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Forerunners of media art in the first half of the twentieth century

icon: authorDieter Daniels

The mutual influences between media and art have started long before the popularization of television. There were technical and conceptual forerunners of media art in the early twentieth century,and there was radio which almost exploded into being in the 1920s -all of this shows the power wielded by these distribution and production instruments. This text unfolds the panorama of the forerunners and early utopias that were linked to the rise of mass media. At the same time, it serves as a historical introduction into the topical field of media art. [more]more

Text Sections
icon: heading Media replace art—art responds to mediaicon: heading Why do artists use media?icon: heading Forerunners of media articon: heading Manifestos and utopiasicon: heading From utopia to practiceicon: heading From the 1920s to the 1960sicon: heading Politicization and propaganda in the 1930sicon: heading The ideologization of utopiaicon: heading A fresh start from 1950 onwardsicon: heading The utopian-emphatic strategy: Lucio Fontana and televisionicon: heading The receptive-analytical strategy: John Cage and radioicon: heading The critical-destructive strategy: Guy Debord and filmicon: heading Three media, three strategies