The Society of the Screen

“Martha Schwendener was the coolest head to make the rounds doing studio visits when I was a grad student at NYU. A Michigan girl and former touring musician, she now writes art criticism for the NYT, and just published THE book on Flusser after a decade of research. Can’t wait to dive in: Predicting the importance of technology and images for the twenty-first century as early as the 1970s, Vilém Flusser warned, “the basic structure of our thinking is about to experience a mutation.” The bewitching images and screens that surround us could lead toward a centrally programmed, totalitarian society—or to another, better one characterized by dialogue and collaboration among humans and new forms of intelligence. In this book on the idiosyncratic and prescient Czech-Brazilian philosopher, Martha Schwendener explores the profound effect of art on Flusser’s thought. The Society of the Screen reveals how Flusser’s lifelong engagement with experimental practices—from abstract painting and concrete poetry in Brazil to video, cybernetics, and photography in Europe and the United States—as well as his extensive involvement with the São Paulo Biennial informed his belief that we were moving from “history”—a civilization informed by linear writing—into “post-history,” dominated by technical images.”