Alan N. Shapiro, Hypermodernism, Hyperreality, Posthumanism

Blog and project archive about media theory, science fiction theory, and creative coding

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Radical skepticism and the logic of Shakespeare’s artistry, by Robert Schneider

February 12th, 2012 in the categories: English Literature

Robert Schneider is the author of a book-length reinterpretation of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" called "Shylock, The Roman" (Pulpless.com, 2001). I find this book to be the basis for investigating the relationship between Shakespeare and Star Trek as twin canonical texts of "Western Civ."
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The Best of All Possible Worlds: Modal Metaphysics and Possibilia, by James Shapiro

February 11th, 2012 in the categories: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

A brilliant and highly productive intellectual whose work spanned over many fields—mathematics, geometry, physics, etc., in addition to his philosophical contributions—Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz remains best known for his rather unique version of “theodicy.”
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Media theory: beyond the dualities of form and content, critical and enthusiastic, real and fake, by Alan N. Shapiro

February 4th, 2012 in the categories: Media Studies

On January 26, 2012, I gave a lecture in the Speakers' Series of the Centre for the Study of Theory, Culture and Politics at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
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Introduction to Polona Tratnik, by Anja Wiesinger

January 12th, 2012 in the categories: The Illusion Beyond Art

Being a signifier for health, fruition, and beauty, hair also fulfills an aesthetic function. It is a medium with tactile qualities, associated with intimacy on the one hand, and with the abject on the other hand.
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From The Technological Herbarium, by Gianna Maria Gatti: Artworks of Nicola Toffolini (translated by Alan N. Shapiro)

December 9th, 2011 in the categories: The Illusion Beyond Art

Nicola Toffolini works on the nature-technology marriage by elaborating singular ecosystems enclosed in glass and aluminium cases of marked formal elegance. Inside plants have been placed which, in order to live, depend on sophisticated electronic mechanisms, which visitors operate from the outside interactively.
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Impressionist Paintings by Florence Morrison, Installment 3

December 8th, 2011 in the categories: Painting

Moving Shadow (1968), Black and White Pondside (1966), Maritime Artefacts (1964)
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Anticipating the Future through Knowledge of the Fiction in Social Reality, by Alan N. Shapiro

November 17th, 2011 in the categories: Future Design

I was the keynote speaker at the conference on "Das Wissen der Zukunft" ("Knowledge of the Future") that took place at the University of Vienna on November 4-5, 2011. These are the lecture notes for my speech.
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Alan N. Shapiro interviewed by Mattia Nicoletti

November 16th, 2011 in the categories: Uncategorized

On November 3, 2011, Alan N. Shapiro was interviewed by the Italian journalist Mattia Nicoletti for the Milanese daily newspaper "Il Metro Quotidiano." This is the English version of the interview that appeared in Italian.
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Alan N. Shapiro interviewed by Erik Aru

October 19th, 2011 in the categories: Uncategorized

This interview appeared in October 2011 in the Estonian print magazine "HEI: Hea Eesti Idee", an EU publication known as "Estonia's biggest innovation magazine." I think that this and Ingrid Peek's radio interview are my two best interviews thus far.
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The Jig She Saw: Reflections on Creating Relational Encounters in Participatory Theatre, by Regan O’Brien

October 15th, 2011 in the categories: Performance Studies

In this essay, I will be reflecting on the theories and practice which took place in the process of creating and performing "The Jig She Saw: Reflections on You," a small scale immersive, interactive performance installation. The project is rooted in Relational Aesthetics and in social choreography.
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Julian, California: The Museum of Reality

July 1st, 2011 in the categories: New American Studies

After seeing one town after the next that looks the same, after seeing all of this cloned hyper-non-reality, it was good to finally arrive in Julian, California, where the local HISTORICAL SOCIETY has preserved everything just as it was exactly 117 years ago.
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On the trail of Jean Baudrillard and Slavoj Žižek in the American Desert

June 30th, 2011 in the categories: Jean Baudrillard, Slavoj Žižek

In Baudrillard’s "America", the secret heart of reversibility is captured in the imaginary of the desert. The desert is The Other America, the quintessential strange attractor, the counterpoint to the system.
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General Patton Memorial Museum

June 30th, 2011 in the categories: Museum of the Future, War & Peace

I felt that the General Patton Memorial Museum, and especially the "Ed Hastey Military Vehicle Park" next to it, has some elements embodying the basic principle of the "Museum of the Future" as I conceive it.
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Authentic Existence in Heidegger’s “Being and Time”

June 23rd, 2011 in the categories: Martin Heidegger

In his essay on "Being and Time", my nephew James Shapiro argues (among other things) that Heidegger gives little content to or explanation of what he means by authentic being. My own reading of "Being and Time" is that Heidegger does indeed explain a lot what he means by authentic being or existence.
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On Heidegger’s “Being and Time”, by James Shapiro

June 23rd, 2011 in the categories: Martin Heidegger

Martin Heidegger’s "Being and Time" is a work primarily concerned with the explication and understanding of the specific brand of existence and consciousness that is unique to man—or perhaps stated more succinctly, what it means to be a human being. This unique human existence Heidegger calls Dasein.
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