Acknowledgments

It is a daunting charge to attempt to thank adequately all of the people who, in ways both small and monumental, helped me to write this book. Miwon Kwon deserves special recognition for nurturing this project in its nascent stages, and Jennifer Marshall and Chon Noriega share the distinction of being my most stalwart advocates and critics throughout the writing process. I am especially grateful for a series of timely and productive exchanges with Mike Aronson, Eric de Bruyn, Cindy Colburn, Mary Francis, Anne Friedberg, Colin Gardner, Ray Guins, Amelie Hastie, Kate Hayles, Erkki Huhtamo, David Joselit, Kathleen Karlyn, Liz Kotz, Samantha Lackey, Kent Minturn, Priscilla Ovalle, Judith Rodenbeck, Andy Schulz, Carol Stabile, Tamara Trodd, Sherry Turkle, Andrew Uroskie, Tony Vidler, and Michele White. Audiences at UCLA, UC Berkeley, the New American Art Union, Pepperdine University, and Stanford University offered insightful advice when I presented aspects of this project, as did the editorial boards at Art Journal and Vectors. My colleagues in the “Object of Media Studies” residential research group at the University of California Humanities Research Institute were inspiring interlocutors at a pivotal point in my research, and I am grateful for our continued collaboration. My many friends and colleagues at the University of Oregon have made my job a pleasure since I joined the faculty in 2005; at the risk of sounding clichéd, I couldn’t have asked for a more welcoming or collegial group. I owe special thanks to Dean Frances Bronet and art history department chairs Sherwin Simmons and Charles Lachman for helping me to secure the institutional resources that allowed me to complete the final phases of the project. I am also grateful for the intellectual stimulation and ready humor of my students. Among them, Dana Spencer has been an indefatigable research assistant in the arduous task of securing images and permissions, and Kim Hong graciously assisted with the final stages of the manuscript preparation.

The research and writing for this project have been supported by generous grants and fellowships from the University of California Humanities Research Institute, the Oregon Humanities Center (thanks especially to Barbara Altmann, Julia Heydon, and Steven Shankman), and the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts. I would also like to acknowledge Liska Chan, Don Metz, Steina and Woody Vasulka, Anthology Film Archives, Artists Rights Society, the Generali Foundation, and the ZKM | Center for Art and Media for assisting me with images and for allowing me access to important archives. I am indebted to Günther Selichar for granting permission to reproduce his artwork on the book’s cover. Additional thanks are due my editor, Doug Armato, and series editors Katherine Hayles, Samuel Weber, and Mark Poster; their collective enthusiasm and encouragement have been invaluable. Editorial assistant Danielle Kasprzak, copy editors Nancy Sauro and Michele Hodgson, and the entire staff at the University of Minnesota Press worked diligently and attentively at every stage of the book’s production, for which I am grateful. Finally, I’d like to thank the artists whose work inspired this book: it has been a delight to spend so much time in the company of their thought-provoking creations. The book’s epigraph is for them.

My deepest gratitude is reserved for my family. Relatives on both sides of the Atlantic patiently listened to my ruminations about art and everything else with a combination of sincere appreciation and affable jesting when I needed them most. My parents have walked beside me in innumerable endeavors, lending their support and boundless optimism in myriad ways. Their resilience in the face of intolerable loss and grief continues to inspire me. I owe a special thanks to Oliver for the joy he brings me every day (spontaneous poetry included). Last, I would like to thank Andrea. He, above everyone else, has made every step of the journey a celebration.