Timeline

1970-Software--Information Technology. This was an exhibit organized by Jack Burnham which featured the work of Ted Nelson, The Architecture Machine Group, John Baldessari, Vito Acconci, Hans, Haacke, and Joseph Kosuth among others. This exhibition was the first which called upon visitors to operate computers. There were also many technical difficulties which many experienced for the first time though they remain commonplace today.

1970-Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1929-present). German writer and poet, he wrote "Constituents of a Theory of the Media" which deals with New Left Socialism and refers to the media as "the Consciousness Industry."

1972-Jean Baudrillard (1929-present). French cultural theorist, philosopher, sociologist, etc. etc. Champion of post-modern thought. His essay "Requiem for the Media" is a response to Enzensberger's 1970 writing which Baudrillard opposes.

1972-Raymond Williams (1921-1988). Welsh, Marxist academic/novelist. His essay "The Technology and the Society" criticized television's role in society and intruduced the concept of flow (organizing principle of television.)

1974-Ted Nelson's Computer Lib/Dream Machines. This was "the most important book in the history of new media, because it accurately predicted the arrival of the personal computer as we know it.



Reaction:

I can't tell the difference between Enzensberger and Baudrillard. I have no idea what they're talking about and that's why I can't really explain their two schools of thought. My history of media class has taught me that it takes an average of 300-500 years to find the most effective use for any new medium, so how could anyone possibly understand the uses and effects of media that were barely 20 years old at the time?

The software-info tech exhibit made me laugh just because of all the technical difficulties. It's like that story from the history of the internet where one of the programmers was trying to demonstrate the new network to IBM for the first time and the whole system crashed. New things are already under closer scrutiny and people are quick to criticize, no one will excuse you if you haven't worked all the bugs out. When I think about the exhibits we saw at the galleries in chelsea though, it's apparent how far we've come.