In the Realm of the Circuit by Charles H. TRAUB
and Jonathan LIPKIN
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Press Release
In The Realm of the Circuit: Computers, Art, and Culture
By Charles H. Traub and Jonathan Lipkin
400 pages, 950 Illustrations, four-color, 8.5"x11"
ISBN: 0-13-093674-X
Publication Date: 3/15/2003

In the Realm of the Circuit is an introduction to the aesthetic and historical precedents of the new electronic media's multi-faceted human dialog. It fills the need for a text in graduate and undergraduate courses in computer art and creativity, history of art and graphic design as well as any course which engages new media. It tells the story of how technology has always been integrally connected to human expression and gives students the tools to connect technological practice to cultural heritage. The intrinsic links between art, technology and the humanities are examined, especially with regard to how they are shaped and how they shape each other.

This profusely and imaginatively illustrated volume draws on art, artifacts, icons and annotations from ancient civilization to the present, to illustrate the 21st century's drive to the current possibilities of the computer. This volume allows students, scholars, and creative individuals to place today's sometimes daunting technological achievements in a humanist framework. Cultural literacy is necessary for those who may be blindly practicing within the realm of the circuit but who do not consider the need in their work for values rooted in the longstanding evolution of art, design, music and literature. As an introductory text, In the Realm of the Circuit establishes a tenor for classroom discussion around specific ideas, such as the cathedral of Notre Dame, or the African griot, as sites of multimedia practice which establish the foundations for today's digital culture.

A new generation of digitally-saavy students needs a cultural primer in order to engage the now ubiquitous multimedia possibilities of the computer. The inter-disciplinary and intercultural nature of this text suggests that multimedia is the platform for bringing together students' own diverse backgrounds.

  • Establishes that creativity is a process of conveying meaning through metaphor
  • Establishes the relation of all the arts - music, theater, visual arts, literature and so forth - to digital media
  • Glossary, biographies, chronologies, recommended reading list, with a companion website make this an essential reference book
  • Boxed inserts provide clear discussion of key concepts
  • "Interludes" chronicle the key communication technologies
  • A readable and entertaining text of interest to anyone interested in the relationship between technology and culture.
    Appropriate for courses in Art, culture and technology.

    Charles H. Traub is chair of MFA Photography and Related Media at the School of Visual Arts where he pioneered the integration of digital technology into the curriculum. He is co-founder of Here is New York and a widely published and exhibited photographer.

    Jonathan Lipkin is associate professor of digital media at Ramapo College and on the graduate faculty of the School of Visual Arts. He has been widely published as a writer and photographer.
    • This site ©2003 Charles H. Traub and Jonathan Lipkin. Maintained by webmaster@intherealmofthecircuit.com.
    Rheingold, Howard :: Dewey Decimal System :: Ohn, Kazuo :: Legible City :: TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse) :: Giotto :: Alberti, Leone :: Kennedy, Jacqueline :: van der Rohe, Ludwig Mies :: Allen, Paul :: Gnutella :: Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement (SSM) :: Kotok, Alan :: Swastika :: Zoopraxiscope :: Kaleidoscope :: Universal Iconographic Repertory :: Wells, Orson :: Gnutella :: Tinguely, Jean ::