The Digital Wunderkammer. 10 Chapters on the Iconic Turn

Digitalization has changed the world at a breathtaking pace. Not only information but images, too, are circulated rapidly, in a targeted way and on a large scale.
And it is not just the speed, but also the way we perceive images that has changed. It is precisely the media creators, i.e. journalists, photographers, graphic artists, publishers, and software programmers who are substantially involved in how people perceive the world around them. Visual communication is becoming noticeably more important. But what are images in fact? What is their function in their respective contexts? And now has the perception changed with the Iconic Turn ?
These and many other questions are tackled in The Digital Wunderkammer , the new book from Hubert Burda published by Willhelm Fink Verlag. Hans Belting, Horst Bredekamp, Bazon Brock, Friedrich Kittler and Peter Sloterdijk have addressed these questions, and their answers help us to understand this complex topic.
Wherever communication changes, the foundations of society change, too. Gutenberg s invention of printing revolutionised human communication, books were no longer a status symbol but accessible to the masses. And Martin Schongauer s invention of copper-plate engraving shook the world, paintings were no longer tied to one place, replications enabled the whole world to share them. Innovations like photography and film altered communication in the world considerably. The full extent of the changes produced by digitalization will only be revealed in the course of time.