Claudia Benthien

Jordis Lau

Maraike M. Marxsen

‚ÄúLanguage can be this incredibly forceful material‚Äîthere‚Äôs something about it where if you can  strip away its history, get to the materiality of it, it can rip into you like claws‚Äù (Hill in Vischer  1995, 11). This arresting image by media artist Gary Hill evokes the nearly physical force of  language to hold recipients in its grip. That power seems to lie in the material of language itself,  which, with a certain rawness, may captivate or touch, pounce on, or even harm its addressee.  Hill‚Äôs choice of words is revealing: ‚Äòrip into‚Äô suggests not only a metaphorical emotional pull but  also the literal physicality of linguistic attack. It is no coincidence that the statement comes from  a media artist, since media artworks often use language to produce a strong sensorial stimulus.  Media artworks not only manipulate language as a material in itself, but they also manipulate the  viewer‚Äôs perceptual channels. The guises and effects of language as artistic material are the topic  of this book, The Literariness of Media Art.

The Literariness of Media Art

Claudia Benthien, Jordis Lau, Maraike M. Marxsen

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