American television embodies a paradox: it is a privately owned and operated public communications network that most citizens are unable to participate in except as passive specators. Television creates an image of community while preventing the formation of actual social ties because behind its simulated exchange of opinions lies a highly centralized corporate structure that is profoundly antidemocratic. In Feedback; David Joselit describes the privatized public sphere of television and recounts the tactics developed by artists and media activists in the 1960s and 1970s to break open its closed circuit.The figures whose work Joselit examines -- among them Nam June Paik; Dan Graham; Joan Jonas; Abbie Hoffman; Andy Warhol; and Melvin Van Peebles -- staged political interventions within televisions closed circuit. Joselit identifies three kinds of image-events: feedback; which can be both disabling noise and rational response -- as when Abbie Hoffman hijacked television time for the Yippies with flamboyant stunts directed to the media; the image-virus; which proliferates parasitically; invading; transforming; and even blocking systems -- as in Nam June Paiks synthesized videotapes and installations; and the avatar; a quasi-fictional form of identity available to anyone; which can function as a political actor -- as in Melvin Van Peebless invention of Sweet Sweetback; an African-American hero who appealed to a broad audience and influenced styles of Black Power activism. These strategies; writes Joselit; remain valuable today in a world where the overlapping information circuits of television and the Internet offer different opportunities for democratic participation.In Feedback; Joselit analyzes such midcentury image-events using the procedures and categories of art history. The trope of figure/ground reversal; for instance; is used to assess acts of representation in a variety of media -- including the medium of politics. In a televisual world; Joselit argues; where democracy is conducted through images; art history has the capacity to become a political science.
#843175 in eBooks 2009-11-12 2009-11-12File Name: B002XGICDQ
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Book to have if you own a D3000By Henry A. SiarczynskiExcellent layout for learning the ins and outs of the D3000. Clear explanation of all functions and which are truely needed and which are more fiddly. Author doesnt get bogged down with tech-talk (though when its presented. she will warn you ahead of time). Great reference for any owner of this model of a Nikon.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Great for a beginner DSLR userBy B. DansbyHaving come from a point n shoot to DSLR. this book has been invaluable! It is easy to read and you can jump around if you want. The text. font. size. and pictures are also accessible and easy on the eyes.Yes. it is simple for dummies. but this is a complicated piece of photography. so it will go into some detail- but without losing you in the process. Youll get an education in photography as well as your camera.My camera would have been almost useless without this purchase!1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Susan OBrienEASY TO UNDERSTAND. I BOUGHT IT FOR MY GRANDSON.
