“High” Culture Intermediality versus Popular Culture Intermediality

This book argues that intermedia is a gathering of combinatorial possibilities and hybridity that lead to heterogeneity and complexity.

Collecting together carefully selected and peer-reviewed articles, ACM suggests that the impending disappearance of traditional media had been overstated, and instead embraces the contemporary plurality of media forms. ACM explores a more comprehensive approach that includes a proposal for a theory of ‘High’ and ‘Low’ culture intermediality.

Many of the authors are creative media practitioners. Their work gives the reader a look at the contemporary media landscape. For example, Hollywood films such as Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby and Adam McKays’ The Big Short are brought into discussion in the context of contemporary politics and media. The ecological debate and issues of hybridity are scrutinized through the lens of Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno Youtube series. C.S. Lewis, Pavel Hošel and Frederick Jameson’s perspectives on social utopia and ideology enable a critical discussion of popular youth media in Eastern Europe.

Among the works are essays exploring multiple historical origins and possible media futures. The craft of weaving, issues of gender and oral poetry are brought into a metaphorical relation through an examination of the Finnish Kalevala tradition. The notion of intermedia as liminal interface design space is elaborated from the perspective of Interactive Diorama – Rembrandt, 1632 and Rediscovery of Anima, two works showcased at the 2017 Ars Electronica Festival in Austria.

Edited by Lily Díaz, Magda Dragu, and Leena Eilittä

Designed by Merkitys / Sofa Hovinen 

Published by Aalto University, 2018
In English

Hardcover, 276 pages, color and b&w images, 7.15 × 10.15 inches

ISBN: 978-9-52-608311-7