The Museum of Light and the Epoch of Disappearance
The bleak announcement to Paul Virilio’s La vitesse de libération [Open Sky, 1997] forecasts a final dawn: “one day the day will come when the day won’t come” (1997: iii). The motif of the dawn in Virilio’s writing brings his focus to bear on the phenomena of rapid transport and electronic transmis...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Simon Dawes, Centre d’histoire culturelle des sociétés contemporaines (CHCSC), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)
2019-12-01
|
| Series: | Media Theory |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journalcontent.mediatheoryjournal.org/index.php/mt/article/view/967 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849317590786113536 |
|---|---|
| author | John W.P. Phillips |
| author_facet | John W.P. Phillips |
| author_sort | John W.P. Phillips |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
The bleak announcement to Paul Virilio’s La vitesse de libération [Open Sky, 1997] forecasts a final dawn: “one day the day will come when the day won’t come” (1997: iii). The motif of the dawn in Virilio’s writing brings his focus to bear on the phenomena of rapid transport and electronic transmission technologies as they come to reproduce and in principle to replace the spatial and temporal environment of bodies illuminated by solar optics. In this article, I raise a question concerning the experiential sphere of morality, consciousness and community in Virilio’s explanation of an epoch increasingly dominated by these technologies. If Virilio is correct, we are in a transition towards the final epoch of humanity, governed by a quasi-theological media environment, and characterised by an experience of disappearance that was entirely novel to the twentieth century. The article assesses Virilio’s account of the paradoxical emergence from the ruins of the urban architecture of a city characterised by the phenomena of disappearance and substitution: a city that functions as the museum of the phenomena it supplants.
|
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-78f8821b30f94a5eaf1b74f1bef35b2b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2557-826X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | Simon Dawes, Centre d’histoire culturelle des sociétés contemporaines (CHCSC), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Media Theory |
| spelling | doaj-art-78f8821b30f94a5eaf1b74f1bef35b2b2025-08-20T03:51:09ZengSimon Dawes, Centre d’histoire culturelle des sociétés contemporaines (CHCSC), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)Media Theory2557-826X2019-12-013210.70064/mt.v3i2.967The Museum of Light and the Epoch of DisappearanceJohn W.P. Phillips The bleak announcement to Paul Virilio’s La vitesse de libération [Open Sky, 1997] forecasts a final dawn: “one day the day will come when the day won’t come” (1997: iii). The motif of the dawn in Virilio’s writing brings his focus to bear on the phenomena of rapid transport and electronic transmission technologies as they come to reproduce and in principle to replace the spatial and temporal environment of bodies illuminated by solar optics. In this article, I raise a question concerning the experiential sphere of morality, consciousness and community in Virilio’s explanation of an epoch increasingly dominated by these technologies. If Virilio is correct, we are in a transition towards the final epoch of humanity, governed by a quasi-theological media environment, and characterised by an experience of disappearance that was entirely novel to the twentieth century. The article assesses Virilio’s account of the paradoxical emergence from the ruins of the urban architecture of a city characterised by the phenomena of disappearance and substitution: a city that functions as the museum of the phenomena it supplants. https://journalcontent.mediatheoryjournal.org/index.php/mt/article/view/967Dawndisappearancelightaccidenttimetransport |
| spellingShingle | John W.P. Phillips The Museum of Light and the Epoch of Disappearance Media Theory Dawn disappearance light accident time transport |
| title | The Museum of Light and the Epoch of Disappearance |
| title_full | The Museum of Light and the Epoch of Disappearance |
| title_fullStr | The Museum of Light and the Epoch of Disappearance |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Museum of Light and the Epoch of Disappearance |
| title_short | The Museum of Light and the Epoch of Disappearance |
| title_sort | museum of light and the epoch of disappearance |
| topic | Dawn disappearance light accident time transport |
| url | https://journalcontent.mediatheoryjournal.org/index.php/mt/article/view/967 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT johnwpphillips themuseumoflightandtheepochofdisappearance AT johnwpphillips museumoflightandtheepochofdisappearance |