Artificial Darkness
An Obscure History of Modern Art and Media
Darkness has a history and a uniquely modern form. Distinct from night, shadows, and artificial light, "artificial darkness" has been overlooked – until now. In fact, controlled darkness was essential to the rise of photography and cinema, science and spectacle, and a century of advanced art and film".Artificial Darkness" is the first book to historicize and theorize this phenomenon and map its applications across a range of media and art forms. In exploring how artificial darkness shaped modern art, film, and media, Noam M. Elcott addresses seminal and obscure works alongside their sites of production – such as photography darkrooms, film studios, and laboratories – and their sites of reception, including theaters, cinemas, and exhibitions. He argues that artists, scientists, and entertainers like Etienne-Jules Marey, Richard Wagner, Georges Melies, and Oskar Schlemmer revolutionized not only images but also everything surrounding them: the screen, the darkness, and the experience of bodies and space. At the heart of the book is "the black screen", a technology of darkness that spawned today's blue and green screens and has undergirded numerous advanced art and film practices to this day. Turning familiar art and film narratives on their heads, "Artificial Darkness" is a revolutionary treatment of an elusive, yet fundamental, aspect of art and media history.
About the Author
Noam M. Elcott is associate professor of art history and archaeology at Columbia University and an editor of the journal Grey Room.
Reviews
"Theoretically astute, historically rigorous, and visually precise, 'Artificial Darkness' sets a standard for film and media scholarship while also making extremely significant and original contributions to fields such as art history, the history of science, and theater studies. Elcott's research is subtle and meticulous, and his ability to embed and web his vast and complex archival discoveries into a swiftly moving and lucid narrative is truly impressive. This is a model of interdisciplinary work" – Karen Beckman, University of Pennsylvania
"Elcott tells the story of what must remain invisible so that the optical and acoustic arts of modernity can exist. Artificial Darkness provides us with thrilling insights about the dark side of media history, demonstrating that images and sounds in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were not related to formlessness as nothingness, but rather to darkness as technical form. From the moment you begin reading, you know that this is the book we have always needed. An astonishing expedition by an author whose scholarship and perspicacity offer unequaled opportunities, 'Artificial Darkness' reveals the common background of modern art and media history" – Bernhard Siegert, Bauhaus-Universitنt Weimar
"Cinema consists of focused projected light, but Elcott shows that it craves the darkness. His investigation of the darkened theater, the role of darkness in creating optical magical illusion, and the modernist discovery of the anti-representational power of darkness show how cinema's passion for darkness became a major figure of twentieth-century culture" – Tom Gunning, University of Chicago
"Breaking down the barriers between disciplines and mediums, 'Artificial Darkness' constructs and questions an object that had never really been detected before: modern controlled darkness. Spanning photography, cinema, theater, and entertainment, this is a deep read and highly enlightening transdisciplinary journey into early modernist artistic practices" – Quentin Bajac, Museum of Modern Art
