Bodies Outside In: On Cinematic Organ Projection

Valiaho, Pasi. 2008. Bodies Outside In: On Cinematic Organ Projection. Parallax, 14(2), pp. 7-19. ISSN 1353-4645 [Article]

This is the latest version of this item.

[img] Text
bodies_outside_in_valiaho.pdf - Published Version
Permissions: GRO Registered Users Only

Download (220kB)

Abstract or Description

In his Grundlinien einer Philosophie der Technik from 1877, Ernst Kapp articulates one of the first modern philosophical approaches to technology and its role in human history. According to Kapp's view, which can be characterized in materialist and even 'territorial' terms (referring to the ways in which technology participates in the creation of both biological and cultural space-times), fundamental to technology is its character as modulation of the human corporeal apparatus. For Kapp, technology reproduces, extends and augments bodily functions and organs. A key concept in this respect is 'organ projection' (Projection der Organe/Organprojection). The concept signals the way in which our corporeal apparatus, the inside, becomes exteriorized in technical objects ranging from most elementary hammers to modern steam engines. These, Kapp postulates, operate as unconscious projections of the body, and it is through various kinds of technological projections of its gestures and organs that the human kind constantly models, replicates and recreates itself in the course of its evolution.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1080/13534640801990442

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Media, Communications and Cultural Studies

Dates:

DateEvent
April 2008Published

Item ID:

5798

Date Deposited:

19 Sep 2011 08:45

Last Modified:

29 Apr 2020 15:30

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/5798

Available Versions of this Item

View statistics for this item...

Edit Record Edit Record (login required)