would focus exclusively on this text. In the following sessions we would read shorter pieces by Flusser as well a chapter from "Media Ecologies" by Mathew Fuller (http://www.amazon.com/Media-Ecologies-Materialist-Energies-Technoculture...).
Vilém Flusser (May 12, 1920 – November 27, 1991) was a philosopher born in Czechoslovakia. He lived for a long period in Brazil and later in France, and his works are written in several different languages.
His early work was marked by discussion of the thought of Martin Heidegger, and by the influence of existentialism and phenomenology. Phenomenology would play a major role in the transition to the later phase of his work, in which he turned his attention to the philosophy of communication and of artistic production. He contributed to the dichotomy in history: the period of image worship, and period of text worship, with deviations consequently into idolatry and "textolatry".
More from Wikipedia on Flusser:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilém_Flusser
And some writing on Flusser:
http://www.flusserstudies.net/
- Dates
- April 21, 2009 at 7:00pm
April 28, 2009 at 7:00pm - Location
- 972B Chung King Road, The Public School
- Facilitator
- Caleb Waldorf
- Limit
- 15
- Fee
- $25
- Other information
Comment
In an effort to work with everybody's schedules, I would like to poll interested students to see how the following dates would work: April 18th and April 25 at 7:00pm
Another option suggested by the instructor was Tuesday evenings - April 14 and 21
Please respond with comments on this page. I will schedule the course once there is a general consensus.
-ak
12 Mar 2009 11:42AM
April 14 and 21 are better, but I can do April 18th and 25th as well.
12 Mar 2009 3:38PM
Hi,
I posted another version of "Towards a Philosophy of Photography" to AAAARG:
http://aaaarg.org/towards-a-philosophy-of-photography-html
Someone gave me an HTML version which is much easier to read than the scanned copy (Thanks Scott!).
If there is anything that seems weird about the HTML version you can always double check it against the scan:
http://aaaarg.org/towards-a-philosophy-of-photography
-Caleb
12 Mar 2009 8:06PM
either set of dates works for me.
12 Mar 2009 10:26PM
This class has been scheduled for two meetings, April 14th and 21st at 7:00 pm.
Please click on the Google Checkout button to purchase and reserve your spot.
(an additional third meeting could be decided upon by the group)
-ak
17 Mar 2009 11:08AM
Hi everyone,
Just a reminder that this class will be taking place in one week. Please come to the first section having read "Towards a Philosophy of Photography." It is highly likely that I will extend the class another week as there are other materials I'm interested in covering.
See you all soon!
-caleb
7 Apr 2009 2:39PM
Hi everyone,
I'm thinking about postponing the first class one week. That means the first class would be held on April 21, 2009 at 7:00pm instead of April 16th. Does this conflict with anyone's schedule?
If so, we will stay as planned but it would work much better for me to begin on the 21st.
Thanks!
-Caleb
10 Apr 2009 9:15AM
The 21st works for me.
10 Apr 2009 10:41AM
This new schedule would work great for me, as I was going to have to miss the first class.
10 Apr 2009 11:05AM
Great.
So the first meeting will be on the 21st, not the 16th.
-c
12 Apr 2009 11:34AM
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to post a reminder that our first class will be on Tuesday at 7pm. You should coming having read "Towards a Philosophy of Photography" which can be found here: http://aaaarg.org/towards-a-philosophy-of-photography-html
See you soon!
-caleb
18 Apr 2009 8:53PM
Thanks everyone for a great first meeting!
I've uploaded the two texts I mentioned for next week and will add a 3rd by Sunday.
See you soon,
Caleb
Media Ecologies: Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture (excerpt)
written by Matthew Fuller
http://a.aaaarg.org/text/3022/media-ecologies-materialist-energies-art-a...
Double or Nothing: The Art of Douglas Huebler
written by John Miller
http://a.aaaarg.org/text/3021/double-or-nothing-art-douglas-huebler
24 Apr 2009 12:26PM
Thanks everyone for a great first meeting!
I've uploaded the two texts I mentioned for next week and will add a 3rd by Sunday.
See you soon,
Caleb
Media Ecologies: Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture (excerpt)
written by Matthew Fuller
http://a.aaaarg.org/text/3022/media-ecologies-materialist-energies-art-a...
Double or Nothing: The Art of Douglas Huebler
written by John Miller
http://a.aaaarg.org/text/3021/double-or-nothing-art-douglas-huebler
24 Apr 2009 12:26PM
hi everyone,
I am not going to assign an additional reading for this week. I think we have enough to go off of and we will definitely have another class to cover other topics.
see you all tmr!
-c
27 Apr 2009 3:30PM
hi everyone,
there was a request that I make some sorta chart to map out Flusser's cosmology. I gave it a shot which can be found below. This is a working document that we can tweak together. Also note that I threw in a column for "Information"...the time period Flusser was pointing to that we are in(?).
http://calebwaldorf.net/photographic_universe.pdf
see you in a couple of hours!
-c
28 Apr 2009 4:35PM
Hi everyone,
I just uploaded our final readings for the final meeting (next Tuesday at 7:00).
1. Protocol (excerpt) by Alex Galloway: http://a.aaaarg.org/text/2586/protocol-article
2. Notes on the Theory of the Actor Network: Ordering, Strategy and Heterogeneity by John Law: http://a.aaaarg.org/text/3039/notes-theory-actor-network-ordering-strate...
3. New Philosophy for New Media by Mark Hansen: http://a.aaaarg.org/text/3038/new-philosophy-new-media-introduction
All of these texts are very different from one another so expect a schizoid class! Also, if you are interested in reading more on ANT check out this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor-Network_Theory
and this: http://books.google.com/books?id=Pdr6jbCGORsC
See you next week!
-c
29 Apr 2009 7:26PM
Thanks, Caleb! Perfect timing... I'll have some great plane reading.
29 Apr 2009 10:22PM
Hi everyone,
Just a reminder that we'll be having our final (bonus!) meeting tmr night (Tuesday @ 7pm). We'll be reading the texts below. They are based on threads that have emerged from conversations that we have been having but not "directly" related so feel free to take a look a show up even if you haven't been able to make it previously.
1. Protocol (excerpt) by Alex Galloway: http://a.aaaarg.org/text/2586/protocol-article
2. Notes on the Theory of the Actor Network: Ordering, Strategy and Heterogeneity by John Law: http://a.aaaarg.org/text/3039/notes-theory-actor-network-ordering-strate...
3. New Philosophy for New Media by Mark Hansen: http://a.aaaarg.org/text/3038/new-philosophy-new-media-introduction
All of these texts are very different from one another so expect a schizoid class! Also, if you are interested in reading more on ANT check out this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor-Network_Theory
and this: http://books.google.com/books?id=Pdr6jbCGORsC
see you tmr,
c
4 May 2009 6:46PM