Silvia Bertolotti

Digital Demagogue. Authoritarian Capitalism in the Age of Trump and Twitter

Silvia Bertolotti

In his latest work, Digital Demagogue. Authoritarian Capitalism in the Age of Trump and Twitter, published by Pluto Press, Christian Fuchs - critical theorist of communication and society, as well as Professor at the University of Westminster - provides an excellent critical analysis of the current US President, Donald Trump, his social media strategy and the raise of right-wing authoritarianism within the social media era.... READ MORE...

Future Gaming: creative interventions in Video Game Culture

Silvia Bertolotti

This text is part of the Goldsmiths Press/MIT Press Future Media series, encouraging authors to offer a relatively short, sharp intervention in response to actual or potential short-term, utilitarian and instrumentalist thinking about a particular scenario or performance of media and technological futurism.... READ MORE...

Machine Art In The Twentieth Century: interview with Andreas Broeckmann

Silvia Bertolotti

Starting from the assumption that machine art is not an artistic genre or category, but rather a “discursive formation”, in “Machine Art in the Twentieth Century” Andreas Broeckmann examines artworks from the twentieth and early twenty-first century in the light of new technologies developments, leading to a deeper investigation about the complex and articulate human-machine engagement.... READ MORE...

ArtArticlesBooks

Across & Beyond: Post-digital Practices, Concepts, and Institutions

Silvia Bertolotti

This collection of essays has been conceived and developed by Transmediale festival in Berlin in occasion of its 30th anniversary, and gathers contributions and essays by international theorists and media artists to provide the audience with a critical approach to the so called "post-digital landscape" also representing a further theoretical exploration of themes reflected in the last festival edition.... READ MORE...

The Handbook of Visual Culture

Silvia Bertolotti

The Handbook of Visual Culture is now available in paperback format, edited by Bloomsbury Publishing. It includes several contributions by scholars and professionals challenging the vitality and complexity of visual culture research with a cross-disciplinary approach and a special interest in cyber and digital culture.... READ MORE...

Once Upon an Algorithm: How Stories Explain Computing, by Martin Erwig

Silvia Bertolotti

Martin Erwig is Professor of Computer Science in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Oregon State University. In his recent text, “Once upon an Algorithm”, published for MIT Press, the author proposes an innovative and original approach for introducing computational thinking concepts to general public, while going beyond the strict technical domain.... READ MORE...

Sirens: an audio-visual project by Novi_Sad and Ryoichi Kurokawa

Silvia Bertolotti

Sirens, originally an audio-visual project by Novi_sad and Ryoichi Kurokawa, has taken now the form of a publication, including an audio CD and a Book, released in 2016 for Sub Rosa (BE) and s[edition] (U.K.). The original audio-visual performance - where Kurokawa’s visuals meet the audio work of Kaproulias - took place in 2009, at different festival and venues around the world.... READ MORE...

The age of Electroacustics. Transforming Science and Sound

Silvia Bertolotti

In his book "The age of Electroacustics", published by MIT Press, Roland Wittje traces the history of acoustics during the interwar period, leading an enquiry theoretically grounded in the physics and its transformation into the so called ‘technical acoustics’ or electroacoustic.... READ MORE...

@ is for Activism: Dissent, Resistance and Rebellion in a Digital Culture. Joss Hands, Pluto Press

Silvia Bertolotti

@ is for Activism, published by Pluto Press represents a remarkable and valuable contribution to media, communication and politics studies, The author, Joss Hands, is Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at the Newcastle University and with this text he provides a critical overview about the reshaping of the political landscape by new media and digital communication tools through a multidisciplinary approach.... READ MORE...

Machine Learning by Ethem Alpaydin, MIT Press, 2016

Silvia Bertolotti

“Machine Learning” has been released in November 2016 and written by Ethem Alpaydin. The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers concise, accessible overviews of compelling topics. Written by leading thinkers, the volumes provide expert syntheses of subjects ranging from the cultural and historical to the scientific and technical, “synthesising specialised subject matter for non-specialists”.... READ MORE...

Network Aesthetics by Patrick Jagoda. Chicago University Press, 2016

Silvia Bertolotti

In this sense, the text Network Aesthetics, represents a truly valuable contribution to the field of media theory and cultural – but also American - studies, in the effort to understand the role of interconnection structures in contemporary culture and to showing how networks might have also a strong aesthetical connotation, encompassing in particular contemporary artistic productions, like television series, movies and games productions.... READ MORE...

Artificial Darkness: an obscure history of Modern Art and Media

Silvia Bertolotti

Noam Elcott, an associate professor of art history and archaeology at Columbia University, recently released this new book for MIT press: Artificial Darkness which is an original and pioneering study about artificial darkness, meaning technology controlled darkness, in other words an investigation about the role of “black screens” in shaping arts and media practices from the 19th century onwards.... READ MORE...

Rogue Archives by Abigail De Kosnik, MIT Press

Silvia Bertolotti

One of the most recent releases by MIT Press, “Rogue Archives”, just came out last October. The author, Abigail De Kosnik, is currently Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley with a joint appointment in the Berkeley center for New Media Center of theater, dance and performances studies.... READ MORE...

A Prehistory of the Cloud by Tung-Hui Hu. MIT Press, 2016

Silvia Bertolotti

Tung-Hui Hu is a former network engineer and current professor at University of Michigan. In his book A Prehistory of the Cloud, published by MIT Press in September 2015 he examines the gap between the real and the virtual in our idea of the cloud. A system of networks that enables multiple users to share the same pool of computer power... READ MORE...

When Digital Innovation meets Industry: the iMinds’ model

Silvia Bertolotti

iMinds is a Flemish non-profit organization, that drive digital innovation for society and economy, through strategic and applied research on key digital technologies. Offering to people and organizations active support in research and business development, and also encourages tech entrepreneurs to bring their smart innovations to life... READ MORE...

Digital Social Innovation in the heart of Europe

Silvia Bertolotti

In the last decades, digital technologies and Internet have massively shaped social innovation. The new challenge for the social sector is nowadays to find a... READ MORE...

Immersive storytelling between gaming and narrative: interview with Andy Campbell

Silvia Bertolotti

Storytelling is getting more immersive and participative, in the sense that audience is engaged in a more interactive way and the environment is evolving into a more complex transmedia scenario. Perfect examples of this new immersive narrative form are the most recent works of Andy Campbell... READ MORE...

The visual dimension of a text: interview with Visual Editions

Silvia Bertolotti

Visual Editions is a book publisher based in London founded in 2010. It has co-founded and directed by Anna Gerber and Britt Iversen. They focus on visual storytelling and they produce books based on the idea of “visual writing”.... READ MORE...

Silvia Bertolotti

Writer and Curator

Silvia Bertolotti is a Brussels based free-lance writer.. With a MA in Philosophy and a Master in Arts and Cultural Management, she is currently a PHD Candidate in Media and Communications Studies. She's also a professional in the ICT field, currently working in the cybersecurity sector. Areas of special interest to Silvia are beside electronic literature and writing, web culture and digital arts, computer mediated communications, new media studies and cybersecurity.