Deleuze and the Map-Image: Aesthetics, Information, Code, and Digital Art

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The map, as it appears in Gilles Deleuzes writings, is a concept guiding the exploration of new territories, no matter how abstract. With the advent of new media and digital technologies, contemporary artists have imagined a panoply of new spaces that put Deleuzes concept to the test. Deleuzes concept of the map bridges the gap between the analog and the digital, information and representation, virtual and actual, canvas and screen and is therefore best suited for the contemporary artistic landscape. Deleuze and the Map-Image explores cartography from philosophical and aesthetic perspectives and argues that the concept of the map is a critical touchstone for contemporary multidisciplinary art. This book is an overview of Deleuzes cartographic thought read through the theories of Sloterdijk, Heidegger, and Virilio and the art criticism of Laura U. Marks, Carolyn L. Kane, and Alexander Galloway, shaping it into a critical tool through which to view the works of cutting edge artists such as Janice Kerbel and Hajra Waheed, who work with digital and analog art. After all, Deleuze did write that a map can be conceived as a work of art, and so herein art is critiqued through cartographic strategies.

Reviews

Deleuze and the Map-Image counts among the most exciting and provocative studies we have on Deleuze, art, and new media. Working with a panoply of artists and objects, Jakub Zbedik discerns in new modes of mediation, in digital aesthetics, and in posthuman theory a common and even pervasive cartographic imperative. * Tom Conley, Abbott Lawrence Lowell Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies and of Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University, USA *
Deleuze and the Map-Image: Aesthetics, Information, Code, and Digital Art gives a thorough analysis of Deleuzes conceptualization of mapping and its formative presence in digital aesthetics. Zdebik charts a path into a domain of contemporary art practice in which digital technologies and Deleuze's thinking operate in concert. Further, his theorization of the map-image provides a refreshing new avenue by which to reconsider the critical roots and philosophical importance of digital art. * Amanda Boetzkes, Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory, University of Guelph, Canada *

Author Bio

Jakub Zdebik received his PhD from the University of Western Ontario. He is Assistant Professor of Art History and Theory at the University of Ottawa, Canada. He is the author of Deleuze and the Diagram: Aesthetic Threads in Visual Organization (2012).