Munster

Anna Munster's project in Materializing New Media is to reframe the history/reception of digital culture away from Cartesian notions, and to suggest a new way of understanding it. She introduces the term "baroque" to do so; the baroque, as I understand it, orders the chaos of digital spaces. For Munster, the central question is how to make meaning in digital cultures; throughout the chapters, she returns to questions of borders and fluid exchanges across them.

Munster makes fewer assumptions about her audience than Hansen, I'd say, though she does presume that her audience is somewhat familiar with certain concepts and the ways that they have been discussed in the past. She also assumes that her audience has an interest in digital culture, aesthetics, and recognizes the importance of an aesthetic theory in a time of digitality. Finally, I would say that Munster assumes her audience is interested in, and supportive of, a "world without borders"; and understands that as an important part of the future of global relations.

For me, the most intriguing part of the book would be Ch. 2, which we didn't read. As I glanced through it, it might have laid out (for me, at least), some key components or examples of what she was discussing.

While a bit more difficult than Hansen, I somehow found myself understanding Munster better -- though I still was not able to fully articulate what she means by "baroque" and "folding." I felt that these were similar terms to what Ulmer calls 'felt' -- but I'm not sure. So, I'd like to talk about these in more detail, if possible.

I also noticed that at times Munster alludes to (very indirectly) some filmmakers who take up similar questions. In Ch. 3, when she discusses the military technology, I couldn't help but think of Harun Farocki's work and Paul Virilio's scholarship. What, then, do films/visual technologies contribute to her theory? Can film -- rather, certain kinds of film -- be useful in her project?