Medium/form in German media theory: Externality, technological-medial a priori, corporality, presence and Kulturtechnik

Abstract

Starting from the medium/form distinction, I expect to demonstrate that this is a key feature of German media theory and its main authors, like Kittler, Gumbrecht and others. From that distinction, other concepts that characterize the German approach are developed: externality, technological- medial a priori, corporality, presence and cultural techniques. My proposal is to turn German media theory upside down: if a given materiality is a heuristic tool that expresses a medium, my proposal is to treat German media theory as an exploratory probe that brings out a certain epistemology with theoretical tools, thus producing a specific kind of academic subjectivity.

Keywords: epistemology, media studies, German media theory, materiality of communication, media archaeology.