{"product_id":"the-society-of-the-screen-vilzsm-flussers-radical-prescience-9780262051224","title":"The Society of the Screen: Vilém Flusser's Radical Prescience","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow a lifelong engagement with experimental art informed the brilliant Czech-Brazilian philosopher Vilém Flusser's early vision of a world dominated by glowing screens.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePredicting the importance of technology and images for the twenty-first century as early as the 1970s, Vilém Flusser warned, \"the basic structure of our thinking is about to experience a mutation.\" The bewitching images and screens that surround us could lead toward a centrally programmed, totalitarian society--or to another, better one characterized by dialogue and collaboration among humans and new forms of intelligence. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this book on the idiosyncratic and prescient Czech-Brazilian philosopher, Martha Schwendener explores the profound effect of art on Flusser's thought. \u003ci\u003eThe Society of the Screen\u003c\/i\u003e reveals how Flusser's lifelong engagement with experimental practices--from abstract painting and concrete poetry in Brazil to video, cybernetics, and photography in Europe and the United States--as well as his extensive involvement with the São Paulo Biennial informed his belief that we were moving from \"history\"--a civilization informed by linear writing--into \"post-history,\" dominated by technical images. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSchwendener documents the importance of Flusser's correspondence and collaboration with artists like Mira Schendel, Fred Forest, Wen-Ying Tsai, Harun Farocki, Louis Bec, and Karl Gerstner for the evolution of his ideas.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMartha Schwendener is an art historian and an art critic for \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e. She is a visiting associate professor at New York University and a researcher in residence at the Vilém Flusser Archive, Berlin. She is the editor of Vilém Fusser's \u003ci\u003eEssays \/\/ Artforum\u003c\/i\u003e, and her criticism and essays have been published in \u003ci\u003eArtforum\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eArt in America\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCritical Inquiry\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOctober\u003c\/i\u003e, and many other publications.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52103906984210,"sku":"9780262051224","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_dc82c7a4-8520-4f67-aac7-f23eddae2aae.jpg?v=1773161000","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-society-of-the-screen-vilzsm-flussers-radical-prescience-9780262051224","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}