Children and horror are often thought to be an incompatible meeting of audience and genre, beset by concerns that children will be corrupted or harmed through exposure to horror media. Nowhere is this tension more clear than in horror films for adults, where the demonic child villain is one of the genre's most enduring tropes. However, horror for children is a unique category of contemporary Hollywood cinema in which children are addressed as an audience with specific needs, fears and desires, and where child characters are represented as sympathetic protagonists whose encounters with the horrific lead to cathartic, subversive and productive outcomes. Horror Films for Children examines the history, aesthetics and generic characteristics of children's horror films, and identifies the 'horrific child' as one of the defining features of the genre, where it is as much a staple as it is in adult horror but with vastly different representational, interpretative and affective possibilities. Through analysis of case studies including blockbuster hits (Gremlins), cult favourites (The Monster Squad) and indie darlings (Coraline), Catherine Lester asks, what happens to the horror genre, and the horrific children it represents, when children are the target audience?

An in-depth look into the transformation of visual culture and digital aesthetics   First introduced by the German filmmaker Harun Farocki, the term operational images defines the expanding field of machine vision. In this study, media theorist Jussi Parikka develops Farocki’s initial concept by considering the extent to which operational images have pervaded today’s visual culture, outlining how data technologies continue to develop and disrupt our understanding of images beyond representation. Charting the ways that operational images have been employed throughout a variety of fields and historical epochs, Parikka details their many roles as technologies of analysis, capture, measurement, diagramming, laboring, (machine) learning, identification, tracking, and destruction. He demonstrates how, though inextricable from issues of power and control, operational images extend their reach far beyond militaristic and colonial violence and into the realms of artificial intelligence, data, and numerous aspects of art, media, and everyday visual culture. Serving as an extensive guide to a key concept in contemporary art, design, and media theory, Operational Images explores the implications of machine vision and the limits of human agency. Through a wealth of case studies highlighting the areas where imagery and data intersect, this book gives us unprecedented insight into the ever-evolving world of posthuman visuality. Cover alt text: Satellite photo on which white title words appear in yellow boxes. Yellow lines connect the boxes.

A phenomenological investigation into new media artwork and its relationship to history What does it mean to live in an era of emerging digital technologies? Are computers really as antihistorical as they often seem? Drawing on phenomenology's investigation of time and history, Sensations of History uses encounters with new media art to inject more life into these questions, making profound contributions to our understanding of the digital age in the larger scope of history. Sensations of History combines close textual analysis of experimental new media artworks with in-depth discussions of key texts from the philosophical tradition of phenomenology. Through this inquiry, author James J. Hodge argues for the immense significance of new media art in examining just what historical experience means in a digital age. His beautiful, aphoristic style demystifies complex theories and ideas, making perplexing issues feel both graspable and intimate. Highlighting underappreciated, vibrant work in the fields of digital art and video, Sensations of History explores artists like Paul Chan, Phil Solomon, John F. Simon, and Barbara Lattanzi. Hodge's provocative interpretations, which bring these artists into dialogue with well-known works, are perfect for scholars of cinema, media studies, art history, and literary studies. Ultimately, Sensations of History presents the compelling case that we are not witnessing the end of history-we are instead seeing its rejuvenation in a surprising variety of new media art.

Library of Light brings together established and emerging practitioners who work with light, as material or subject, from theatre, music, performance, fine art, photography, film, public art, holography, digital media, architecture, and the built environment, together with curators, producers and other experts. Structured around twenty-five interviews and four thematic essays - Political Light, Mediating Light, Performance Light and Absent Light - the book aims to broaden our understanding of light as a creative medium and examines its impact on our cultural history and the role it plays in the new frontiers of art, design and technology. Illustrated with colour photographs and images of installations, sculptures, architectural projects, interventions in public space and works in virtual reality, the book includes interviews and contributions by: David Batchelor, Rana Begum, Robin Bell, Jason Bruges (Jason Bruges Studio), Anne Bean and Richard Wilson (The Bow Gamelan), Laura Buckley, Mario Caeiro, Paule Constable, Ernest Edmonds, Angus Farquhar (NVA), Rick Fisher, Susan Gamble and Michael Wenyon, Jon Hendricks, ISO Studio, Susan Hiller, Michael Hulls and Russell Maliphant, Cliff Lauson, Chris Levine, Michael Light, Joshua Lightshow, Liliane Lijn, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Manu Luksch, Mark Major (Speirs + Major), Helen Marriage (Artichoke), Anthony McCall, Gustav Metzger, Haroon Mirza, Yoko Ono, Katie Paterson, Andrew Pepper, Mark Titchner, Andi Watson.