Relive ― Media Art Histories

In Relive, leading historians of the media arts grapple with thisdilemma: how can we speak of "new media" and at the same time write the histories of thesearts? These scholars and practitioners redefine the nature of the field, focusing on the materialsof history -- the materials through which the past is mediated. Drawing on the tools of mediaarchaeology and the history and philosophy of media, they propose a new materialist media arthistory.

The contributors consider the idea of history and the artwork's momentin time; the intersection of geography and history in regional practice, illustrated by examplesfrom eastern Europe, Australia, and New Zealand; the contradictory scales of evolution, life cycles,and bodily rhythms in bio art; and the history of the future -- how the future has been imagined,planned for, and established as a vector throughout the history of new media arts.

These essays, written from widely diverse critical perspectives, capture adynamic field at a moment of productiveferment.

ContributorsSusan Ballard, Brogan Bunt, AndresBurbano, Jon Cates, John Conomos, Martin Constable, Sean Cubitt, Francesca Franco, Darko Fritz,Zhang Ga, Monika Gorska-Olesinska, Ross Harley, Jens Hauser, Stephen Jones, Douglas Kahn, Ryszard W.Kluszczynski, Caroline Seck Langill, Leon Marvell, Rudy Rucker, Edward A. Shanken, Stelarc, AdeleTan, Paul Thomas, Darren Tofts, Joanna Walewska

Paul Thomas is Associate Professor in the College of Fine Art at the University of New South Wales and Associate Professor at Curtin University of Technology.