Open Sky - Softcover

Virilio, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1859841813 ISBN 13: 9781859841815

Publisher: Verso, 1997

Synopsis

“One day the day will come when the day will not come.” Bleak in its analysis of the social destruction wrought by modern technologies of communication and surveillance, but passionately political, Open Sky is Paul Virilio’s most far-reaching and radical book for many years. Deepening and extending his earlier work on speed perception and political control, and applying it now to the global ‘real time’ of the information superhighways, he explores the growing danger of what he calls a “generalized accident,” provoked by the breakdown of our collective and individual relation to time, space and movement.

But this is not merely a lucid and disturbing lament for the loss of real geographical spaces, distance, intimacy or democracy. Open Sky is also a call for revolt—against the insidious and accelerating manipulation of perception by the electronic media and repressive political power, against the tyranny of “real time,” and against the infantilism of cyberhype. Paul Virillo makes a powerful case for a new ethics of perception, and a new ecology, one which will not only strive to protect the natural world from pollution and destruction, but will also combat the devastation of urban communities by proliferating technologies of control and virtuality.

About this title

About the Author

Paul Virilio trained as an artist in stained glass, working with Braque and Matisse, as well as studying philosophy at the Sorbonne. In 1975 he was made director of the Ecole spéciale d’architecture in Paris. He retired from teaching in 1998 and now works with private organizations on projects to house the homeless in Paris. He has written many books, including War and Cinema, Open Sky, and Ground Zero.

Edition details

• Publisher: Verso
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1859841813
• ISBN 13: 9781859841815
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 152