High Techne by Rl Rutsky

High Techne by Rl Rutsky

Explores our changing cultural perceptions of the relations between technology and art. In an age of high tech, our experience of technology has changed tremendously, yet the definition of technology has remained largely unquestioned. High Techne redresses this gap in thinking about technology, examining the shifting relations of technology, art, and culture from the beginnings of modernity to contemporary technocultures. Drawing on the Greek root of technology, (techne, generally translated as “art, skill, or craft”), R. L. Rutsky challenges both the modernist notion of technology as an instrument or tool and the conventional idea of a noninstrumental aesthetics. Today, technology and aesthetics have again begun to come together: even basketball shoes are said to exhibit a “high-tech style” and the most advanced technology is called “state of the art.” Rutsky charts the history and vicissitudes of this new high-tech techne up to our day-from Fritz Lang to Octavia Butler, Thomas Edison to Japanese Anime, constructivism to cyberspace. Progressing from the major art movements of modernism to contemporary science fiction and cultural theory, Rutsky provides clear and compelling evidence of a shift in the cultural conceptions of technology and art and demonstrates the centrality of technology to modernism and postmodernism.

R. L. Rutsky is assistant professor of communications and theatre at the University of Notre Dame.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780816633562
ISBN 10	0816633568
Title	High Techne
Author	Rl Rutsky
Series	Electronic Mediations
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	University of Minnesota Press
Year published	1999-12-15
Number of pages	208
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.