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<span style="font-family: Arial;">NEW
from Leonardo Book Series and The MIT Press<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Closer:
Performance, Technologies, Phenomenology<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">by
Susan Kozel<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">In
Closer, Susan Kozel draws on live performance practice, digital
technologies,
and the philosophical approach of phenomenology. Trained in dance and
philosophy, Kozel places the human body at the center of explorations
of
interactive interfaces, responsive systems, and affective computing,
asking
what can be discovered as we become closer to our computers--as they
become
extensions of our ways of thinking, moving, and touching.<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Performance,
Kozel argues, can act as a catalyst for understanding wider social and
cultural
uses of digital technology. Taking this one step further, performative
acts of
sharing the body through our digital devices foster a collaborative
construction of new physical states, levels of conscious awareness, and
even
ethics. We re-encounter ourselves and others through our interactive
computer
systems. What we need now are conceptual and methodological frameworks
to reflect
this.<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Kozel
offers a timely reworking of the phenomenology of French philosopher
Maurice
Merleau-Ponty. This method, based on a respect for lived experience,
begins by
listening to the senses and noting insights that arrive in the midst of
dance,
or quite simply in the midst of life. The combination of performance
and
phenomenology offered by Closer yields entwinements between experience
and
reflection that shed light on, problematize, or restructure scholarly
approaches to human bodies using digital technologies.<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">After
outlining her approach and methodology and clarifying the key concepts
of
performance, technologies, and virtuality, Kozel applies
phenomenological
method to the experience of designing and performing in a range of
computational systems: telematics, motion capture, responsive
architectures,
and wearable computing.<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The
transformative potential of the alchemy between bodies and technologies
is the
foundation of Closer. With careful design, future generations of
responsive
systems and mobile devices can expand our social, physical, and
emotional
exchanges.<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Susan
Kozel is Associate Professor in the <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">School</st1:PlaceType>
of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Interactive Arts</st1:PlaceName> and
Technology at <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Simon</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Fraser</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceName>, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Vancouver</st1:City>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">April
2008<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The
MIT Press<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A
Leonardo Book<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">ISBN:0-262-11310-4<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">380
pp.<o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">To
order this book and to learn more about other titles in the Leonardo
Book
Series visit the Leonardo Book Series website at:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.leonardo.info/isast/leobooks.html">http://www.leonardo.info/isast/leobooks.html</a><o:p></o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">MEMBER
DISCOUNT! Leonardo/ISAST Associate Members are eligible for 20% off all
Leonardo Book Series titles as well as a number of other membership
benefits!
Visit <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://leonardo.info/members.html">http://leonardo.info/members.html</a> for more details.<o:p></o:p></span>
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