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Pleasure Machines

Towards a Philosophy of Scanning

Pleasure Machines cover

Pleasure Machines

Towards a Philosophy of Scanning

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Description

What happens when a flatbed scanner is used for the photographic reproduction of three-dimensional objects? At first this machine seems like inappropriate technology for such a task, but it introduces a complex aesthetic phenomenon that reconsiders screen-based cultures of touch and vision.

In her new book, Chantal Faust defines the flatbed scanner as a new photographic category, and uses case studies of esteemed artists such as Sarah Lucas and Andy Warhol to show how it creates images and simultaneously provides an original trajectory on which to read them. For Faust, the physicality of the scanning process involves an enquiry into the theoretical debates concerned with pleasure and affect, so that the scanner allows for the projection of fantasy and desire. Pleasure Machines then, represents a new generation of theory-practitioners: artists who practise art and theory simultaneously, so that the case studies privilege neither theory nor art, but combine both to reveal the book's true meaning.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Scanning Machines
2. Pleasure Machines
3. Mirror Machines
4. Hope Machines
5. Truth Machines
6. Love Machines
Coda: The Truth in Painting (Too)

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 07 Aug 2025
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 256
ISBN 9781350053595
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Chantal Faust

Chantal Faust is an artist, writer and tutor in Cr…

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