Mobile Screens: The Visual Regime of Navigation

Abstract

In this book on screen media, space, and mobility I compare synchronically, as well as diachronically, diverse and variegated screen media - their technologies and practices – as sites for virtual mobility and navigation. Mobility as a central trope can be found on the multiple levels that are investigated. First, the representation of mobility in audiovisual media is concerned with the virtual mobility of media technology in general, and of the change in their possibilities. I analyze the way in which both enabling mobility and configuring its itineraries are inherent in both the technological and the cultural-political sides of visual culture. Secondly, the screen itself becomes mobile – from the hand-held stereograph to smartphones or mobile game consoles. The physical engagement of the user in the case of (mobile) touch screens complicates some observations made by earlier scholars about the static screen – both in terms of space and singular in its deployment. I investigate the periphery of the classical screen paradigm, and trace the lineage of mobile screens, bringing the most recent mobile screens and their specific interfaces in relation to fixed and architectural screens. Moreover, the status of the screen as material object will be considered. Mobilizing the spectator/user as agent within the process of viewing, is the third step in the investigation of mobility, which consists of an analysis of spatial practices of viewing as performative acts. "Nanna Verhoeff's new book is a a must for anybody interested in visual culture and media theory. It offers a rich and stimulating theoretical account of the central dimension of our contemporary existence - interfacing and navigating both data and physical world through a variety of screens (game consoles, mobile phones, car interfaces, GPS devices, etc.) In the process of exploring these new screen practices, Verhoeff offers fresh perspectives on many of the key questions in media and new media studies as well as a number of new original theoretical concepts. As the first theoretical manual for the society of mobile screens, this book will become an essential reference for all future investigations of our mobile screen condition." - Lev Manovich "Mobile Screens charts a “navigational turn” in contemporary media culture and recasts screened images as “performative cartographies.” Fusing intermediale discussions of hand-held devices, gaming consoles, urban screens, and cinema, Verhoeff eloquently demonstrates the multi-sensorial nature of screened life while revealing how screens are reading life back to us in new ways. Lucidly written and cleverly theorized, the book is vital for anyone interested in contemporary media culture." - Lisa Parks "Nanna Verhoeff has produced a fascinating examination of mobilities, screens and their many intersections in the digital age. Well worth reading." - John Urry