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The "Black Art": A Revolution in the History of Media
ISBN
978-3-8349-0913-8
Type
book section
Date Issued
2008
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Schmid, Beat
Abstract
«The Man of the Millennium»: In the year 1999, an American research group accorded Johannes Gutenberg this historical designation in recognition of his brilliant invention which paved the way for pioneering intellectual, political, and social changes in the centuries that followed. Ideas from the Renaissance, Humanism, and the Reformation that are still influential today, enduring perceptions of the individual and society, power and leadership, God and the world, new forms of literature and art, basic transformations in communications and media — thanks to Gutenberg our contemporary world is hardly conceivable without these cultural developments. These came about through the invention of printing with movable type, an invention that was elevated to the status of an «ars impressoria», the art of printing. This was based on the high respect accorded the creative genius behind the technical innovation, the admiration felt for the remarkable richness of his ideas, the historical reverence for a unique, individual achievement in a new era, and the amazement over the progress that was made in the production and distribution of printed works. This is still an ancient way of understanding things, namely, viewing art as a craft and attributing to it — something that is obvious with book printing a «reproductive» function in the literal sense of the word. Even the terms «black magician» and «black art» as applied to printers and their craft [1] — in analogy to black magic and its mysterious, magical tricks — still reflect a secret respect for the power and influence of the printing ink, but certainly also sympathy for the graphic trade.
Language
English
HSG Classification
not classified
Refereed
No
Book title
Kommunikationsmanagement im Wandel
Publisher
Gabler
Publisher place
Wiesbaden
Start page
69
End page
84
Pages
16
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
50718