Friedrich Kittler
Encyclopedia
Friedrich A. Kittler was a literary scholar and a media theorist. His works relate to media
, technology
, and the military
.
in 1958, where from 1958 to 1963 he went to a natural sciences and modern languages Gymnasium
in Lahr
in the Black Forest
, and thereafter, until 1972, he studied German studies
, Romance
philology
and philosophy
at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg in Freiburg im Breisgau. During his studies, he was influenced by Jacques Lacan
's and Michel Foucault
's writings.
In 1976, Kittler received his doctorate in philosophy after a thesis on the poet Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
. Between 1976 and 1986 he worked as academic assistant at the university's Deutsches Seminar. In 1984, he earned his Habilitation
in the field of Modern German Literary History.
He had several stints as a Visiting Assistant Professor or Visiting Professor at universities in the United States
, such as the University of California, Berkeley
, the University of California, Santa Barbara
and Stanford University
.
From 1986 to 1990, he headed the DFG's
Literature and Media Analysis project in Kassel
and in 1987 he was appointed Professor of Modern German Studies at the Ruhr University
. In 1993 he was appointed to the chair for Media Aesthetics and History at the Humboldt University of Berlin
. Between 2005 and 2011 he was a professor at the European Graduate School
in Saas-Fee
, Switzerland
.
In 1993, Kittler was awarded the "Siemens Media Arts Prize" (Siemens-Medienkunstpreis) by ZKM Karlsruhe (Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, or "Centre for Art and Media Technology") for his research in the field of media theory.
He was recognized in 1996 as a Distinguished Scholar at Yale University
and in 1997 as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Columbia University
in New York
. Kittler was a member of the Hermann von Helmholtz Centre for Culture and the research group Bild Schrift Zahl ("Picture Writing Number") (DFG). He died in Berlin
. His last words were reportedly "Alle Apparate auschalten", which translates, referring to the machines which were keeping him alive, as "switch off all apparatuses".
that grew popular starting in the 1980s, new media
. Kittler's central project is to "prove to the human sciences [...] their technological-media a priori" (Hartmut Winkler
), or in his own words: "Driving the spirit out of the humanities", a title that he gave a work that he published in 1980.
Kittler sees an autonomy in technology and therefore disagrees with Marshall McLuhan
's reading of the media as "extensions of man": "Media are not pseudopods for extending the human body. They follow the logic of escalation that leaves a written history behind it. (Kittler in Geschichte der Kommunikationsmedien. In: Jörg Huber, Alois Martin Müller (publishers): Raum und Verfahren).
Consequently, he sees in writing literature, in writing programmes and in burning structures into silicon chip
s a complete continuum: "As we know and simply do not say, no human being writes anymore. [...] Today, human writing runs through inscriptions burnt into silicon
by electronic lithography [...]. The last historic act of writing may thus have been in the late seventies
when a team of Intel engineers [plotted] the hardware architecture
of their first integrated microprocessor
." (Kittler, Es gibt keine Software. In: ders.: Draculas Vermächtnis. Technische Schriften).
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, and the military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
.
Biography
Friedrich Adolf Kittler was born in 1943 in Rochlitz in Saxony. His family fled with him to West GermanyWest Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
in 1958, where from 1958 to 1963 he went to a natural sciences and modern languages Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Lahr
Lahr
Lahr is a city in western Baden-Württemberg, Germany, approximately 38 km north of Freiburg in Breisgau and 100 km south of Karlsruhe...
in the Black Forest
Black Forest
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
, and thereafter, until 1972, he studied German studies
German studies
German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents, and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German history, and German politics in addition to the...
, Romance
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg in Freiburg im Breisgau. During his studies, he was influenced by Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
's and Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
's writings.
In 1976, Kittler received his doctorate in philosophy after a thesis on the poet Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer was a Swiss poet and historical novelist, a master of realism chiefly remembered for stirring narrative ballads like "Die Füße im Feuer" .-Biography:...
. Between 1976 and 1986 he worked as academic assistant at the university's Deutsches Seminar. In 1984, he earned his Habilitation
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...
in the field of Modern German Literary History.
He had several stints as a Visiting Assistant Professor or Visiting Professor at universities in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, such as the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
From 1986 to 1990, he headed the DFG's
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...
Literature and Media Analysis project in Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
and in 1987 he was appointed Professor of Modern German Studies at the Ruhr University
Ruhr University
Ruhr University Bochum , located on the southern hills of central Ruhr area Bochum, was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany since World War II...
. In 1993 he was appointed to the chair for Media Aesthetics and History at the Humboldt University of Berlin
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
. Between 2005 and 2011 he was a professor at the European Graduate School
European Graduate School
The European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland is a privately funded graduate school founded by the non-profit European Foundation of Interdisciplinary Studies. Its German name is Europäische Universität für Interdisziplinäre Studien...
in Saas-Fee
Saas-Fee
Saas-Fee is the main village in the Saastal, or the Saas Valley, and is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
In 1993, Kittler was awarded the "Siemens Media Arts Prize" (Siemens-Medienkunstpreis) by ZKM Karlsruhe (Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, or "Centre for Art and Media Technology") for his research in the field of media theory.
He was recognized in 1996 as a Distinguished Scholar at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and in 1997 as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Kittler was a member of the Hermann von Helmholtz Centre for Culture and the research group Bild Schrift Zahl ("Picture Writing Number") (DFG). He died in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. His last words were reportedly "Alle Apparate auschalten", which translates, referring to the machines which were keeping him alive, as "switch off all apparatuses".
Work and its importance
Friedrich Kittler is seminal in the new approach to media theoryMedia influence
Media influence or media effects are used in media studies, psychology, communication theory and sociology to refer to the theories about the ways in which mass media affect how their audiences think and behave....
that grew popular starting in the 1980s, new media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
. Kittler's central project is to "prove to the human sciences [...] their technological-media a priori" (Hartmut Winkler
Hartmut Winkler
Hartmut Winkler has been a Professor of Media Studies, Media Theory and Media Arts at the University of Paderborn in Germany since April 1999. Winkler is influential in the field of digital media. His works include Switching/Zapping , Film Theory, Der Filmische Raum und der Zuschauer and...
), or in his own words: "Driving the spirit out of the humanities", a title that he gave a work that he published in 1980.
Kittler sees an autonomy in technology and therefore disagrees with Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan
Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar—a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communication theorist...
's reading of the media as "extensions of man": "Media are not pseudopods for extending the human body. They follow the logic of escalation that leaves a written history behind it. (Kittler in Geschichte der Kommunikationsmedien. In: Jörg Huber, Alois Martin Müller (publishers): Raum und Verfahren).
Consequently, he sees in writing literature, in writing programmes and in burning structures into silicon chip
Silicon Chip
Silicon Chip is an Australian electronics magazine. It was started in November, 1987 by Leo Simpson. Following the demise of Electronics Australia, it is the only hobbyist-related electronics magazine remaining in Australia.- Magazine :...
s a complete continuum: "As we know and simply do not say, no human being writes anymore. [...] Today, human writing runs through inscriptions burnt into silicon
Silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. A tetravalent metalloid, it is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table...
by electronic lithography [...]. The last historic act of writing may thus have been in the late seventies
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
when a team of Intel engineers [plotted] the hardware architecture
Computer architecture
In computer science and engineering, computer architecture is the practical art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals and the formal modelling of those systems....
of their first integrated microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
." (Kittler, Es gibt keine Software. In: ders.: Draculas Vermächtnis. Technische Schriften).
Publications
- 2009: Musik und Mathematik. Band 1: Hellas, Teil 2: Eros. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Paderborn.
- 2006: Musik und Mathematik. Band 1: Hellas, Teil 1: Aphrodite. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Paderborn.
- 2004: Unsterbliche. Nachrufe, Erinnerungen, Geistergespräche. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Paderborn.
- 2002: Zwischen Rauschen und Offenbarung. Zur Kultur- und Mediengeschichte der Stimme (as publisher). Akademie Verlag, Berlin
- 2002: Optische Medien. Merve: Berlin. ISBN 3-88396-183-3 (English edition: Optical Media, with an introduction by John Durham PetersJohn Durham PetersJohn Durham Peters is an American academic and the A. Craig Baird professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa. A media historian and social theorist, he is probably best known for his first book Speaking into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication which traces out broad...
. Polity Press 2010) - 2001: Vom Griechenland (with Cornelia Vismann; Internationaler Merve Diskurs Bd.240). Merve: Berlin. ISBN 3-88396-173-6
- 2000: Nietzsche – Politik des Eigennamens: wie man abschafft, wovon man spricht (with Jacques DerridaJacques DerridaJacques Derrida was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. He developed the critical theory known as deconstruction and his work has been labeled as post-structuralism and associated with postmodern philosophy...
). Berlin. - 2000: Eine Kulturgeschichte der Kulturwissenschaft. München
- 1999: Hebbels Einbildungskraft – die dunkle Natur. Frankfurt, New York, Vienna
- 1998: Zur Theoriegeschichte von Information Warfare
- 1998: Hardware das unbekannte Wesen
- 1997: Literature, Media, Information Systems: Essays (published by John Johnston). Amsterdam
- 1993: Draculas Vermächtnis: Technische Schriften. Leipzig: Reclam. ISBN 3-379-01476-1 Essays zu den "Effekten der Sprengung des Schriftmonopols", zu den Analogmedien Schallplatte, Film und Radio sowie "technische Schriften, die numerisch oder algebraisch verfasst sind".
- 1991: Dichter – Mutter – Kind. Munich
- 1990: Die Nacht der Substanz. Bern
- 1986: Grammophon Film Typewriter. Berlin: Brinkmann & Bose. ISBN 3-922660-17-7 (English edition: Gramophone, Film, Typewriter, Stanford 1999)
- 1985: Aufschreibesysteme 1800/1900. Fink: Munich. ISBN 3-7705-2881-6 (English edition: Discourse Networks 1800 / 1900, with a foreword by David E. WellberyDavid E. WellberyDavid E. Wellbery is a prominent literary critic within German Studies.He is currently the LeRoy T. and Margaret Deffenbaugh Carlson University Professor at the University of Chicago. He holds appointments in Germanic Studies, Comparative Literature and in the Committee on Social Thought...
. Stanford 1990) - 1979: Dichtung als Sozialisationsspiel. Studien zu Goethe und Gottfried Keller (with Gerhard Kaiser). Göttingen
- 1977: Der Traum und die Rede. Eine Analyse der Kommunikationssituation Conrad Ferdinand Meyers. Bern-Munich
Literature
Secondary literature on Friedrich Kittler:- Frank Hartmann: Friedrich Kittler. In: Information Philosophie 25 (1997) 4, S. 40-44.
- Josef Wallmannsverger: Friedrich Kittler. In: Helmut Schanze (publisher): Metzler Lexikon Medientheorie/ Medienwissenschaft, S. 162 f. Stuttgart 2002.
- Geoffrey Winthrop-Young: Friedrich Kittler zur Einführung, Hamburg: Junius Verlag 2005.
Lectures
- The Relation of Art and Techne, European Graduate SchoolEuropean Graduate SchoolThe European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland is a privately funded graduate school founded by the non-profit European Foundation of Interdisciplinary Studies. Its German name is Europäische Universität für Interdisziplinäre Studien...
- Friedrich Kittler. Ein Medienphilosoph, European Graduate SchoolEuropean Graduate SchoolThe European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland is a privately funded graduate school founded by the non-profit European Foundation of Interdisciplinary Studies. Its German name is Europäische Universität für Interdisziplinäre Studien...
- Die Endlichkeit der Algorithmen
- Aphrodite mit Stefan Münker
- Farben und/oder Maschinen denken
- Vom Gott der Diebe zum gerechneten Raum
- Kittler liest Gedichte von Sappho und spricht über die Liebe
- Blitz und Serie, Ereignis und Donner
- Ontologie der Medien
External links
- Friedrich Kittler Faculty page at European Graduate SchoolEuropean Graduate SchoolThe European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland is a privately funded graduate school founded by the non-profit European Foundation of Interdisciplinary Studies. Its German name is Europäische Universität für Interdisziplinäre Studien...
. Biography, bibliography, articles and video lectures - Auf dem Weg in den Maschinenpark - Rezension Friedrich Kittler: Eine Kulturgeschichte der Kulturwissenschaft - von Frank Hartmann, 28 November 2000
- Telepolis: Friedrich Kittler meets Stephan Schambach von Stefan Krempl, 26. Mai 2000
- Telepolis: Vom Sündenfall der Software - Medientheorie mit Entlarvungsgestus: Friedrich Kittler - von Frank Hartmann, 22 December 1998
- Telepolis: Nicht Cyborg, sondern Affe 17 April 2005
- "Rock me, Aphrodite!" - Interview mit Kittler auf Telepolis, 24 May 2006.
- "Hegel is dead. Miscellanea on Friedrich A. Kittler (1943-2011)" - Obituary on Kittler, Telepolis, 17 November 2011.
- The Sigmund H. Danziger, Jr. Memorial Lecture in the HumanitiesThe Sigmund H. Danziger, Jr. Memorial Lecture in the HumanitiesThe Sigmund H. Danziger, Jr. Memorial Lecture in the Humanities is an annual honorary bestowed upon an “established scholar of classical literature, who has made substantial contributions to the critical analysis of classical literature, or has been exceptionally skilled at inspiring an...
(Sigmund H. Danziger, Jr Lecture 1993-1994