9 Best Books on Media Aesthetics

“Sight, Sound, Motion: Applied Media Aesthetics (Cengage Series in Communication Arts)” Book Review: This book explores the latest developments in video and electronic cinema technology. It focuses on important elements that contribute to the visual appeal of images, such as light, color, space, motion, and sound. The book showcases how these elements are creatively employed in television and film, often drawing inspiration from traditional art forms like painting, sculpture, and dance. It also delves into aesthetic theory and its application in the modern era, providing a comprehensive understanding of the artistic aspects of digital media.

“Sight, Sound, Motion: Applied Media Aesthetics” Book Review: This book explores the latest advancements in digital video and cinema technology. It explains important visual elements like light, color, space, motion, and sound, and how they contribute to the overall aesthetic appeal. The book showcases creative ways these elements are used in television and film, often taking inspiration from traditional art forms like painting, sculpture, and dance. It also covers aesthetic theory and how it is applied in modern times, providing insights into the artistic aspects of digital media.

“Creative Enterprise: Contemporary Art Between Museum and Marketplace (International Texts in Critical Media Aesthetics)” Book Review: This book explores a new form of art that has emerged, combining digital, electronic, architectural, and performative elements to create unique creative expressions. It introduces new ways to analyze and critique artworks, literature, and performances in the realm of new media. It encourages viewers to actively participate in the aesthetic experience as co-creators. Drawing on various methodologies from fields like phenomenology, art history, linguistics, and statistical analysis, the book examines the dynamic relationship between individual participation, electronic media, virtual and physical spaces, and mediated language. It showcases exciting contemporary artwork in digital installation, performance, audio, and text. The book suggests redefining the role of aesthetics to focus on an interactive process of perception, performance, contemplation, and critique.

“New Directions in Digital Poetry (International Texts in Critical Media Aesthetics)” Book Review: This book explores the diverse and innovative practices and processes of digital poetry that have been published on the global computer network in the last decade. Its focus is on digital poetry, its benefits, and its various forms and modalities. It delves into the technical and compositional aspects of digital poetry and offers a deep understanding of the viewing and reading experience. The book engages with combinatory multimedia hybrids that challenge readers to interpret different signals and poetic structures. Through its discussions of the uncertain and ever-changing terrain of digital poetry, this book provides useful insights for poets, scholars, and readers alike.

“The Off-Modern (International Texts in Critical Media Aesthetics)” Book Review: This book delves into the crossroads of art, architecture, technology, and philosophy during the early twenty-first century. Through an analysis of the works of Georg Simmel, Henri Bergson, Aby Warburg, and Jacques Derrida, it examines the emergence of the off-modern perspective, which stems from the Russian avant-garde and is characterized by its unconventional, self-inquisitive, and anti-authoritarian approach. The book traverses the less-explored byways of modernism, celebrating the idiosyncratic cultural creations that lie outside the mainstream. Through discussions with notable figures, it exemplifies the off-modern, serving both as a memoir and a manifesto. The book delves into issues of diasporic intimacy and productive estrangement amid the wistful landscapes of urban ruins.

“The Internet Unconscious: On the Subject of Electronic Literature (International Texts in Critical Media Aesthetics)” Book Review: This book explores the art of writing on the internet, specifically focusing on the subject of creating content for the online world. It helps readers understand the internet as a collection of different writing practices and materials, ranging from basic protocols to social media platforms like CAPTCHA and Facebook. The book analyzes how these practices and materials come together to form written text and how they are organized within the field of ‘electronic literature.’ It also discusses the personal commitment and involvement of writers in the process of creating online content.

“When the Machine Made Art: The Troubled History of Computer Art (International Texts in Critical Media Aesthetics)” Book Review: This book offers an analysis of the cultural and critical reactions towards computer-generated or digital art. It presents a comprehensive account of the early stages of digital art and design and examines the disruptive factors that contributed to the fragmentation of the computer art movement. The book traces the intense discussions between art and science and the apprehension of the society towards the emerging computer technology. Moreover, it delves into the myths and philosophies that surround digital computation. By combining the scientific and mathematical elements with the art and technology and conceptual art movements of the 1960s, the book reconstructs the history of computer art.