Leonardo Reviews

Leonardo Reviews how the universe was first set into that the ideas that drove the research Editor-in-Chief: Michael Punt motion; medieval scholasticism later were not pulled from the air. When the Managing Editor: Bryony Dalefield translated Aristotle’s “Prime Mover” actor playing Kepler pores over Tycho into the Christian God). Brahe’s years of collected data, he con- Associate Editors: Dene Grigar, The strength of the film is its multi- veys the intensity of Tycho’s observa- Martha Blassnigg, Hannah Drayson dimensional quality. Visual elements tions of the heavens as well as Kepler’s A full selection of reviews is pub- such as historical engravings, paintings, desire to solve the problem of motion. I lished monthly on the LR web site: animations and manuscripts aid the was enthralled even though I was famil- . presentation immensely and bring a iar with many of the details and found realistic element into play that knits myself moved to think about details I the ideas of several periods of history had previously taken for granted. together into a seamless fabric. Much Still, a marriage of these artifacts of this is quite subtle. For example, with new technologies occurs. Many Film showing manuscript pages and still art- of the visuals that accompany the film work might seem mundane, but in this are “moving” because of the nature of case I found that the variety of these the work. One good example of how The Moving Earth backdrops created a vivid sense of the the director used new technologies to directed by Lars Becker-Larsen. cultural life of the times. his advantage is the animation of the Icarus Films, 52 min. Release Date: Particularly insightful are the dis- notes on a page of Kepler’s Harmonices 2009. Copyright Date: 2008. . between science and religion, exempli- 1619). Here, watching the notes as one fied by the treatment of Galileo (and listens to them succeeds in elevating the Reviewed by Amy Ione, U.S.A. E-mail: the Pope’s 1992 apology for the legal discussion of Kepler’s work relating the . process against Galileo). In this case, harmony and congruence in geometri- George Coyne, former director of the cal forms and physical phenomena to Lars Becker-Larsen’s production The Vatican Observatory, points out that the harmonic proportions in music. Moving Earth offers a splendid chron- the Church’s lukewarm admission of icle of the scientific shift brought responsibility for its persecution of about through studies of planetary Galileo left much to be desired and that Reviews Panel: Kathryn Adams, Nameera motion during the scientific revolu- the conflict between science and reli- Ahmed, Katherine Ancher, Fred Andersson, tion of the 17th century. The name of gion evident at that time is still a part Wilfred Arnold, Jan Baetens, Niran Bahjat- the film refers to the work establishing of cultural discussions. (Coyne’s candor Abbas, Brian Baigrie, Jenny Bangham, John that Earth is a moving planet, and the isn’t totally surprising. He is also a vocal F. Barber, Jon Bedworth, Roy R. Behrens, Katharina Blassnigg, Martha Blassnigg, broadly based content tells the story opponent of intelligent design theory, Barry Blundell, Catalin Brylla, Annick Bure- of this discovery. Overall, the narrative which often sneaks a Creator God in aud, Franc Chamberlain, Chris Cobb, Ornella highlights the controversy between through the back door. Indeed, some Corazza, Giovanna Constantini, Sean Cubitt, geocentric and heliocentric perspec- say Coyne was forced out of his Vatican Hannah Drayson, Anthony Enns, Jennifer tives that was a part of those debates; we position because of his willingness to Ferng, Enzo Ferrara, Anastasia Filippoupoliti, George Gessert, Thom Gillespie, Luis Girao, learn of how the key thinkers in Renais- speak publicly about his views opposing Lisa M. Graham, Allan Graubard, Dene Grigar, sance Europe who studied the celestial intelligent design.) Diane Gromala, Rob Harle, Craig Harris, Paul framework developed the ideas that One of the most powerful unstated Hertz, Craig J Hilton, Jung A Huh, Amy Ione, ultimately moved science away from the aspects of this production is the way Boris Jardine, Richard Kade, John Knight, it brought to mind debates outside Mike Leggett, Helen Levin, Kieran Lyons, Church’s doctrine that the earth was Roger Malina, Jacques Mandelbrojt, Florence the immoveable center of the universe. its topic. The producer understood Martellini, Eduardo Miranda, Rick Mitchell, Although the story is well known, this the power of these old manuscripts Robert A. Mitchell, Christine Morris, Michael presentation is robust and includes in conveying the ideas of the think- Mosher, Axel Mulder, Frieder Nake, Maureen some degree of in-depth analysis. There ers the film presented. Looking at the A. Nappi, Angela Ndalianis, Erika Nimis, Martha Patricia Nino, Claudy Opdenkamp, is a good measure of reference to Plato repeated use of the physical volumes, Simone Osthoff, Jack Ox, Narendra Pachkhede, and Aristotle as well as some extension I wondered how the e-books that are Luisa Paraguai Donati, Jussi Parikka, Stephen of the ideas through the 19th century capturing our imaginations today will Petersen, Cliff Pickover, Michael Punt, Kathleen when Foucault’s pendulum showed the fare in a few centuries. In the film, the Quillian, Harry Rand, Sonya Rapoport, Trace pages and the outside boards of these Reddell, Brian Reffin Smith, Hannah Rogers, rotation of the earth. Performances in Lara Schrijver, Bill Seeley, Aparna Sharma, key settings, period garb and insightful very old books serve as more than visual George K. Shortess, Yvonne Spielmann, Chris commentary provide the viewer with props that helped make the research Speed, Eugene Thacker, Pia Tikka, David a full sense of the events and how the come alive. Shots of their spines, title Topper, Nicholas Tresilian, Rene van Peer, natural scientists overturned the Aristo- pages and internal pages, particularly Stefaan van Ryssen, Ian Verstegen, Claudia Westermann, Stephen Wilson, Brigitta Zics, telian idea of the “Unmoved Mover” (to the notebook pages filled with charts Jonathan Zilberg oversimplify, this idea is used to explain and graphs, effectively demonstrate

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00136 by guest on 01 October 2021 I believe the portraits of Tycho Brahe something that kept coming to mind century astronomer Nicolaus Coperni- and Kepler were the strongest, at least as I watched the film. The sequence on cus and declared him a universal hero. in terms of presenting new details on Tycho Brahe, who is known for his accu- Nearly 500 years after he was put to their work that stoked my curiosity. For rate and comprehensive astronomical rest in an unmarked grave, his remains example, I never before thought about and planetary observations, reminded were sprinkled with holy water. The new whether Kepler conceived all of the me of Niels Bohr, another Danish sci- tombstone, which is decorated with a images in his publications or had an art- entist, who did transformative research model of the solar system, identifies ist do this work for him. Many, like his in physics. Bohr, of course, lived much this revolutionary astronomer as the Platonic solid model of the solar system later and is known for his foundational founder of heliocentric theory and a from Mysterium Cosmographicum (1600), contributions to understanding atomic church canon (a cleric ranking below are well known. I had always assumed structure and quantum mechanics, a priest). he did them himself, but I did not fully for which he received the Nobel Prize conceptualize how many drawings were in Physics in 1922. Yet, both were in the book. Others, like the frontis- involved in cosmological frameworks piece of the Rudolphine Tables, seem un- that they propelled forward for others Books likely to be his. to finish. By extension, I found that the abun- Like many, I was introduced to the dance of visual material, which added key figures and events in this produc- orth of mpire immensely to the script, also left me tion at a young age. Thus I am aware N E : disappointed in terms of its informa- of this film’s potential as a classroom Essays on the Cultural tional value. Indeed, my one complaint tool. Having looked at the details from Technologies of Space with the production is that so many many perspectives over the years, I by Jody Berland. Duke Univ. Press, of the paintings, drawings and prints, find it astonishing that this presenta- Durham, NC, U.S.A., 2009. 408 pp., which appeared to be from the period tion is so refreshing, because much illus. Paper. ISBN: 978-0822343066. discussed, are not attributed. That said, of the narrative did not present new citing the creator of the work during ideas or change my thinking. It is how Reviewed by Jan Baetens, Belgium. E-mail: the script would have been distracting, this production is brought to life with . so perhaps this criticism is unfair. More- manuscripts, paintings, superb anima- over, when I looked one up myself, a tions and dramatic re-creations of key Written by the editor of TOPIA: Cana- painting of Cardinal Bellarmine (the events that sets it apart. The script dian Journal of Cultural Studies, this book “Hammer of the Heretics” who served brings the events to life and captures is a major contribution to the theoreti- as one of the judges at the trial of scientific creativity as well as a cultural cal and methodological innovation of Giordano Bruno and concurred in the climate governed by a Church that felt the cultural studies field. Despite the decision that condemned him to be threatened by the new ideas of Coper- very local focus of the work—Berland’s burnt to death as an obstinate heretic), nicus, Tycho Brahe, Galileo, Johannes topic is Canada—one can be sure that I found that the painter is unknown. Kepler, Giordano Bruno and Isaac it will play a major role in the reconcep- One of the points frequently men- Newton. Another component of note is tualization of the discipline, curiously tioned in The Moving Earth is that, that the commentary by experts (Simon abandoned for more or less a decade. before the work of these 17th-century Schaffer of Cambridge University, John Much work has undoubtedly been done scientists combined the movements of Christianson of Luther College, Ging- in cultural studies in these years, but the earth with those of the heavens, erich of Harvard University, Coyne of it was believed that the Earth was the the Vatican Observatory and Patricia center of the universe and that other Fara of Cambridge University) adds objects go around it. In addition, immensely to the performance and heaven was considered a domain sepa- carefully chosen visuals. Others, too, rate from Earth. Listening to quantum have noted the excellence of this pre- theorists explain that the quantum sentation. To date, The Moving Earth has domain is unlike that of our Newtonian won several awards. These include the reality has always reminded me of the Grand Prix at the 13th AVICOM Film debates that ushered in modern sci- Festival, Turin; the Best Documentary ence. At the end of this film, the astron- Film at the Vedere la Scienza Festival, omer Owen Gingerich points out that Milan; and the Grand Prix at the 46th the actual “proof” of the Newtonian International Festival TECHFILM 2009, framework was not provided until the Prague. If Leonardo had a rating system, 19th century (with Herschel’s discovery I would give The Moving Earth five stars. of Uranus, measurements of parallax As I prepared to turn in this review, it and Foucault’s pendulum showing the became clear that a postscript is neces- rotation of the earth). He then goes on sary. As noted above, this film conveys to say that cases such as this show that that the details surrounding moving- proofs do not play too strong a role in earth research are still alive in cultural our understanding of science. Rather, discourse, particularly when science what we are looking for is a coherent and religion are discussed in tandem. picture, and that was provided by the Even as I write, a new event has arisen mathematics of Isaac Newton. In effect, to add to the chronology. On 22 May this sequence also puts its finger on 2010, Polish priests reburied the 16th

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00136 by guest on 01 October 2021 with very few theoretical and method- more material and medium-oriented ological innovations. North of Empire reading of spatiality, emphasizing on is a good example of what a renewed the one hand the role of medium interest in a dialogue between theory technology and on the other hand and practice in cultural analysis may the importance of material routes, signify—and why it is a good thing to go networks, communication tools and back to the basic question of what cul- services. Rather than indulging in over- tural studies stands for. whelmingly abstract and generalizing The specific input the book offers is speculations on nations and postcolo- the result of three converging moves. nial cultures, Berland tries to see how First is the emphasis on the material nations are indebted to communica- media properties of the works and tion structures and vice versa. In short, practices under analysis. In this regard, space, in Berland’s thinking, helps one can only welcome with great enthu- describe “the connections between siasm the great interest in the medium politics and culture” (p. 14). of radio, that most forgotten of modern Chapter Two of the book, a critical media. More generally, however, what rereading of the almost forgotten Cana- matters here is the foregrounding of dian media theorist Harold Innis, an the technological aspect of culture, author perhaps as important although not just in those respects that can only unfortunately less influential, at least beg for such an approach, for instance, abroad, as Marshall McLuhan, should weather forecasts or map-making, but be compulsory reading in all cultural also in cultural goods and uses that studies classes throughout the word. etc.) in the context of a philosophical seem to downsize the importance of Thanks to Innis, Berland can articulate framework with a focus on philosophies technology, such as jokes and painting. a useful innovation of the discipline, of immanence. It exercises a creative Second is the study of the discursive with less weight on culture as represen- synthesis of Whitehead’s and Deleuze and other networks in which these tation and more room for culture as and Guattari’s thought. In particulars media objects are involved. The “local,” communication (in the sense of materi- it builds on Bergson’s and James’s con- that is “typically Canadian,” theoretical ally realized and performing networks ception of perception as activity and insights that Jody Berland discusses in of goods, people and ideas), while also creative event in the spectrum between this respect are a more-than-necessary offering very inspirational thoughts on what Manning refers to as objectness improvement on some “global,” that is, allegedly well-known concepts such as (or, in Heidegger’s terms, worlding) “typically American,” visions of cultural frontier, nation-building and limits. and experience. She introduces the analysis. Third is the critical and very With bittersweet irony, the author concept of preacceleration as a way to often self-critical and ironic view of opens her book by explaining the dif- address a vocabulary of movement that what identity means. Needless to say, ficulties she had in finding a publisher, foregrounds incipience rather than this self-criticism is exactly what Ber- and the time and painstaking efforts it displacement. By this means the author land misses in much critical thinking in took before an “Empire”-based press draws on aspects of Bergson’s concep- cultural studies. None of these perspec- accepted this volume, gathering her tion of motion as duration (durée) prior tives may be very new in themselves, but best essays over a 20-year period. The to the emergence of form, as force the way Berland manages to put these essays are still as fresh now as they were or dynamism of qualitative states that strings together in a solid theoretical at the moment of their original publica- underlie creativity prior to actualization yet analytically astute knot deserves tion, and one can only say that it is a in various forms of expression. our admiration. Moreover, she is also terrible pity that voices such as those of Informed by the works and thoughts a talented writer, with a great sense of Berland have such difficulties in getting of dancers such as Merce Cunningham, humor, as well as a sharp tongue always a captive ear in the cacophony of the William Forsythe, Mark Coniglio, Scott eager to spit her venom on the “becom- modern academic debate. deLahunta and Antonio Camurri, ing empire” of her own country. (As Relationscapes proposes a thinking and a Belgian reviewer who belongs to a writing of ideas on movement from a country as split as Canada, I regret of Relationscapes: Movement, practice-led perspective through the course that Berland does not delve a Art, Philosophy filters of sensation and personal reflec- little more into the ongoing cultural by Erin Manning. The MIT Press, tion. In doing so it addresses phenom- wars between the two major linguistic Cambridge, MA, and London, U.K., ena of movement prior to actualization communities, but it would be unfair to 2009. 272 pp., illus. Trade. ISBN: from different disciplinary contexts. ask more from a book that already gives 978-0-262-13490-3. These include key figures in 19th cen- us so much.) tury scientific visual movement stud- The most encompassing innovation Reviewed by Martha Blassnigg, University of ies by glossing the innovative work by of the book is its reinterpretation of the Plymouth, U.K. E-mail: . Marey. A similar treatment is applied Hardt and Negri’s Empire can be seen as to the animation films by Norman a belated example). Contrary to most Relationscapes by Erin Manning McLaren, Leni Riefenstahl’s films, studies that have foregrounded the addresses a wide range of movement David Spriggs’s sculptures and exam- tension between center and periphery, analysis and key terms in movement ples of contemporary Aboriginal art. metropolis and colonies, East and West, studies (such as elasticity, intensity, Her treatment allows Manning to draw etc., Berland makes a plea for a much inflection, porosity, interval, hesitation, in references to neural necessity of

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00136 by guest on 01 October 2021 causal efficacy in mental health and to Although insightful, the work, as such, able future. There are “numerous propose a body-emergent technogene- remains inconclusive, since the method opportunities for people to make the sis in the relationscapes of dance in the applied could potentially be extended way we live more sustainable. Helping context of new media technologies. The to any object, any thing alive with move- people and institutions discover, under- deductive modality in the development ment. As Manning concludes in one stand, and act on these and other envi- of the argument for preacceleration chapter: “Relationscapes abound.” ronmental possibilities is the primary provides the rationale for the choices goal of Green IT” and of course this of the materials discussed, which is a book (p. 10). The book is suitable for pity, since this concept could potentially Greening through IT: all levels of readership, including older have been much more firmly situated Information Technology schoolchildren. The arguments pre- and extracted from within the materials for Environmental sented are based on scientific facts and presented. Consequently Relationscapes Sustainability sound statistics but presented in such a does not treat historical material on its by Bill Tomlinson. The MIT Press, way as to be easily understood by non- own terms or in the specific relational Cambridge, MA, and London, U.K. scientists and nonacademics. Tomlinson context of its time. This is important 210 pp., illus. ISBN: 978-0-262-01393-2. and associates developed a virtual eco- since, as in the case of Étienne-Jules system in 2006 called EcoRaft, which Marey’s work, for example, there is Reviewed by Rob Harle (Australia). Email: enabled children to work together to first-hand evidence to use. Instead Man- . restore damaged ecosystems (p. 118). ning overlays contemporary continental There are nine chapters, followed philosophical terminology, occasionally Greening through IT is well written, by an excellent reference section and referenced, onto original creative think- incredibly well researched and most an index. Chapter 1, “Introduction to ing that informs a number of works, timely. There is no doubt now that the Green IT,” introduces the whole con- which are to some degree arbitrarily planet is in trouble and that our pres- cept of using information technology chosen. ent energy-consumption levels, waste and devices to help achieve sustain- Although this way of working might (both personal and industrial) and ability. In a really fascinating example be regarded as a radical interpretation pollution levels are far too high to allow of how IT can work, this chapter relates of Deleuze’s conception of philoso- life to continue as we know it. How how the fishermen in Kerala (southern phy, the reader needs to be critically long it will take before catastrophic India) started using mobile phones informed about these original works changes occur is a matter of specula- to communicate with each other and and the philosophical concepts applied tion—some say 10 years, some say one their commercial buyers. As the case in order to detect the subtle moves hundred! Whichever, these time spans study shows, their approach resulted in by the author—a requirement made are minuscule compared to the time a complete streamlining of the fishing more difficult because they mostly are it has taken earth, and all the various industry, no more wasted fish, more not clearly demarked or referenced species (including humans) to evolve profits for the fishermen and lower through established academic conven- to this point. One of Tomlinson’s main prices for the consumer (p. 1). This tions. This might be seen as a lack of arguments throughout this book is the chapter is a little long winded, tending academic clarity; however, this is clearly inability of humans to understand long to repeat information, which is then not the foremost concern of the book. time spans. As he points out, we are repeated again further on in the book. Rather, it seems to attempt to invent going to have to improve this faculty Chapter 2, “Environmental Hori- a new kind of language of expres- and implement long-term changes that zons,” describes most of the main sion, one that uses words and terms as consider future generations. challenges facing humanity. Here the markers for a dynamic of ideas that is This book is almost like a workbook author deals with such facts as the constantly in movement and changing. for the development of a truly sustain- extinction of species, world population Almost like a new form of expression explosion figures and so on. In Chapter for dance, it holds up a temporary 3, “Human Horizons,” the discussion framework of reference in order to turns to how we approach, understand grasp an idea in anticipation of its next and act on the various challenges facing step—“preacceleration” ad verbum. us. The topic of Chapter 4 is “The Role In order to grasp the meaning of of Technology,” especially computing some of the ideas proposed, pre-req- and communication technologies, and uisites for a critical reading are both a the way this knowledge and its associ- sophisticated prior knowledge of the ated devices can help or hinder sustain- terms and philosophical ideas discussed ability. and an easy approach to the rigor and Chapter 5, “Survey of Green IT original frameworks of these ideas. This Systems,” introduces the various ways is a challenging conflict to balance, and in which IT, green and otherwise, cur- it can be expected that each reader rently impacts global sustainability. will undergo a slightly different experi- Such devices as smart electronics that ence depending on prior knowledge, control engines to maximize fuel effi- motivation and ability to let a creative ciency are discussed. How IT can help flow overtake sensory perception and mitigate deforestation, manage food reasoning. The exercise, in this review- production more efficiently and many er’s experience, fluctuates between other similar issues are discussed in informed creative writing and moments this chapter. The focus of Chapter 6, in which ideas take a line of flight. “Green IT and Education,” highlights

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00136 by guest on 01 October 2021 what is perhaps Tomlinson’s greatest Mapping the Moving Image a true event, contribution to sustainability, outlining which may become an important his efforts in education. He is associate stepping-stone in the history of film professor of informatics at the Uni- theory. versity of California and as mentioned In his reading of film’s genealogy, above has developed IT education Väliaho defends a number of hypoth- systems for children and also for adults. eses that imply a dramatic reinterpreta- This chapter discusses these tools and tion of how we see the emergence of many other facets of educating all indi- the film medium. The most important, viduals in the importance of moving perhaps, is the idea that the basic con- toward sustainability. text of film is neitheroptics nor theater Chapter 7, “Green IT and Personal but recording. For Väliaho, cinema is Change,” looks at how all of us have to not an expanded version of previously change the way we live to bring about elaborated forms of optical-mechanical sustainability. Trackulous, a web-based reproduction. To put it more simply, it application, can help in this regard. is not (only, or mainly) a remediation How we can get together with others to of photography as animated or mov- share ideas, work in groups and estab- ing photography (this shift also implies lish networks to increase the overall why Mapping the Moving Image does awareness of the enormity of the prob- not dwell very much on the notion of lems facing us so they can no longer gaze). Correspondingly, cinema is not be ignored is the subject of Chapter the encounter of moving and projected 8, “Green IT and Collective Action.” images with the existent culture of GreenScanner, another Tomlinson IT theatrical and non-theatrical entertain- tool, is discussed and offered as very ment and performance, as a narrow useful for providing such group infor- tives for a better understanding of interpretation of the concept of cinema mation. the medium’s history—or rather, the of attraction may have suggested. With- Finally, in Chapter 9, “Ways Forward,” medium’s genealogy, because the out, of course, rejecting the histori- Tomlinson suggests where we are going theoretical framework engaged in this cal importance of these two aspects, and where we need to go and generally book is not that of empirical historical Väliaho emphasizes on the contrary the takes a philosophical approach. “This studies (as illustrated in certain types of relationship between the moving image book has sought to propose tools that audience and moviegoing studies) but and other techniques of recording can enable people to work together to that of Foucault’s biopolitics, Deleuze’s “life” (such as illustrated for instance in turn the ideas of researchers into posi- philosophy of becoming and Kittler’s the first attempts to establish psychol- tive environmental change, thereby medium theory. The book ends symp- ogy laboratories or the first examples of becoming collectively a kind of distrib- tomatically, with a dialogue with Sean visual inscription of what is beyond the uted Alexander the Great for the envi- Cubitt’s postmodern film semiotics reach of our eyes and the normal use ronmental movement” (p. 178). (see his work The Cinema Effect, 2004). of our senses). Most importantly, what Many individuals care about the state Moreover, its last sentence before the all these innovations disclose is a major of the planet but are somewhat at a loss concluding remarks is a critical hom- crisis in the relationship between sub- how to ameliorate the situation in a age to Stanley Cavell: “Cinema, then, ject and object, whose frontiers become real rather than token way. This book is the world viewed anew” (p. 181). blurred, and in the age-old distinction will help individuals, institutions and (This is a clear allusion to Cavell’s between knowledge and self-knowledge, educational organizations take positive masterwork The World Viewed, 1979, in whose parting becomes questionable as action, in both small and larger ways, which he defends a powerful yet quite well. The cinema is part of a larger cul- toward achieving a sustainable future traditional realist stance on cinema, in tural shift in the West, which led many for our “children’s children’s children.” the tradition of André Bazin). All these to recognize that the division between references, to which one should add a inside and outside, (the former know- permanent conversation with the best able through mental introspection, apping the oving mage M M I : that has been said around the notion the latter knowable through sensory Gesture, Thought and of cinema as cinema of attraction and perception) and the link between both Cinema circa 1900 around the cultural history of cinema, being guaranteed by the concept of by Pasi Väliaho. Amsterdam University make it clear that the stakes of this pub- representation did not hold. One could Press, Amsterdam, NL, 2010. Film lication are very high and that Väliaho say that Väliaho radicalizes Jonathan Culture in Transition series, 256 pp., has the aspiration to make it all anew. Crary’s work in Techniques of the Observer illus. ISBN: 978-90-8964-141-0; ISBN: Perhaps not all the ideas discussed in (1991), although he does so in a frame- 978-90-8964-140-3. this book are totally new in themselves, work that is broader than the biopo- but their gathering and synoptic pre- litical stance taken by Crary. Cinema Reviewed by Jan Baetens, Belgium. E-mail: sentation certainly are. And perhaps is a crucial aspect of this change, for . not all the hypotheses are automatically the filmic moving image exemplifies a convincing as well, but the sharpness new way of thinking that is no longer Mapping the Moving Image is without and intelligence of the book’s argumen- that of classic mimesis. Cinema as a any doubt the most ambitious work on tation will seduce the most reluctant recording techniques shows that the film theory that I have read recently. reader. In short, the impressive depth self, that is, the way in which we define It opens, I believe, truly new perspec- and breadth of Väliaho’s work make and experience ourselves, is no longer

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00136 by guest on 01 October 2021 a retrospective self but a produced self, sophical mechanism that produces in more specifically a self produced via the field of the automatically produced the media that disclose discontinuous, image the same effects as what the unpredictable, automated, ghostlike, typewriter meant for Nietzsche’s writ- haunted, spatialized and temporalized ing and thinking, for instance. The forms of life. The perception of “real- key reference here is of course Kittler, ity,” as perceived through the tradi- but Väliaho’s rereading of Nietzsche’s tional Kantian a priori categories of Schein (“semblance”) and “eternal time and space, and the experience of return” (as extreme and permanently “oneself,” as a given essence and acces- reborn potentiality) in the light of the sible as a steering conscience, are not cinema’s moving image is extremely only modified by the appearance of all convincing and very illuminating. Map- kinds of new recording techniques, of ping the Moving Image is a significant which cinema is just the most “popular” piece of scholarship and theory that is one; they are also, and deeply, reshap- also a vibrant defense of Theory with ing each other. The self is no longer a capital T—a highly salutary position experienced as a knowable whole but in a period of increased empiricism in is both dissolved and reinvented by its film studies. Many hypotheses defended contact with a newly recorded outer by Väliaho should stimulate intense dis- world, and vice versa. cussion, as should his attempt to rewrite A second major innovation put in a finally quite homogenizing way a ceeds in gesturing at some historical forward by Mapping the Moving Image, history of dissolution of old categories. and contemporary influences without besides the reinterpretation of cinema This, however is the price to pay for this imposing a singular history, specific of attraction in relationship to the tradi- great example of challenging scholar- trajectory or central set of goals for tions of recording techniques, has to do ship and audacious theory. these artists. The artists and topics are with its very broad cultural approach, selected and the book only covers works which brings to mind Erwin Panofsky’s completed between 2000 and 2007. work on cultural history (and perhaps Art + Science Now Even so, organizing this huge breadth psychologically compensates, in its by Stephen Wilson. Thames & Hudson, of material must have been a chore, yet strongly synthesizing efforts, for the London, U.K., 2010. this book is both attractive and explana- very disintegration that is at work in tory. Maybe this is because it must also Väliaho’s material). Apparently, what Reviewed by Hannah Star Rogers, Science have been a lot of fun to work with is lost on one side (a traditional view & Technology Studies, Cornell University, everything from Wim Delvoye’s robotic of self and the world) is re-established Ithaca, NY, U.S.A. E-mail: . Austin Richards’s performance art with Indeed, what Väliaho proposes in his Tesla coils (Dr. Megavolt, 2006). book is a breathtaking synthesis of In Art + Science Now, Stephen Wilson Wilson has organized the volume by (almost) everything that was changing has provided us with an excellent cata- science or technology topic: “Molecular in late-19th-century and early-20th-cen- logue of art that engages with science Biology,” “Living Systems,” “Human tury Western modernism: Everything and technology. Ranging from Beatriz Biology,” “Physical Science” and “Kinet- fits so nicely together that it becomes da Costa’s air quality mapping with ics & Robotics.” This allows him to write almost suspect. By making a clever pigeons (PigeonBlog, 2006) to Haruki coherent and interesting overviews of distinction between cinema (as a social Nishijima’s butterfly nets that can cap- each section and give the novice some phenomenon) and the concept of the ture electromagnetic waves (Remain sense of the science and technical moving image (which is a real “concept” in Light, 2001), Wilson’s book offers aspects involved. This organizational in the Deleuzian sense of the word, i.e. images and descriptions of artwork structure will also probably appeal to an intellectual philosophical creation inspired by science and work that cri- science-oriented readers who want to aiming at producing new knowledge), tiques science in some way. There are find artwork on a particular subject. Väliaho manages to split his object into few comprehensive texts that bring However, it creates a situation in which a number of supplementary concepts, together artworks that deal with differ- artists appear in several chapters if their each of them representing a specific ent sciences, so Wilson’s book will be of work deals with more than one of the aspect of the moving image, helping use for scholarly reference and general science themes. For example, Natalie him link the emergence of cinema with interest, especially by those in the sci- Jeremijenko’s work appears in three the major thinkers and the major inno- ence community who are wondering chapters: Molecular Biology, Living vations of Western modern culture. The about artistic research in their fields. Systems and Kinetics & Robotics. moving image becomes, then, a “lens” Wilson raises important questions about This may leave readers lost in the through which it becomes possible to this type of work. How should we think scientific categorization, although is not reread, for instance, Freud, Nietzsche of art-inspired research or science- clear that the artists would have divided and Bergson. The converse is also true, inspired art? What is its future? How their work in this way. It is not clear for the idea is not only to disclose how much science do audiences need to that the organizational divisions reflect these thinkers were indebted to the know to engage with the material? And how the artists divide their world, as new ways of thinking made possible by how should we assess it? reflected in the myriad types of science the new forms of recording such as the Wilson supplies an introduction to and technology individual artists are (pre)cinema but also to demonstrate each section, which helps to orient engaged in, not to mention the variety that the moving image is a truly philo- readers to the artwork. This book suc- of scientific topics represented at festi-

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While been insufficiently used in the analysis description of what the conception of perhaps this division is as good as any of music: phenomenology—more par- stance may entail, he resists the temp- other at this moment of considerable ticularly the type of phenomenology tation to add to his book a reading foment in the field, and practitioners represented by philosophers such as of stance and experience in related who require similar skills do in many Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, who were fields: His starting point is exclusively cases seem to gravitate together, scien- interested in both the dialectics of the phenomenological, and he sticks to tific or technical categories do not intentionality of our consciousness (i.e. it in a way that explains a lot of the seem to be what is at stake for these the fact that our attention is always pedagogical qualities and merits of practitioners. turned toward something else) and the the book. One can always regret that In the Introduction, Wilson reminds noema (i.e. the physical or nonphysical Berger does not start any discussion readers that one way to think about the objects that we are engaged with). with the American pragmatist tradition, definition of art is to use its institutions The first key word here isexperience , more specifically with John Dewey’s to determine what counts as art. Sci- whose various modes can be labeled notion of experience (as developed in ence-engaged art appears to have built as perception, imagination, memory, his classic book Art and Experience) or its own sustaining institutions, separate judgment and anticipation, while their with Simon Frith’s more sociologically from the traditional art world, although corresponding objects can be called oriented readings of the musical expe- something similar could be said of the things in the world—fantasies, memo- rience. Yet this restriction is also what French Secessionists and many others. ries, judgments and anticipations. The makes a prize of Stance, which is the Indeed, the book makes the case for second key word is stance, which Berger kind of study that many can only envy Wilson’s conviction that there is value defines very generally as “the affective, for its plain and WYSIWYG approach. in seeing these works as both art and stylistic, or valual quality with which From a more practical point of view, beyond mainstream art. a person engages with an element of Berger succeeds in showing the great her experience” (Introduction, p. xiv). utility of phenomenology by introduc- In a sense, the aim of the book is not ing a wealth of real-life examples from Stance: Ideas about only to demonstrate the validity of this all kinds of fields (from heavy metal motion tyle and E , S , approach but also to develop an appro- to boxing or dancing, although with a Meaning for the Study priate vocabulary for the analysis of the slight preference for the former rather of Expressive Culture dizzying diversity of stances that can be than the latter). One feels throughout by Harris M. Berger. Middletown, CT: discovered while exploring our engage- this book that the author is not only Wesleyan University Press, 2010. xxi ment with music and other forms of putting in practice what he is defend- + 167 pp. ISBN-13: 9780819568779 expressive culture. ing at a theoretical level, namely the (cloth), 978-0819568779 (paperback). Both aspects of this program are absolute necessity to study expressive exemplarily performed in this book. culture in a lived, concrete, personal Reviewed by Jan Baetens, Belgium. Email: From a theoretical point of view, it is and material experience, but that this . important to stress the great clarity of practice and this experience are also Berger’s writing, which manages to his own. It is rare to read a book in A former president of the U.S. branch focus on the twin notions of stance and which the examples and even more the of the International Association for the experience without leaving out too discussion of these examples feel so Study of Popular Music and co-editor of much in the field of phenomenology. authentic, and this makes the reading the Journal of American Folklore, Harris M. Although the author offers a very rich always illuminating, even in those cases Berger has written an interesting study where the average reader does not have on the way we make meaning of music. field experience of the cases under The “we” in the previous sentence is discussion. (Not all Leonardo reviewers highly inclusive, since it entails not just are specialists on the different ways the listener, but also the composer, the amateurs and would-be rock stars, with- performer, the producer, the teacher, out any formal training, change their the reviewer, the critic—in short all techniques of, for instance, striking a those involved in music as a cultural chord when they enter a class room and practice. start taking lessons. Yet Berger explains Berger’s ambition in this book is very well how stance plays a crucial role twofold. First of all, he wants to criticize in what is happening in this process.) what he calls the obscurantism of Yeats’s Bringing together folk studies and famous line on the impossibility of tell- philosophy, Berger had to meet of ing the dancer from the dance. What course cultural studies and sociology of Berger aims to do here is exactly the culture, and his reading of Bourdieu opposite: Instead of confusing the vari- and other theoreticians in the last ous roles, positions, objects, actors and chapter of his book is also very useful in senses in a global approach as to some their typical mix of ecumenism (Berger holistic phenomenon (which music also is not someone who attacks or criti- is, of course), he tries to distinguish cizes other theories) and precision (he and to “decompose” (yet not to “decon- knows the art of making other theories struct”!) the various aspects of this phe- accessible and including other insights nomenon with unusual meticulosity. and concepts in his own way of think- Second, he also proposes to defend and ing, which never indulges in jargon or illustrate a scientific method that has complexity for the sake of complexity).

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00136 by guest on 01 October 2021 A Mysterious Masterpiece: in the work, was published in 1627, ferently” or “Others see it differently.” The World of the Linder I think it is accurate to say the composi- The three books on the table further Gallery tion itself shows how it is a part of the accentuate the importance of the cos- contemporary scientific conversation mological discussion at this time. Two edited by Michael John Gorman. of its period. In addition, the painting are by Kepler (Harmony of the Worlds Florence, Italy: Fondazione Palazzo is representative of a 17th-century [1619] and Rudolphine Tables [1627]); Strozzi/Alias. 135 pp., illus. Paper. genre that was created in Antwerp, the third is John Napier’s Description ISBN: 978-8-96532-02-7. that of the “cabinet painting” or “gal- of the Admirable Tables of Logarithms lery interior.” Typically, these objects (1614). Reviewed by Amy Ione, U.S.A. E-mail: were filled with allegorical wall paint- In trying to think of a comparable . ings and elements, elegant interiors, statement in our time, nothing seemed people, objects and instruments. As quite as comprehensive and enticing. A Mysterious Masterpiece: The World of a whole, the conglomerate of images It is not difficult to find correlates for the Linder Gallery introduces the Linder spoke to social, political, artistic and the scientific creativity, as in Einstein’s Gallery painting to a broad audience scientific issues of the time. While five exceptional papers of 1905 or in through an in situ conversation of six images of the contemporary world the work of the quantum physicist. My specialists and generalists who dis- constantly bombard us with compet- attempts to think of an artistic commen- cuss the work in the living room of ing ideas, in earlier times works such tary that included scientific disputes the owner (Ron Cordover). Thus, it as gallery interiors would bring many were less successful. Perhaps the power is an unusual book about an unusual competing ideas into focus. of objects grows when people look back painting that was virtually unknown In the case of the Linder Gallery, three retrospectively, and thus fertile pairings until now. The decision to use a lively people conceived the specific theme are less evident in their own time. If this conversation instead of a dry, scholarly of the work. One was the unknown is the case, our works today will become narrative approach (with all of its anno- painter. One was a wealthy German more powerful when others look back tations, footnotes and a long bibliogra- merchant, Peter Linder, living in Milan at how our minds were grappling with phy) makes the volume accessible and in the early 1620s, who commissioned the information at hand. adds a measure of appeal to the ideas as the Linder Gallery. In addition, Muzio Another aspect of the Linder conver- well, because the participants draw out Oddi, an Urbino mathematician and sation that I found quite illuminating each other’s knowledge as they talk. architect, played a key role in inform- was the discussion of the preparatory What is perhaps most exciting about ing the selection of elements that com- drawings, now in the Royal Collection the book is the subject matter itself. prise the pictorial commentary. The in Windsor Castle. A pen and ink ren- Although the walk through the details composition itself is centered around dering with wash over graphite seems of the piece is rudimentary, this quick the intellectual understanding of the to offer a wonderful entry into the survey does expose how many facets of cosmos through measurement and painting’s evolution. While the pen and a unique moment in the history of ideas mathematics, although there are many ink drawing and the final painting are are contained within its parameters. As other threads evident, particularly in similarly conceived, there are striking Gorman and Bradburne note in their the allegorical works on the wall. Still, points of deviation. For example, the introduction: it is the cosmological specifics that are drawing does not have the same vaulted This is . . . a world looking Janus-like most striking because they separate this ceiling and has a door on the left side both forward to Boyle’s “chymistry” work from other gallery interiors of the rather than a window. The scale is also and Newton’s physics, and backward to 17th century. While the gallery interior different, but some of the paintings Nostradamus’ astrology and Sendivo- gius’ alchemy. The 1620s was the world genre itself frequently includes scien- on the wall seem to match those in the of Rubens, Brueghel, Van Dyck and tific instruments, maps, globes, etc., Linder work. As the book’s commenta- Galileo, but it was also only recently the most of these paintings do not include tors note, what stands out is that the world of Shakespeare and Tycho Brahe. explicit references to the actual cosmo- oddly shaped table in the painting, It was a world that stood at the thresh- logical debates of the era. which appears out of perspective, is old of the Thirty Years’ War. It was a world alive with experiments and explo- In the Linder Gallery, the central table quite unlike the accomplished perspec- ration, but also a world that remem- is particularly alluring in how it accen- tive table of the drawing. bered the Wars of Religion and the St. tuates the cosmological theme. Render- From my viewpoint, one of the most Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, the Span- ings of a large astrolabe by Gualterus intriguing aspects of the work is that ish Armada, and the assassination of Henry IV. This painting is a document Arsenius and the celestial globe, prob- its striking content is matched by an that holds the clue to understanding ably by Jodocus Hondius the Younger, extraordinary story. In this case, the the political, intellectual, artistic and are fascinating examples of the period. work was a part of the Rothschild col- scientific ferment of the first half of the More compelling from an intellectual lection in Vienna and was confiscated seventeenth century (p. 12). standpoint is a paper bearing the three by the Nazis at the beginning of the What I found particularly fascinating cosmological systems that were com- Second World War. The Nazis kept is the way this painting speaks of how peting at that time. These include the it in a salt mine in Salzkammergut, science added a secular element to earth-centered Ptolemaic view, the sun- where they stored many paintings taken paintings that was particularly evident centered Copernican framework and from museums and collectors. We now in Northern European work. The book the composite system of Tycho Brahe, know that this work was among those proposes that the Linder Gallery was in which the inner planets orbit the sun intended for the Führermuseum in probably commissioned in the 1620s and the outer planets revolve around Linz. Cordover states that when he and and offers c. 1622–1629 as the paint- the earth. Beneath the diagram are the his wife bought the painting, much ing’s date. Since Kepler’s Rudolphine words “ALY ET ALIA VIDENT,” which of its history was unknown. He was Tables, one of the objects depicted is translated “Different people see it dif- attracted to its level of detail, its special

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00136 by guest on 01 October 2021 character (it is executed on a copper owner of the piece, art collector and of art and science from the Renaissance substrate) and the subject matter. businessman Ron Cordover, were also to the Scientific Revolution. The discussion in this book shows that involved. The book takes a comparative much information about the work’s All in all, this is a fine volume for art approach to the history of fireworks, origins has been gathered in the last historians, generalists students of the focusing on centers such as Paris, Lon- few years. history of science, and anyone who is don and St. Petersburg. It examines Overall, I liked the conversational interested in the history of ideas. The distinctive aspects of the pyrotechnic tone of the book. It was strikingly rich book also includes many reproductions histories of these cities, practices of in ideas and yet created a sense of one of scientific material of the time that knowledge, philosophical undercur- of those memorable conversations with are not included in the painting. These rents and exchanges that contributed friends that come about when discuss- images aid the reader in contextual- to identifiable and enduring traditions ing a marvelous work that stimulates izing the period’s thought and discov- in each of these locales. In these cen- on many levels. In the book, this casual eries. In my case, I was impressed with ters, fireworks stimulated valuable con- conversational tone was often stimulat- the depth of detail in what is basically a duits of scientific learning among such ing, although it was a bit trying when fairly cursory work. For example, in my areas as meteorology, electrical physics, some of the smaller works on the wall of last Leonardo review [1], I mentioned astronomy and navigation, utilizing the interior were discussed. The illustra- that I did not think Kepler did the techniques adapted from rhetoric, tions in the book were not always easy frontispiece of the Rudolphine Tables optics, mathematics and alchemy. to find. Rather than sift through the but I was not able to find who did the Fireworks opens with a description of volume trying to figure out which part work. Ironically, The Mysterious Master- an Enlightenment spectacle staged on of the painting is being discussed and piece unearthed the information that New Year’s Eve 1748 in St. Petersburg, where the best illustration is, I would Georg Celer was the artist. While I do in which wooden jetties, rockets, wheels recommend that readers begin by not know that everyone will find a nour- and fire fountains lit up the night sky in familiarizing themselves with the list of ishing tidbit like this, I do think this the image of a Siberian pine tree in a 74 identified features at the end. Better book is a nice supplement to the art/ garden of parterres and greenery. As a still is the website, , which allows a reader for those who yearn for more historical sive study that follows, it is intended to to zoom in and out. As with many books information. illustrate the allegorical significance of that focus on readability rather than pyrotechnical displays to 18th century scholarship, it is fun to read the book aficionados, in this case representative Reference but hard to go back to find discussions of the growth in prosperity of the Rus- that focus on specific details afterwards. 1. See . The lack of an index, for example, left Werrett’s history of pyrotechnic arts me frustrated many times when trying and sciences sets out to document to pull together my thoughts for this fireworks as a representative Enlighten- review. Fireworks: Pyrotechnic ment era phenomenon (with roots in Finally, and perhaps it goes without Arts and Sciences in the 15th century), intended primarily saying, it is the contributors to this European History as a spectacular demonstration of tem- innovative discussion who are respon- poral power. Through displays staged sible for the breadth of material and by Simon Werrett. University of amid elaborate architectural machines for looking at the work in a way that Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 2010. erected largely within the province remains stimulating to those of us 376 pp. illus. Trade. ISBN-13: 978-0- of the Catholic Church and princely who “listen in” remotely: Lawrence 226-89377-8. courts of Europe and Russia, artificers Wechsler, who has written about Rob- aspired to recreations of cosmic phe- ert Irwin, David Hockney, Athanasius Reviewed by Giovanna L. Costantini. nomena, allying earthly events with Kircher and Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet, is also E-mail: . Providence and cosmic order. However, the Director of the New York Institute Werrett’s larger objective is to explore for the Humanities. Pamela Smith is a Simon Werrett’s investigation of pyro- the reshaping of a military, alchemi- professor of history at Columbia Uni- technics from the 14th through the cal craft into an ideological discourse, versity, and her book The Body of the 19th centuries explores relationships whereby pyrotechnical displays pro- Artisan: Art and Experience in the Scientific among philosophical fireworks, art vided the focus for the progress of Revolution demonstrates how much and science as a significant expression intellectualism and debates centered on early modern science owed to artists of European beliefs, aspirations and politics, religion, economy and history. and artisans. Also present in the room authority throughout the modern era. Fireworks and its broader rationalistic was Alexander Marr, a lecturer in art Reflecting a timeless fascination with context, Werrett argues, in many ways history at the University of St. Andrews, fire, its archaic divine and magical emblematize the transformation of who specializes in early modern art and associations, and an identification of Western society from a largely religious the history of science and technology. human potentiality with Prometheus— culture to a scientific one. Indicative Michael John Gorman, who is now the the archetypal hero who stole fire from of this transition is the progression of Director of the Science Gallery, Trinity heaven and presided over the human alchemical chemistry (composed of College, Dublin, edited the volume; he arts, Fireworks asserts the “status of the equal parts myth, metaphor, fantasy and has participated in many projects that artificer” within a performative context. experimentation) toward the physical bring art and science together. James As such, it purports to epitomize pyro- and mechanical sciences and the evo- Bradburne, the Director General, technic artistry as a philosophical plat- lution of belief structures from those Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, and the form from which to view the interaction founded on faith and allegory to others

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00136 by guest on 01 October 2021 governed by philosophical reason and flying dragons, volcanoes and giran- acquired knowledge. Composed of the dolas enliven Werrett’s narrative with interdisciplinary arts of artillerymen, legendary tales of pyrotechnic lore and painters, architects, chemists, entrepre- descriptions of its imaginative signs and neurs and natural philosophers, this emblemata. His detailed accounts of text illustrates the manner in which controversies such as England’s Green pyrotechnical performances provided a Park Folly and Mikhail Vasil’evich metaphor for human knowledge at the Lomonsov’s 1756 orations to the Rus- dawn of the scientific era, igniting new sian Academy of Sciences on color and interpretations of history and sovereign light surrounding introductions of authority based on variable combina- secret, sensational “green fire” into Rus- tions of contraries as combustible sian fireworks by Danilov and Marynov elements. provide a fascinating glimpse into pyro- Issues considered include the impact technic history. of regional geography on epistemology; Werrett’s view of the importance of the convergence of empirical science pyrotechny to the history of ideas as a and artisanship; aspects of pyrotechny “seminal” basis of 18th-century sociopo- that contributed to the transformation litical and philosophical debates tends of culture from an analogical founda- at times to overstatement in light of tion in allegory to one of empirical similar claims that could be made for inquiry; contestations of warfare, art- other branches of the “tree of knowl- ifice and philosophy; the design of edge” such as mathematics, physics and pyrotechnical displays and their pro- ontology. Generalizing summaries tend grammatic basis in the liberal arts; the at times to overshadow the wealth of propagandistic uses of theatricality in historical documentation that could be the service of political legitimacy and better served in chronologies of events Points on the Dial: power; interrelationships between the and personages and appendices of festi- Golden Age Radio arts of artillery production (gunnery) val book citations and chemical recipes. beyond the Networks and the craft of spectacle (ingengno); At the same time, this book points up transmission of technique and region- the need for further study in areas that by Alexander Russo. Duke Univ. Press, ality; and festival entertainment and relate the history of pyrotechny to fields Durham, NC, 2010. 278 pp., illus. boulevard commercialism. of criticism and performance theory, Trade. ISBN: 978-0-8223-4532-9. Among the book’s many strengths political science, philosophy and reli- are chapters dedicated to key centers gion, art history, theater, anthropology Reviewed by John F. Barber, Creative Media of pyrotechnic science, such as the and chemistry. Further investigation & Digital Culture, Washington State Royal Society of London and the St. into underlying questions of patron- University Vancouver, U.S.A. E-mail: Petersburg Academy of Sciences, which age, intersections of pageantry and . not only showcase two of the most military history, the ritualistic prehis- important centers of intellectualism tory of fireworks, hermetic and esoteric The so-called “golden age” of radio during the 18th century beyond the traditions, design and iconography, (the 1920s through the 1950s) is often purview of studies confined to France, and relationships to stagecraft will also cited as a time of focused listening to Italy and the Hapsburg Empire but prove fruitful. live, commercially sponsored national offer crystallizing optics for the study Werrett’s Fireworks augments many network broadcasts. Radio, according of ideological polarities. His examina- treatments of the subject published pre- to several historians and critics of the tion of the relevance of the Frézier- viously, including technological studies medium, unified the nation during this Perrinet debates on the value of art and and selective exhibitions of museum time, not only in terms of program- philosophical reflection to a scientific print collections, by offering a compre- ming, but also, as part of or resulting method, a crucial focus of Diderot and hensive, scholarly survey of events and from that programming, socially, politi- d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie, critically ideas linked to the intellectual history cally and culturally. Points on the Dial: anchors Werrett’s arguments. But there of pyrotechny in Western Europe. Com- Golden Age Radio beyond the Networks are also other very interesting sections plete with illustrations, color plates and by Alexander Russo disputes and dis- devoted to alchemy and the liberal three introductory maps that identify rupts this vision of network-centered arts, ephemeral architecture and the locations described in the text, it is radio, positing instead a vision of inter- talented, itinerant artificers of Italy amply footnoted with an extensive bib- mingled national, regional and local such as Giovanni Nicolo Servandoni, liography, chapter summaries and an programming, along with distinctly Giuseppe Sarti and the Ruggieri family, inclusive index. As a “Geography of different regional and local sponsorship who not only designed princely spec- Art and Science,” it presents a for- patterns and methods of distribution. tacles for the courts of King George III midable overview of one of the 18th The result is a diversity of practices, of England, Louis XV of France and the century’s most spectacular paradigms, obscured until now by the network- heirs of Peter the Great but contributed one whose complex interrelationships centric focus of current radio history, to the dissemination of Enlightenment between artifice and philosophical which set the stage for radio in the ideals throughout Europe during the speculation provide a conceptual second half of the 20th century. 17th century. Stories of foundational framework for continuing associations Current, consensual histories of archetypes (Prometheus) and vanquish- between art, natural science and radio view the development of network- ers of evil (St. George and Perseus), theater. centric systems of content production

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00136 by guest on 01 October 2021 and distribution as “a natural function program producers and distributors re- the Netherlands, 2009. 192 pp., illus. of consumer choice and democratic sponded with electrical recording tech- Paper. English edition: ISBN: 978-90- action,” says Russo (p. 188). Radio net- nologies such as sound-on-disc tran- 5662-721-8. works responded to consumer desires scriptions of live events that avoided for new products and diversions and the problems and outright prohibi- Reviewed by Ian Verstegen, U.S.A. E-mail: built systems to highlight the produc- tions associated with using recordings. . tion and distribution of live content Whether regional or national, program- meant to convince audiences that they ming was increasingly produced with Now Is the Time: Art & Theory in the were hearing exactly what they would intentional content gaps that could 21st Century is the result of a series hear were they present at the site of be filled with spot advertisements and of lectures and debates held at the the original production/presentation. programming that focused on genres Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and Russo’s account of radio broadcasting’s or content tailored to specific locations now published under one cover. The development challenges this view. For and identities, thus localizing national book has seven sections written by example, Russo argues that the rise of brands by giving them seemingly local European and American scholars and radio networks was based on the de- presences. artists, hosted mostly by Dutch modera- sire for a larger share of the potential Finally, changing and often distracted tors. The format is always two speakers national advertising market rather than practices of listening to radio program- on the same topic, with a short pub- on national unification as the networks ming resulted in local radio stations lished public exchange. In general, the claimed. Networks forced local stations developing programs based around participants offer a mix of viewpoints, to carry specific programming and the talk and music, both of which could Marxist to postmodern, which bring accompanying advertising. Local sta- be location specific in their appeal. As together a variety of approaches under tions often acquiesced, as this was the a result, rather than specific content the banner of overall social concern. only way to obtain the most popular that required listening at specific times, The result is a very effective book programming then demanded by audi- radio became more of an accompani- for teaching students in the arts and ences. Advertisers were forced to place ment to one’s life, an endeavor that humanities, with up-to-the-minute advertising buys in markets that did could be entered and exited with little interventions on a variety of important not represent their customer base. This loss of meaning or potential for confu- topics. packaging of content and access pro- sion. Localized spot sales via station The book begins with a generally vided best benefit to the networks but representatives, ad hoc arrangements political focus and then moves into not always to advertisers, local stations of regional networks for live programs, more specific themes. The span of the or audiences. locally assembled news and music essays is quite wide, and it is difficult Rather than and despite a unified programs, block programming facili- to bring any order to the rich and network-centric model, Russo says tated by disk jockeys, record and tape thought-provoking collection. Never- much of radio’s historical record always libraries and the tension between disk theless, it is possible to isolate certain exhibited “a hybrid system with local, jockeys and single owners of groups of themes. The beginning essays gener- regional and national interests, tastes regional radio stations all led to new ally posit art production in a system of and concerns intermingling through- forms of radio production and listen- global capitalism whose diversity and out institutions, programming and ing. These heretofore hidden aspects of inclusiveness conceals inequity and audience responses” (p. 189). Such radio’s golden years, often missing from whose characteristics are shared by dis- internetworks “required constant revi- consensus histories, function, according tressing elements of contemporary life, sion and modification” (p. 19) in order to Russo, as increasingly autonomous particularly terrorism. to influence the construction and main- actors, all figuring in the fragmentation tenance of imagined communities and of radio production, text and audience audiences. This work of the network, in the 1950s and the rebirth of radio although it appeared uniform, consis- throughout the remainder of the 20th tent and singular, was, in fact, limited, century. unstable and hybrid. Points on the Dial: Golden Age Radio To develop this point, Russo devotes beyond the Networks is not only interesting chapters to radio’s geographies, as he but also informative. If Russo’s read on calls them: national, regional and local radio is right, history may help inform information networks alternatively seen the nature of radio as it proceeds into as sites of community and conflict; a digital era where geographies of con- sound-on-disc recordings as an alterna- sumption and listening are drastically tive distributive technology to wired altered by the technologies of produc- networks; the spatial and temporal flow tion and distribution. of spot advertising; and locating human attention in a world increasingly mobile ow s the ime and not focused on a single radio. N I T : National networks were unable to Art & Theory in extend their wired connection capabili- the 21st Century ties to every market, every community, edited by Christel Vesters leaving gaps that were filled by regional (coordinating editor), Jelle Bouwhuis, and local broadcasters more attuned to Ingrid Commandeur, Gijs Frieling, the wants and needs of their audiences. Margriet Schavemaker and Domeniek These audiences needed content, and Ruyters. NAi Publishers, Rotterdam,

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00136 by guest on 01 October 2021 Thus, Terry Eagleton and Borys ardo and progeny is frustrated in a Groys (“Faith”) present two views on constant state of metamorphosis, a fact how the image of faith operative today underscored by the postmodern artis- is independent of belief (Eagleton) or tic practice of James Coleman, whose science (Groys). Faith, whether Western ephemeral installation—which has left or Islamic-fundamentalist, is content to no trace—accompanied the Leonardo use repetition of ritual—which fits show. strangely and effectively with digital The last section, “Romanticism,” media—without recourse to reason. is a fitting conclusion to the book, Similarly, W.J.T. Mitchell and artist Sean because Romanticism in this sense Snyder show echoes between American is another way of saying modernity, and terrorist practices. Mitchell exam- and Jos de Mul and Jörg Heiser locate ines the uses of “biodigital” practices our position, “now,” in the title (iconoclasm and decapitation), while of the book. Giving a genealogy of Snyder looks at the hardware and pre- romantic ideas, de Mul endorses sentation techniques terrorists have Schiller’s definition of romantic desire used for their recruitment videos. Both as an “eternal oscillation between argue, at different levels, against regard- enthusiasm and irony.” Heiser seeks ing acts as savage at the risk of under- out more artists to explore a similar standing their core logic. opposition between romanticism and Turning to “Globalization,” Julian conceptualism. Good art combines Stallabrass and Hanrou Hu suggest that both. For de Mul, the path between the global transformation of expanded enthusiasm and irony is a “tightrope.” American National Exhibition in Mos- art markets and new biennials is only For both, instructively, this means cow, featuring the use of such ideo- apparently liberating. New artists and that we are neither modern nor post- logical munitions as women’s nylons, art capitals have emerged, but to serve modern. In light of the global focus refrigerators, clothing and toys. Associ- the new global rich; in different ways of the book as a whole, this suggests ate Professor Greg Castillo proceeds the authors expose the backside of spec- that oppositional discursive practices through a series of exhibitions pre- tacularly staged global capitalism. Here, will not save us, but those moored sented across the globe, featuring such the focus of the section, “Design,” fits in modernity itself that have not left titles as America at Home, Industry and in well. Although Rick Poyner has more us and indeed inform the rest of the Craft Create New Home Furnishings in hope for “critical design,” a critical, world’s activities. the USA and People’s Capitalism, and self-initiated kind of design that resists fluently traces the use of soft design the industry and embraces gallery and Cold War on the Home over the decades of the Cold War. art practices, Camiel van Winkel notes These exhibitions were inspired by the ront he oft ower that art since the 1980s has increasingly F : T S P deliberately formulated propaganda assimilated the twin goals of “visibility” of Midcentury Design effort sponsored by the United States— and “professionalism.” The artist makes by Greg Castillo, University of arguably the most extensive interna- art that is easy to understand, presented Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN, tional peace-time propaganda effort to as an ethical mandate of constructive U.S.A., 2010. 312 pp., illus. Trade. date—that intended to compare and communication. ISBN: 978-0-8166-4691-3; ISBN: 978- contrast the rewards of the capitalist The pair of essays on “Canon”—by 0-8166-4692-0. way of life versus the Spartan fruits of Robert Nelson and curator Ruth the communist way of life. Noack—address issues of “Globaliza- Reviewed by Lisa Graham, Associate Beautifully crafted by Castillo, this tion” in that both seek ways to fore- Professor of Visual Communications, book skillfully covers the ideological ground constructed meaning in the University of Texas at Arlington (U.S.A.). tension between capitalism and com- contemporary curatorial scene. Nelson E-mail: . munism as evidenced by propaganda considers positively the role of canons and designed objects during the Cold in our understanding of the world as Cold War on the Home Front: The Soft War era. Castillo’s lively narrative and a way of organizing collective agency. Power of Midcentury Design is a well- the carefully selected photographs Noack, curator of documenta 12, ac- written and fluid discussion of an often and illustrations should engage the cepted the historical embeddedness of underappreciated area of design his- most discerning scholars of design and the contemporary art shown there and tory: the role of designed objects in the political science and yet the book is she positioned herself frankly as a con- propaganda war between the United readable enough to appeal to advanced structor of a canon. In the end, she and States and the Communist Party in the undergraduate and graduate students Nelson see canon formation as a social U.S.S.R. In this book, Castillo focuses in architecture, graphic design, and negotiation that individuals should on the use of “Soft Power,” or the industrial design programs. consciously take part in. Turning to coercive attraction of such intangibles This book was a true pleasure to “Media,” Kaja Silverman and Laura as ideology, beliefs AND culture, and read, combining fascinating historical Marks address mediality in historical the perceived moral authority dem- facts with keen insight into the subver- and contemporary art. Silverman uses onstrated via propaganda materials sive ideological influence of design on a Leonardo exhibition to reflect on and designed artifacts. This fascinat- culture and values. media, as Marks does Islamic art. ing book opens with a discussion of Silverman is interested in the way in “Domesticity as a Weapon,” as deployed which the clear genealogy of Leon- in a landmark 1959 exhibition at the

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00136 by guest on 01 October 2021 Liverpool, U.K. Reviewed by Edith Findings on Elasticity, edited by Hester eonardo eviews L R Doove. Aardse and Astrid van Baalen. On-Line Reviewed by Liz Nicol. Premediation: Affect and Mediality after 9/11 by Richard Grusin. Reviewed by How to Catch a Robot Rat: When Biology Jussi Parikka. October 2010 Inspires Innovation by Agnes Guillot Bring on the Books for Everybody: How and Jean-Arcady Meyer; translated Literary Culture Became Popular Culture by November 2010 by Susan Emanuel. Reviewed by Jim Collins. Reviewed by Jan Baetens. Curating Consciousness: Mysticism and Rob Harle. the Modern Museum by Marcia Brennan. Charles M Schulz: My Life with Charlie Reviewed by George Shortess. ISEA 2010 Ruhr. Reviewed by Simone Brown by M. Thomas Inge, Editor. Osthoff. Reviewed by Richard Land. Cybernetics: Art, Design, Mathematics— A Meta-Disciplinary Conversation Method by Dick Raaijmakers; edited and C:ADM 2010—International Confer- Digital Apollo: Human and Machine translated by Vincent W.J. van Gerven ence, 30 July–2 August 2010. Reviewed in Spaceflight by David A. Mindell. Oei. Reviewed by Rene Beekman. by Claudia Westermann. Reviewed by Maureen Nappi. The England’s Dreaming Tapes by Jon Photo-texts: Contemporary French Writing of Liverpool Biennial: International Savage. Reviewed by Michael R. (Mike) the Photographic Image by Andy Stafford. Festival of Contemporary Art Mosher. Reviewed by Jan Baetens.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Nanotechnology, Nanoscale Science and Art

Leonardo Special Section Guest Editor: Tami I. Spector

2011 is the International Year of Chemistry! To celebrate, Leonardo is seeking to publish papers and artworks that involve the intersections of chemistry, nanotechnology and art for our on-going special section “Nanotechnology, Nanoscale Science and Art.” Since its inception, nanotech/science has been intimately connected to chemistry; fullerenes, nanoputians, molecular machines, nano-inorganics and self-assembling molecular systems, all spring from the minds and labs of chemists, biochemists and chemical engineers. If you’re a nano-oriented chemist who is serious about art, an artist working at the molecular level, or a chemical educator exploring the mysteries of the nano world through the arts we are especially seeking submissions from you. Published Leonardo articles that explore the intersections of nanotech/science and art include: “Nanoscale and Painting” by artist Filipe Rocha da Silva, “Fact and Fantasy in Nanotech Imagery” by scien- tist David S. Goodsell, and “Midas: A Nanotechnological Exploration of Touch” by artist Paul Thomas. Interested artists and authors are invited to send proposals, queries and/or manuscripts to the Leonardo editorial office: Leonardo, 211 Sutter St., Suite 501, San Francisco, CA 94108, U.S.A. E-mail: .

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