Vilém Flusser

Hito Steyerl’s “The Wretched of the Screen”: A Political Economy of the Platform Age

Hito Steyerl's The Wretched of the Screen is a political economy of the platform image. This analysis breaks down its 4 core concepts: 1) The "poor image," which gains speed and accessibility by losing resolution; 2) The shift from a horizontal to a "vertical gaze" (drones, satellites); 3) "Circulation as production," where tagging and ranking are the political sites; 4) The governance of visibility by algorithms. A key text for critiquing platform capitalism.

2025.11.05

kiji

Lev Manovich’s “The Language of New Media”: The Underlying Grammar of Digital Culture

Lev Manovich's The Language of New Media (2001) is the foundational text for digital culture. This analysis breaks down its 4 core concepts: 1) The five principles of new media (Numerical Representation, Modularity, Automation, Variability, Transcoding); 2) The tension between "database" and "narrative" logic; 3) The "cultural interface" as a designer of perception; 4) The "software-ization" of media, leading to post-photography. A key tool for understanding algorithms and platforms.

2025.11.05

kiji

Vilém Flusser’s “Towards a Philosophy of Photography”: An Analysis of Apparatus and Program

Vilém Flusser's Towards a Philosophy of Photography is a foundational media philosophy. This analysis breaks down its 4 core concepts: 1) The "technical image" as a projection of concepts, not a reflection of reality; 2) The camera as an "apparatus" and the photographer as a "functionary" playing within its "program"; 3) Creativity as "playing against" the program to generate new information; 4) The politics of the post-alphabetical world, where power lies in the code and distribution.

2025.11.05

kiji