History in Motion: Time in the Age of the Moving Image

The moving image has irrevocably redefined our experience and construction of history. In the contemporary economy of time, history has become an image in motion, a series of events animated and performed through various media. Analyzing a variety of films, video pieces, and performances, Sven Lütticken evaluates the impact that our changing experience of time has had on the actualization of history in the present. In the process, he considers the role of shock and suspense, of play and games, the rise and ubiquity of television, transformed notions of leisure and labor time, and a new “natural history” marked by climate change.

The interplay between the time of daily life and historical time end between live event and mediatization is at the core of History in Motion. In this context, Lütticken questions the relation between the representations or restagings of the past and the events of a history that is currently in progress. This history in motion constitutes a fractured present in which possible futures are implicit.

Art historian and critic Sven Lütticken teaches at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and contributes regularly to catalogues and art magazines such as New Left Review, Grey Room, and Texte zur Kunst.