Searching for stillness in the flux of the electric world: vorticular media theory from Wyndham Lewis to Marshall McLuhan
Searching for stillness in the flux of the electric world: vorticular media theory from Wyndham Lewis to Marshall McLuhan
Exploring the philosophical influence exercised by the works of Wyndham Lewis over Marshall McLuhan, this article contends that these two figures both sought to capture a momentary stillness through the figure of the vortex, first established in Lewis’s early contributions to the Vorticist art movement, a stillness that necessarily endures within the tumult of a world of electric media. What Lewis hoped to achieve through painting, McLuhan sought likewise in the study of media, foregrounding the need to identify what remains fixed within the seemingly ever-accelerating tempo of modern life, viewing this task as crucial for resisting the determinative powers of media technologies.
media theory, acceleration, art, speed, time, Vorticism, Marshall McLuhan, Wyndham Lewis
7-22
Sutherland, Thomas
a9a8e23c-232e-47ca-9be6-abeac690bfb2
1 March 2018
Sutherland, Thomas
a9a8e23c-232e-47ca-9be6-abeac690bfb2
Sutherland, Thomas
(2018)
Searching for stillness in the flux of the electric world: vorticular media theory from Wyndham Lewis to Marshall McLuhan.
Explorations in Media Ecology, 17 (1), .
(doi:10.1386/eme.17.1.7_1).
Abstract
Exploring the philosophical influence exercised by the works of Wyndham Lewis over Marshall McLuhan, this article contends that these two figures both sought to capture a momentary stillness through the figure of the vortex, first established in Lewis’s early contributions to the Vorticist art movement, a stillness that necessarily endures within the tumult of a world of electric media. What Lewis hoped to achieve through painting, McLuhan sought likewise in the study of media, foregrounding the need to identify what remains fixed within the seemingly ever-accelerating tempo of modern life, viewing this task as crucial for resisting the determinative powers of media technologies.
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sutherland_searching
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Accepted/In Press date: 14 August 2017
Published date: 1 March 2018
Keywords:
media theory, acceleration, art, speed, time, Vorticism, Marshall McLuhan, Wyndham Lewis
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Local EPrints ID: 494959
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/494959
ISSN: 1539-7785
PURE UUID: a770fd84-0622-454b-9834-4577d6be8ad2
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Date deposited: 24 Oct 2024 16:37
Last modified: 25 Oct 2024 02:08
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Author:
Thomas Sutherland
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