Announcements

Sensorium Journal vol.3 (2021) is dedicated to: Gilbert Simondon

Within recent years the work of the French philosopher Gilbert Simondon has attracted increased attention within the fields of aesthetic philosophy, media theory and artistic practices oriented towards materiality. His techno-philosophical perspective and especially his groundbreaking study Du mode d’existence des objets techniques from 1958 (which was first published in a complete English translation as late as 2016) stands out as increasingly relevant in our contemporary media technological situation. With concepts such as individuation and ontogenesis Simondon has directed attention towards the relations of technical objects to one another, to science, cultural practices and humans. Today, philosophers such as Brian Massumi (Semblance and Event: Activist Philosophy and the Occurrent Arts, 2011) and Elizabeth Grosz (The Incoproral: Ontology, Ethics, and the Limits of Materialism, 2017) have been strongly influenced by Simondon in their affect theory and aesthetic philosophy.

In acknowledgment of this newly awoken interest, Sensorium Journal is publishing a special issue on Simondon in the fall of 2020 in order to examine how his theoretical and philosophical perspective can be compatible with various theoretical, literary and artistic contexts today.