If you’re in Sydney next Wednesday and you’re interested in the history of new media technologies in relation to cities, space or place, try to get along to hear Scott McQuire talk about his current research:

Public Space in the Media City

University of New South Wales Media, Film and Theatre Seminars
5pm, Wednesday 26 October 2005
Robert Webster building, Room 327

Scott McQuire’s research explores the social effects of media technologies, with particular attention to their impact on the social relations of space and time, and the formation of identity. He is currently writing a book, The Media City, that traces the way in which cities have become increasingly media-dense environments, transforming previous conceptions of public and private space. What happens to the place we call ‘home’ when the transnational networks of both embedded and mobile media have become ubiquitous? How do they reconstruct public urban space as more interactive and performative?

Scott McQuire teaches in the Media and Communication Program at the University of Melbourne. Among his books are Crossing the Digital Threshold (1997), Visions of Modernity (1998), The Look of Love (with Peter Lyssiotis, ,1998), Maximum Vision (1999) and Empires, Ruins + Networks: The Transcultural Agenda in Art (ed. with Nikos Papastergiadis, 2005).

I also highly recommend Scott’s book Visions of Modernity to anyone interested in the cultural history of photography and visual technologies.