Claus Pias

Claus Pias (1967) is a German media theorist and media historian. He is Professor for History and Epistemology of Media at the Institute for Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media (ICAM) at Leuphana University Lüneburg, where he is also director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Media Cultures of Computer Simulation (MECS), the Centre for Digital Cultures (CDC) and the Digital Cultures Research Lab (DCRL). Main areas of interest are the media history and epistemology of computer simulations, the history of media studies, and the history and epistemology of cybernetics.

After studying Electrical Engineering at RWTH Aachen and Art History, German Literature, and Philosophy at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn he received a PhD from Bauhaus-Universität in 2000 for his study of the pre-history of the computer game, published in 2002 as Computer Spiel Welten. Before moving to Leuphana in 2010 Pias was Associate Professor for Media Technology and Media Philosophy at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Professor for Communication and Media Studies at the University of Essen, and Professor for Epistemology and Philosophy of Digital Media at the University of Vienna. He is the co-editor of Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft and of Kursbuch Medienkultur: Die massgeblichen Theorien von Brecht bis Baudrillard (1999). Some of the many books Pias has edited include Cybernetics/Kybernetik. Die Macy-Konferenzen 1946-1953 (2 vols., 2003-04) as well as a volume of positions on media studies, Was waren Medien? (2010).

Works

(in German unless noted otherwise)

Books

• Geschaute Literatur. Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach und die bildende Kunst, Weimar: VDG, 1996.
• Computer Spiel Welten, Munich: sequenzia, 2002; 2nd ed., Zürich: diaphanes, 2010, 340 pp. [1]
  • Computer Game Worlds, trans. Valentine A. Pakis, Berlin: diaphanes, 2017, 352 pp. [2] (English)
• Die Epoche der Kybernetik, Berlin: Alcatel SEL, 2003.

Edited books

• Dreizehn Vorträge zur Medienkultur, Weimar: VDG, 1999.
• with Lorenz Engell and J. Vogl, Kursbuch Medienkultur: Die massgeblichen Theorien von Brecht bis Baudrillard, Stuttgart: DVA, 1999; 2nd ed., 2000; 3rd ed., 2000; 4th ed., 2002; 5th ed., 2004, 544 pp. Contents.
• Neue Vorträge zur Medienkultur, Weimar: VDG, 2000.
• Cybernetics | Kybernetik 1: The Macy-Conferences 1946–1953. Band 1. Transactions/Protokolle, Zürich/Berlin: diaphanes, 2003, 734 pp. [3] [4]
• Hermann Bahr - Zur Kritik der Moderne, Weimar: VDG, 2004, 300 pp.
• Hermann Bahr - Die Überwindung des Naturalismus, Weimar: VDG, 2004, 279 pp.
• Cybernetics | Kybernetik 2: The Macy-Conferences 1946–1953. Band 2. Documents/Dokumente, Zürich: diaphanes, 2004, 512 pp. Introduction. [5] (German)/(English)
• with M. Warnke and U.M. Schneede, Anna Oppermann in der Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg: Kleine Reihe der Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2004, 47 pp.
• Hermann Bahr - Der Antisemitismus: Ein internationales Interview, Weimar: VDG, 2005, 152 pp.
• Hermann Bahr - Studien zur Kritik der Moderne, Weimar: VDG, 2005, 310 pp.
• Zukünfte des Computers, Zürich: diaphanes, 2005, 304 pp. Preface. [6]
• Hermann Bahr - Szenarien für den Kalten Krieg, Zürich and Berlin: diaphanes, 2006, 304 pp.
• Hermann Bahr - Secession, Weimar: VDG, 2007, 219 pp.
• with C. Holtorf, Escape. Computerspiele als Kulturtechnik, Cologne and Vienna: Böhlau, 2007, 294 pp.
• Herrmann Bahr - Renaissance: Neue Studien zur Kritik der Moderne, Weimar: VDG, 2008, 191 pp.
• Abwehr. Modelle – Strategien – Medien, Bielefeld: transcript, 2009, 208 pp.
• with Wolfgang Coy, PowerPoint. Macht und Einfluß eines Präsentationsprogramms, Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer, 2009, 323 pp.
• with Thomas Brandstetter and Sebastian Vehlken, Think Tanks. Die Beratung der Gesellschaft, Zürich: diaphanes, 2010, 123 pp. [7]
• Was waren Medien?, Zürich: diaphanes, 2011, 128 pp. [8]. Review: Kammerer.
• with P. Berz, M. Kubaczek, D. Unterholzner and E. Laquièze-Waniek, Spielregeln. 25 Aufstellungen. Eine Festschrift für Wolfgang Pircher, Berlin and Zürich: diaphanes, 2012, 368 pp.
• Kulturfreie Bilder. Erfindungen der Voraussetzungslosigkeit, Berlin: Kadmos, 250 pp.
• with Inge Baxmann and Timon Beyes, Soziale Medien: Neue Massen. Medienwissenschaftliche Symposien der DFG, Zürich: diaphanes, 2014, 368 pp. [9]
  • Social Media – New Masses, trans. Valentin Pakis, Berlin: diaphanes, 2016, 348 pp. [10] (English)
• with Stefan Rieger, Vollstes Verständnis. Utopien der Kommunikation, Berlin: diaphanes, 2016, 208 pp. [11]
• Cybernetics. The Macy Conferences 1946-1953. The Complete Transactions, Berlin: diaphanes, 2016, 736 pp. [12] (English)
• with Ute Holl and Burkhardt Wolf, Gespenster des Wissens, Berlin: diaphanes, 2017, 440 pp. [13]

Book chapters, papers, articles (selection)

• "Unruhe und Steuerung. Zum utopischen Potential der Kybernetik", in Die Unruhe der Kultur. Potentiale des Utopischen, ed. J. Rüsen, Erscheint bei Velbrück Wissenschaft, 2003.
• "Video-Spiel-Computer: Episoden der Informationsgesellschaft", in Medienkultur der 70er Jahre. Information/Kommunikation, eds. I. Schneider, Ch. Barz and I. Otto, Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, 2004. [14]
• "Poststrukturalistische Medientheorien", in Theorien der Medien, ed. St. Weber, Konstanz: UVK, 2003, pp 277-298.
• "Digitale Sekretäre: 1968, 1978, 1998", in Europa – Kultur der Sekretäre, eds. J. Vogl, B. Siegert, Berlin: diaphanes, 2003.
• "Elektronenhirn und verbotene Zone. Zur kybernetischen Ökonomie des Digitalen", in analog/digital – Opposition oder Kontinuum?, eds. J. Schröter, A. Böhnke, Bielefeld: transcript, 2004.
• "Action, Adventure, Desire. Interaction with PC Games", in Heide Hagebölling (ed.), Interactive Dramaturgies: New Approaches in Multimedia Content and Design, Springer, 2004, pp 127-141. (English)
• "Analog, Digital, and the Cybernetic Illusion", Kybernetes 34:3/4 (2005), pp 543-550. (English)
• "In Defense of Cybernetics. A Reminiscence", in Defense: Models, Strategies, Media, ed. Peter Krapp, Minnesota University Press, 2007. (English)
• "“Hollerith ‘Feathered Crystal’”: Art, Science, and Computing in the Era of Cybernetics", trans. Peter Krapp, Grey Room 29, Winter 2008, pp 110-133. (English)
• "Medienwissenschaft, Medientheorie oder Medienphilosophie?", in Philosophy of the Information Society. Proceedings of the 30th International Wittgenstein Symposion 2007, Bd. 2, Heusenstamm: ontos, 2008.
• "On the Epistemology of Computer Simulation", Zeitschrift für Medien- und Kulturforschung 1, 2011. (English)
• "The Game Player´s Duty: The User as a Gestalt of Ports", in Media Archaeology: Approaches, Applications, and Implications, eds. Erkki Huhtamo and Jussi Parikka, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011, pp 164-183. (English)
• "Die heimliche Computerisierung: Weihnachten 1973 erschien das erste Videospiel in Deutschland", n.d.
• with Timon Beyes, "The Media Arcane", Grey Room 75, Spring 2019, pp 84-107. [15] (English)
• More

Links

• Home page, [16]
• Profile on Leuphana U
• Profile on diaphanes
• Profile on U Vienna (until 2010)
• Wikipedia, Wikipedia-DE
• Zwei Minuten Wissenschaft - Claus Pias, video, 3 min, 2010. (German)