Claus Pias

Born 1967. Claus Pias is Professor for Media History and Media Theory at Leuphana University, Lüneburg, where he also serves as Director of Centre for Digital Cultures (CDC) and of Institute for Advanced Study in Media Cultures of Computer Simulation (mecs). 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 coming 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 volumes, 2003-4) as well as a volume of positions on media studies, Was waren Medien? (2010). Professor Pias’ research more generally focuses on the history and epistemology of computer simulation and the history of media studies.

Publications

Books

• Geschaute Literatur. Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach und die bildende Kunst, Weimar: VDG, 1996. (in German)
• Computer Spiel Welten, Munich: sequenzia, 2002. Second Edition, Zürich: diaphanes, 2010, 340 pp. (in German) [1]
• Die Epoche der Kybernetik, Berlin: Alcatel SEL, 2003. (in German)
• Anna Oppermann in der Hamburger Kunsthall, Hamburg: Kleine Reihe der Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2004. (in German)

Edited books

• Dreizehn Vorträge zur Medienkultur, Weimar: VDG, 1999. (in German)
• With Lorenz Engell and J. Vogl, Kursbuch Medienkultur: Die massgeblichen Theorien von Brecht bis Baudrillard, Stuttgart: DVA, 1999. Second Edition, 2000; Third Edition, 2000; Fourth Edition, 2002. (in German) Contents.
• Neue Vorträge zur Medienkultur, Weimar: VDG, 2000. (in German)
• Cybernetics | Kybernetik 1: The Macy-Conferences 1946–1953. Band 1. Transactions/Protokolle, Zürich/Berlin: Diaphanes, 2003, 736 pp. [2] [3]
• Hermann Bahr: Kritische Schriften in Einzelausgaben, Weimar: VDG, 2004. (in German)
• Cybernetics | Kybernetik 2: The Macy-Conferences 1946–1953. Band 2. Documents/Dokumente, Zürich: diaphanes, 2004, 512 pp. (in German/English). Introduction. [4]
• Zukünfte des Computers, Zürich: diaphanes, 2005, 304 pp. (in German) Preface. [5]
• Kulturfreie Bilder, Berlin: Kadmos, 2006. (in German)
• With Wolfgang Coy, PowerPoint. Macht und Einfluß eines Präsentationsprogramms, Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer, 2009. (in German)
• Abwehr. Modelle – Strategien – Medien, Bielefeld: Transcript, 2009. (in German)
• With Thomas Brandstetter and Sebastian Vehlken, Think Tanks. Die Beratung der Gesellschaft, Zürich: diaphanes, 2010, 128 pp. (in German) [6]
• Was waren Medien?, Zürich: diaphanes, 2011, 128 pp. (in German) [7]. Review: Dietmar Kammerer.

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. (in German)
• "Video-Spiel-Computer: Episoden der Informationsgesellschaft", in Medienkultur der 70er Jahre. Information/Kommunikation, eds. I. Schneider, Ch. Barz, I. Otto, Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, 2004. (in German) [8]
• "Poststrukturalistische Medientheorien", in Theorien der Medien, ed. St. Weber, Konstanz: UVK, 2003, pp 277-298. (in German)
• "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.
• "Analog, Digital, and the Cybernetic Illusion", Kybernetes, Vol. 34, 3/4 (2005), pp 543-550.
• "In Defense of Cybernetics. A Reminiscence", in Defense: Models, Strategies, Media, ed. P. Krapp, Minnesota Press, 2007.
• "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.
• "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.
• "Die heimliche Computerisierung: Weihnachten 1973 erschien das erste Videospiel in Deutschland", undated. (in German)
• More

Links

• Home page, [9]
• Pias' profile at Leuphana
• Pias' profile at diaphanes
• Pias' profile at University of Vienna
• Pias at German Wikipedia
• Zwei Minuten Wissenschaft - Claus Pias, video, 3 min, 2010. (in German)