Lev Manovich on Tue, 24 Apr 2001 05:49:15 +0200 (CEST)


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[Nettime-bold] Book annoncement: The Language of New Media by Lev Manovich


Title: Book annoncement: The Language of New Media by Lev Man

I thought readers of this list might be interested in this book. For more
information please visit http://mitpress.mit.edu/promotions/books/MANGHF00


The Language of New Media
Lev Manovich

The MIT Press: March 2001. ISBN 0-262-13374-1.
352 pp., 55 illus. $34.95/£23.95 (cloth).


"Spend some of your time with this book, as time, in every sense, will prove that its succinct and careful analysis of new media is the most fundamental yet dynamic made. It is a must for filmmakers, communication theorists, television producers, computer scientists, programmers, cultural critics, artists, cultural historians, and designers."
     Sara Diamond, Artistic Director, Media and Visual Arts, The Banff Centre

"This is simply the best book that I have read on the aesthetics of new media."
Jay David Bolter, Wesley Chair of New Media, Georgia Institute of Technology

"Manovich not only describes the recent history of new media, but its foundations, and its intellectual and aesthetic debts to such aspects of media history as Russian Constructivism and early cinema."
   Tom Gunning, Professor of Art History and Cinema and Media, University of Chicago

"Lev Manovich's The Langauge of New Media is a major event for those of us interested in understanding the nature  of electronic literature and art."
  N. Katherine Hayles, Professor of English and of Design and New Media, University of California, Los Angeles


In this book Lev Manovich places new media within the histories of visual and media cultures of the last few centuries. He discusses new media's reliance on conventions of old media, such as the rectangular frame and mobile camera, and shows how new media works create the illusion of reality, address the viewer, and represent space. He shows how categories and forms unique to new media, such as interface and database, work with the more familiar conventions to make possible a new kind of aesthetic.

Manovich uses concepts from film theory, art history, literary theory, and computer science and also develops new theoretical constructs, such as cultural interface, spatial montage, and cinegratography. The theory and
history of cinema play a particularly important role in the book. Among other topics, Manovich discusses parallels between the histories of cinema and of new media, digital cinema, screen and montage in cinema and in new media, and historical ties between avant-garde film and new media.

The book looks at most areas of new media: Web sites, virtual worlds, VR, human-computer interfaces, computer games, computer animation, digital video, special effects, and interactive intallations. It also contains detailed analysis of new media works, from such commercial classics as Myst and Jurassic Park, to the projects of new media artists and collectives such as art+com and Jeffrey Shaw.

Most writings on new media are full of speculation about the future. Manovich book analyses new media as it has actually developed up until this point, at the same time pointing to directions for new media designers and artists which have not been yet explored. 


Lev Manovich (www.manovich.net) is an Associate Professor in the Visual Arts Department at the University of California, San Diego. Born in Moscow, he holds advanced degrees in cognitive psychology and visual culture. He has been working with computer media for almost twenty years as an artist, designer, animator, computer programmer, and teacher. His work has been published in more than twenty countries, and he frequently lectures on new media around the world.