Reading Now | Snap to Grid
by Peter Lunenfeld
"In Snap to Grid, an idiosyncratic guide to the interactive telematic era, Peter Lunenfeld maps out the trajectories that digital technologies have traced upon our cultural imaginary. His clear-eyed evaluation of new media includes an impassioned discussion - informed by the discourses of technology, aesthetics, and cultural theory - of the digital artists, designers, and makers who matter most."
from Snap to Grid bookcover
"Snap to Grid: A User’s Guide to Digital Arts, Media & Cultures (MIT, 2000) was adopted as a model of how to meld disciplinary rigor with detailed attention to individual works and makers, and was covered in venues as diverse as Italy’s Flash Art and Britain’s New Scientist, the latter concluding its featured review by saying that artists working with digital technologies 'now have their bible, their Stones of Venice, their Ways of Seeing.' "
from Peter Lunenfeld's bio at peterlunenfeld.com
I first encountered Lunenfeld's work...in a course on Visual Culture, an experience that has forever affected the way I "see" and understand seeing - physically, perceptively, philosophically, relatively. Required reading included his book USER: InfoTechnoDemo, the only academic text I've ever actually been tempted by. USER stood out next to the 1,000 page hardbound books weighing down the shelves on either side. Small, paperbound, stocked with electric graphics, and bold text. A pocket sized academicomic. USER was like shiny candy still wrapped and I quickly found its language as one I had never tasted before. I liked it, in a techno-sugar rush kind of way.
The collection of essays explores topics ranging from video games and book design to "techno-masturbation," The Matrix, and life extension diets. Connecting all of these, Lunenfeld encourages us to see the future beyond our "permanent present," which he describes as the fixation of visual culture. While Snap to Grid was published before USER and includes more text than I have the attention for, I am anxious to read what Lunenfeld shows us about Digital Arts/Media/Culture. (http://www.amazon.com/User-InfoTechnoDemo-Mediawork-Peter-Lunenfeld/dp/0262621983/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203723936&sr=8-6).