by Peter Szendy (Author), Marco Roth (Translator)
A new, ecological approach to images by a renowned philosopher
When Susan Sontag first proposed the idea of an "ecology of images," she meant it as an exhortation to be vigilant against the vast surplus of pictures threatening our ability to truly see. Today, beyond the deep anxieties over a diminishing attention economy, concern focuses on the environmental cost of storing and circulating the digital images that confront us with unprecedented speed.
Against the disposable rapidity demanded by digital media, Peter Szendy emphasizes the labor and time required for images to develop and come into view. This inquisitive essay takes us from mimicry in the animal kingdom to the history of the shadow, Pliny's story about the birth of painting to Nabokov's butterflies, the first use of slo-mo in film to the first aerial photograph.
Author Biography
Peter Szendy is David Herlihy Professor of Humanities and Comparative Literature at Brown University. His many books include The Supermarket of the Visible; Hits: Philosophy in the Jukebox; Kant in the Land of the Extraterrestrials; and All Ears: The Aesthetics of Espionage.
Translator
Marco Roth is a cofounder of
n+1 and the author of
The Scientists: A Family Romance.
Number of Pages: 112
Dimensions: 0.3 x 8 x 4.9 IN
Publication Date: January 28, 2025
