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Visions of Modernity
Representation, Memory, Time and Space in the Age of the Camera
- Scott McQuire - University of Melbourne, Australia
Courses:
Sociological Theory
Sociological Theory
February 1998 | 288 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Visions of Modernity explores the relationship between technology, society, and identity that underpins contemporary "media culture." By tracing particular historical shifts as they have intersected with different camera technologiesùphotography, cinema, televisionùScott McQuire engages with broad social and political transformations. Focusing on the camera, McQuire offers a useful point of entry for understanding the processes of modernization and the dramatic changesùperceptual, experiential, epistemologicalùthat characterize modernity.
This book will be of interest to students of sociology, media and cultural studies, art history, geography, and anthropology.
Introduction
PART ONE: THE RUINS OF REPRESENTATION
Photomimesis
The Geometric Universe
Writing with Light
The Mechanical Eye of Reason
Promiscuous Meanings
The Mobile Frame
Flickering in Eclipses
The Ends of Representation
PART TWO: PHOTOMNEMONICS
The Eye of the Camera Faces Backwards
The Law of Progress
The Crisis of Memory
Amnesic Cultures
Eternity's Hostage
Intolerable Memories
Biodegradable Histories
PART THREE: THE NEW PLASTICITY OF SPACE AND TIME
Pure Speed
Reconstructing `the World'
The Myth of the Centre
In the Neon Forest
Interzones
Unstable Architectures
Telepresence and the Government of Time
`McQuire has produced a comprehensive and lucidly written account of the camera-driven transformations across the period we may now retrospectively call "modernity"' - Victor Burgin, Unviersity of California, Santa Cruz
`Visions of Modernity offers an admirable overview of modern visual culture. But, more than this, it takes us through a wide range of debates in cultural theory. McQuire has produced an encompassing, and very impressive work of intellectual synthesis' - Kevin Robins, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
