Cultures of Obsolescence History, Materiality, and the Digital Age

"Is planned obsolescence a conceptual paradox? How do we reconcile our era's impatience for the outmoded with our equally strong attachment to fantasies of endurance, be they about things or people? What is the place of the human in an age of obsolescence? This volume addresses these pressing questions and more. Each essay in this collection is a gem, and collectively they do the important work of expanding the conversation about the question of obsolescence beyond the realm of the technological to those of art, culture, environment, and politics" - Anne Anlin Cheng, Professor, English and the Center for African American Studies, Princeton University, USA

"This fascinating collection rethinks the meaning of obsolescence, from its historical relation to consumer capitalism and environmental blight to the ambivalent sentiments toward progress, tradition, fashion, and decay that inform its meanings in contemporary art, media, and material culture. A must-read for anyone interested in the intertwined itineraries of humans and things." - Lynn Spigel, Professor, Screen Cultures, Northwestern University, USA and author of Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America

Daniel M. Abramson, Tufts University, USA
Hanjo Berressem, University of Cologne, Germany
Bill Brown, University of Chicago, USA
Kathleen Fitzpatrick, New York University, USA
John Durham Peters, University of Iowa, USA
Jani Scandura, University of Minnesota, USA
MaryAnn Snyder-Körber, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Germany
Alexander Starre, Free University of Berlin, Germany
Susan Strasser, University of Delaware, Germany
William Uricchio, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA