THE MEDIUM PICTURE
(forthcoming)
The ever-evolving ways that we interact with each other, our world, and our selves through technology is a topic as worn as the devices we clutch and carry everyday. How did we get here? Drawing from the disciplines of media ecology and media archaeology, as well as bringing fresh perspectives from subcultures of music and skateboarding, the book illuminates aspects of technological mediation that have been overlooked along the way. With a Foreword by Andrew McLuhan, The Medium Picture shows how immersion in unmoored technologies of connectivity finds us in a world of pure media and redefines who we are, how we are, and what we will be.
The Medium Picture is forthcoming.
Advanced Praise:
“If you want to understand the social, psychological, cultural effects of the media explosions of the past 50 years, The Medium Picture — thoughtful, comprehensive, and deep — is for you. Immersed in the contemporary digital culture he grew up with as a teenager, the Gen-X author is old enough to recall vinyl, punk, and zines — social media before TikTok and smartphones. The Medium Picture deftly illuminates the connections between post-punk music critique, the increasing virtualization of culture, the history of formal media theory, the liminal zones of analog vs digital, pop vs high culture, capitalism vs anarchy. The Medium Picture is the kind of book that makes you stop and think and scribble in the margins.”
— Howard Rheingold, author, Net Smart
“Through music, generational habits, pre- and post-internet cultures, and a multitude of ‘cognitive entanglements’, this book flows with grace across different scales of mediation and affect.”
— Jussi Parikka, author, A Geology of Media
“Imagine if Walter Benjamin had made it out of Spain, finally arrived in America, and got a BMX bike while listening to hip-hop. Roy Christopher is not only telling us how culture works, and why we love it, but also what we can do with it.”
— Etienne Turpin, co-founder, anexact office
“Roy Christopher has a gift for making a McLuhanesque argument. His work is well-written, well-argued, and timely.”
— John Oakes, co-founder, O/R Books
“Roy Christopher’s writing shows delightful erudition and an expansive command of both creative conjecture and the historical landscape.” — Brian H. Spitzberg, San Diego State University
“Brilliant, pathbreaking, palpable insights… Worthy of McLuhan.”
— Paul Levinson, author, New New Media
“This book looks wonderful!” — Laurie Anderson
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Andrew McLuhan
Preface
I. SEPARATION: Forking Paths.
1. Err Apparent
2. Audible Arrangements
3. Algorithm Nation
II. THRESHOLD: Walls, Windows, Doors.
4. Time of the Signs
5. The Surface Industry
6. A Message in a Bottleneck
III. CROSSING: The Human Patina.
7. Disguise the Limit
8. Location is Everywhere
9. Suture Self
