The New Media Workshop is pleased to welcome Erkki Huhtamo, Professor of Design Media Arts at UCLA and editor of Media Archaeology: Approaches, Applications, and Implications (forthcoming on the University of California Press, with Jussi Parrika), who will be presenting his talk, “Tracing the Topoi: A Certain Way of Doing Media Archaeology.”
“Erkki Huhtamo’s intervention discusses media archaeology by developing a theoretical-historical contextualization of the topos, a notion he has adopted from the literary scholar Ernst Robert Curtius and has turned into a tool for explaining the recurrence of clichés and commonplaces in media culture. Huhtamo has applied the idea to various media forms ranging from “peep media” and the moving panorama to mobile media. In this intervention he will delineate his approach theoretically, discussing its predecessors and demonstrating how it can be applied to various facets of media culture. For Huhtamo, the task is identifying topoi, analyzing their trajectories and transformations, and explaining the cultural logics that condition their wanderings across time and space. Topoi are discursive engines that mediate themes, forms, and fantasies across cultural traditions. Predictably, they have become a tool in the hands of the culture industry.”
There are no pre-circulated materials for this presentation.
The New Media Workshop meets from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM in Cobb 310.
This workshop will be followed by a lunch, also in Cobb 310.
As part of his visit, coordinated by Artemis Willis in conjunction with Professor Tom Gunning’s Seminar in the Moving and Projected Image, Professor Huhtamo will also be delivering an illustrated lecture entitled “Archeology of Immersive Media” Thursday, May 19th, 7PM at the Film Studies Center.
Performed throughout the 1800s, moving panoramas were among the most popular entertainment of the 19th century. In this lecture-demonstration, scholar and media archeologist Erkki Huhtamo draws on his research into moving panoramas and dioramas to discuss various historical apparata that laid the groundwork for 20th and 21st century immersive applications, including those created by media artists. The particular focus of this presentation will be on the Maréorama, a huge multi-sensory spectacle created by Hugo d’Alesi and his team for the Universal Exposition of 1900 in Paris. Using illustrations from his collection and original piano music composed for the Maréorama by Henri Kowalski, Huhtamo reconstructs several sequences from this simulated sea voyage on the Mediterranean. Featuring live piano accompaniment by David Drazin.
Erkki Huhtamo was born in Helsinki, Finland and works as a professor of media history and theory at UCLA. He has published extensively on media archaeology, an emerging approach he pioneered. Professor Huhtamo’s most recent books are Media Archaeology: Approaches, Applications, and Implications (co-edited with Jussi Parikka, University of California Press, 2011) and a forthcoming monograph titled Illusions in Motion: a Media Archaeology of the Moving Panorama and Related Spectacles.
Coordinated by Artemis Willis, Ph.D candidate, Department of Cinema & Media Studies in conjunction with Professor Tom Gunning’s Seminar in the Moving and Projected Image. Sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
On Friday, May 13th, Marianna Martin, PhD candidate in Cinema and Media Studies, will present “Poaching the Poachers: Readers, Texts, and the Rise of the Fan-Practitioner,” a chapter from her dissertation.
This paper is no longer available for download.
The New Media Workshop meets from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM in Cobb 310.
Ken and Flo Jacobs unveil their Nervous Magic Lantern, an empty box with a single-element glass lens, a light and a spinning shutter. From this simple technology, the most advanced cinema arises without film or electronics, casting images that conjur 3D illusions and other visual phenomena.
In addition to the Nervous Magic Lantern performance, Ken Jacobs will screen and discuss recent digital video works Capitalism: Child Labor (2006) and The Green Wave (2011). (Warning: a discernible flicker operates on the senses. Not for those afflicted with epilepsy or other unusual brain conditions.)
Film Studies Center: 5811 South Ellis Ave, Cobb Hall 306, Chicago, IL
On Monday, May 2nd, at 6 PM, Lisa Zaher, PhD Candidate in Art History, will present “Photography and the History of the Eye” at the Contemporary Art and Its Histories Workshop. (Pre-circulated paper can be downloaded through link. Password required.)
Contact Leslie Wilson (lmwilson [at] uchicao [dot] edu) or Emily Jones (ejtristan [at] uchicago [dot] edu) if you need assistance.
Cochrane-Woods Art Center: 5540 S Greenwood Ave, Rm 156
