Sensing the Future

Oliver Botar

ISBN 10: 3037787465 / ISBN 13: 9783037787465

Published by Lars Muller Publishers, CH, 2023

About this Item

Life in the digital economy of information and images enriches us but often induces a sense of being overwhelmed. Sensing the Future: Moholy-Nagy, Media and the Arts considers the impact of technology by exploring ways it was addressed in the practice of the Hungarian poly-math artist László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946), a prominent professor at the Bauhaus and a key figure in the history of Modernism. Moholy-Nagy felt that people needed guidance to cope with the onslaught of sensory input in an increasingly technologized, mediatized, hyper-stimulating environment. His ideas informed media theorists such as Walter Benjamin, John Cage, Sigfried Giedion and Marshall McLuhan, who anticipated digital culture as it emerged. Should we then regard Moholy-Nagy asa pioneer of the digital? His aesthetic engagement with the technology/body problematic broached the notions of immersion, interactivity and bodily participation, innately offering a critique of today's disembodiment.Was he then both a pioneer and a proto-critic of the digital? This book is intended to introduce this seminal figure of post-medial practices to younger generations and, by including responses to his work by contemporary artists, to reflect on the ways in which his work is relevant to artistic practice now.Having been highly praised by experts, this classic receives a second and slightly revised edition.

Seller Inventory # LU-9783037787465

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Sensing the Future
• Publisher: Lars Muller Publishers, CH
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3037787465
• ISBN 13: 9783037787465
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 21.2W x 2H x 29.4D centimeters 21.2 centimeters width by 2 centimeters height by 29.4 centimeters depth

About this title

Synopsis

How Moholy-Nagy anticipated and critiqued the hyperstimulation of the digital age

Life in the digital era regularly induces a sense of deluge. Sensing the Future: Moholy-Nagy, Media and the Arts considers the impact of technologized modernity by exploring how it was addressed in the work of László Moholy-Nagy―artist, photographer, Bauhaus teacher and a keen advocate for the integration of technology and industry into the arts. Moholy-Nagy felt that people needed guidance to cope with a technologized, hyperstimulating environment, and broached ideas of immersion, interactivity and bodily participation, offering a critique of modern disembodiment. His ideas informed thinkers such as Walter Benjamin, John Cage, Sigfried Giedion and Marshall McLuhan.
Was Moholy-Nagy at once a pioneer and a proto-critic of the digital? This book introduces this seminal figure to younger generations and includes responses to his work by contemporary artists. Widely praised upon its original publication in 2014, this volume is now issued in a slightly revised edition with new images and corrections.
Oliver A.I. Botar (born 1957) is a professor of art history at the University of Manitoba in Canada. He is the author of Technical Detours: The Early Moholy-Nagy Reconsidered (2006) and A Bauhäusler in Canada: Andor Weininger in the 50s (2009).