THE SHADOW SPACE OF ALLEGORICAL MACHINES: SITUATING LOCATIVE MEDIA Alex Monroe Ingersoll A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Communication Studies. Chapel Hill 2013 Approved by: Ken Hillis Carole Blair Tyler Curtain Michael Palm Sarah Sharma ABSTRACT ALEX MONROE INGERSOLL: The Shadow Space of Allegorical Machines: Situating Allegorical Machines (Under the direction of Ken Hillis) This dissertation utilizes a media archaeological approach to the analysis of locative media, which are technologies that organize an experience of spatial orientation. For instance, a user can use a mobile phone to connect to a cellular network and generate a visualization of the material space in which he or she is positioned with annotated or interactive information on the screen. My critical approach to locative media is influenced by a historical constellation of orientation technologies, their contributions to the social imaginations of space, and the resulting experiences and expectations that are negotiated by the material, symbolic, and ideal. Four case studies on the astrolabe, magnetic compass, divining rod, and digital locative media make up a broader historical arrangement of which, I argue, digital locative media are the latest manifestation. Like other media technologies such as radio or television, these spatial technologies offer a “window” onto another world while also offering (other)spaces of symbolic and cultural codes that are layered over material space. The ability to reveal these otherspaces is associated with the recurring transcendent logic of locative media as individuals are encouraged to unveil the real behind the apparent in order to become united with a hybrid (and enchanted) ecology of the virtual and real. ii My locative media archaeology involves a theorization of “allegorical machines,” which is a term I use to analyze the interfaced interpretation of a shadow (imagined or informational) otherspace in relation to a porous correspondence between subject and space. This theorization is an interrogation of how engineers, technological promoters, and users position allegorical machines as making the supersensible sensible through an interface with the sublime. In other words, locative media are technological attempts to make the vague intelligible by bringing what lies outside the realm of physical experience into contact with the senses. Transcending to otherspaces such as the electromagnetic spectrum or the digital network involves an inherent metaphysics of the interface, which as liaisons between bodies and spaces generate animations such as the one that is the focus of this dissertation: the sublime desire or fear of unveiling the unknown space beyond space. iii If he had to, he would enter it entirely but never get lost, for he would have this Map, and in it, spread below, would lie ev’rything… —Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon. First, my son, observe that in this world we travel through likenesses and enigmas since the spirit of truth is not of this world nor can it be seized through it. We are carried off towards the unknown… —Nicholas of Cusa, letter to Nicolaus Albergati. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work represents the culmination of a significant amount of time, advice, and assistance that was graciously afforded to me by numerous people. I would like to thank especially Ken Hillis as his guidance played an enormous role in my development as a scholar and as an individual. I could not have asked for a better mentor. I am grateful to Carole Blair, Tyler Curtain, Michael Palm, and Sarah Sharma for providing invaluable advice and support as this project developed over time. I would like to thank my friends and colleagues who have directly or indirectly influenced numerous versions and incarnations of this project in seminar, conference, living, and bar rooms including Dana DeSoto, Armond Towns, David Supp- Montgomerie, Jenna Supp-Montgomerie, Chris Dahlie, Adam Rottinghaus, Brett Lyszak, Carey Hardin, J. Nikol Beckham, David Terry, Mark Robinson, Vilma Berg, Joyce Rudinsky, Lawrence Rosenfeld, Bill Balthrop, and Dennis Mumby. I would like to thank the Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the department of Communication Studies for supporting me throughout my studies. Archival research for this dissertation was supported by the Peggy Harpold Summer Research Fellowship. Many thanks to Misty DeMars and Bruce Stephenson at the Webster Institute at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, IL, Lucy Blaxland and Jim Bennett at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, U.K., and Lilla Vekerdy at the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. This project would have been impossible without the encouragement of my family. I am grateful for the continual love and support from my parents, Tom and Marianne Ingersoll. I am also truly appreciative of Alan and Gwenne Henricks’ assistance throughout this process. Carolyn Ingersoll raised and nurtured a family that values critical inquiry and this dissertation is a result of her drive and spirit that inspired me years ago. The love and patience of Amanda Ingersoll allowed me to navigate through a range of seemingly impassable moments. Simply saying thanks does not do justice to the sustained support that she provided me. With her, I am thrilled to explore our future that lies beyond these pages. This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of Charles Monroe Ingersoll, Jr. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ............................................................................................................viii I. Introduction: Terra Incognita, or, Here Be Dragons ...............................................1 Introducing Locative Media .....................................................................14 Central Concerns and Chapter Overview ................................................21 II. Media, Constellations, and Archaeology ..............................................................28 III. On Allegorical Machines .....................................................................................46 A. Disenchantment as Our Fate................................................................ 47 B. Secularization and Sacralization in the Immanent Frame ...................56 C. Allegorical Machines and the Veiled Otherspace ................................69 The Sublime and the Vague ..........................................................87 D. Media and Space .................................................................................98 E. Supernatural Technology..................................................................... 113 Liaisons Between the Human and the World ...............................135 IV. Mediacion of the Firmament: On Astrolabes .......................................................138 Accessing the Primum Mobile .................................................................140 Mirror of the Universe .............................................................................148 Prayer Towards Qibla............................................................................... 156 European Reintroduction .........................................................................161 vi Beyond the Sea......................................................................................... 166 Absolute Orientation ................................................................................171 V. Attraction Towards Fields of Force: On Magnetic Compasses .............................186 Sympathy of the Lodestone...................................................................... 190 Towards a Magnetic Philosophy.............................................................. 198 The Horror of Deviation........................................................................... 212 The Fourth Dimension .............................................................................222 VI. Divining What Lies Beyond Space: On Divining Rods ......................................231 Seeing Without Eyes ................................................................................232 A Divine Rod............................................................................................ 235 Platonic Radiology................................................................................... 245 Intuiting Archetypes................................................................................. 255 VII. The Other Side of Too Far: On Digital Locative Media .....................................264 Reintroducing Locative Media .................................................................265 Locative Procedures................................................................................. 271 Network Metaphysics ..............................................................................278 Pervasive Imaginaries ..............................................................................289 Rethink Possible....................................................................................... 297 Through a Glass, Darkly ..........................................................................306 VIII. Conclusions: Vague Beyond the Fringe ............................................................312 References.................................................................................................................