Books in the International Texts in Critical Media Aesthetics series

"The Off-Modern charts a fresh path beyond the categories of modernism and postmodernism, center and periphery, artistic theory and practice"--

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com.Software has replaced a diverse array of physical, mechanical, and electronic technologies used before 21st century to create, store, distribute and interact with cultural artifacts. It has become our interface to the world, to others, to our memory and our imagination - a universal language through which the world speaks, and a universal engine on which the world runs. What electricity and combustion engine were to the early 20th century, software is to the early 21st century. Offering the the first theoretical and historical account of software for media authoring and its effects on the practice and the very concept of 'media,' the author of The Language of New Media (2001) develops his own theory for this rapidly-growing, always-changing field.What was the thinking and motivations of people who in the 1960 and 1970s created concepts and practical techniques that underlie contemporary media software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Maya, Final Cut and After Effects? How do their interfaces and tools shape the visual aesthetics of contemporary media and design? What happens to the idea of a 'medium' after previously media-specific tools have been simulated and extended in software? Is it still meaningful to talk about different mediums at all? Lev Manovich answers these questions and supports his theoretical arguments by detailed analysis of key media applications such as Photoshop and After Effects, popular web services such as Google Earth, and the projects in motion graphics, interactive environments, graphic design and architecture. Software Takes Command is a must for all practicing designers and media artists and scholars concerned with contemporary media.

Examines a range of innovative practices and processes in digital poetry published on the global computer network during the past decade.

Uses cybertext theory and ludology to solve several persistent problems in the fields of literary theory, narratology, game studies, and digital media. This title constructs a ludological basis for comparative game studies, shows importance of game studies to the understanding of digital media, and argues for a plurality of transmedial ecologies.

Intertwines a dual emphasis on evolving institutional priorities and major shifts in artistic production.

"A wide-ranging theoretical and aesthetic exploration of hybrid moving images based on the intersection of film, video, and digital technology"--

There is a blind spot in recent accounts of the history, theory and aesthetics of optical media: namely, the field of the three-dimensional, or trans-plane, image. It has been widely used in the 20th century for very different practices - military, scientific and medical visualization - precisely because it can provide more spatial information. And now in the 21st century, television and film are employing the method even more. Appearing for the first time in English, Jens Schroeter's comprehensive study of the aesthetics of the 3D image is a major scholarly addition to this evolving field. Citing case studies from the history of both technology and the arts, this wide-ranging and authoritative book charts the development in the theory and practice of three-dimensional images. Discussing and analyzing the transformation of the socio-cultural and technological milieu, Schroeter has produced a work of scholarship that combines impressive historical scope with contemporary theoretical arguments.